Jollibee

I guess opening a Jollibee right next to a Panda Express was not a wise choice for the Bee.
The Bee took a beating from the Panda while trying to compete for limited diners on a small budget. I recall seeing the Bee in its last days, and it was sad.
All Bees will think twice before close quarters combat with a determined and well dug-​in Panda.

ATTENTION! Those of you that miss the Jollibee location in Mira Mesa, the manager at the National City location informed that they will be re-​opening in the plaza of the SeaFood City (Mira Mesa) sometime this year 2015. They say it will have a drive through as well. So i’m guessing that either Popeye’s will be closing down or Sherman Williams paint.
I hope this is true information!

This is hands down one of the best places on Earth, next to Disneyland and the Adult Bookstores off of Claremont Mesa Blvd. I was introduced to this lovely place by my now ex wife that is Filipina. We moved here from Jacksonville and within a week or so she came running up to me screaming with joy about this place and we HAD to go to it. I jumped into the car with my 4 year old daughter at the time to «The Bee» as we called it.
In front was a large red and white bee with a smiling face and we posed in front of it like tourists. I walked in and we ordered from the lunch menu, some dried up nasty piece of fried chicken with gravy on the side. My daughter had this ultra sweet spaghetti that after one bite may be the reason I end up with diabetes in my senior years. The food was moderately priced and mediocre at best, but the names of their food made me smile, chicken joy, palabok, ube… names that i would never understand, but snickered at.
I never went back for lunch as it was suspect at best. But we did go there for breakfast a multitude of times, where I was introduced to three of the greatest things ever made! Garlic rice being the first, hands down the best discovery since man discovered how to use fire effectively. Longanisa, which is some kind of sausage filled with some kind of wonderful, and it gave you super powers as well. If you ate two of them, no matter what you ate in the next 24 hours, whenever you burped, you had the ability to force people int he car to open up all the windows and scream at the top of their lungs as their eyes burned form the odor. Finally, corned beef breakfast. Oh lordy lordy lordy, I would rub that all over my naked body just so I can smell like it. I get a full on erection just thinking about it.
If I ever get married again, I would want them to cater my reception, with just those three items, garlic rice, longanisa, and corned beef. Hell, I may just get married just for that to happen. Whose with me?
I really loved the service, the random white girl that would get a job there was entertaining as well. Though I will fully admit, nothing beat the guy that worked there that always wore the Jollibee hat that was three sizes too small for his head and had the half bill that made him look incredibly special. I am going to miss this store in Mira Mesa. It should be an outrage that it has closed down. I mean they do not call Mira Mesa Manila Mesa for nothing, where are my brown people protesting this? Nobody wants to drive to National City or Chula Vista for their Chicken Joy or Corned Beef Breakfast… it is a travesty.
Oh, Mr. Bee, I shall miss you. I will never look at corned beef again in the same way.

This review is based solely on my wife’s recent visit here. She had a simple order, Spaghetti and Chicken with a Soda Combo. Unfortunately, their soda machine was out of order as it was only spewing out root beer. The employee was kind enough to apologize which was greatly appreciated.
So instead, she ordered a Spaghetti and Chicken only. To her surprise, the employee continued to charge her for the soda combo. When she attempted to question saleslady’s actions, the employee was once again kind enough to apologize. And that’s all she got, an apology. No attempt was made to lower the price for the meal. Even the manager was just apologetic and nothing more. No substitutes for the same price were allowed either. It’s either you get the root beer or pay extra for their juices. Considering the situation, such actions should’ve been made by the manager.
A malfunctioning equipment is nothing new for a restaurant, but to shove full price and a take it or leave it attitude for an incomplete item towards a paying customer is crazy! Even car salesmen don’t do you wrong like that.
News flash Jollibee, we’re not in Philippines. Actually, let me take that back as I think they Jollibees there would’ve been better managed there. And you think accommodations would been made after the initial irate customer. Apparently there were others prior to my wife.
Lucky for them my wife was pregnant and had the craving, and just wanted to get the food regardless of the price.

Love their gravy! Love rice! Gravy + rice? A party in your mouth.
Fried chicken with gravy and rice… can’t get any better. Their chicken is a little too greasy, but it’s not like you eat this stuff everyday so it’s okay. Eat your heart away… just for that one day.

Sssshhhhhttttt…
Ok if you’re Filipino, you’ll know what this means… HA!
We decided to stop by for a Filipino treat. The last time I had Jollibee was when I went home to PI in 2006.
Ordered:
–Chickenjoy (3pc) with rice and gravy with drink: The chicken came out crispy and (temperature) HOT. The only gripe I have is that the chicken was SUPER SALTY!!!
–Palabok (Fiesta noodles): Needed all 3 packets of lemon. The palabok had a deeper color and it was ok the first few bites, but thereafter, I couldn’t take anymore bites since the taste had become too bland.
–Mango Peach Pie (2 for $ 3): Wasn’t too crazy about it. The crust of the pie was good and crisp, but I didn’t care for the mango peach. The flavor was too confusing for me. Just give me a mango pie dammit!!!
We spent about $ 15 for dinner, but it was fast and convenient. The staff was nice and answered my questions about the menu. The restaurant was clean and spacious. I’ll be back to try the spaghetti and the halo halo.

