Where NOT to eat in Dumaguete

[babel-fish]

I don't think so, I really get annoyed when a perfectly good restaurant is down rated so badly. The food there is perfectly okay and the number of customers that go there on a regular basis tells the true story.

Exellent may be above the foods true rating I have never been served a bad dish that I never enjoyed and my partner just loves the food there its her favourite place. My friend and their wifes also have a high regard for the place.

I do have a history of eating in London's best restuarants and on a true scale I would give Amigos a 6 out of 10 score, most restuarants here would not score much better. I also like german food having lived there for 9 years or so, one aquires the taste. But it has never made me bland to other cuisines from else where such as here in the philippines some of the local dishes including specialities from the manila culture are simply great for the taste buds. My partner is an exelent cook and sometimes its best when I eat at home. I love good food and I certainly know what good food is all about and I am not on this forum to praise or point and say the foods bad when it isn't or the food is much better there because I like or dislike the owners of the kitchen.

As I said the only thing wrong with amigo's is its service of which can be slow and sometimes the waitresses can be seen chatting in the back whilst ones trying to get served. That is the bigest problem with most restuarants in the Philipinnes.

I am now very interested in all the threads concerning local eating places and bars listed here within the threads of which I am going to explore and find out the truth and the proof is in the eating and observing customers and staff.

However we all have slightly different tastes for food however we should not say the food is crap when a business has such good custom. Just a point from a honest man or at least I try to be honest with words and my thoughts .

[Rhoody]

customer numbers in CA going down compared to a year ago. (yes, I have the sources for that statement).
Tell me one dish there what goes in the direction perfect and/or excellent and I tell you minimum 1 Restaurant where the similar dish is better.

CA is a expat - hangout place with a great atmosphere and history.
We (the DI-team) used to hang out there frequently. Ask some guys who are longer in Duma, when they had the BIG TV in the back, The Dane brought them some 60+ music DVD and they could use and play them (if we/he was there ot not). The staff there is great (not the service). We had several nights where we bought a case of drinks and hang out with them after closing time, watching videos and having fun.

2 years ago where not many "food" options in Duma when it came to western-style food. CA is mentioned in famous travel-guides what many new places are not.

According to your other posts you are in Duma since half year or so and above you just stated that you don't know the places mentioned here on DI but you will try.

That would be great, cause than you can really say something in this thread cause you will gain knowledge about the "New" Dumaguete and most likely agree that the "old fashioned" places will have to improve big time.

By the way, what is german food ? I am seriously interested in that answer as I lived there 19 years and still don't know what german food is...

[babel-fish]

The internet is a place we can get any information we require Rhoody

German Food That link saves me typing and not getting in the trap of mentioning the famed Austrian dishes that are served in German and German Swiss establishments, lol

Agree its hard to define German food as Germany has deversified it to more of a european pallet, with recipies from its neighbors, but the link leads to German national region dishes. Some I have tasted in Werl, Osnabruck, Hamburg, Berlin and Celle and Falingbostel and in Balveria. (Sorry if I spelt the names of places wrong.) whilst serving in the british army. I also tasted beautifully cooked german food served by the catering corps at many a mess function.

I sometimes get very bored with writing politics, science and religious articles and its a pleasure to be active on a local forum. It also keeps the mind active so its glad to see you welcome me so, thanks

[Rhoody]

exactly what I said... there is NO typical german food, it is from region to region totally different.

[tubigboy]

I have eaten a few times at Mike's and the food and service was excellent! Then again, Mike was doing the cooking (BBQ'ing). AC has excellent places to eat too. I agree with the Dane.

Yabs is just a clueless cabin boy on a vessel that is destroying mother nature.

[Arie]

Originally Posted by Rhoody

I like Mike as, is one of my best friends in Duma and he is supporting Dumagueteinfo a lot. actually I work for him as a freelancer. His food is fantastic the beer very cold and the staff is very nice

...but the service belongs to the slowest in a Duma-western run facility when he is not around (unless you always yell for the waitresses.) the bad service is the one and only complain I have about Mikes place, everything else is for the given circumstances state of the art (food, drinks, diving)
And Mike is pretty aware of that...

Had no problem with the service and we where well taken care over there, the only place I ate in Duma (I tend to stick to a good thing when I find it especialy if I lack time to explore). For me it was the perfect city base, free wifi, some good advise and child friendly.

Maybe you should not yell at the waitress, she might be scared of you and stay out of your way hahaha. I know Mike puts a lot of efford in customer service and is likely not satisfied but than he is American and their service standards are pretty high.

[jellyfish]

What is a good restaurant and what is NOT ?
We all have different tastes and we all have different preferences for what we select from the menu card.
E.g.: I know some people who don't like the food-taste at CA (Coco Amigos).
Me personnaly go regularly there to have my enchilladas. I just love it.
Not that it is the best I ever had .....surely not.. but I feel very content with it.
Some people who did not like CA then suddenly agreed with me that indeed the enchilladas there is good, but not the rest (see what I mean ?)
About "Service" it's easier to judge the 'performance' because that's a bit less subjective than taste, although even that is quite personal.
We know the waitresses of a certain restaurant and have some talks with them.
The neighbour customer will likely have no good word for the 'lack of attention' the waitres has when talking with us (I even can't blame him/her).
My conclusion: carefull with 'killing' judgements on very subjective matters !

[glamourpuss]

i had the enchiladas at CA the other day and have to say they weren't very good. if you closed your eyes and pretended you weren't eating mexican food they were tolerable, but i'd hardly call them good. My boyfriend had the burrito and it was also pretty bad, just a bunch of bland rice wrapped in a tortilla... not really a burrito.

what i don't understand is why does every place insist on trying to serve everything. a mexican restaurant that also serves schnitzel and pasta and pizzas? why don't they stick to one thing and make it well rather than trying to make everything and having it all average?

[babel-fish]

What is a good restaurant and what is NOT ?
We all have different tastes and we all have different preferences for what we select from the menu card.
E.g.: I know some people who don't like the food-taste at CA (Coco Amigos).
Me personnaly go regularly there to have my enchilladas. I just love it.
Not that it is the best I ever had .....surely not.. but I feel very content with it.
Some people who did not like CA then suddenly agreed with me that indeed the enchilladas there is good, but not the rest (see what I mean ?)
About "Service" it's easier to judge the 'performance' because that's a bit less subjective than taste, although even that is quite personal.
We know the waitresses of a certain restaurant and have some talks with them.
The neighbour customer will likely have no good word for the 'lack of attention' the waitres has when talking with us (I even can't blame him/her).
My conclusion: carefull with 'killing' judgements on very subjective matters !

I totally agree and well said, up to now I have not had a meal in CA that I have not enjoy nor has my partner if CA food is judged bad by certain food experts then wow Duma has some really world class kitchens. We also have remember that customers taste vary where as a filipino loves dried fish etc and a Brit goes for the fish and chips the german sausage, the Japanese whale meat, the chinese noodles. Its a quandry of whom can judge what good food is.

I really have not done the rounds of kitchens as yet as normally I prefer home cooked food and my partner is a very good cook. I will make an effort too eat out more just out of curiousity on the judgement of others on DI.

I am beginning to think that we have people dropping bad remark because they are friends of the compeditors etc. That then means the worth of DI is lossed when it comes the culinary thing. That its best we go to try for our self.

[glamourpuss]

i'm not friends with anyone from the competition. in fact i've only been in Dumaguete a week so haven't really tried that many places yet. I just wanted to share that I found the so-called "mexican" food at CA very disappointing.