Grace Park Dining by Margarita Forés - One Rockwell

Perfect for big groups especially if with balikbayans and/or foreigner. No complaints about my muscovado beef belly and Eton mess — liked both! Will definitely come back for those two. Too bad no beef rendang, my mom and myself would have wanted that. As far as the atmosphere is concerned… hmmm so it’s industrial x boho x rustic? 😅 We were given the parang “secret room” sa mezzanine and ayun nga, in my mind I was like… so? Kailan kami magpapanday? Anyway, the service? Ok naman! The male server was efficient (sorry was not able to get his name) kaso I was not able to bring cash kaya was not able to leave a bit of tip for him. May dalawang female staff however parang ayaw nila sa group namin? 😅 lalo na sa magulang kong seniors na medyo magulo na kausap? Or benefit of the doubt — maybe they’re just having a bad day. Anyway, all in all… good experience pa rin and highly recommended especially for big groups! Must order ang muscovado beef belly talaga!

Good choice for our christmas lunch. We ordered the caesar salad, penne with ilonggo chorizo, muscovado beef belly, pan seared salmon and kare kare. The Muscovado belly and the penne pasta stood out the most for us. Can’t wait to be back. The menu has a lot of interesting items. Loved the industrial interior and the service is pretty average.

Spent my birthday celebration here. Food, service and ambiance are great! Delicious food. We tried the following mains: Ginataang bohol takla, pan seared salmon, Ilocos butter garlic sizzling chicken and muscovado beef belly. All are great especially the chicken and beef. Great desserts too. We tried salted red egg brazo de mercedes and avocado tart. The service is also great and they are accommodating of our requests. Very cozy place to stay with family. Will surely come back here. Thank you for making this day special for our family, Grace Park!

We had lunch at Grace Park and my family truly enjoyed the food and dessert. Our favorites are the lechon negros and the muscovado belly. Kare-kare was also great, it comes with alamang and bagoong fish. For dessert, we had the the tres leches cake and the chocolate lava with pastillas. The latter was super good, we wished thought it comes with a stick bread that you can dip in to the choco lava. Our server Tina was also super warm and friendly! We will be back, absolutely!

Food was stellar, as expected of any Margarita Fores resto. My family loved everything except for the lechon--it was just fine. I highly recommend the Blue Crab spaghettini and the Muscovado Beef Belly. However, service could be better. We were seated at the upstairs area facing the window, and it was hard to call our servers attention. A few times, we had to repeat our requests for extra cutlery. Also, the batchoy ramen took almost 40 minutes to arrive. By then, my 7 year old niece was quite hangry. And even though my reservation mentioned that I was there to celebrate my birthday, the staff didn't seem to notice--which was awkward since they sang for the other tables about 4 separate times... LOL. Even my family was urging me to let them know, but by then I was a bit annoyed. Now yes, the place was busy. But I still expected better service considering our 5 digit bill. Next time, I'm going with a smaller group and sitting at the common area. Maybe we'll be served better then.

Grace Park is popular with food bloggers and vloggers, so I was excited about going there. I went on a Sunday evening as Sunday is their 'Lechon' day according to their menu. I was greeted warmly by the waiting staff and ordered a G&T and some ice water as I sat down, the water appeared promptly, the G&T took much longer than expected, as I was sat right in front of the kitchen, I witnessed the guy making drinks being chivvied along wrt my order as even the staff realised it had taken way too long. This happened again when I ordered my second drink later in the meal, the restaurant was relatively quiet, maybe the guy is being asked to do too much or needs some training. 🤷🏽‍♂️ I would also say that the G&T is served in an awkwardly tall glass. 🤷🏽‍♂️ I ordered the Lechon Sisig Tacos to start, menu says these are dressed with Pico de Gallo ( Mexican salsa; fresh tomatoes, onion, jalapeno, cilantro, and lime juice), Capiz Bihod (fish roe) and rucola (rocket). These were presented well, although I couldn't find nor taste any evidence of a vibrant salsa. Sadly, the pork wasn't the expected roasted, pulled, topped with translucent crispy skin version. Nevertheless, they looked and tasted good. For my main I ordered the Filipino salad, garlic rice and, as they make a big deal of promoting it (see separate flyer presented with the menu) I ordered the beef rendang. The Filipino salad was lovely, fresh leaves and every flavour mentioned in the menu description was discernible, great. The same for the garlic rice (although no self-respecting Filipino cook would be unable to turn out a decent garlic rice) it was nicely seasoned with a hint of roasted garlic. As any experienced home cook looking at my photo will notice, the beef rendang looked odd on arrival, it didn't even look like the picture in their own promotion. From the first mouthful it became clear to me that the beef had been cooked separately and the sauce poured over it for serving. To make matters worse the beef was tasteless and the sauce more like a satay than rendang. I would guess that the beef was stewed in unseasoned water rather than stock, it certainly didn't taste like a rendang. The staff did enquire about my experience, so I let them know my disappointment with the promoted dish, the main component of my meal. They took the polite feedback, good and bad, well and with grace which is appreciated. I was given a complimentary dessert as a gesture of goodwill (I don't normally eat dessert as I'm usually too full!) the Pastillas and chocolate lava was beautiful, a lovely, shiny, dark chocolate ganache with milk pastillas. A triumph! So very much a mixed bag of a dining experience, staff great, food good and lacking. They did take the price of the rendang off my bill without pushback, Filipino grace or an admission of guilt? It's puzzling that a chef good enough to produce the salad and Pastillas/Chocolate lava would also allow the poor excuse for a rendang to leave the kitchen. I would go again after I've tried the myriad of other places to eat in Manila.

Had a wonderful meal at Grace Park! We tried the longanisa breakfast, muscovado belly, and the squash flower appetizer that are all flavorful and beautifully prepared. The squash flower dish was especially interesting and unique. As a big fan of iced tea, I loved that they served Ivatan iced tea such a refreshing treat! Great food, cozy atmosphere, and friendly service. Can’t wait to come back 🙂

The restaurant prides itself with their delicious take on Filipino dishes, and they definitely did not disappoint. Food was definitely amazing, with the Penne with Ilonggo Chorizo Cream being the clear standout among what we ordered. The steak, was seasoned just right which allows one to enjoy either the gravy or cheese sauce that comes along with it. But a sprinkle of salt goes a long way. Moreover, getting that 500g cut for a fraction of a price compared to other steak houses is a great deal. The Filipino in me went for the Laing because i’ve heard amazing stuff about it, and it did not disappoint. Kudos to Tina for the great experience. Will definitely be back.