HOY!
The three piece fried chicken, two sides of rice and gravy are all you need to know when you come here.
I can do without the indifference and lack of respect I get from the fobby Pinoys working the counter. Shit dude, when I walk up to the counter greet me politely instead of saying, «YEAH?». WTF, where’s your manners kid? And this was coming from the manager. Then on top of that, they screwed up on our orders. Dude, get off the smartphone and pay attention! Yes, the manager was on his smartphone, dicking around while on the job.
The Halo Halo is passable but not something you’d run over your Uncle Bong to get. The fried Mango Peach Pie is so good, it’ll make you wanna slap your Lola.
The highlight of our visit was meeting up with old high school friends we haven’t seen in over 20 years.
Time flies but I’m in no rush to come back here for a bite.

If a vegetable gets cooked in Jollibee does anyone really know? Have you checked their menu? Where are there veggies? I understand that the chicken is supposedly good. And the spagghetti is good. But, I can’t help but want something else to go with my chicken…
As for the service… I was entranced by the one caucasian female behind the counter. I’m thinking… «she looks so tall…»
Then I came back down to earth and realized… All the trashcans were full. The tables need to be wiped down. The floor looked filthy. And the bathrooms… I was too scared to walk in there.

This is 3^rd world Fast Food at its Finest?!? I’m pretty sure the hamburger is not 100% beef… and I think they actually boil their hamburger patties.
Seriously, how do you mess up a hamburger ??

This is the Filipino version of McDonalds, but worse.
The quality of the food is just not there. The ingredients and preparation are all low-​grade, and the tastes are straight up just bad. One look at the food, and you’ll know, just don’t go.

Man listen.
All these amateurs are going to Jollibee’s for the wrong reasons.
You go here for the fried chicken and the Filipino spaghetti. That’s it.
I admit the service is kinda bad. They take forever to get the food out and the cashiers always seem kinda stupid and slow.
«Ahh sir would you like to add a peach mango pie sir?» (Filipino Accent)
Every time I hear them with some scripted line like that I want to throw a dodge ball at them.
Final Thoughts:
Try the spaghetti and chicken. Good luck on anything else.

OMG the food here is putrid. My parents and I wanted to try it out for breakfast since we had visited one on a recent trip to the Philippines. My Mom got the Bangus and I swear the fish was still raw and uncooked. I got the Corned Beef which was soupy and looked pretty much like dog food. Didn’t have much taste and you can get better Corned Beef out of a can. Lost my appetite. My Dad probably had the better of the choices with the Spam.
Portions are about the same size as airline food trays. The only saving grace is the garlic rice served with each meal… although it could stand to have more garlic added.
We heard their fried chicken was supposed to be excellent so we ordered a bucket to go for lunch later. I guess that’s what they should stick with because that was decent.
What a disappointment. Guess I’ll satify my Jollibee craving for my next visit to the PI.

If they’re going to run out of food and refuse to make more chicken at 7 or 8PM you should just close at that time instead of misleading people to think they’re still serving. Every other Jollibee location I’ve been to is great, except this one mainly because the service is horrible and they always run out of chicken, what’s the excuse for that?

Thank goodness I’m not Filipina — I’d probably hate this place.
Buttttttt. I’m not. So Jollibee’s greasy, juicy, crispy, salty fried chicken and delicious, fried, oh-​so-​sweet Banana Lanka Pies are like crack to me.
«CRACK,» I SAY!!!
Had to subtract one star:
— I called on my way to order the buckets of chicken. No answer.
— 35 minute wait for Chickenjoy (fried chicken). Umm. This is fast food, no? I’m not here for no ‘made to order’ crap.
CRACK, I SAY!!!

