Max’s Restaurant

Came here on ⁰¹⁄₂₆ for dinner. My and buddy got the half chicken dinner. I got my son the spaghetti. It came with soup to start off and the entrée came with fried rice (thats what we picked), Half Chicken, and Caramel Bar.
–Soup: was decent nothing to special
–Entrée: Fried rice was bland (didnt finish it) but the chicken was cooked good but bland. It was a bit dry also for my taste buds. We didnt even eat the caramel bar.
–Spaghetti: Okay, so here is the big issue. My 4 year old got sick off this spaghetti. He was fine throughout school and when I picked him up he was fine. We came home that night and he was throwing up from 12am-​2am off and on. He had to go to the bathroom a few times also that same night. He got diarrhea. He had nothing to eat after Max’s and he only had a small snack before Max. He threw up all the spaghetti. Something in that spaghetti that night was not right. I believe it was either old hot dog, old sauce, or under cooked meat. I felt so bad for the little guy. I will not return to this place. My son loves Jollibee spaghetti and was hoping it would be similar. The portion was really small for the price also. If you bring your kids here and order the spaghetti just be aware. I didnt eat any of it so I didn’t get sick.

We arrived at Max’s 25 minutes before closing time and were turned away. Had a nice meal nearby and walked by Max’s on the way to the car 45 minutes after they closed and they still had customers inside. Feel like we dodged a bullet not going there and will not bother to try again. ⁰⁄₅ for hospitality.

Terrible customer service! Prices are high! Portions are small! Waste of money!

I often get criticized for giving a four to places I like and not giving poor reviews when deserved. That’s because I have a sense of places that would be a disappointment and stay away. If I happen to go to a place that turns out bad I do not hesitate to give a bad review. In the case of Max’s I didn’t have high expectations but the place we really wanted to try had a «party» and Max’s was the best option. I’ve been to Max’s in the Mega Mall so I knew what Max’s was all about. This Max’s was a pleasant surprise. We had lumpia shanghai, lumpiang ubod, pancit bihon, sisig bangus, garlic rice and fried chicken for lunch and leche flan and macapuno ice cream for dessert. The food and service were pretty good and the ice cream delicious. I think that many of the bad reviews are because people have different expectations (it’s not their Lola from Pampanga’s «special» recipe) or some of them are just soplada and masungit. I know what I like and some of my relatives do own Filipino restaurants and write cookbooks. So, I think my opinion is valid. This is a chain restaurant and not the Manila Polo Club. For a chain restaurant it was pretty darn good. I’ll be back.

Food is Great! I always come back for the Pinakbet. On the other hand their service SUCKS! Once food is served to your table, the waiters forget about you until it’s time for them to get your payment. FILIPINO servers need to learn or be taught how to provide GOOD customer service from an American restaurant. I’m guessing there’s no Manager onsite on a daily basis. Or perhaps the manager is sitting in the back sitting on their lazy ass.

This is my first time to eat in this restaurant here in U. S, only thing i can say.
OUR CRISPY PATA WAS FROZEN IN THE INSIDE! I don’t know if they were in a hurry to deep fry it but i was so disappointed to almost eat raw pork meat.
The rest of the food was okay. Hopefully they improve their cooks.

This was reviewed using the acronym
C.H.R.I.S
Cleanliness (³⁄₅)
Hospitality (0.5÷5)
Response time (⁰⁄₅)
Image /​impression (³⁄₅)
Specialty /​scrumptious (⁴⁄₅)
Returning? Yes just for the food. Hate the service.
Cleanliness:
Sometimes the floor is slippery. Sometimes the bathroom has no toilet paper.
Hospitality:
The people that work there are very hopeful. Unfortunately, they are understaffed. This place needs to be managed a lot better.
Response time:
I placed a call to the restaurant, i took me about two minutes to get an error so from the operator. I went ahead and called again waited about 1.5 min to have someone impatient to answer the phone. It takes about 45 – 1 hour to receive your food. If you’re here in a rush to eat please look elsewhere. They are understaffed and need better management.
Image /​impression:
The Decour and image is very simple. A very casual and roomy space for big families and or individuals or couples.
Specialty /​scrumptious:
Do come here for the food. The food is delicious and very flavorful. I come here for the lechon kawali and crispy pata. Please bring your own mang Tomas sauce because they have their own homemade liver sauce, and it isn’t that great. All food appears to be made per order.

