Bang for the Buck: Baliwag Grill & Restaurant

Whenever I plan of food crawls, I wouldn’t consider Baliwag as one of our stops as its roasted chicken is something I could get anywhere. Hence when Zomato included Baliwag as our first stop in our Marikina food crawl, I was a bit dazed by it. I even considered skipping this stop and head straight to the next one. But I was so glad that I didn’t and let me tell you why. 

Hello, Baliwag Grill & Restaurant!

Thanks to the crazy Saturday traffic, we got to the spacious sit down Baliwag restaurant one hour later than expected. And we were greeted by bad news as soon as we stepped inside, rather, the al fresco dining area. The air conditioned area was closed for an event and we had no choice but to enjoy Manila’s humidity during lunch.

Glasses of service were served within 5 minutes but everything else took way longer than acceptable. Our plates and utensils were given to us after 15 minutes and our food were served one by one after roughly 40 minutes. Some of us even turned hangry already. 

First served was a beautiful plate of Baliwag’s specialty, Roasted Chicken (PHP285) with a small bowl of gravy. 

It was nicely roasted though some parts of the meat were slightly pinkish which made me a bit squeamish. The meat was also a bit dry.

The Pancit Bihon (PHP315, small | PHP505, medium | PHP705, large) was a crowd favorite. It had a hefty serving of chopped veggies and pork bits making each bite crunchy and enjoyable. I drizzled mine with some calamansi juice and it was love at first bite. It would have been better though with some pepper. 

I also liked the Pork Sisig (PHP180). I was surprised that a place that specializes in roasted chicken could serve mean sisig. 

The thing  I loved the most with this sizzling plate is that it was crunchy. I absolutely love crunchy sisig!

The Lechon Kawali (PHP190) was also delightful. I had a blast munching on its crunchy skin and juicy meat. It was just a tad too fatty though so I wasn’t able to eat much of the portion I got.

Another delightful surprise that day was Baliwag’s Kare-Kare (PHP190). Again, I had no idea that Baliwag offers this Pinoy favorite and its taste does not disappoint. It had a lot of beef tripe (tuwalya) and veggies which I liked. Though I’ve tried better kare-kare elsewhere, its price point was a winner!

Overall, it was a pleasant experience. Though I didn’t really like eating at the al fresco area during lunch time, the food served was good and definitely value for money. They just need to work on their service as the wait was a bit too much. 

Baliwag Grill & Restaurant is located at Bayan-Bayanan Avenue corner De Guzman Street, Concepcion Uno, Marikina City.