Jollibee

It was sometime within the last few months that I realized Jollibee had closed; I was shocked. No more rice with gravy and a chicken drum. Further more, no more Red Ribbon! Dammit, where am I going to get my pan de sal and ensaymadas?
Honestly, I won’t miss this place that much.

I swear I saw this place open last week while driving along Howard street. This Filipino fried chicken fast food shop has CLOSED. Now the only branch open is the 24 hr location in Daly City.
No more cheap fried chicken for the downtown crowd. In my opinion both KFC & Popeye’s are better than Jollibee. Although this location didn’t offer all the menu choices u can get in Daly City. If u never tried this chain, the difference is that u get separate containers with white rice and gravy with your fried chicken order. Most people made fun of the ketchup w/​sliced hot dogs spaghetti. I imagine that kids would love that. Service was okay.
They didn’t have enough business, but the location is fantastic right on the corner next to the Moscone Center buildings. Whoever takes over this spot could do very well if they can attract convention attendees.

I finally made it to the McDonald’s of the Philippines last week. (I love McDonald’s and Filipino food so this was way overdue.)
To be honest, it was the big picture of halo halo in their window that drew me in. Then I saw that they also sell lumpias, so I got them both. The lumpias were actually pretty good – crispy and flavourful (
). For $ 3 you get 6 small lumpias (
) and instead of ketchup they give you packets of Chinese sweet & sour sauce.
As for the halo halo, it was only ok. I liked the two small scoops of ube ice cream and small piece of flan at the top. There was also a small amount of beans and coconut jelly at the bottom that were good. The problem I had though was the ice – there was so much of it! About 75% of the cup was filled with ice (
). It made getting to the goodies at the bottom really difficult and totally diluted the flavours down. Even after scooping out half the ice in the cup it was still bland.
In essence, the ice was the equivalent of rice at all-​you-​can-​eat sushi.

Is it possible to be too polite? I think FOB Filipino’s push that envelope. They made me stand there for ten minutes asking me a million questions on what I wanted when I was crystal clear. Give me the Filipino spaghetti!
The food is subpar and always kills my stomach, yet I am loyal to my Filipino fast food joint.
Skip everything and just get the mango-​peach pie. It is great. I wanted one so badly that when I got it fresh I spat it out it was so hot.

~*~The Halo-​Halo Food Pyramid~*~
*
/​\
/​\
/​\
/​FRUIT \
/​\
/​ICE | BEANS \
/​\
/​SIN | LOVE \
/​\
/​FAT | REGRET \
/​\
/​SUGAR | KARAOKE \

I have got to be one of the few Filipinos on Earth who have never been to Jollibee. Well I guess I can no longer say that. My cousin and I were walking through SOMA. He was showing me the Moscone Center and we just happened to walk by.
The problem was that neither of us were really hungry (we had just been to Fuzio’s). Undeterred, my cousin ordered a cheeseburger and fries — your classic Jollibee combo. I tried the burger and wow. That has to be one of the worst burgers I’ve ever had. It just tasted weird. Or maybe I’m spoiled by Fukuburger.
Still, I am now determined to go to one of the Vegas locations and try their Spaghetti, their Fried Chicken, and maybe their Palabok. For those who don’t know, Filipino Spaghetti is usually super sweet. I used to hate it, but it’s grown on me.

While I’m usually not a fan of fast food restaurants, I do like this spot since it offers something different!
I’ve enjoyed Jollibee for a long time — ever since I lived in the Philippines. While they do have staples like burgers and fried chicken, they also offer some great Philippine specialties like Palabok (a seafood & noodle dish), Lumpia and Halo-​Halo (dessert of shaved ice, evaporated milk, candied fruit and ice cream). One of the best items is the Spaghetti, which is done «Filipino» style, which means the sauce is made with banana ketchup (sweet and slightly spicy), they add hot dogs along with the ground beef and it’s topped with cheese — really good. My other favorite thing to get there is their Ube Cooler. Their «Coolerz» are iced drinks with tropical flavors, like buko (young coconut) and ube (purple yam), with tapioca pearls. .these are perfect for get a cold sweet drink.
If you’re in the area, this is a good option for quick and good fast food… a lot of people seem to have given this place bad reviews, but when I stick to the Filipino Spaghetti and Tropical Coolerz, I wasn’t disappointed.

