SIQUIJOR | Coco Grove’s Sunset Restaurant

Friday, July 06, 2012

Located on the west side of Coco Grove Resort in San Juan, Siquijor is one of its two restaurants. Aptly named after the setting sun, it is a silent witness to the fiery afternoons of Siquijor.

A stay in Coco Grove comes with free breakfast for two and on our first morning we groggily trooped to the restaurant to claim our free grub; we’re gonna make the most of our hefty Php2,400.00 room fee. The breakfast though is a set meal, no buffet unfortunately.

Sunset Restaurant, like most of the structures in Coco Grove is finished in wood and stone. The base is of white river stones topped with wide wooden planks. Sawali walls divide the interiors of the restaurant with its outer walls made of wooden glass panels, bringing the beautiful vista of the sea inside.

Our breakfast started with a cup of steaming coffee, quickly followed by fruits; sweet mango and slices of watermelons. I ordered their Filipino breakfast meal, longsilog; two pieces of skinless longanisas, two scrambled eggs and fried rice. L had American breakfast; French toast, beans, eggs and ham (real ham mind you hehe). For drinks, we had apple cider and calamansi juice.

The eggs were supposed to be double but don’t seem to look so. We asked them to be scrambled so we really have no way of knowing if they really just have small eggs. The longanisa was okay but they were run-of-the-mill types that one can buy on the grocer. The whole shebang does fill one’s stomach quite well though and the service was prompt and courteous, so we didn’t have much complain about.

For lunch, we decided to eat at the carinderias outside, seeing how the prices at Coco Grove’s Restaurant are six times than of those. For our order of two rice and three viands, we were billed a grand total of Php100.00. Not bad eh?

Dinner time and we have no choice but to eat at Coco Grove. We initially seated ourselves inside but it was too hot and the crew we talked with grumpily said we can’t open the accordion doors to let the sea breeze in. So we transferred outside where the wind was almost whipping to a frenzy.

We ordered their Spicy Sisig, Lumpiang Shanghai and Chicken Curry. Since we want to save up a bit, we asked for service water. The waitress with a smug look said they don’t give out service water and that they only have mineral water which we can purchase. Duh, what about the water they served us during breakfast? It wasn’t bottled water; I saw it taken from the water dispenser. Not wanting to ruin our evening, we just went ahead and ordered their overpriced soda and fruit juice.

The food arrived, thank goodness, served by a more courteous employee. Only after everything was laid down that we noticed we were missing one more rice from our order. Thinking they must have misheard us, we let it go since the rice serving was quite large and was enough for the both of us. Turns out it was totally forgotten, we were billed Php40.00 for that missing rice.

The Lumpiang Shanghai, which was really four pieces sliced in half was very average. Well at least it didn’t taste as bad as the Chicken Curry which was bland and was too salty; on hindsight it should’ve been called vegetable curry instead due to the lack of chicken in it. It was good though that their Spicy Sisig was excellent, the meat which were sliced in strips were surprising crispy and very tasty. Although the serving size was small, it saved our dinner from being a total disaster.

Our dinner totaled Php675.00 and didn’t feel like it. Service was bad, we didn’t feel welcome at all. The staff we’re so concerned and friendly with the foreign guests that they seemed to forget that they have a couple of kababayans also staying at the resort; we were the only Filipino guests in Coco Grove and the courtesy does not extend to Filipinos it seemed. The food was blah, its high price didn’t match its taste. And they don’t have service water! As far as I know, every restaurant in the country is required to have service water.

The service at Coco Groves Sunset Restaurant is actually the only thing we didn’t like about the resort. We love everything about Coco Grove, but the condescending and smug staff at their restaurant actually almost ruined our stay in it. The cheap carinderia staff outside the resort have more smiles to give than their staff and we’d gladly eat there anytime than at Coco Grove.


COCO GROVE RESORT
SIQUIOR CIRCUMFERENTIAL ROAD
BRGY. TUBOD, SAN JUAN, SIQUIJOR

TELEPHONE: (0927) 362-8731 | (0939) 915-5123
EMAIL: COCOGROVERESORT@YAHOO.COM
WEBSITE: HTTP://WWW.COCOGROVEBEACHRESORT.COM

GPS COORDINATES: 9.142435,123.510897

CLICK TO VIEW LOCATION ON GOOGLE MAPS

RECOMMENDED SIQUIJOR ISLAND TOUR GUIDE

KUYA JOAM: 0927-6932095
FEE: PHP1,000.00 INCLUSIVE TRANSPORTATION,
PORT PICK-UP, LODGING TRANSFER AND LOTS OF STORIES :)

