Avenida Restaurant

This trendy restaurant has a lot to offer. Good food, good service, great bartender, great location in San Mateo. I’m a proud San
Mateo resident!

Modern and fresh vibe at this new restaurant right in the heart of downtown SM. Variety of seating and cool atmosphere. The food was good but not excellent. The flavors were bursting out with each bite of the scrumptiously crispy bata (pork knuckle), almost overwhelmingly. The veggie selection could be wider, and we were rather disappointed with the still-fishy and scaly tuna steak. Service was brisk, friendly, and professional. It's a nice place for both family and date-night dinners, but not so fancy that it feels too formal.

Very tasty food & great service.....

My husband and I have been eyeing this new Filipino place to open up since we saw the signs during the renovation. We’re in downtown San Mateo almost everyday so we noticed immediately when they finally opened up this week. We couldn’t find them on yelp but we did find them on Opentable so we made a reservation there for a Friday night date.

If this place wasn’t new, the review would have been a solid 2 stars but since they’re still in “soft opening”, I’m sure they are still figuring out their restaurant groove. All the staff seemed very nice, but inexperienced. Upon entering the restaurant, it was unclear who I was supposed to talk to because there was no one to greet me and there wasn’t a clear waiting area. It took only a minute for the hostess to address me and take me to a seat upstairs. I asked her how the opening was going and she told me they expected a full house tonight so they were very excited to see it all goes.

Looking at the restaurant, it honestly felt empty since there was so much open, undecorated space. I hope they will work on the decor inside. Especially because they are trying to sell themselves as a “upscale” restaurant. We were placed next to a large family with a wailing baby for our date night...Not sure what prompted her to ask if I needed a drink menu. How am I supposed to know if I want a drink if I can’t see it?

The prices on the menu were a little high for the expected type of food. Our waiter explained they are more “upscale” so the prices would reflect the quality of the food. I’ve had a lot of experience with Filipino food but my husband did not so he didn’t understand most of the menu, “what’s so special about pork knuckles?”. I think having pictures next to all these Filipino specialties would help them so much. The waiter was very helpful with his recommendations and introduction to the restaurant.

In the end, I ended up ordering just two things since everything was little pricier than expected- the crispy pata and fried chicken. The food took a little longer than expected to arrive but again, since it’s soft opening- they will eventually figure out their groove. (As pictured) the crispy pata arrived on a wooden board and the fried chicken was on large plate.

Crispy Pata ($26?) this is a very large plate, larger than expected based on the description on the menu. It looked and smelled incredible on arrival. What do you think of when you think of crispy pata? I only have fond memories of crunching skin and melting pork fat in my mouth, there’s nothing quite like it and I highly recommend getting it somewhere else for a real experience of what crispy pata can be. Unfortunately, the look didn’t match the taste or the price. The skin wasn’t crispy, it was hard, bland, and hurt the inside of my mouth. The fat was more gelatinous than melty, the meat was also dry. I’m not sure how they were able to disappoint me so much with this dish. I miss visiting family gatherings just to have a bite of scrumptious pata.

The “local fave” fried chicken ($16?) is -not crispy-. It doesn’t crunch in your mouth as you bite into it. In fact, you’ll end up with a mouth full of powdery batter but at least the meat is tender. The flavor was also bland for this dish. I’d recommend trying out jollibee’s instead for fried chicken. The fries were actually the best thing we got that night.

After eating a quarter of our food, hearing a wailing baby for the 50th time, we were ready to leave. It took another 10 minutes to get the check and another 5 minutes to complete the transaction. They have 3 very large bathrooms with baby changing stations. Unfortunately the bathrooms don’t have hooks and the counters are wet and leaky so you’ll have to hold your leftovers and bags. I also felt quite uncomfortable with the frosted glass doors as the only defense to someone peeking into my bathroom.

I will be coming back again in the upcoming months, hoping they improve the experience. I’m a big fan of Filipino food, so I genuinely wish them good luck.

We came here on their opening day. The staff were super attentive, the prices were very reasonable/affordable, and the portions much larger than anticipated. Overall very impressed and will be back!