Ugly Kitchen
“For entrees, I listened to the other reviews and got the pork belly entree and my friend got the spicy amatriciana pasta.”
“We received fries courtesy of Yelp check-in, a side I usually don't order, but am glad we tried here.”
“Also, if you're new to this Filipino culture and you're experiencing the Filipino-American fusion here, get your friends to try the Balut!!”
Ugly Kitchen
Takes Reservations: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Happy Hour: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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A decent spot for Filipino food, definitely had better, but definitely no complaints. Huge plus that they are fully stocked with a bar with friendly, attentive staff. Decently sized so going with small groups is an option. Must say the best part of going, is definitely for the atmosphere. Low lighting and awesome music, so every time you go, it's nothing but good vibes!
yo this place is a blast and the food is totally on point. i duno whats up with the name but its all good bc my name isnt that cool either. the bartenders were supes fun and the chef was giving me all these free treats. why i am not there right now is beyond me.
Great music for a Saturday night, but the food & service was not ideal.
It was only about a 15 minute wait when we got there. After a drink at the bar, we were seated at a table in the back. We wanted to try a few things – so we decided to order some items and share everything.
Highly disappointed that they were out of the pork buns. That was the sole reason we chose this place. We had the salt & pepper calamari – good, but not crispy. Not as salty as the Chinese ones I've had. Spring rolls – delicious, reminds me of the Viet ones but mini in size. Ugly dumplings – a lot like a caprese dumpling, served with a basil-y chimichurri.
The Bistek entrée was pretty good. Sauce was flavorful and I liked the garlic rice. But was served luke warm. Not sure if it is meant to be served that way?
Also the food came out unusually fast. We ordered and it started coming out about 5 minutes later. We finished in about 30 minutes total. The wait to get a server's attention for the check took longer than the entire meal itself.
Hmmm… I was a bit torn about this review. This was honestly an okay experience, nothing really was outstanding to me. I came here twice. But for this review I'll just write about the Kamayan feast we had.
I came on a Friday night and made reservations ahead of time for a table of 6. They accommodated us even though they usually evolve into the night scene after 9 I believe. We arrived at 7 and weren't supposed to be seated until all guests have arrived. But one of our guests were running really late so they seated us. We had a few drinks during happy hour which were not strong. The Kamayan feast was interesting, where all your food is spread on leaves across he table and you're expected to eat with your hands. I was so down for this unique experience!
But… The food was not impressive at all. There were 3 sections of food spread for 6 people. Plenty of rice, 3 individual fried fishes to share. Lumpia, fried chicken, ribs and shrimp. Everything was just fried except shrimp. I was disappointed because my boyfriend said they included seafood with this meal, but when we asked they said they changed the menu.
In the end, we were all stuffed to our necks! It was a lot of food but it wasn't extraordinary. Maybe only the experience. But I do remember the staff being very attentive and making sure we were enjoying our meal.
I had a big dinner here with a lot of friends to celebrate a birthday a little while ago. We came specifically to try the Kamayan dinner where all of the food is out on the table for you and you eat with your hands. The idea was very intriguing so I was very interested to try it at least once and give my overall opinion.
Generally speaking, I would say it was an ok experience; there wasn't anything particularly bad about the meal and at the same time there wasn't anything outstanding or most mention-worthy.
For a long table to seat about 15 people, I estimate there were about 6-7 total servings of that which is served for the Kamayan dinner. So what you had was a long trail of rice that stretched the length of the table, there was a decently-sized fried fish about one between every two people, some fried shrimp and popcorn chicken beside each fish, and atop the rice there was pork adobo. There were also bowls of a sauce which I do not recall the name of but it has a very light coconut milk flavor which paired rather well with the chicken and shrimp, in my opinion.
The fried chicken and shrimp were pretty typical so it didn't stand out very much. The fried fish was good but I didn't have any individual flavor added to it and the pork adobo was ok. What was probably most difficult to eat was the rice… with your hands. In some fashion, the dry rice you can clump together and kind of eat as a chunk but much of the rice was soaked from the pork adobo soup. It actually tasted really good with the soup but it was incredibly difficult to eat but mind you, it's all part of the experience. You can request a spoon or fork but you might as well experience the whole thing for what it is since you're there.
I absolutely must commend the service here. All of the staff that visited the table was incredibly friendly and helpful with anything we needed.
On a separate note, there was a Yelp check-in promotion that offered a house shot with a check-in so after everyone did so, we had 15 shots to go around. That was pretty cool and amusing.
Wow! We were hunting for this place and wow what a find! We walked in to what seemed like happy hour on a friday night but no one was eating around 7:30pm. This confused me a little since I read such amazing reviews on yelp that found me here.
Our waiter was such a wonderful help! He was patient and very honest and descriptive about the menu. We asked obscure questions but nothing seemed a hassle for him to ask the kitchen if he needed.
We ordered:
Pork Buns – OMG THE MOST AMAZING APP EVER! Freshness from the lettuce, softness from the bun, sweetness from the sauce, saltiness from the pork, this dish had EVERYTHING!
Calamari – the best cooked calamari i've had had in a while, flour instead of batter didn't take away from the flavor of the calamari so good
Asian Garlic Wings – delicious and unique flavor! loved them
Apple Salad – light balsamic and feta
Special Port curry dish – Fiance loved it, not my thing but he liked it
Very reasonably priced too!
WILL BE BACK! going to come back to try everything else on the menu 🙂
This place was dead on a Saturday evening but the food smelled delicious and they were having an extended happy hour! $4 drafts and $6 wine I believe. The bartenders were so nice.
We stopped in for a drink while waiting for our table for dinner to be ready at another place close by. Would definitely like to try this place sometime!
It was my first time trying Filipino food so I was really excited to try halo-halo and the sizzling sigsig. However ugly kitchen doesn't have halo-halo. Its my fault for not checking the dessert menu, but the dinner items are aite.
I came here on a Friday night with a bunch of friends for some drinks dinner. The drinks are pretty okay. I had the lychee mimosa and the gin grapefruit while my friends tried the green tea martini, sour mango martini, and ginger monjito. They're a bit on the weak side but still delicious. Drinks are only $6 for happy hour.
For dinner, we got the fried squid that had like 10 pieces. It was delicious but a little small for my opinion. Then we shared the sizzling sigsig, the milk fish with greens, and the adobo chicken between the three of us. The sizzling sigsig was a disappointment. It was too oily and had this smelly unappetizing pig scent. It completely turned me off so that I didn't want to take another bite of it. The milk fish came with a really good fish like sauce. The greens that came with the fish was really good but too salty. The adobo chicken was the highlight of the night. It was cripsy and tender and full of favor. If you get the chance to go to ugly chicken, definitely try the adobo chicken. It just doesn't come with rice.
Overall, my experience at ugly kitchen was meh. The waiters here are super friendly tho. The food is okay, but salty and leaves you craving sweets after. However they only have two items on the dessert menu to satisfy your sweet tooth.