Max's of Manila

We went to Max’s of Manila for lunch to celebrate Lola’s (my wife’s grandmother’s) birthday on Saturday, April 5.  I had been there once before but my cousins insisted I write a review.  Max’s serves authentic Filipino food and is known for its fried chicken.  I remember the chicken being good from my first time there.  They actually have two locations in Socal: Glendale and West Covina.  There are also locations in Northern CA and a location in every major city in the Philippines.

We arrived before everyone else and told the hostess our party would be 17 people.  Max’s does not take reservations and has a long bench and other seating for waiting.  We arrived just before 11:30 pm and there was no one else waiting.  They had our table ready within 10 minutes and by then some of our cousins had arrived.  Max’s looks like a large one-story house from the outside and customers can choose between valet and self parking.  Both cost $2.50.  Inside they have a large space with many tables of different sizes.  For our party, they moved several tables together in a slightly elevated part of the restaurant near the west window.
 
By noon just about everyone had arrived including Lola.  We ordered meal option C for 10 people and some additional entrees to supplement.  Some of us ordered Filipino drinks such as calamansi juice, mango juice, and a red-colored drink.  They started us with corn soup with what tasted like ham in it.  Pork and pork-related dishes would be common for this meal.  They brought us their famous chicken that was crispy and delicious as expected but still enjoyed.  The Lechon Kawali (fried pork) was also crispy and very good.  Kare Kare is beef, vegetables, and bamboo shoots in orange-colored peanut sauce.  It was pretty good, though a bit bland.  One of our cousins insisted on putting fermented shrimp paste on it but I had had the shrimp paste before and found it to be a taste I hadn’t yet acquired.  Miki Bihon is two sizes of pancit noodles mixed together with vegetables and meat (it tasted like chicken).  I found it good but a bit salty.

They started bringing us the dishes ordered in addition to the preset menu and the meal became like a small Filipino food festival.  There was Sisig: ground pork sautéed with lots of ginger and onions.  I found the ginger made the flavor a bit too strong.  Crispy Pata is fried pork leg and is darker than the aforementioned Lechon.  It was good though I didn’t have a taste for the soy-vinegar sauce that came with it.  There were some dishes I didn’t try because I was so full from the others.  My wife liked the sour broth of the Shrimp Sinigang a soup with shrimp and bamboo shoots.  They also served fresh lumpia and an entrée made of pig’s blood that I didn’t catch the name of.  There were lots of leftovers or baon.

The family brought a cake and cheese rolls for dessert in addition to the leche flan provided as part of the set menu.  Lola blew out the candles on her cake with help from her great-grandchildren.  The kids were given balloons by the waiter.  Everyone had a great time, most importantly, Lola who enjoyed many of the foods.

As we left we saw that the waiting area and the rest of Max’s were now very crowded.  We ran into one of our coworkers there who was going to lunch with her mother and son.  Max’s is very popular with families and big groups.  Maybe we’ll try the one in West Covina sometime.