Smc Pampanga Express

Great hole in the wall. Love this place! I remember going here on weekends when I was going to training on the navy base 3 years ago. Went today still the same good food and good service. The place I go when I miss my moms cooking and just good Filipino food. Definitely will come back again. They even make their own desserts and halo halo! What more can you ask for. Very convenient since there’s an oriental market next door too so I get my shopping done and a quick bite in one trip.

I came into town looking for Filipino food and was happy I found this place. The food was delicious. My daughter and I ate the lechon, adobo, and the kaldereta, and we pigged out. I will definitely come back the next time I’m in town.

Excellent food. Nothing more needs to be typed… but, of course, I will type more.
You walk in, and at the back of the restaurant there is a glass counter with a steam table. Walk up, take a look, and tell the friendly dude you’ve never been here before. He will give you a quick description of each item and often times a sample.
I’ve been coming here for 4 years and I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve tasted. My favorites are probably: Kare-​Kare, paksiw na pata, and Pancit Guisado, but I’ve probably tried a minimum of 10 different dishes and they are all very good.
A couple of people commented that it isn’t as good as their mom’s cooking. Really? If I used my mom’s cooking as my five star standard: no restaurant in the world would get more than two stars! People — don’t compare restaurants to your mom’s cooking! You will drive yourself nuts, and you will always be disappointed!
I’m not filipino, but I’ve been to many Filipino restaurants, and the food at this restaurant is excellent.

Great Filipino food and very personable service. I didn’t have to eat alone, they explained the dishes, provided samples and were super knowledgable and sweet.

I personally have no complaints for this place. Don’t expect to come into this place, sit down and be waited on. This place is just like lots of restaurants in the Philippines that have a cafeteria style. You walk up, choose your food, pay for it and then sit down and eat. Being Filipino myself, even the first time I walked in, I immediately knew what most of the choices were and what I wanted. I still had questions and they were very informative and willing to answer. Everyone was very sweet and had that Filipino hospitality we’re known for. Unfortunately, I was on a time constraint and couldn’t sit down and enjoy my meal. However, the food was great and comparable to my dad’s cooking, which of course, I compare everybody’s cooking to haha. Will definitely be back soon!

As a highly Americanized Filipino, I never really now what to expect when it comes to Filipino food places. BUT, I have to say I was quite impressed.
The food was decent, the workers are more than willing to let you now what you’re about to get yourself into, or what you’re putting into your mouth.
The overall customer service was just what I imagine «Filipino hospitality» to be.
If ever I’m in the area, I would come back, not gonna lie.

I’m not going to lie. This place will turn off most people that wander in expecting a full service restaurant because that is NOT what this place is. The best I way to describe it is if someone mixed a cafeteria with a garage bandstand. First of all, this isn’t Lake Forest. This is Waukegan. Check out Tacos El Norte in Gurnee versus their Waukegan shop and you will get my point. Still the staff is friendly. Service can be slow — they take time to talk to their customers. Don’t be in a rush — chill and chat with the folks there, they’ll teach you some new Filipino words. Or request a song from one of the owners that is rocking the guitar.
I’m Chinese so the way I rank the cooking of other cuisines is how much it reminds me of my Grandma’s homecooking — rich food, unusual ingredients (by western standards) with the perfect blend of spices. By this metric this place is a home run!
This is no-​holds barred, authentic Asian style cooking. Some of the dishes served here will be intimidating to the average Gringo that grew up eating the dumbed down, overly salty or overly sweet Americanized food you will find at the run of the mill Thai or Chinese restaurant. They serve real food here. I had juicy fatty pork belly served two ways — stewed adobo style (garlic, vinegar, soy sauce) and with eggplant and shrimp paste. I also had a dinuguan which is a stew made with vinegar, pork blood and offal (in this case stomach). When I write fatty, I mean rich, delicious gobs of it. You’ve been warned. If you order pork belly, you get awesome fatty pork belly. So stop complaining about how greasy it is! That’s the way its supposed to be and if they change the way they cook it to serve you then it would be a disservice to all of us «natives» that know what real food is. And just an FYI — the lard won’t make you fat or sick, the General Tso’s you get at some other restaurant that is soaked in syrup and fried in chemically extracted industrial vegetable oil will.
For those less adventurous there are chicken options: stewed in coconut milk and chicken adobo, both of which are lean and delicious. The coconut chicken is very similar to a mild (not spicy at all) curry. Also available were Filipino style sausages which I did not try. They also have various seafood options on occasion: fish in a sweet and sour sauce to steamed blue crab. The food is served in a format similar to Panda Express — pre-​prepared and you order anywhere from 1 to 3 entrees.
Stop by and support this local business. Its this exact type of business that helped my family get a foothold in the country. The little girl in the back doodling on the computer and helping clean up tables? She was me 10 years ago. This place has amazing food and is a great gathering place for the local Filipino community. If you are looking for good Filipino food or are looking to expand your palate, stop by here. For $ 7 you can try a combo with 3 different dishes. You can’t go wrong.
Update — Excellent Service: stopped by this place and apparently I got there 30 minutes after they closed. They still had some people dining in who were finishing up so they were still around but had basically closed up and packed everything up for the night. One of the proprietors pulled everything out to show me what they had left and then heated up what I ordered for me. It was all delicious and I appreciate the extra effort they took!