        SIQUIJOR THREE-DAY SERIES
        TRIP ITINERARY | MANILA - DUMAGUETE CITY - SIQUIJOR | ST. FRANCIS DE ASSISI CHURCH | CAPILAY’S SPRING PARK AT SAN JUAN
        OVER AND BELOW LAZI’S CENTURY-OLD BALETE TREE | LAZI CHURCH - SAN ISIDRO LABRADOR PARISH | LAZI CONVENT
        THE CAMBUGAHAY FALLS AT LAZI | SANTA MARIA CHURCH & ITS BLACK MARIA | SUNSET ON THE ROAD 
        SAN JUAN’S COCO GROVE RESORT | COCO GROVE ACCOMMODATIONS AT SAN JUAN | COCO GROVE’S SUNSET RESTAURANT
        SUNSET AND SUNRISE AT SAN JUAN’S TUBOD BEACH

You Might Also Like

12 comments

  1. Hindi ko napasok ang Coco Grove when we went there :| Gusto ko mga resorts and in-house restaurants sa Siquijor. I can spend a week there doing resort hopping =))

    ReplyDelete
  2. The manager should train these oafs properly. Sa ganitong business, the service is almost as important, if not as much, as the food itself!

    ReplyDelete
  3. That's not good. This post gave me an impression that discrimination happens talaga in our own country. I can perfectly understand wer ur coming from . If that happens to me I would feel the same way too. Did you guys ever talk to the manager? That's not right. These people should know what real customer service is . tsk tsk .

    ReplyDelete
  4. I hope you did not leave any tip or if you did, just the smallest denomination coin underneath your empty plate.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Love the first photo! The place isn't really much at but the 1st photo made it look so chic. =)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Micamyx
    Best resort in Siquijor, Worst resto in Siquijor :P

    Robbie
    True Robbie, halos masira ang stay namin dahil sa racism ng mga resto people nila

    Juanderfulpinoy
    We wrote everything down on their logbook, hopefully this does not happen again but I'm not so sure; I've seen the same review from other sites where FIlipinos were discriminated in their resto too

    BertN
    No tip at all Bert.

    Tin
    Unfortunately, that's the only thing that's nice in their restaurant

    ReplyDelete
  7. Ang ganda ng first photo! Nasad ako sa discrimination though.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Elal
    Oo nga eh, and it was not an isolated incident; dami ko rin nakita reviews about the restaurant with the same discriminatory incidents

    ReplyDelete
  9. thanks much for this amazing post. will add the place to my list of go to's. more power always ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No problem Cebu Urbano, I just hope you also don't experience the discriminatory treatment we had

      Delete
  10. BEWARE!! IF YOU ARE A FILIPINO DO NOT VISIT THIS RESTAURANT!!

    I visited this place with my wife as it was recommended by our travel agent but to our DISMAY. The view and restaurant is really lovely however, the service crew are very unprofessional and discriminating. We needed to wait for more than an hour for our food to be served. An hour wait is alright if the food is really good but it is NOT. It is very mediocre and "trying hard". The chicken medallion I ordered is tough and very dry. The steamed vegies and potato frites are under seasoned. The sisig they served my wife was burnt and bland as the crew did not even mixed it and seemed like they waited sometime to serve it without thinking that is in a sizzling plate.

    The wait is actually alright but the discrimination we got from this restaurant is appalling and horrendous, considering we are Filipinos paying the same price of food as their foreign visitors. If you are a Filipino but not a prominent one, and not a guest in Coco Grove Beach Resort, avoid this restaurant. The staffs were like trained to only serve foreign visitors.

    Apart from the wait, you need to beg the staffs for a glass of water and serviette or napkins which are restaurant essentials. There is a 20min wait for it because you need to wait for them to finish serve foreigners like slaves to their masters first (this is literal).

    There are certain place in restaurant that are reserved only for foreigners. It was on the 2-seater table "Reserved for Orchid 5" but they allowed 3 foreign couples to sit on it. When we asked the other staff if we can stay there as we were occupying a 5-seater table, one allowed us then another one asked us to move away as it was reserved.

    When we asked someone to get our orders, she moved away and entertained foreign visitors. She then came back after about 15mins with a very annoying tone asking if we already ordered. By that time, the trainee staff was the kind one to get our order. But there was an hour wait for the food. We tried to be more patient but our tipping point was when we asked for water and napkin. We called for 2 staffs which we were sure they saw us but did not attend to us. Instead, attended again to foreigners.

    When we asked for the manager, the kitchen supervisor said his shift is finish. A RESTAURANT WITHOUT A MANAGER DURING SERVICE??? We told her our complaints but apologies was all we got. Her reasons for neglect was understaffing as they have an event. But take note, before we were sent to the restaurant, the reception area will first confirm if they accomodate outside guest which in our case they confirmed.

    We were never discriminated in United Kingdom where we are now based. It was really shocking to be discriminated in our own country.
    TO SUNSET RESTAURANT MANAGEMENT: TRAIN YOUR PEOPLE ON EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY PLEASE. If I can only give NO stars for this restaurant I will.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Experienced the exact same discrimination at Coco Grove Siquijor's Restaurant. After all these years, they're still the same. That sucks.

      Delete