R & B has been on my “to do” list as I’ve been wanting to find a new go-to fast food Filipino restaurant in San Diego. We previously used to frequent Manila Fast Food, but after several ownership changes, we found the food to be too salty and stopped visiting.
We came in the late afternoon which may not have been the ideal time to come. It just so happened we were passing by and I remembered I wanted to try it, so we went in to pick up some food for dinner.
Inside, there were hot steam trays with your typical offerings. The selection was a little limited. There was also some prepackaged desserts and I was delighted to see bags of fried chicken skins. I love fried chicken skins!
Let’s start with the good:
We got nine lumpia. Only 5 survived the ride home for photos. I was happy to see these were longer in length than the ones usually available at Filipino places and these were quite crunchy and not too salty.
The chicken skins were pretty good too, though I wish they had added some seasoning.
I also enjoyed the desserts. My favorites are still anything with purple.
Now onto the bad:
We order a 2 item combo. I love the generous portions at most of the fast food Filipino places I’ve been to in the area. Instead of just stuffing the two items into the box, they usually pack the box with starch and then put the other two items into separate containers.
Instead of rice, we asked for pancit, which you can do for $1 extra.
I was happy with the pancit portions but found it to be underseasoned and quite dry. I do wonder if this was a result of it sitting out on the steam trays too long. This was the first time I didn’t have the desire to scarf down the whole plate.
For our two items, we chose chicken adobo and lechon kawali
The chicken had too much vinegar for our liking. The lechon was extremely oily and the skin and fat didn’t have the crispness and chew that I look forward to lechon kawali. Both items were pretty disappointing.
Here was some complimentary broth, which was also quite oily:
While there were a few highlights, most of the meal was disappointing. I’m not sure if we just came at a bad hour since it was so late in the afternoon, but I don’t think this will be one we will be frequenting often. Perhaps I’ll just have to wait for the next gathering of Mr. K’s family for me to get my fix.
I first learned of R&B from mmm-yoso, where Kirk has done a few posts. You can read his more recent visit here.
R & B Filipino Cuisine
11257 Camino Ruiz
San Diego, CA 92126
Hey Kirbie – This place is a bit too inconsistent for my taste and the food tends to be onthe greasy side. I prefer Manila Fast Food….though it can be kind of overly greasy and salty too.
Hmm, okay glad it’s not just me. I did like Manila over this place too.
What a pity! I got excited when I saw your title – I adore Filipino food, and was so excited when I saw the chicken adobo (my all time comfort food!)…what a pity that it was not up to standard! Such an easy dish to make as well! Oh well, at least you will have access to decent Filipino food through K’s family 🙂
Yeah, it is unfortunate. I was hoping for a new go to place. I’m going to make chicken adobo myself sometime. I know it’s not too hard, I just haven’t gotten around to trying it.
Oooh, I see many of my favorite Filipino foods and dessert from your photos, like fried fish, opo squash with shrimp, pecan tarts, suman (wrapped in banana leaf0 and hopia. Mmmm! I think the soup they gave you might have been either tinola (ginger based with leafy greens) or sinigang (sour from either guava or tamarind or lemon). The pancit they gave you had mostly filler and hardly any meat. Bummer that the adobo and lechon kawali wasn’t as good as it looked though.
I had to contain myself to not overdo it on the desserts! I love most of those too.
what does RB stand for ?
I have no idea