You’d think with a place as densely populated with Filipinos would have a decent Jollibee. This place stinks.
I’ve had slow service at Jollibee before, but the service at this particular location is ridiculously slow. It’s called fast food for a reason.
So I ordered a Chickenjoy combo, and then the clerk tells me they ran out of chicken. Really? This place now goes under the name «Jollibee: Chicken and Burgers» and they ran out of chicken. Granted, I still waited for them to finish and got my chicken straight out of the fryer, but you have no excuse ro run out of any of your marquee items.
They also put their peach mango pie in the banana langka pie box. Wow.
Like most Jollibee locations, it has a Red Ribbon in it. The problem? They didn’t have the signature Red Ribbon menu. It was simply a bakery. I came to this location hoping for some solid Red Ribbon food and I had to deal with Jollibee food instead.
This isn’t even the worst part. The men’s bathroom has literally no privacy. The door can only be unlocked or locked with a key, so there’s no lock on the door if you’re looking to go #2. What’s worse? When you open the door, you have a perfect angled view of the toilet. So if you have the misfortune of being walked in on, they’ll see ALL your goods. Not just your tush, but everything. Being walked in on is extremely possible too, considering there’s no interior lock.
I hate to do it, Jollibee, but here you go. One star that isn’t even remotely deserved.

I am walking across town because I have time and I am discovering that walking is as fast as taking the bus. No, Muni is not Grey Rabbit Lines.
Here at the convention center is Jollibee. I ride past it on the bus frequently, but now I am on foot. So the posters in the window have me reading about all the strange foods. They have Tasty Bites, little dinner-​roll sandwiches with mayonnaise. Spam. Eggs. Corned beef.
Corned beef? Let’s try it.
I walk inside, and I’m in Manila suddenly. The conventioneers look confused, but I understand. I ask, «Will you make me a corned beef tasty bite?»
«Sure,» says the clerk, and she turns around and picks one off the hot line. There must be 10 of them!
And then I have a mouth full of hot corned beef, bread, and mayonnaise instantly. For $ 1.08.
Try it, bik. Mabuhay!

Bf & I were in downtown months ago and didn’t know what to get & were starving. The spicy Chickenjoy I got at the Great Mall one was just spicy enough and tasty. And that Jollibee was squeaky clean. So I thought why not stop in here? Ugh, what was I thinking?
The chicken was way too spicy & looked like it was sitting out for awhile! And to top things off we had to enjoy a lovely B.O. stench while we were eating (no hobos were in the restaurant and no one was sitting around us), while the Milpitas location just smelled like food! The sides were not tasty either but we finished our shared two piece meal since we were starving. The sides were not very appealing either. Next time in downtown, we’ll spend more money & take more time to get better food! I guess the real fried chicken winner in the city is Popeye’s or fried chicken from a Chinese deli. No Jollibee, nope nope!

Wow, look at those two handsome gents in the profile picture… That alone is worth a third star!