I stopped here after a massage nearby hoping for some good filipino food, reminiscent of my cousins back in Pampanga in the Philippines. I came in the evening and got food for take-​out. The guy behind the counter was very helpful and informed me of how I could order so I could get 3 different things in a combo. I got the longanisa, smoked fish, and pancit. It reminded me of the cookouts back in the philippines. The place is small, but the food is legit even after a long drive back to Evanston. I recommend this place for good filipino food if you find yourself in the area.

Typical pilipino turo turo restaurant. I liked the food. Sang some karaōke with some buddies. A little of MYMP + good food= good times. I love the lechon kawali and karekare. Yummy.

Ever since I moved here from California, I’ve been hoping to find good Filipino food. When I found out there was a restaurant near where I work, I was super excited. I gave this place exactly three chances to impress me. Sadly, they failed. The food isn’t very good. Maybe it’s because my mom’s Filipino cooking is the best and I’ve been spoiled. I’ve tried different entrees each time I’ve come and all of them have been lacking in flavor but not lacking in greasiness. The portions are also smaller than what I expect from a Filipino restaurant. Next place to try? Grace of Manila.

Visiting from Minnesota, mom & I were looking for good filipino food. This place came up on Unilocal/​mobile, had to check the place out. This place hit the spot! Good food, nice people and nice little shop. Everything on the menu looked great and was hard to choose, but had to get loganisa, lichon. YUMMI! Desserts were awesome too! Puto, babingka, pan de coco and pan de sol was delish! Can’t get any food like this in Minnesota, reminds me back home in California. Want some good authentic home made fillipino meals? This is the place! :)

The food here is fantastic. It was a Filipino food lover’s dream come true when I saw all the options to choose from Lumpia, Pancit, Caldaretta, Longaneisa… Man! I was like what to choose? Where to start? If you are looking for islander flavors with a touch of Spanish and Asian… this is the place to go. The food is quite similar to Cuban and Puerto Rican food which make the flavors highly interesting.

«This is your home.» Ay nako tita, kung itong ang bahay ko, siempre ako mag ta-​taba dito.” With orange island-​like walls and a karaōke stage inside, this turo-​turo style Filipino restaurant is rather homey, just like tita said.
Okay, so she wasn’t my blood related aunt, but as far as respect is concerned, tita and tito can cook. Turo-​turo style translates to literally mean «point-​point.» Dishes here are precooked and and are given to you once you’ve turo-turo’d your ulam (dish/​food). I came here with my mom, brother and boyfriend and we all opted for the kare kare as our main ulam. Dios ko, napaka sarap, just like how my dad cooks it, save for the generous slices of tripe.
We also had a serving of the lechon kawali, lumpia shanghai and loganisa. Let me take a moment to explain this as I’m sure I’ll probably never go back to any other kind of longanisa. The owner’s dad (who owns the Waukegan Oriental Mart next door) makes the longanisa with a special Pampangan family recipe. This longanisa is fresh and sweet with a hint of spice. I was told it was made with all lean meat so there’s no need to slice the longanisa when cooking it — YUM.
Tita was very sweet and accommodating, I’d definitely go back. Just one suggestion: I believe the true Filipino dining experience should include Royal Tru Orange and Sarsi in glass bottles… unfortunately there were none stocked in the fridge.