Manila Turo Turo

Came here at 6:20 and the sign clearly said they closed at 7. But the lady said they were closed and didn’t even seem apologetic. This is plain bad business model. Came based in Unilocal review to try a new place in east bay but will never try this unreliable place.

The comforts of home cooking are what I miss most so coming here for lunch was refreshing. From the eggs and Tocino, to the crunchy lechon I’ve been truly humbled by their hospitality. Had the ever so famous «chocolate meat» as described to our American born folks along with eggs, rice and Tocino. Great simple dishes that hit the spot, what took me over was the Shanghai style lumpia great add on to the already hearty meal. It’s a small clean spot off Alvarado and trustbusters a hidden treasure for those who love that home cooking but don’t feel like cleaning up. They offer great catering deals and fresh food daily. It’s small quiet and clean, definitely coming back soon.

Manila Turo Turo offers all day breakfast (silogs@5.5) and scoop ready combo eats from steam table.
eats: 2 items with 2 scoops rice (6.49)
–kare kare not available
choose lechon and pork adobo
–cashier offered to pour adobo sauce over rice and gave sauce for lechon (mang tomas all purpose sauce: tasted of gravy and soy sauce)
–adobo more dry boney chicken pieces than pork pieces.
–lechon very crispy,.no fats left unburnt.
almost like eating chicarones.
good value, quality iffy 3.5 stars
take outs:
–unlabeled entrees
–just asked randomly, saw lechon, went for it.
–recommended with a caveat-​u get what u paid for applies here
–5ish tables available for dining in.

Went here with my two bestfriends. They loved it!!! we just searched it over Google and Manila Turo Turo showed up. Yung mga nag served samin were sooo nice. Thank you!

Lechon is on point! I always get at least 2 large containers every time I come by. You can’t go wrong with some super crispy on the outside and moist inside lechon.
We also got a full pig here for my daughter’s birthday and it was reasonably priced. Come here and get your fix! I know for sure I’ll be back time and time again!

Manila Turo Turo is the ultimate mom-​and-​pop shop. I don’t want to speculate, but I’m assuming the couple that works there is a husband and wife team. I only went there 2 times, but the beaten-​down look on the guys face explains it all. I have the same face, so I know.
I came across this place as I was waiting for the guys at China Station to open up their door (hello?!? The 11:30am posted opening time doesn’t mean 11:48 or 12:07!). I strolled by the door and immediately, the smell of garlic rice hit me. I knew I had to get a ‘silog (garlic fried rice, egg, and choice of meat). Since it was my first time here, I wanted to get a little bit of a variety, so I got both Longanisa (sweet sausage) and Tocino (sweet, marinated pork slices). It was a ton of food, even for this big eater. They make the silogs fresh when you order, so I wanted about 10 minutes. Luckily, China Station opened while I was waiting, so I placed my party order for that weekend over there, and then picked up my food. My office is about a 25-​minute drive back and even then, it still almost as warm as when I left the register. Everything tasted excellent!
They do have regular Filipino food, but have yet to try that. Hopefully, the next time I wait for China Station to open, I can try more things.

best. lechon. kawali. ever.
seriously, it so rocks that they may sell out during the dinner time rush. also, the owner makes his own sauce, which is much better than mang tomas.
the owner and his staff are super duper nice people. eat local and support small business!

Basically, Turo-​Turo literally means «Point-​Point.» That is what you do when you are in the Philippines at a local mom-​and-​pop eatery or outside vendors selling their food items… point at what you want to eat. Manila Turo-​Turo has that feel! The only difference is that you pay in dollars but the food is as good. You can have a one, two, or three item combo, so always go for the three-​item and have the filipino experience (with rice of course)!
Highly recommend this place… did I mention the owner and the people that work there are super friendly?!? You will get the Filipino hospitality here…
Choice-​3 item combo: rice, sisig (pork), bbq, laing… side of soup

