I wasn't expecting this. I used to love Antonio's--especially Breakfast at Antonio's. The first time I ate at Breakfast was maybe 10 years ago, when it was still at its old location, along the main road of Tagaytay, and I've loved it since. The food was wonderful, well plated, with hearty servings. The service was pleasant and professional. The ambiance was casual but classy. The overall experience was very "country club." I always left Breakfast with a satisfied palate, a full (but not too full) stomach, and an overall feeling of contentment, relaxation, and happiness.
But not last Saturday. Last Saturday, the wait staff barely paid attention to us as we entered, and we had to walk around and stand around and basically make ourselves look conspicuous before anyone approached us and gave us a table. Note that this was not a busy hour, and there were at least 3 employees standing around doing nothing, not paying any attention at all. However, we saw this as a minor, passing thing and forgot all about it as we ordered and awaited what we expected, based on previous experience, would be a lovely meal. Our waiter seemed a bit disinterested, like he didn't really care to be there, but he did take our orders and answer our questions--not the level of service we've come to expect from Antonio's, but it was good enough.
R ordered corned beef and eggs, sunny side up. I ordered a feta and spinach omelette. We also ordered cheddar pancakes to share. I was afraid we'd over-ordered, which we're prone to doing, but I figured that after a tiring work week, we deserved to indulge a little.
Our orders came quickly, in a matter of minutes, which was wonderful. But that's pretty much where wonderful ended. R's corned beef (which was pretty good) was served with scrambled eggs instead of sunny side up. They did replace the eggs (actually, they let us keep the scrambled eggs too, which I guess was nice of them), but the sunnies seemed haphazardly cooked: the yolks were nearly solid, and the whites were dripping oil and brown around the edges, like they'd been cooked in a used pan.
My feta and spinach omelette was a massive disappointment. The omelette and the hash brown and piece of bread that came with it lay atop a somewhat oily plate. There were maybe 5 pieces of feta and 3 tiny clumps of spinach in there. Most bites I took had neither feta nor spinach. For the most part, it was just egg and tomato. It wasn't inedible, but it wasn't good, not even average really. I honestly could've made a better one at home, and I'm not much of a cook. I asked the waiter about it, but he saw a piece of feta and a spinach leaf on my plate and assured me that this was, indeed, their feta and spinach omelette done right. How could I argue? All I could do was quietly, and a little sadly, finish the lump of egg and tomato on my plate.
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| My feta and spinach omelette and a bite of R's corned beef. To be fair, the corned beef and hash brown were pretty good, but not enough to salvage the meal. |
The pancakes, too, were a disappointment. They were smaller and flatter than they used to be and tasted completely average. Still, it's a good thing we ordered them because otherwise, we wouldn't have had enough food to fill us up.
As if disappointing us with the food wasn't enough, they frustrated us with their service too. The staff were inattentive and disinterested throughout our meal. It took us about 10 minutes just to ask for the bill, and again, this was during a quiet hour. The servers were there, in the dining room, doing nothing, but for some reason they just never looked at or checked on the customers. When we asked for our water glasses to be refilled, the waiter spilled some water on my cellphone and didn't apologize or even bat an eye.
To be fair, we did come in at 3 pm, and the kitchen closes at 4. Perhaps by that time, the chefs and wait staff were tired and just wanted to go home. Still, they were open, and customers who come in during the last hour of service should not receive any less than those who come in earlier. Another disclosure: we used a Groupon for PhP 800 (~USD 20) worth of food (for which we paid PhP 400 [~USD 10]). (We did go over PhP 800, so we paid the remainder in cash.) But restaurants and merchants who offer deals on group buying sites should deliver the same quality of food and give the same level of service to voucher holders and full-paying customers alike.
I know everyone has off days, and maybe we just so happened to chance upon one. Antonio's has been one of my favorites for about a decade now, and I'm not ready to write it off based on one bad experience, no matter how far below expectations it was. So I'll give it another chance, maybe next month, and I'm hoping and wishing really hard that they'll take that second chance and remind me of why I fell in love in the first place and prove to me that they deserve that love.
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Antonio's and Breakfast at Antonio's
Purok 138, Barangay Neogan, Luksuhin-Mangas Road
Alfonso, Tagaytay
+63 917 899 2866
http://www.antoniosrestaurant.ph
Open Tuesday to Sunday
Breakfast: 7 am - 4 pm
Lunch: 11 am - 2 pm
Dinner: 5:30 - 8:30 pm
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