In celebrating Christmas last year, we feasted on the dinner buffet prepared by Seasons at the Waterfront Manila Pavilion Hotel and Casino in Manila. This hotel is just 11-minute drive from our home, so it’s very convenient for us to avoid the holiday traffic. I got two vouchers from Ensogo.com.ph and paid only half of the regular price per person. Neat! Spanking and sassy, Seasons is an “interactive lifestyle restaurant” that offers a dining venue where the world’s most celebrated cuisines come together in one grand ensemble.
Review of Seasons Restaurant (Waterfront Manila Pavilion Hotel and Casino, Manila)
Ambiance: ★★★★★
No doubt, the atmosphere at Seasons speaks of beauty, style, and class. The buffet tables are laid out close to one another and in an organized fashion—according to cuisine and type of food. The interior design and arrangement of dining spaces in the restaurant have not changed since our last visit (two years ago).
I love the play of wooden finishes and the deliberate use of illumination for aesthetics. Sleek chandeliers on a single row create a soft directional beam, and textured three-dimensional wall panels on one side makes a statement which can instantly draw attention. While everything looks posh in this hotel’s gastronomic arena, it will be great to see nice modern changes to the scene as well.
Service: ★★☆☆☆
There’s a certain level of expectation that comes along with hotel restaurants from an overall service perspective, and Seasons didn’t come close to it. Service was slow and was not up to normal hotel standards.
At the onset, the waiter had me follow him walk through almost half of the entire dining area when asked where our reserved seats were located. Apparently, he was finding our table based on the name written on the “reservation name card” on top of each table when he could have noted the table number from the reception and directly pointed out where it was.
The second disappointing instance was that we were given drinking water that smelled and tasted like ZONROX Bleach (an agent for cleaning, deodorizing, and removing of hard stains on clothes). Good thing that my mom and sister were able to taste it and raise the issue to one of the waitresses, so the glasses of water were replaced with clean and odorless ones.
Thirdly, since we were seated in a corner that’s barely noticeable, getting the staff’s attention was as hard as finding a stud earring in the car. It was possible but hard. Fulfilling requests like taking out used plates and asking for tissue paper took longer as they should. I thought they’re understaffed because we saw quite only a few walking around and serving the needs of customers. It was not that they were not really paying attention or flirting with one another as if in a high school class without supervision.
For all it’s worth, I give credit to the restaurant manager who immediately gave my mom a new fork when he passed by and saw it accidentally fell off the table.
Food: ★★★☆☆
Seasons in Waterfront Manila Pavilion Hotel and Casino serves a range of classic Filipino food and some international delicacies. From breads, Chinese dim sum, DIY salads, and soups to main dishes and mouth-watering desserts, Seasons maintains its long-held reputation for elegant hotel restaurant dining in Manila.
Sadly, when compared against premium buffet restaurants in Metro Manila now emerging and battling to be the forefront in the food industry, Seasons takes a backseat, at least in our humble opinion. The food situation was average and there were no weird flavors that don’t belong, but nothing about the variety and the tastes was memorable and there was not much to get excited about either.
Price for Value: ★★★☆☆
As it turned out, Seasons at Waterfront Manila Pavilion Hotel and Casino was a letdown in terms of service and the food selection, hence it follows that my rating for the price for value is on the low side of the spectrum. Take one star down when basing it on the original price of PhP 1499 per person.
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Operating hours: 6 AM to 10:30 AM (breakfast), 11:30 AM to 3 PM (lunch), 6:30 PM to 10:30 PM (dinner)
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