Dining | Second Time Around at Good Taste Restaurant - Baguio City
During this writer's hiking trip to Mt. Ulap, our group proceeded to Good Taste Restaurant in Baguio City. Usually I have apprehensions when this restaurant is mentioned. They do offer great food here for the most or should we say best priced dishes that many people flock to this place. On any given day, during lunch or dinner, this place is packed with diners that even with their two floors of dining area, the queue spills on the sidewalk and it goes beyond the corner.
You can get a glimpse of the line when you are in the area of Burnham Park. Ask the locals where this restaurant is and they will point you in the right direction. That's how famous this restaurant is.
Now going back to our experience. It was a Sunday so we expect a lot of diners, but we went near 3 pm so true enough, there were still some people and we had to queue. This time however the line was short. Our next concern was, in our group we were 30 pax total. Will there be a space for us? Luckily the restaurant had quick thinking people or they have encountered this beforehand, they recommended to split our group into two and we were seated on the second floor immediately.
To lessen the complications of a large order, we grouped into 4 pax each so that we can split the bill easily. The server then had no problem taking our orders. For my group, we ordered the crowd favorite, buttered chicken, since it was raining, we ordered Nilagang Baboy as well. Fried rice good for six people and Sotanghon. Total cost was Php700. Split the check, it comes to Php175 per person.
Service wise, due to the large number of diners, the servers immediately issues a disclaimer after she takes your order. "your order will be ready in 15-20 minutes, but due to the number of orders, yours might come early or late compared to the others, so please wait for it".
Unlike other restaurants that serve in batches, this restaurant completely serves it in one go. No forgotten orders or mixed with other tables. Simple and direct and yummy. Our order came within the 15-20 minutes lead time they suggested. Happy diner here. Our server didn't smile much but we can understand why, she was so busy with a lot of customers and she might be tired already with the hustle and bustle. Besides she was attentive to our needs while waiting so no complaints there.
Serving wise, our orders were huge. We were 4 in our group yet we ordered so much. The buttered chicken were in a huge platter that I can't remember how many pieces of chicken were there. The nilagang baboy was a hit with the bad weather we had, the fried rice which was good for six pax was too much for us as well. In our group, 2 were women so you can imagine the situation we were in. We had to call in our Van driver to help us out eating our order. So we were now 5 in our table. Even with an addition of a male diner to our fold, we ended up leaving some chicken pieces and half bowl of sotanghon (which I took home). Imagine Php175 each for lunch and we were fully stuffed with a doggy bag to boot.
Taste wise, hey, its Good Taste. They won't name their restaurant if they don't taste good. If my memory serves me right, this was my third time to eat here and its always a good experience. Food tastes great here. Enough said.
Price wise, nothing comes close to them in memory. We didn't spend more than a thousand for 4 dishes for 4 people and we had a doggy bag. How's that for a price for you? For a budget traveller like me this is greeeaaattttt!!!!
Overall, a trip to Baguio isn't complete without passing here at Good Taste. The only caveat here is that, when you do dropby during lunch and dinner, you will be met by a long queue of hungry customers. They have two floors (or more I didn't ask) of large dining halls that's full of people. Your order might be served for more than the 20 minutes lead time they mention so if you have the patience for it, then by all means wait. If your patience and hunger can't wait, we suggest to eat somewhere else, that's how popular this place is.
For a detailed information on them, you can find them here
