When Dyanie and I decided to meet for the first time, we intended to eat at The Terrace at 5th. Too bad, the restaurant opens around 6pm. We were an hour and a half early so we went someplace else instead. Now that another opportunity for a get-together with friends presented itself, I took the liberty to reserve us a table in the restaurant.
I called them up twice- 10 days and 3 days before the date to confirm my reservation. As with the usual SOP, I gave my mobile number so they can give me a ring if there will be problems with my reservation.
The date came and we trooped to The Terrace at 5th on a busy Friday night. There wasn't any maître d’ when we got there so I called in a wait staff. I asked for our reserved table and gave my name. The wait staff came back and told me that there wasn't any reservation under my name. I calmly told her that I called in twice to confirm so she checked it again. She informed me that there really wasn't any reservation placed. Maybe the manager saw my frustrated expression so she came up to me and asked what she could do for me. I told her about the situation. After checking their reservation log book, she apologetically told me that my name wasn't in the list. So much for first impressions, eh? I told her I needed a table and inasmuch as I want to take her apology, I'm afraid it won't do anything for me. Fortunately, she was able to procure us a table, al fresco.
As we were studying the menu, they gave us their free appetizer- bread and butter.
We placed our orders shortly and the dishes arrived after 15 minutes.
CCY Salad- Php460.00
Mushroom Soup (Soup of the Day)- Php175.00
Grilled US Short Ribs- Php520.00
Homestyle Confit of Pork- Php520.00
Fresh Ravioli- Php560.00 and Spanish-Style Sardine Pasta- Php320.00
Terrazas Adobo- Php395.00
Prawn Thermidore- Php580.00
Ching Cruz's Sole Meuniere- Php480.00
Roast Beef Belly- Php580.00
The salad was good. The saltiness of the prosciutto, the freshness of the lettuce and the slight sourness of the orange complemented each other well. It almost made up for my lost table reservation. The meat of the beef dishes was tender and flavorful. It was disappointing to note that the sauces and bastings were salty. The fish could've won our hearts had it not been for the very salty seasoning. It was too salty that my friend abandoned the dish after she consumed almost half of it. The confit of pork was a glorified Lechon Kawali. It was actually good but again, the pork was salty. The sourness of the balsamic vinegar didn't help much in balancing out the saltiness. As for the pasta dishes, the ravioli was okay. My friend commented that Balducci's version is much much better. Believe it or not, the cream sauce of the ravioli was salty too. The prawns got close to winning my heart because of the seafood's freshness but the butter sauce's saltiness overpowered the prawn's fresh flavors. Honestly, there was too much of the saltiness going around that it was very difficult to enjoy the dishes. I know that the dishes we ordered could've been amazing had their kitchen avoided getting crazy with the salt. I was also frustrated by the fact that I even brought my friends to try out this restaurant and they just got so disappointed with the service as well as the food.
With all the hype pertaining to The Terrace at 5th (not to mention the prices of the dishes), I was expecting more. Little did I know that I am going to get less...much less.
The Terrace at 5th
