Barrio Fiesta, Abu Dhabi
When Barrio Fiesta (BF) opened in Abu Dhabi last March, I thought it’s going to kill the other nearby Filipino restaurants. Of course, how can you beat the ‘name’ especially that it is known for its authentic Filipino cuisine. I suppressed my excitement to go there expecting that it would be jampacked. To my dismay, a number of people that I personally know who dined there never had anything good to say about their experience.
Until I craved for kare-kare and well, BF along with Max’s and Triple V is known for this, I finally gave it a try. First hand observations:
(a) It never felt like I was in BF.
(b) A good number of tables are there. But, these seemed like pretty empty tables and chairs.
(c) I was there on a weekend and surprisingly, there were only a couple of tables occupied.
(d) The Philippine flag hangs from the ceiling.
(e) Television is on the middle end. As I was eating, Wowowee is being aired.
(f) I thought I had to sit and call for the waiter. No, it has to be self-service, no pretty menus on the table. I almost suspect it’s not BF. Okay, maybe they are cutting variable expenses.
(g) There’s a queue stand (there’s no queue though) like in a fastfood/carinderia. No problem with that. But, really it felt like not BF (weeheehee, how many times did I/going to say that?). Checking on the dishes displayed, not tempting. Anyway, we ordered kare-kare (my verdict later), fried chicken (nothing special, home cooked chix are much better), chicken barbecue (nothing special; restos here are not allowed to sell pork barbecue, for some obvious reasons) along with plain rice and sodas.
(h) Food in general is not reasonably priced.
My yummy looking yet tastefully awful kare-kare.
I am naturally finishing my food even if it doesn’t taste good. But this one, I didn’t get to eat even 1/3. Not worth for take out, no one’s going to like it anyway. The authentic kare-kare from BF is here.
So, a little warning on the restaurant’s name. I think its diners are mostly first-timers, and you can tell the probability if they would revisit or not. But of course, BF in the Philippines is one of the finest restaurants. There’s no caveat to that. But if we talk of BF Abu Dhabi, well, I might give it a second try after a cycle of being operational. I sure hope huge improvements are made then.
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
i know you labeled the kare-kare “awful” but from the photo, it looks good =). i love kare-kare, and my cousin makes a really good one, so no restaurants for me. the restaurant looks really nice. are there a lot of Filipino restaurants there?
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At least the kare-kare looks good.
But really, it’s a waste of money. The resto’s structure and design is actually nice complemented by friendly staff, the only (but main) problem is the food is not good. Especially that I expected too much because of the name.
Not so many Filipino restaurants are here in Abu Dhabi. There’s Tagpuan Restaurant and Kainang Filipino (which are not high-end restos), chowking for fastfood, and recently I learned that there’s this high end resto inside Al Ain’s Palace (I will try soon) named ‘Tambayan’. Sounds cool to be inside a Palace.
its good to know there is a place that caters to my taste.
Being filipino biologically,im still pinoy at heart.looking frward to dine and sumptious the “Lutong Pinoy” in AB.
Filipino cuisine is appealing even to non-Filipinos. Enjoy lutong Pinoy. Thanks for visiting.
This is not the original Barrio Fiesta Restaurant from Manila and they just used the name. In fact if you look at the name they used Kamayan Barrio Fiesta.
The Original Barrio Fiesta will be opening in Dubai soon. This is is a joint venture between the Ongpauco family who are the owners of Barrio Fiesta Philippines and a local group in Dubai.
Now we will be able to taste the difference…and enjoy traditional Filipino cuisine…
when it will be open? how to put up a business like this? hope u can give me some info because im curious n interested how filipino invest here in uae.
why Philippine House Restaurant is in the picture of Barrio Fiesta …misidentification.
I found the best Kare-Kare in Al Sandok Restaurant, Al Nahda Sharjah. As I live in Dxb I Hope Sandok is in Dubai too..It’s realy great. Thanks to Ate Crista, The Cook.
im working before at the philippine house restaurant and now im here in the philippines, i dont have a any comments regarding your foods, actually your food is good taste and i think do you have better chef cook… keep up the good work and nice, healthy foods. God Bless to you all
hello im lucy a filipino i dont want to leave comment i know all filipino dishes is quite good. mine is to promote a business to supply fresh tuna loins coming from the philippines hows that?
hi,
i want to inquire about 50 pax package for a birthday party @ around 6 or 7PM on 19th-November-2010.
can you please send me any pckage deal to choose from for me to decide.
waiting for your reply.
thank you.