So, I’m actually giving them an extra star. Maybe I’m feeling generous cause I’m not in a particularly good mood, or bad for that matter.
Anyway, I got the chicken joy in a bucket. I think that’s what it’s called. For the price, not bad. Again, the chicken is «good» because it’s different. You can’t get fried chicken like this anywhere else in the United States.
I also got the spaghetti. It’s fun to get, but it was worse than I can remember. I have had better here.
And!
Ordered 2, TWO, Halo Halo to go. They were running some sort of promo deal where you get a halo halo shaped card and when you get it all signed off, you get one free. What bothered me was I ordered 2. So how many checks did I get for my 2 halo halos? 1! One! I asked what’s up and the nice gal behind the counter told me you get 1 «punch» per visit. So it doesn’t matter how many I buy, I get 1 «punch.» Next time they run this promo and I want to order more than 1 halo halo. I will make sure I have someone buy my second one.
So, why am I giving them an extra star?
I must be getting sick or somethin…

Oh Jollibee… when my mom gets a craving for your chicken, I have to drive her here. I remember going to a Jollibee in the Philippines and having a burger… it wasn’t anything special, in fact it reminded me of the various fast food chains other countries have that are interesting to try, but you are wishing by the end of the meal that you went somewhere else.
I decided I wasn’t going to fall into the same trap and order a burger. Mom had already decided what we were having anyway, a bucket of Chicken Joy for $ 5.99. There aren’t a whole lot of sides to choose from: Rice, Mashed Potatoes, Corn, Fries, Sweet Potato Fries. I did notice they have new snack sandwiches which looks like a roll (maybe Pan de Sal) with your choice of corned beef or Spam. Not going to lie, I love Spam. My friends don’t get it, but I love it and considered having one, but thought a bucket of Chicken Joy and rice was enough. Mom decided in addition to rice she wanted to try the Sweet Potato Waffle Fries.
I will say that the staff were very friendly and even though it took awhile for the Sweet Potato Waffle Fries to come out, the fact that they were so friendly and let my mom flip flop a few times from eating in or takeaway. The chicken is crispier and not nearly as greasy as KFC, so that was a plus. And where else can you get fried chicken with steamed white rice… besides at home when Mom used to make it. The Sweet Potato Fries were even nice! I saw some people with the spaghetti and the Fiesta Noodles… it looked ok and they seemed to be tucking in, but not my scene. My mom then asked if I wanted one of the pies… that is code for, «Anak, I want a pie, but I don’t want to be the only one eating.» So I said that I would have the Peach and Mango pie. I think my mom wanted the Banana and Langka pie, but they were out of those. I have to say, I really enjoyed that Peach and Mango pie. I will go as far as to say that I think it is better than McDonald’s Apple pie! Yup!
Is it the first place I’ll go for fast food… probably not, but it isn’t half bad, you just have to know what to order and have an appreciation that this is comfort food for a lot of Filipinos.

This Jollibee is horrible. Went there for a cheese burger and it was the saddest looking cheese burger ever. Lettuce was limp and had started to turn brown. Had to throw it away cuz it was just gross. Their spaghetti was bland and could not take more than 3 bite and threw it away. Their pearl coolers were watered down :(

Why oh Why did I let my friends take me to this dump???
First of all, I went up to order the «Big Yum» and was told that they were all out of it. I could order noodles if I’d like, or they had one piece of chicken left. Gross. Not even sure why, but I ordered some Shrimp/​Egg/​pork/​Noodle mixture. It looked like garbage. To be completely clear, baby food has more consistency than this meal.
I didn’t even have time to bitch about the chairs because the food was worse than anything I’d feed my dog.
On the positive side, the prices are reasonable, so there’s plenty of money left over to go somewhere else for something edible.
Seriously? How do you run out of the «Big Yum»?

I’m FIlipino. I’ve been to the Philippines and experienced the legit Jollibee experience. This is nothing close to what it is in the Philippines. They thought the success in the Philippines can equate to success here with these Jollibees. Not really.
I go here for their 2 for $ 10 deal. You get two entrees to choose from, two drinks, and two dessert pies. I usually get the 2 piece Chicken Joy with rice and gravy. I think it’s the most worth it. As for the other things on the menu? I could care less. I’ve tried their cheeseburger for a dollar. It’s not meat. I can tell you that right now.

For my first Unilocal review of 2011, I thought I’d make it a place I’ve been meaning to review for a while. I have to confess, when we went back to the Philippines last year, we never went to Jollibee. You’d think in the two weeks that we were there, we’d go to the place that Ronald McDonald can’t take over, but it wasn’t meant to be.
In the US (or at least, Southern California), Jollibee is more of a niche restaurant; usually, Filipinos (both homegrown and American born) can be found here getting their Pinoy fast food craving on.
If there’s an item that Jollibee’s best known for (besides their chickenjoy), it’s got to be their spaghetti. Made with banana flavored sauce, diced hot dogs, and topped with shredded cheese, Jollibee spaghetti screams Filipino… and I love it. I ordered a $ 5 combo with a cheeseburger and drink; while the cheeseburger was a bit disappointing (I’ve had better at McDonald’s), the pasta was great as always.
The restaurant itself is clean and the servers are friendly — just what you can expect from a Jollibee in the PI.
I’ll be coming here more often — I haven’t had the chickenjoy in a while, plus they serve tapsilog and other Filipino breakfast dishes after 7 am.