Thanks to Ensogo.ph, we had a reason to wake up super early last Thursday. Mom bought us a voucher that saved us 50% off the actual bill from Marina Seafood Grill. For this promotion, Marina is open to customers from Monday to Thursday, 7AM to 10AM.
Joined by two long-time family friends, Auntie Chit and Uncle George, we filled our tummies with a heavy authentic Filipino breakfast that was more than enough to have us pass food for lunch and afternoon snack. And for the record, we had experienced eating breakfast buffet on a work day, together!
Review of Marina Seafood Grill (SM Mall of Asia, Pasay City)
Ambiance: ★★★★☆
Because it rained the other day, the breeze outside was more inviting than the cool air-conditioning inside. Apart from us, there were more diners who preferred to eat outside facing the bay. The restaurant was clean both in and out.
Service: ★★☆☆☆
We arrived with a reservation. Welcoming was quite informal. I handed the printed voucher and immediately we stood by the buffet table and began our food adventure.
Marina Seafood Grill earns 2/5 stars from me not because of the self-service. Self-service is usually the case for buffet meals anyway. This means that we had to clear plates, get food and silverware and refill drinks on our own. What’s disheartening was that replenishment of every food in the buffet wares took so long. Waiters were not particularly attentive enough to monitor the depletion of food outside; they had to be called before taking action! Perhaps there was no motivation to provide better service since diners (well, most) had already paid in advance through Ensogo as well.
Another cause of our dismay was that creamer for coffee became out of stock. This indicates that there’s poor restaurant management; they were not able to forecast the right inventory for everyday customers. Their coffee was too thick. Without the creamer, nobody intended to even get coffee anymore.
Food: ★★★☆☆
Replete with light food with all kinds, the buffet table was a feast for the eyes. Especially for breakfast, at this time they served garlic rice, plain rice, DIY salad with dressing, fresh fruits (watermelon, mango and papaya), corn soup, beef-base soup with hor fun, scrambled eggs, hotdogs, pork sausages, chicken, pancit, mirliton pear (sayote), bread (pan de sal), pancakes with strawberry jam, butter and honey, dried salted fish (tuyo), pineapple juice, orange juice and DIY coffee.
On a neutral note, food was mediocre and some were even sub par. There was nothing downright wrong. But there was nothing impressive either. With every chomp, they were all as familiar as our typical home-cooked breakfast dishes. Two words: Just average.
Price for Value: ★★★★☆
Marina Seafood Grill is worth a try to any buffet lovers or mouths in search of good home-cooked breakie. Original price is PHp 169 per person but because of the deal, each of us paid only half of that. There’s no added service charge. Overall, we certainly got a whole lot of good food from our buck here.
Word of warning though: Don’t come here for breakfast without a discounted meal pass. Price is definitely not worth it. The food isn’t anything to write home about. Most of them are also not worth the calories.
Marina Seafood Grill has a different menu for regular meals. Maybe that’s where they can be more proud of their Ilonggo dishes.
Marina Seafood Grill
SM MOA Branch, 116-117 Veranda North Wing Entertainment Building, SM Mall of Asia JW Diokno Boulevard, Pasay City (near Gerry’s Grill)
About Rochkirstin Santos-Sioco
Health and technology freak. Food and lifestyle blogger with a large appetite for food and travel.
Sorry to hear about your not-so good experience at Marina. We used to love it, especially their oysters. But we veered away since hearing and reading reviews such as these.
Actually I have read several reviews commending Marina Seafood Grill for their oysters. I’m not sure though how great they really are. So I guess this review is only good for their morning breakfast buffet promotion.
Went there because we had to take an extra trip going to our restaurant of choice at the Dampa. Am I sorry we we did not take the extra trip.
The staff struggles even if they are just half full. They do not make iced tea refills convenient by leaving pitchers at the table (there were 18 of us). The food is mediocre. I got sisig and had to ask for condiments. After 5 minutes, the waiter took the condiments and gave it to another table. It seems that THE WHOLE RESTAURANT HAD TO SHARE THOSE 2 CONDIMENTS.
Two of our orders did not even reach the table. After following up on the fried rice 5 TIMES, THE ONLY PLACE IT TURNED UP IN WAS IN THE BILL. A mango shake order reached our table a warm mango juice with water. They actually had the temerity to serve it like that.
When we started eating, after waiting 30 minutes for the food, 6 people still had to wait for the forks to arrive. FORKS!!! And of course, we had to beg for iced tea refills.
I used to wait on tables when I was younger, and I know the value of a tip to food service attendants. But honestly, they did not deserve any.
Thanks for sharing your horrible experience here. Their poor customer service has been validated. The restaurant owner and management must be wary about this else they’ll lose more customers soon. You were a big group that time and that means they must have given you more attention. Tsk tsk it was unacceptable what they did.
hi maam/sir goodafternoon may i know maam/sir where is your email/website that i can pass my application because i want to applying maam as a receptionist or dining staff thank you i hope i receive afeedback to my email coming from your office or company thank you again maam/sir