No wonder why obesity is on the rise in the Philippines! With free flowing mayonnaise and menu items with spam, the fried chicken may be the healthiest option! A spattering of Filipino dishes piques the curiosity and the tasty fried chicken makes it a sporadic guilty pleasure.
Chickenjoy: It’s their signature product and it is good! Also super crispy with a good kick. Seems lighter (in terms of breading, not grease) than KFC or Popeye’s.
Yum! Burger: Misnamed for sure. Measly meat patty on a dry bun. Not sure what is in the special burger dressing, but it wasn’t impressive or in generous supply.
Palabok Fiesta: What a treat at a fast food chain! Not sure how it compares to the non-​fast food versions but there is a lack of Filipino joints in the FiDi/​SoMa so I’ll take what I can get. Lots of ground meat and shrimp in a flavorful sauce on bihon noodles. Loved the crunchy pork skin pieces!
Corned Beef Little Big Bite: You won’t see this around St. Patrick’s Day. It’s the minced up kind of corned beef you’d find in corned beef hash. Slather on a bunch of mayo and top on bread. Tasty in small doses, but way too salty and rich for much more.
Spam Mini Little Big Bite. Like the concept, but was hoping for more spam and more crispiness on that spam. Felt like bread and mayo with some slight spam flavoring.
Hot Dog Little Big Bite: I’ve never had a hot dog sliced length wise and placed on a slider bun. Forget the ketchup and mustard, there is only mayo here. Was decent, but I think I’ll stick to a ball park style frank going forward.
‘Zert Pie: Peach and mango tastes more like a candy filling than fresh fruit. Still better than pie from McDonald’s.

My first exposure to Jolibee was when I went to the Philippines ten years ago. I thought it was okay.
Aaron and I came here for a quick bite before we headed to the Caltrain after the elite event back to San Jose. He has eaten Filipino food before, but I wanted him to try the Filipino equivalent of McDonald’s.
I just wanted a cheeseburger and those mango papaya pies. He got the 3 piece chicken with french fries, corn, and I forgot what else. If you love greasy food, this is your place. Each chicken was drenched in oil. The corn was buttery. The cheeseburger hit the spot for me, but I didn’t love or hate it. But I do love those pies.
McDonald’s is definitely better. If you have never tried Filipino food and come here, this is not a true representation.

I found myself hungry after an evening at a holiday party. You know the kind of party where there’s a bounty of food when you arrive, but after a couple of drinks when you feel like something substantial, the entire buffet has been dismantled by ravenous party goers.
As we walked by Jollibee on the way to BART, I convinced my companion that we should stop in and see what this Filipino chain with the smiling plastic yellow bee mascot has to offer.
Two pieces of fried chicken and a sack full of lumpia later, we were noshing our way to oblivion. I’m not sure if it was because I had been starved out at the party or the drinks I had consumed, but that chicken was fabulous, as were the lumpia.
Jollibee is a fast food joint, not some place you want to hang out for hours, so once we were finished with our fried delights, we licked our fingers and were on our way.

eeeeeeeeewwwww i really don’t understand the ketchup spaghetti w/​hot dogs craze. SERIOUSLY???
I grew up next to Daly City too, mmmkaaaay.

What is the largest fast –food chain in the Philipines?
McDonald’s? No!
KFC? No?
Jollibee!
Whaaat?
Jollibee, with the little red Bee icon, is the #1 fast food chain in P.I.
Over 30 years old, with over 600 locations, with 50 of them outside the Philipines.
Like in SF and Daly City. Where you find a large community of Filipinos. This location is in SOMA.
What is Jollibee? It is sort of like KFC meets Micky D’s at Goldilock’s house.
I came for breakfast. Breakfast combos for $ 4.99.
Rice, a slice of tomato on top, a little egg omelete, and your favorite Flip meat. I wanted black dog, but they were all sold out!
(Just kidding!)
I liked the Longanisa. You can also have Tapa (tender beef) or Tocino (sweet pork). No SPAM though.
You can order an «Amazing Aloha» burger (burger with pineapple and sweet pork). Or Palabok, which is a meat stew over noodles. They even have everyone’s favorite, Lumpia!
Hey, the food isn’t great, but getting some rice and Longanisa in the morning, it was a pleasant surprise!
The cute young Filipina was very sweet and nice taking my order.
Tagalog at the counter is not frowned upon, it is welcomed!
Salamat Jollibee!