Been to this place a couple of times. I HATE the service, but good fix for a Filipino food.
Went there today for my boyfriend’s aunt’s birthday. So before his auntie came, we told the lady in the front who sat us down that it’s our aunt’s birthday. When our server came, we reminded him too. So the aunt came and we ordered lumpia, sinigang pork, lechon kawali, Bicol express, crispy pata, eggplant salad, miki bihon, and steamed rice.
Our order took FOREVER to come out, I’ll say 45mins-​1hr!!! The lumpia, which is supposed to be an appetizer came out very late, came after we got some of the food already. And guess what!!! Right after we got some of our food, they mentioned.“We ran out of rice for the rest of the night, we’re really sorry, you guys want pansit?!!” What in the WORLD!!! We ordered so much food, and they do not have rice!!! If you’re a true Filipino, you eat rice w/​everything!!! It was definitely the worst experience ever!
Not only that, our server went to lunch without telling us, so no one communicated about our aunt’s birthday. I had to get up and tell the front lady again!!! And of course, it took a long time again for them to come bring the candle and sing to her! Very short staff, and yet two employees was on their lunch, chilling in the private room that they have for private parties!!!
The rest of the food was great, except for the fact that we ordered miki bihon, but they gave us just regular pansit!!! So not only that we did not get rice, they got our noodles wrong!!!
1 star for the food.
BADDDDD SERVICEEEEE (just to emphasize!)

Our first time at Max’s Restaurant was in Las Vegas and this was our first time at the Milpitas location. The restaurant is a small casual-​modern space. Our server was very slow to take our order. He was busy chatting with customers, and we had a hard time getting his attention to get our order in. A few other families had arrived after us and their order was placed before ours and their food served first. My family had the pork sigsig, kare-​kare, pancit palabok and halo halo for dessert. We didn’t care for the flavors of the kare-​kare and pancit palabok dishes and have had better else where. The pork sig-​sig and halo-​halo were delicious.

Dropped a star due to recent lack of good service.
Please do NOT walk by my table and stare at my empty glass.
A refill would be nice, or at least ask!

Would not recommend this place for large take out order. I set up order in person 24 hours ahead. Then, on the way to the restaurant I called twice and no answer.
When arrived, the order was not even started? Waited in restaurant almost an hour for completed order. They are wayyyy understaffed.

Im only giving this place a 5 bc of their tadyang. its super yummmmmmm and worth it!

THEY TOOK THE PORK FRIED RICE OFF OF THE MENU.
I loved that damn rice…
Look, this place had good food. The service is atrocious.
We ate here tonight, there was no wait. Our drinks arrive, 2 Diet Pepsi’s that are flat. zero bubbles. I tell the server, he goes in the back for about 10 minutes, comes back, «we have no carbonation.» Ok, water it is. They were still serving sodas. DO PEOPLE NOT COMPLAIN HERE? HOW LONG WAS THAT SODA FLAT? Another time we came here, on a Sunday, they ran out of lumpia. How does a Filipino restaurant run out of lumpia?! AND ITS NEXT TO SEAFOOD CITY!!!
They also need to switch up the music in here. Tonight Salt N Peppa were telling me to push my sisig in to my mouth I guess. It’s like a shitty club that sells fried chicken. Turn it down, I don’t want to hear Eminem yelling at my 2 year old while I dine. Seriously, change the god damn music.

