Manila Social Club
“For the main we had the mango soufflé pancakes, the French toast, and the longanisa sliders.”
“Perfect dipping sauces for the spam fries and enjoyed the crispy Lumpia Shanghai!”
“The coconut ice cream was delish & I loved the ube syrup but the bread pudding was a bit too bread-like for my taste.”
Manila Social Club
Takes Reservations: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
PokéStop Nearby: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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Kept seeing pictures of Manila Social Club pop up on Instagram, so I made a point to visit during my trip to NYC. I think we got lucky because it was 4th of July weekend and lots of locals were out of town, but my friend and I didn't have to wait at all to be seated! Yay. The restaurant is cute, with lots of light coming into the space, and the decor definitely gives off the island vibe.
We ordered the following:
– Mango Souffle Pancakes ("light as a cloud and served with ube ice cream"): This was actually very very filling and we couldn't finish it. I LOVE ube ice cream though and thought it paired very nicely with the pancake. The little salt crystals helped bring out the sweetness! Might skip on it next time just to try something else on the menu though.
– Torta Talong (fire-roasted eggplant omelette, garlic fried rice, tomatoes): This was yummy. Very flavorful and reminded me of my childhood which consisted of a lot of fried rice & ketchup. This was a fancier version, obviously. Really yummy and presented beautifully,
– Spam Fries: Surprisingly good. Perfectly crisp and the dipping sauces were paired really well with the spam! Love that they are served in the can. So cute!
Service:
Honestly, the food took forever to come out. (It was supposedly because the souffle pancake takes longer to make, but the couple next to use who were seated 30 min after us got theirs much, much faster.) Our initial waitress, the one who took our order, was unfriendly and did not bring out the complimentary pan de sal (bread) + ube butter. I had to ask a different server (who I believe is the hostess, who was SUPER friendly/a much better server) if it was an item on the menu since we saw other tables getting it but not ours. She felt bad about that and kindly brought it out to us after we asked. It was amazing but would've been much yummier had we had it while we were waiting for the rest of our food bc we were hungry! We also got great service from another older woman who brought us some of the housemade hot sauce. It was SPICY! She was great and attentive. Basically, just that one girl who took our order + the wait time kind of killed the vibe. -1 star for that.
Overall had a good experience at Manila Social Club and would return to try other menu items + their donuts!
Came here for brunch because of the IG hype. I had really high expectations but it was just mediocre to me. From the service to the food, I expected better. BUT the Spam fries and ube butter that came out with the Hawaiian buns for the table were so delish!!
The dishes that were ordered were their special of the day- short rib hash, Filipino sausage, Filipino bacon, and the infamous mango soufflé pancakes. The meat dishes were all lacking flavor, but the garlic rice and watermelon radishes that came with the meat was good. Will I be back? Maybe for their bread pudding as it's known to be mind blowing.
This review is only for the Ube Bae donuts. I had preordered them a month in advanced online. They only make this on Fridays and pickups were either 12pm or 4pm. The Thursday before the scheduled pickup they sent me an email to confirm. I gave my name and the nice gentlemen wrapped up my dozen doughnuts in a huge box. $40 for 12 doughnuts was so worth it! It was not too sweet. Had ube taste to it and it reminded me of a french crueller. Not to mention its so purple! Definitely see myself coming back to check out their brunch.
amazing decor super delicious food and beautiful people inside and out. best brunch!! long wait so arrive promptly at the 11AM opening.
The hype for ube and the mango soufflé pancakes are so real. I've had Manila Social Club bookmarked for quite some time and finally had the time to go – go bright and early to line up. 10:40 – 10:45 am is the perfect time to line up on a Sunday morning as I was the second person in line at 10:42 am. After 10:45, the line quadrupled, so if you get here when Manila Social Club opens, you're already looking at a 45 minute + wait as this restaurant is extremely small. Kudos to the service though as the staff is very friendly and informative and came out before 11 to greet us and take down names and party size so that they could begin seating once they opened.
Once seated, I ordered the ube iced coffee, while my friend ordered the Calamansi Honey mocktail. The ube coffee sounded intriguing in concept and looked like a purple sunset when it arrived, however it fell short. You couldn't taste the ube at all, so it was just a standard iced coffee. The Calamansi Honey mocktail was great, perfect for those who love citrus as the kumquat taste is the predominant flavor.
Shortly after our drink order, we were given free large versions of what I like to call their dinner rolls, along with a plate of ube butter. If you've never had ube before, it's purple yam and boy is it delicious. As Guy Fieri would say, you can put the ube butter on cardboard and it'll still taste amazing. Seriously, the ube butter is where it's at!
