Max’s Restaurant

We decided to grab a bite to eat since it was still early enough to beat the church crowd on a Sunday. We barely waited 5 mins and were seated upstairs. Someone immediately took our order of pork sisig, longsilog, and tapsilog, which came out in about 15 mins. The longsilog was pretty tasty, as well as the sisig. The sisig came out on a sizzling plate and I liked the crunchy crispy bits along with the fatty pieces! However, my husband was not thrilled with his tapsilog and said it lacked flavor. Everything was quite salty (as expected) and within minutes, my rings were tight on my fingers. The food was decent but I wasn’t completely wow’d by the meal. I made myself drink water during the meal to combat some of that saltiness. We waited a bit for our server to come back with the check. I ordered a full fried chicken to go for my parents so maybe I’ll update my review once I’ve had a chance to try their chicken out again (been a few yrs!)

I give the service 5 stars, thanks to the very fast, efficient and friendly service of Dario!
The food was not that good sadly. Probably we’re used to Max’s Philippine style? The egg in Tapsilog was scrambled and soggy, with weird taste. The wrapper for the Fresh Lumpia was stale. The sisig was very good though! The environment meanwhile was disappointing too, the floor was sticky/​slippery and a moldy smell you can’t miss. Their restroom were clean which was a surprise.

This place never ceases to please, however, there have been times when they are busy and the food gets to you lukewarm. Their garlic rice is perfectly garlicky (made up word).
They are famous for their fried chicken which never disappoints because the crispy fried goodness of the skin melts in your mouth. Kare-​kare (peanut beef stew?) Is amazing! It is the perfect accompaniment to their crispy pata which is a hit or miss in regards to size, but never in taste or crispiness.
The service is great unless you come on a weekend and the place is packed because you can tell that some of the waiters dodge you when they’re realize you’re going to ask for something. Lol.
I took off a star because sometimes the food takes a while to arrive, hence the lukewarm soup. Nobody wants to eat lukewarm soup. Also the taken off star is because my sago& gulaman was ¾ ice.

The service takes to long, the food is ok. Some food have to much fat, oily, and doesn’t have good flavors. I espect this place to be good since it’s from the Phillipines. I’m Filipino as well and I’m very disappointed of this restaurant.

Wasnt crazy about this place. Came here on a weeknight with a group of 7 or so. Staff and service were fine, the food was questionable, though. Started with some lumpia (always a good choice) and then had the pork belly sisig. I feel like they used weird cuts of pork to make this, it was very fatty — not that flavorful and the dish itself was literally an ebtire plate of meat (you had to pay extra for the rice) which was a bit misleading.
I was always interested in trying that place, but now that i have… im at peace with not trying again. And who knows, maybe it was my particukar order — others in my party got the chicken and seemed to enjoy, maybe that would have been a safer bet.

Full disclosure: this was the first Filipino restaurant I’ve been to. The Tapsilog (marinated beef strips) with scrambled eggs and garlic rice was amazing! However, the other dishes I tried I wouldn’t order again: Spaghetti (sauce was too sweet), Lumpiang Shanghai (egg rolls), Halo-​Halo, Turon ala mode (fried banana lumpia with ice cream), and Pancit Canton.

I’ve been here several times with family. They seat you as fast as they can and the waiters are as attentive as they can be — and that’s why I give it more than 1 star. BUT the food is inconsistent! We ordered Kare Kare, Bicol Express, pancit canton, and chicken. Everything was cold! How can you serve food that came from the kitchen that’s cold???

I think this time I enjoyed more my meal experience here. I guess it’s because I saw how helpful those who attended to us that Saturday afternoon. We waited for our 3 companions to arrive for close to an hour & had our meal in the meantime. By the time our companions arrived, I was ready for dessert. Mind you, I totally enjoyed their halo halo (a must have here, so make space in your belly for this one lol).

So i heard that this was the best place to eat filipino food. Therefore I came in and tried it out with my filipino BF. Literally the worst restaurant I’ve been to (food wise). ALL the food came out cold except for the lumpiang shanghai. The bistek was too hard to eat. The sauce was too thick and gooey. The sizzling pork belly sisig was all fat no meat. I thought i was going to puke when i had put a spoonful of it into my mouth. And the chicken was plain and season-​less. Beside most of it being cold, nothing tasted good. My BF agreed. They had a good amount of people inside eating when i was there. I just don’t understand how ppl like this.

I give them 2 Stars. Food is ok. Nice servers. But there is one incident that refrain me to come back. The fried rice I ordered has a mixture of small cockroach. I called the attention of one of the waiter and showed them. They were apologetic. And end up not paying one of the dishes. I don’t want to make a scene. I know nobody wants this to happen. So lesson learned. Check your food first before you it it.

Food is expensive and always takes 45+ mins to be served, no matter how many people in your party or how much you order. I always thought that maybe it was their way of trying to pass the food off as «freshly made».