It has been questions as to why Filipino foods have not made it to the mainstream of the American palette. My visit here gave me a glimpse as to why. First of all, food was served as if there was no quality control. People’s appetites are stimulated by our vision. They need to do a better job of presenting their food. It seems that the kitchen just threw food down on the plate. Our lumpiang shanghai were burned. The fresh lumpia wrapper was torn and was just laid on a plate. No garnish at all. Same with the Laing. Most places take great care in presenting their food artfully. They make their dishes Instagram worthy! That’s free advertisement!
Second, the food was either too salty (the sinigang) or bland (the beefsteak).
Our server was excellent and attentive, but the food left a lot to be desired. Please try harder to show the customers that you actually care that want them to return

I wish they have a thumbs down emoji rather than a star!
We Went to this location this past weekend and It was a disappointment!!! My First time being disappointed ever after going there for years. This time though it was more special because I had my family with me from Chicago and I was bragging about how good the food and services there was and how fun it is to go there for birthdays. I was totally embarrassed. Not only They did not sing Happy birthday as a group for my aunt, it was like everything was rushed and nothing tasted good like it used to. I should’ve taken my family somewhere else that could have accommodated my family. I wish I didn’t tip these guys for a bad service! $ 150+ went to total waste at this location!

Don’t let that silly 2.5 star rating rattle you. This place is still jammin’. I’ve never been in where we didn’t have to wait for a table. Most of these reviews are from Filipinos who have certain expectations when eating Filipino food, and most of them have issues with portions/​value.
First things first, this place is an established chain from the old world. They are known for their fried chicken. So if you don’t order this, then you are missing the boat on what built this establishment. You don’t come here for their kare kare or their nilaga. Sure you can order these things but it should be in conjunction with the chicken that they are known for.
Now this chicken. I’ve had it here and in the PI. It is not breaded or battered. It is simply fried crisp, so the skin achieves a certain texture. They score the chicken to ensure more crispness, but makes it look a bit funky. It is well seasoned, not like Savory Chicken down the parking lot (tsk-​tsk).
It seems steamed/​par-​cooked prior to frying but that is just an assumption based on the texture of the meat. The breast meat does come off as dry but that is because they cook it whole or half, so they are cooking the lean white meat at the same timing as the dark (a big no-​no in my book). The dark/​leg meat is incredibly good. Juicy, crispy and simple. They really should separate the two parts and cook them at different times but I know they aren’t going to change a thing after doing it for longer than I’ve been alive.
Everything else here is just standard/​decent restaurant fare. The portions are smaller than say Kalessa down the road so I can see where many Filipinos have an issue here. I don’t cuz I don’t judge my to-​go boxes as a sign of value or a positive experience.
The service is friendly but just not very observation oriented. They will ask of things but just a simple monitor of table would prove much more efficient. But now I’m just being a dick, so I’ll stop there. Max’s…you alright in my book.

Service — ⁴⁄₅
Food — ²⁄₅
Friendly staff, wait time was long (40 mins — 1 hour on a Sunday) and the food was okay.
For those Unilocalers out there who are not familiar with Max (the group), it’s an established Filipino restaurant chain that started after the World War 2. It now has multiple branches worldwide (UAE, Canada, Dubai, etc.) I’ve been to several locations in the Philippines as a kid and so I know what their trademark Filipino-​style chicken tastes like. It’s supposed to be delicious (really juicy) and as their old slogan claims, «Sarap (delicious) to the bones!»
I was a bit disappointed after dining at this branch. Their chicken here was crispy but a little dry for my taste. We did family-​style ordering, so I was able to try out their other foods as well. Buko pandan was SO good. Garlic rice, pancit canton, lumpia, bulalo and halo-​halo were okay, but could have been better. Also I’m not sure if it was just that particular day that we went there, but I called the day before and I was told that they do not accept reservations. Great.
The staff here, however, was very nice and helpful. We were warmly greeted after entering the restaurant and apologized for the wait.
So the main reason why I am giving this only 3 stars:
This is one of those restaurants I expected to serve classic comfort foods — think Mac and Cheese for American households is like old school Sinigang for Filipino families. It’s the type of restaurant you would be thrilled to bring your nanay/​tatay, lolo/​lola and other relatives or friends who share an equally insatiable appetite for classic Filipino dishes, so obviously, the bar is way up there. However, overall, dining here was an underwhelming experience. There was nothing too special about this place, except for the fact that Max is a well-​known franchise back in the P. But considering that the Bay Area is home to many Filipinos, there are other lesser known, independent restaurants where you can get the same food for a fraction of the cost.