When I was growing up, I thought that Jollibee was such a McDonald’s knockoff. Its restaurants were similar to MacDonald’s. Its employees spoke the same kind of Pinoy English. Jollibee had its cast of characters — Champ, Mico, Chickee, Lady Moo, Hetty, and others — to compete with McDonald’s buddies — Hamburglar, Birdie, Grimace, Mayor McCheese, and others. Worse still, Jollibee sold hamburgers, that quintessential symbol of American dining. A part of me felt that it was wrong to eat at what was essentially a copycat restaurant.
A few years after coming to the United States and what do I find establishing itself on 4^th and Mission? A Jollibee flagship store. Not only has Jollibee managed to thrive and outperform McDonald’s in the Philippines, it is actually establishing branches here in the Bay Area where the largest FIlipino population outside the Philippines can be found. As a Filipino, I find myself feeling oddly proud every time I see this restaurant.
But you, dear Unilocal reader, don’t care about that. The real question to answer is, how is the food. Well…
The food here is similar to Jollibee back home — meaning American food like spaghetti, burgers, fried chicken and mashed potatoes that have been made more acceptable to the Filipino palate. Yes, those are hotdogs in the oddly sweet plate of spaghetti. And yes, the ChickenJoy does taste a little saltier and seemed fried in lard. As an aside, if you find any of the food here odd, I suppose you know what it feels like to be Chinese and find General Gao’s chicken to pass for Asian cuisine in parts of these United States. In summary, the food here is pretty decent for fast food.
The restaurant is clean and staffed by fast and efficient workers who speak both FIlipino and English. And if after your meal you find you have a sweet tooth, do check out the small Red Ribbon store right inside Jollibee. Maybe you can get a Filipino pastry or cake to go.

I’ll come out and say it right now – from an objective standpoint, I’m not the world’s greatest Filipino. I’ve never been to the Philippines and I don’t plan on going anytime soon; neither me, my sisters, nor my mom speak or understand Ilocano (my family’s dialect) and I was often humiliated in my Tagalog 101 class in college for my lack of recognition, pronunciation, and errr, just about everything; and I grew up thinking the food at Filipino restaurants and my relatives’ houses looked gross and for a long time refused to touch more than the pancit.
I know. I’m an awful Filipino.
Luckily for white people, non-​Filipinos, and clueless Filipinos like me, there is Jollibee. To slooowly eeeeaaasse us into Filipino food, Westernized fast food style.
I guess the only problem is that I don’t like fast food, either.
But in any case, I respect Jollibee and what it sets out to do. I find it both hilarious and awesome that the only one in San Francisco is located on the super-​busy, super-​accessible corner of Howard and 4^th Streets. When there’s a convention in town, Jollibee can hardly contain its line at peak lunch hours. I sincerely hope that visitors enjoy their chicken wings, sweet spaghetti, fiesta palabok and halo halo. Way to go Jollibee for spreading the cuisine of my native land – one conference attendee at a time!
I also think they’re awesome for this one time I came in at lunch and there were about a million MacWorlders queued up for Aloha Burgers. All I wanted was a side of rice for the chicken I’d brought from home. There was a Jollibee worker walking through the line taking advance orders (talk about customer service!). I slipped him a couple of bucks and sweetly asked if I could just grab a side of rice to go. He smiled, nodded, left with my money and came back a second later with a plastic container full of my favorite white starch. Salamat, dude!
I’ll eventually try more things here, but for now I can advise you to pass on the fried chicken. I may be a useless Filipino in most ways, but even I know that Filipino fried chicken is not supposed to taste like that.

Puke.

Sometime, I do the stupidest thing and dine at a miserable place like Jollibee. Why would someone like me with 600+ Unilocal reviews choose to eat at a such a unclean environment serving what looks like fried chicken but taste like something unknown?
Well, in SOMA area, options for fried chicken for weekend lunch is limited. Places like Town Hall are closed for weekend lunch (I think). I don’t want to drive all the way to Hard Knox Café or Goood Frikin Chicken. I think fried chicken at Beale Street Bar is over rated. KFC’s quality isn’t great, although I now know it’s better than Jollibee.
Anyhow, just because default side dish at Jollibee is rice, it doesn’t make a Japanese person happy. I look forward to this place to follow the demise of Cha-​Am Express. This location is terrible for fast food, since it is very hard to park.