It was good until they lost our order and delayed it for an hour. Then to add further insult to injury, they didn’t try to even make up for their mistakes, but instead gave us excuses. At least try to give us drinks or dessert on the house or a discount on our bill for the inconvenience. We even had to ask for water, which should’ve already been offered initially. It’s just bad customer service at Max’s Restaurant. Will not return for now…

I ordered for takeout so I can’t really comment on service, but it being a Filipino restaurant, it’s safe to say that it will be friendly and courteous.
I ordered a whole chicken and pork belly sisig. The chicken is Max’s signature dish and it’s an acquired taste — the skin is crispy but oily, the meat is okay, not that moist and tender and the size of the chicken will be smallish — it’s just the way it is. What makes it different is when you dip it in the Banana ketchup — yup, that’s the taste of my childhood.
The Pork belly Sisig, on the other hand, is the bomb! The skin is crispy and the meat so flavorful that I needed rice to tone it down a bit as it is overwhelmingly delicious eaten by itself. The sauce with onions and soy is just perfect. I will definitely eat that again.

Start with the trio teaser of lumpiang, calamari, and sweet potato fries. My three ultimate kryptonites!!! The lumpiang can also be ordered separately in an edible eggroll bowl.
I liked how the buko had large coconut pieces rather than flakes.
The fried chicken had the crunchy skin I was craving. Although a tad salty, I still enjoyed every bite.
The kare kare was tender and the peanut sauce consistency was just right. It paired wonderfully with the garlic rice. The large order can feed a family of 6. It comes out in a cauldron that would do Harry Potter proud.
The pancit palabok was a generous portion, more so than what I had at Filipino restaurants back home in Queens.
The pork belly sisig was savory and flavorful. I wish it came with a fried egg on top to satisfy my cholesterol-​fueled gluttony.
If you’re looking for serious brain freeze, the icy-​sweet halo-​halo won’t disappoint. A fine treat summer or winter.
Our waiter was attentive and always had a pleasant smile on his face. Max’s is a great establishment of casual Filipino fare. I won’t be surprised if they purposely had the Philippine supermarket next door set up for you to walk off all the delicious goodness.

Service is 2^nd to none no matter how busy the place is. Although most food are mostly Filipino inspired. fried chicken is just GREAT and unique You need to taste it. Authentic dishes and reasonably priced. We’ll be back soon and don’t forget the mixed ice delicacy *halo halo“he

Finally a Filipino sit-​down restaurant that’s good enough to bring my white friends.
GASP!?! O-M-G…did he go there, you’re probably thinking.
But — come on — lets be real here.
A vast amount of the Filipino spots are mostly «turo-​turo» type of places where the food is pre-​made, under a hot lamp, where the food isn’t necessarily hot.
This place — like the ones in the Philippines are all made to order.
The menu — is easy to read, not bible of different types of foods — just the ones that are popular. And they are translated and described well. I’ll definitely be back for a second visit.
Notable dishes:
Gulaman — jelly drink with tapioca
Lechon Kawali — fried pork belly.
Sizzling Chicken Sisig — awesome dish. Didn’t think i’d like chicken livers, but ended up enjoying it.
Dishonorable mentions:
Pancit Palabok — This thing literally hand 1 dried up piece of shrimp. I guess i was supposed to be happy with all the egg they placed on top.

Very far from where I live but I don’t mind traveling just to eat in this restaurant. Very good filipino food that taste like home! I’m from the philippines & food here is authentic filipino food.
Tried this reataurant a lot of times already. I always order the fried chicken, sinigang and letchon kawali. Those are my favorite food. Sinigang is a soup base with pork or beef that taste a little sour and letchon kawali is a deep fried pork belly. They have my favorite dessert too, the halo halo and it is a mixture of shaved ice and evaporated milk with some jelly & flan. Yummy!!!

Max’s is a surprisingly huge Filipino restaurant in Jersey City with huge private event spaces and awesome traditional cuisine. Parking was pretty easy on the street as meters end at 6PM, though the area is a little dark and up and coming. The ground floor does takeout and normal tables, but the upstairs is where the action is. There are two huge spaces for large parties. We had the traditional buffet where you eat with your hands, yep, no silverware at all. Only the rice and thin noodles were difficult. The food was excellent with standouts of the chicken and the garlic pork which was incredible. The Filipino beer they have was also quite nice, especially the less common Red Horse which is a bit heavier and more full bodies than the San Miguel, a typical lager. The dessert was tasty, but the plantain fritters weren’t as flavor packed as the rest of the food. The service was excellent from beginning to end, especially the owner who brought this chain over from the Philippines and kept checking in with us to make sure everything was great. Perfect place for a group event or just trying some unique food.

Meh. It was ok. Take an authentic Filipino restaurant and marry it to a Five Guys. And there you go. Try the fired chicken. It’s good.
It’s kept clean and the service is ok.
Has an upstairs for parties and events.

Good old Filipino food. The place can get crowded.
Minus 1 star because the size of their full chicken’s the size of a bird.
Parking’s municipal or street parking. Customer service is decent.