If you have never tried the fried chicken at Max’s — go now. You can order a whole chicken for $ 13.65, or a half order for $ 7.95. The chicken is cooked and seasoned to perfection. Usually, I don’t even like the skin on chicken. However, Max’s chicken is so good, I considered eating the bones and the plate that it was served on. Although I could eat a whole chicken by myself, I opted to share with the rest of my family so that I could try some of the other delicious menu items.
For an appetizer, we chose for the Lumpiang Shanghai (egg rolls) — $ 7.95 per order. One order consists of about 12 – 14 pieces, so there is plenty to share. The citrus –based dipping sauce is a nice compliment to the meat –filled egg rolls. Bottom line, these are the best egg rolls that I have tried at any Filipino restaurant.
I also had the opportunity to try the Pinatuyong Adobo (pork adobo), and the Pancit Bihon (rice noodle). I was slightly disappointed in the pork adobo –the meat was a little too fatty for my liking, and the sauce was a little basic. However, the pancit was so good. There was plenty of meat and veggies throughout –none of that cheap filler that many restaurants use. I would have liked some hot sauce to go with the pancit, but I didn’t want to put my fork down long enough to ask our server.
I really enjoyed my meal at Max’s. However, the restaurant cleanliness needs to be addressed. The menus were greasy (probably from all that delicious fried chicken), there was food on the floor, and the bathrooms looked like they haven’t been cleaned in weeks. Despite the grime, I am definitely coming back. I wouldn’t care if they dropped my chicken on the floor and served it to me. 5 second rule –right?

I would say, overrated.
Max’s is good in the Philippines. When they decided to bring it over to the US, maybe not such a good idea. I come here every now and then, trying to give them a chance to redeem themselves, but they fail me most of the time.
One time, we ordered the appetizer sampler, and they brought out a small plate with a few pieces of lumpia (with 80% wrapper and 20% filling), some «calamari» and a few soggy fries. I was very disappointed. I also ordered a bowl of Kare-​kare which is delicious on my opinion but was extremely lacking everything. It had very little pieces of meat, some over cooked vegetables, and way too much sauce to cover everything. It has the flavor though, so good job on that.
Their nilaga soup was served warm, but again, the vegetables were overcooked. The letchon kawali was a huge let down. They brought it out cold, and not crispy at all. I had to have them re-​fry it, and even after bringing it back, it still doesn’t have the crunchiness traditional letchon kawali has.
The only thing that makes me come back, and the only reason why this review has stars is because of their KRISPY TADYANG. I’ve never heard of this dish before, even when I was still in the Philippines. Yes, it’s huge. Yes, it’s oily. But this thing blows bacon out of the water!. Its always served warm and juicy. Fall of the bone almost, and very satisfying. Do not order this if you are eating it alone, Its massive! I love the garlic rice and the vinegar dip on the side that comes with it.
Be warned, this place is PACKED on Sunday lunches. Come before lunch time or in the afternoon to avoid the huge crowd.

I mean.
for what it is and for a Filipino restaurant, its okay! The service is pretty decent, the place is clean and simple, the food taste pretty good, but the price is a bit too high I think?
I came here the other day with my uncle and mom. We ordered Crispy Pata which was amazing! HANDS DOWN delicious with a juicy texture and big portion! for $ 17, this delicacy is a hit! I totally suggest ordering this. I killed one for myself!
The sinigang was good too! The soup based tamarind was sour yet flavorful. They put enough pork mea and vegetables inside thanks to the request of my mom. The fish sisig was delicious too. The meat was tender and had a nice coleslaw texture to it with a bite of citrus and chili.
Rice is too expensive here. A cup is a bit too expensive I think.
I guess the complaints I have are a few key things. The cooks don’t put enough meat and vegetables into their dishes and this a huge rip-​off. If it weren’t for my mom complaining about the ratio and portion size, the cooks wouldn’t have added on extra stuff and instead we’d eat just soup. NOT GOOD.
Also, when they packed our food to go, we noticed they dumped out big pieces of the meat and vegetables and left our to-​go box with just soup and a pieced of meat! This is not fair and disrespectful to the customer.
Now that I think of it? Maybe they even put back the leftovers into the dishes and use it for the next guest? Just to save them money and time. This is a huge issue and should be fixed ASAP.