I was hesitant to go to here because I feel like Filipino restaurants never really make my standards. But my friend jazz and I were hungry and I wanted to try something new.
Upon entering, I had a bad vibe because the lady in the front seemed to take her time when we ordered. She didn’t seem to understand what we ordered. The owner replaced her, a big Filipino man. We had to clarify exactly what we wanted 3 times until they got it.
That was my only complaint about the service but everything else was great. The owner treated us pretty well and gave us a good amount of food considering most Filipino restaurants give you small portions for a lot of money.
The way you order your food is like going to a Chinese fastfood and looking at the dishes and picking and choosing which ones you want to eat. There is a 2 or 3 combination. They also offer breakfast all day which Filipinos call «silogs» meaning with eggs and rice. (Adobosilog, longsilog, etc)
We ordered:
1. Combination — Sisig (Filipino version of Carne Asada) & KareKare (peanut stew) with garlic rice.
2. Longsilog — Filipino version of a marinated sausage with egg and garlic rice.
3. Lechon Kawali — roasted pig. Very fatty and crunchy.
All the food taste delicous!
The Karekare has generous portions of meat. It usually Ox tail but I think they serve it with only beef. Other restaurants only give you a few pieces. This place gave us generous portions.
The Sisig was okay. I think I’m kinda jaded because I use to work for a Filipino restaurant that had amazing sisig. The sisig isn’t authentic, it’s the more americanized version, much like Carne asada. The authentic version is with the intestines and cartilage and slime. This is the Turndown version but nonetheless delicious.
I can’t review the longsilog because I didn’t get it but my friend jazz seem to really enjoy it.
The Lechon Kawali is great! My favorite part. It’s very fatty so for all you guys who are trying to cut weight then this isn’t for you. The owner gave us some all-​purpose sause with it which is a must if u decide to eat this dish.
The garlic rice was average but it’s okay because the main dishes were great!
The bill was only 16 bucks… I was so surprised! That is never the case! I planned on paying 25.
I plan on coming here again soon. HOPE MY REVIEW HELPS!

This restaurant is my neighbor and when I’m starving I come over and have them cook me some tapsilog!
It’s a cute little place that has a lot of food during the day! It’s a nice family owned restaurant and everyone should support them! I get lazy and I don’t like cooking so these owners are life savors!

Small little restaurant next in a tiny plaza tucked next to a neighborhood. I’ve always gone to the liquor store and China Station and recently, the nail salon there and never gave this place a try.
Finally decided to give this place a try since I saw good reviews for their silogs and they are pretty close by to me. I ordered the Tocilog and my bf also ordered the tocilog with two longanisas on the side. They charge you $ 0.99 for each longanisa you want to add in additional to your silog. Which is kind of expensive.
Anyway, received the food, and it was very greasy. I know that filipino breakfasts are usually oily but this was just over the top greasy. Made the food less appetizing. Not for me.
Owner was really nice though.

I absolutely love this place! I’ve been going here for years with my family and haven’t been disappointed.
I usually get the tocilog here. It’s sweet and delicious. Garlic rice is bomb. Sometimes I get the tapsilog instead, and it’s well seasoned and a good consistency. I will sometimes order the sinigang if it’s lunchtime and the tartness is perfect. Adobo is also well seasoned and the sauce is on point.
The owner, Jun, is also so friendly and accommodating. My parents always call in our orders and he remembers us. The lady who works there (don’t remember her name) is also super friendly. I always feel at home, even if I’m just picking my food up.
I love this place and remain loyal to it for having the Filipino breakfast in town. The only reason I don’t give five stars is because my mom’s cooking is the best, but hey, gotta give her a break sometimes!

I was craving a tocilog/​longsilog for brunch last week and came across Manila Turo Turo on Unilocal.I decided to give it a try and take a break from Toppings too since I was craving garlic rice and Toppings only offers their Java rice. I was pleasantly surprised with the service and how delicious my traditional breakfast was. It reminded me of my childhood breakfasts made by my parents. This is easily my new go-​to for –silogs.

Location: Right before you cross the borders into union city or vice versa when you leave union city and you are crossing into fremont. It is in the plaza where people from the area know as «the lakes». (this is called «the lakes» because of the fact that all the neighborhoods are named after lakes.
Customer Service: Family oriented, great service.
Décor: Turo turo style, which means that the food is in front of you and you point to what you want. «turo turo» means to point in tagalog.
Presentation of Food: ^ ^ ^ ^ applies to what I had posted above.
How did the food taste: It’s great comfort food, it brings you back to home! I grew up eating at this restaurant my dad would take me all the time, I mean all the time!
Overall Experience: I haven’t been here for a while as I got older, but now that I decided to review it I may just come by and visit.
I love this place.

This place has the best tocilog and tapsilog around! The tocino is nice and sweet, and the tapa is not dry or hard like at most other Filipino restaurants.
As for the lunch options (turo-​turo style), my favorites are the adobo chicken and the ginisang monggo. Make sure to get extra adobo sauce on your rice — yummy!
We always get a party tray of the lumpiang shanghai and they are always a hit! I have ordered from different places for shanghai and I can say that Jun’s shanghai are the best.
Good food at an affordable price and a friendly and humble owner– what more can you ask for? So the next time you have a craving for good Filipino food, instead of going to big chains in the area like Gerry’s Grill or Jollibee’s, support this local business instead, and you are guaranteed a meal that will most closely resemble a dish your own mother used to make.

