Last weekend, we joined many shoppers who went shopping at SM Mall of Asia, Pasay City and took advantage of the three-day sale. As mentioned in a number of my previous food reviews in MOA, this huge mall is a haven for food lovers because of the wide selection of restaurants. Come dinnertime, we didn’t have a problem choosing one that we’ve never tried before. Clawdaddy’s Osteria Americana was our choice for dinner. Upon inspection, this place has a variety of pasta and pizza options as well as seafood and meat. We gave it a shot and had a memorable experience, but with an asterisk.
Review of Clawdaddy’s Osteria Americana (SM Mall of Asia, Pasay City)
Ambiance: ★☆☆☆☆
There was only one active table at the Clawdaddy Restaurant when we came. It was 7PM and it was pretty quiet still as compared to the busy ones beside it. Finding a restaurant with few customers at the usual peak dining time mean two things to me.
It’s either that only those few customers know and realize that the restaurant offers quite amazing food, or that the restaurant does not just seem to appeal to more people heading its way. Maybe for the case of Clawdaddy Osteria Americana, it’s a cross between the two implications.
The atmosphere was dark, with dated decorative pieces related about the sea on the wall. The scene was humble and subdued, in a world of green and red. I felt comfortable sitting on the couch—until I felt and saw a spider crawling up on my arm which totally freaked me out. 😯
I stood up right away and shooed the spider to the floor. Doing that must have killed it but at that moment, I didn’t care. A spider web must be close by or it’s formed just where exactly I was sitting (by the counter). Oh no! 🙁 After that, I began to be concerned about the upkeep of the place. The management must do something to control pests in the restaurant.
Service: ★☆☆☆☆
Service was VERY slow. See, I ordered two kinds of pizza. One arrived after about 30 minutes; and the other, over an hour. Around 7:45PM, more customers came and filled the dining area. Their orders even came and served first than ours. Mom was irate and began to ask for a follow-up, and the servers expressed their apologies as they have a slow pizza oven.
The lesson learned here is to expect long waiting time when ordering pizza at the Clawdaddy Restaurant; you might end up with an hour to kill. Note though that it wasn’t only the pizza that came later than expected but everything else as well. To compensate for our disappointment, one pizza was not charged to our bill. It was good that they’re kind and considerate to offer that.
Another reason that caused Mom’s anger was that many food items she ordered from the menu were not available, namely: Buffalo Wings, Grilled Tuna Ribs, and Blackened Tuna Tails. The funny thing was that the server recommended the Blackened Tuna Tails after reporting that the two initial orders were out, and it was the same server who went back to us to say that apparently, her suggestion was also unavailable.
I saw that the customer sitting next to ours got a Boston Clam Chowder which had clams, bacon, potatoes, herbs and cream served on a bread bowl. I thought that looked nice and ordered the same, with a smile. Alas, the server told me that they ran out of the bread bowl and asked me if I still wanted the clam chowder soup. I said no because I was primarily just looking on the good presentation of the food.
She might have missed reporting my response back to the kitchen, because the kitchen staff came toward me and served the soup on a soup bowl and some sticks of bread on another plate. I refused to accept and said that I’ve already told the other server to cancel the order. Outrageous!
Food: ★★★★☆
We’re hard-pressed to find a pizza with crab meat starring on the course, and Clawdaddy’s Crab Meat Pizza (PhP 245) suited our desire for the night. It was great to eat while piping hot, but the pizza needed more crab meat for a more luscious taste. The whole egg, marinated crab meat, bechamel and mozzarella sat atop a charred, puffy and chewy cloud from heaven. So good.
The Godfather’s Meatballs (PhP 285)—spaghetti with meatballs—accommodated our love for pasta. The sauce didn’t taste sweet like the Filipino-style spaghetti so this one’s up for my liking. A common addition to spaghetti, the meatballs in this entree were the real superstar that tasted great.
The Eggplant Parmigiana (PhP 245) was made with baked eggplant in tomato sauce, mozzarella, and cream. With crispy and crunchy outside and a soft, moist and thick inside, the eggplant was a real hit. Its simplicity was underrated.
Grilled eggplant, tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, asparagus, pomodoro and mozzarella? My favorites. All on this plate of Grilled Veggie Pizza (PhP 285), working together in sweet harmony. The taste was definitely up there, and the crispiness of the pizza’s crust was sublime. A bite would convince meat-eaters that vegetarian pizzas are also okay. (This was the pizza that took sooo long to be served.)
Price for Value: ★★☆☆☆
What use is good food when service and ambiance are bad? When dining into a restaurant, we must be considering paying out for the overall dining experience and not only for the quality and taste of food. For the food alone, I could have added two more stars here. However, with all points considered, two stars may be apt for the price for value.
Clawdaddy Osteria Americana at MOA has brought us a memorable dining experience, as mentioned in the intro. However, as how the things turned out, it’s not one that we’d like to repeat anytime soon—or ever again. It will be really great if they can improve on the shortcomings since food are likeable anyway.
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