For entrees, we went with the mango soufflé pancake (duh) and the French toast. The mango soufflé pancake was absolutely delightful – so fluffy and soft, complemented by the ube ice cream so well. My friend and I seriously wished we could just an entire bowl of the ube ice cream – it's just that good! As for the pancake, for those of you who are familiar and love the HK street egg style waffle, Manila Social Club's pancake is like a huge plate of that! The French toast was way too heavy and sweet – I personally wasn't a fan of this dish and would recommend you order something else.
Thanks Manila Social Club for unlocking my love for ube!
Ube party in my mouth!
This was one of the best brunches I've had in a while. I've had Manila bookmarked for ages and knew I had to hit it up on my recent work trip to NYC, so I dragged my friends along (thx guys!) at 10:45am. Wisest decision ever to get there right before it opens, since there are only 5 or 6 tables available.
Sadly, they didn't have the iced ube latte because the espresso machine was down, but the complimentary biscuits with ube butter more than made up for it. The restaurant itself is fun and intimate, with hip hop playing in the background.
Onto the rest of the food: my table of four shared the spam fries, mango souffle pancakes with ube ice cream, short rib hash, longanisa sliders with lotus chips, and deep fried french toast. Everything was freaking amazing. The mango souffle pancakes are a MUST. This dish takes 20 minutes to prepare, but it's so worth the wait. The french toast is very, very decadent and sweet so I'd definitely share that. I was also a huge fan of the spam fries with mango ketchup.
Manila Social Club is one of the most bomb Filippino brunch destinations in NYC right now. Sure, there are Maharlika and Jeepney, but I would argue that this place takes the cake.
UBE BREAD PUDDING HERE!
Yes, I am well aware that Manila Social Club is famous for their $100 handmade Golden Cristal Donut with the Cristal champagne gelee, ube mousse, 24K pure gold dust and 24K pure gold leaf. However, we didn't get that. On our most recent visit to New York, we had family dinner here and the dishes ordered were Spam Fries, Shanghai Lumpia, the Sliders with longanisa, Garlic Fried Rice, and the Kare Kare. I love Kare Kare, which is traditionally stewed oxtail with a peanut sauce and if it's on the menu, I will order it. Plus, dessert was the Ube Bread Pudding.
The Good: the Shanghai Lumpia and the Sliders were delicious. Both my son and my boyfriend had these dishes and they were nice enough to let me try them. We also enjoyed the Garlic Fried Rice, which you can't really go wrong with since it's a simple, yet hearty dish.
The Okay: Unfortunately, I didn't love the Kare Kare here. The meat was tender enough as it should be, but the sauce didn't work for me, perhaps because it was almond and hazelnut based? I don't know, but it didn't taste like my Tita Baby's version, which is what I measure all Kare Kare dishes against. I guess I just prefer a regular peanut sauce.
The Great: The Ube Bread Pudding was the show-stopper. Even our waitress said she preferred it over the $100 donut for taste. Served with ice cream and that lovely ube sauce, this dessert is unlike any I've had before, especially since I don't ever order bread pudding. However, this dish did not disappoint.
All in all, we had a good dinner and I'd definitely return to Brooklyn to try their brunch and those other donuts they offer by pre-order, the Ube Bae ones.
Arrived 30 minutes before they opened for Brunch on a Saturday. There were already people waiting to get in to eat. Having only been here for a Yelp Event I had a good idea of how the crowd would be. In case you are wondering- its always crowded. There are about 12 tables in the restaurant total- not a great place for parties larger then 4. It is very tight.
I was lucky enough to be seated with my guest when they opened their doors and knew immediately that i wanted to taste as much as possible.
We were served complimentary rolls with ube butter. The bread was pillowy soft with a tinge of sweetness to it- much like a potato bread. I devoured it! It was amazing.
We ordered a bunch of dishes:
Fried Avocado appetizer: Surprisingly delicious. A thin crisp coating over the deliciously tender avocado served with pickled red onions and a dipping sauce.
Lumpia Rolls: My absolute favorite! Perfectly crispy and flavorful.
Spam Fries: When in Rome, do as the romans do. These taste exactly as you would expect. Like spam. Although, the spam seems to be dried a bit before frying. These tasted much better later in the day when i attacked the leftovers.
Longanisa Hash: It was okay. Not a ton of longanisa. Lots of potatoes but were expecting them to be a bit more crispy.
Mango Soufle pancake with Ube Ice Cream: to preface, i am not a pancake person but this was insane! Its a huge pancake and it has great flavor! If you dig sweets/pancakes for breakfast- this is a solid choice.
Tocino and eggs: The garlic rice was great. The eggs were great. The tocino was a bit dry/overcooked. however, i was so full at this point that i took the leftovers home and enjoyed them later in the day.
The menu here always changes which is nice if you are a regular…unless your favorite dish is no longer on the menu,
I personally, hate crowds so if i came back, i would have to arrive super early- not a terrible thing though but i like this place enough to want to have a spontaneous dinner or brunch without a 2 hour wait.
Very nice establishment! Great customer service!