Excellent service, delicious food & very reasonable pricing. They are known for all day silog plates (Filipino breakfast) and I have yet to try, but their turo turo (translated literally as «point point») is a medium size selection that changes daily/​weekly though definitely tends to have my fave most the time (Kare-​Kare).
Kare-​Kare both times were delish! Thick sauce, lots of veggies, meat and even had the tripe! Yum! Tried the Levon kawali (which they are popular for also) and bistek (beef steak) — both were pretty awesome!
You can get a solid meal here for under $ 7 and it’s a good alternate if you aren’t craving Chinese and/​or you’ve never tried Filipino food and are curious to try without going broke. Owner is friendly and more than happy to explain dishes you don’t know.

I’m always hesitant to give a Filipino restaurant a poor review cuz I don’t know if I’m gonna piss off someone that knows my parents and also, I don’t like the idea of messing with someone’s livelihood. But at the same time, I gotta be honest…
First of all, I had to wait about 10 minutes before being helped and another 15 for my TO-​GO order. Not the worst thing considering there was only one person working there when I got there… but why was only one person there at 10 am when it supposedly opens at 8:30?
I would also like to add that I’m always down to wait if the end product is going to be awesome. Case in point: Ici in Berkeley, the halal cart in NY, Sidebar in Oakland, Buffalo Wild Wings. You get the picture. And given that it’s my day off, it’s not like I didn’t have the time to wait. But did I really wait all that time for obviously microwaved food, dry, non garlicky garlic rice, and longanisa that is definitely not actual longanisa (you know how I know it’s not real longanisa? I burped and didn’t taste shit).
To be fair, maybe I ordered something not so great. The lady working there told me «next time order the tocino» — great so you still knowingly served and overcharged me for something that wasn’t gonna be good. I have to believe the hella good reviews here are for a reason that I’m not aware of. Well either way, you’ll be fine without my business.
Now I gotta go home and apologize to my mom for wasting money and most importantly, eating Filipino breakfast elsewhere.

Tocilog plate for $ 5.50.
The owner (?) was very friendly and explained much to a newbie to food from Manila. Breakfast is served all day, expedient and fresh, and really hit the spot.
Tocilog! Do it!
$ 5.50! I haven’t seen prices like this for that much food since the 90’s.

Oh what the heck! I’m lazy to cook my own meal! I’ve been neglecting to drag my behind to Manila Turo Turo!
Just when I had a craving for some home cooked Filipino food, the first place I looked was in the fridge. Guess what! EMPTY! So out of hunger pangs and a slight migraine, I drove down to Manila Turo Turo. Manila Turo Turo is hidden in a small plaza boarder lining Union City and Fremont. As I walked into the restaurant, it was empty, but food was already prepared. The turo turo food prep style in the Filipino culture is a la carte. Your job is to pick and enjoy your dishes. This is very similar to popular Chinese fast food restaurants. I came here on a mission and focused my food selections: Pork sinigang soup and pork Sisig.
I was in luck to find the dishes I was craving and placed order medium sized servings of pork sinigang and pork Sisig to go. I didn’t have order any white rice (which is a MUST when you get ANY sinigang soup) since that was the only thing cooked at home. The help was friendly and efficient. For the medium orders I spent less than $ 15. When I completed my purchase, I headed home as fast as I could. LEGALLY!
When I opened my bag, my orders were tightly wrapped to prevent any kind of spills. With my plate pulled with white rice, I went for the pork sinigang. The pork sinigang was composed of string beans, eggplant, onions, thick cuts of pork all mixed in with a salty/​sour taste. I think it’s an acquired taste, but don’t knock it till you try it. My favorite thing to do is pour the soup base on my white rice to give it flavor. The veggies were fresh. As for the pork pieces were tender, not tough at all.
For my next menu item, pork sisig. This dish is composed of marinated pork meat all cooked in a sizzling pan mixed with onions and jalapeños. To make this dish better, add a few squeezes of calamansi juice (miniature lime) over the sisig. A little tartness it a distinguished taste. Like the pork in the sinigang, it was tender here as well. The jalapeños and onions gave the meat a spicy kick.
With all that said, I was a happy camper. Food to fill me up and cravings fulfilled. Filipino breakfasts (aka silogs) served all day. If you’re looking to cater some great tasting Filipino food, Manila Turo Turo has catering services available!

Oh my gulay! I came here today (2^nd visit) to try their tocino and garlic rice. Their tocino is probably the best I have ever had. Not too sticky sweet like some I’ve eaten and it’s made to order. The garlic rice was a nice companion. Not too garlicky, just right. The last time that I visited I had the lechon kawali and adobo. I also tried the longanisa. The lechon kawali was perfectly fried and seasoned. The adobo was solid. The only thing I didnt like about it was that the skin was left on (my dad always cooks it for us without the skin). The longanisa was on the sweet side. I prefer mine more savory and spicy. But, if you like your longanisa sweeter, you’ll love theirs! I loved that the owner took the time to tell me that they use no MSG and also explain their menu. Prices are very very reasonable too, and the portions are great. I’ll be back.