Kalesa

My family went for Sunday lunch at noon and was seated right away for a table of 9. We ordered the palabok (delicious), kare kare (best dish) dinugan (delicious), beef sinigang, lechon kawali, sisig (it was ok and probably the least favorite from what we order). Halo halo for dessert. We recommend this place and will come back.

When you want to impress someone with traditional Filipino food, Kalesa delivers! We came here to celebrate my cousins birthday. We didn’t put in any reservations and we’re trying to seat for 7. Within 10 minutes we were seated. Water was served right when we sat. We ordered a lot of food. My favorite was the Bangus Sisig. The rest of the food was spot on. Pancit, sinigang, Kare Kare and crispy pata all hit the mark. Ended the night with halo halo. I would come here again if a guest requested formal Filipino food.

Great food and nice environment, good for groups of families or friends. The kare kare was really really good.

I was invited by my uncle and his wife to this restaurant for my grandmother's 83rd birthday. This restaurant is quite fancy for a place that serves ordinary Filipino food. I love how most items from the menu are displayed to see how they look like though they won't exactly replicate them being served to us, which is why I decided to take pictures of them. The food is good though, but some food needs to be a bit warmed up like the pancit. Some tastes alright but they don't really stand out. Most of them taste like home since I grew up in a Filipino household. The portions of the entrees are appropriate for hosting a party. Desserts are amazing though! I recommend going to this restaurant for friends and family if you're willing to try Filipino food in the Bay Area.

Everytime I eat here with my family, we enjoy the dishes we order. Fresh, tasty, and the portions are good. The servers are always pleasant and polite. *My husband and I have obviously eaten about 2/3 portion of the serving size of the Kare Kare pictured here.

Came here for a late Mother's day lunch with my in-laws. Very delicious. We ordered kare kare and the shrimp pastebwasnt enough. Service wasn't up to par and only came once. Didn't come to refill our water or if we needed anything else. Other than that, it was good.

On a Sunday early afternoon, put my name down on the waitlist and was told about a 20 mins wait for party of 2. There were 4 parties ahead of us, anywhere between 2-3 people in each party. After multiple parties kept coming and being seated before us, I checked our name on the waitlist. A party of 7-10 got seated before us. After waiting 30 mins, I finally asked the host how much longer of a wait and was told possibly another 20-30 mins. My husband and I were so displeased and left immediately. Looks like they were actively reserving large tables while having people on their waitlist. The large tables were being seated before the people on the waitlist, even if they were arriving after the rest of the waitlist. Terrible customer service with bullshit excuses why we couldn’t be seated. Permanently lost my service.

Our go-to Filipino restaurant when we visit the Bay Area! We’re a party of four & ordered 6 delicious meals! Maybe they can do better on the sizzling pork sisig? I mean let’s Google Filipino original sisigs ingredients? Also, be aware of the gratuity already added on the bill for party of four. Anyways, highly recommended!

Food As always plenty of food that was top notch, we did family style for a family party and everything was good, very filling, well priced. We had everything from crispy pata, sinigang and more. Dessert serving of halo hall with ice cream was also a generous serving. Ambiance This place is usually busy and packed since it's popular. Service Standard wait staff as expected.

I came here with some friends to try out filipino food as I have never ate it before. I had the lumpia shanghai which was just lumpia, so it was pretty good. However, I had the bistek and it was very salty. I think that day they put way too much soy sauce in the sauce because I couldn't taste the beef and all I tasted was the sauce. Every bite I took I had to reset my palate with water. I'm hoping this was just a one time thing. Also had the garlic rice and it was pretty good. The server was also pretty chill. In the end, I'm hoping to come back one day to have a better experience as I don't think it was suppose to be that salty.

Had an excellent time here eating with a group of friends on a Saturday night around 7 pm! It's part of a plaza in Milpitas and it's the only Filipino restaurant there. There's lots of parking so you don't have to worry about that. It was so bright, lively, and decorated for the holidays. We were sat immediately and there was a 70 year old birthday so we got to see the restaurant in full spirit and cheer. The restaurant is great for family style celebrations with long tables and so much space. We ordered 4 dishes: - Rice of course to go with the meats! - Sinigang: the national soup of the Philippines! It was done so well, with a great sour taste that cleanses your palate after eating oily foods. Lots of veggies and good portions of meat. - Tofu and Fried Pork: so crunchy and great pairing with vinegar sauce. - Pork Sisig: my absolute favorite with a good portion of diced onion. Loved all of it from the food, the service, and the atmosphere!

Pork Sinigang was a hit! Extremely large and tender pork belly chunks. The soup was perfectly sour and the vegetables were generously portioned. Eggplants and green beans were NOT soggy! Loved the daikon. Very delicious. The Tokwa't Baboy was a miss for me. The Lechon Kawali was very fatty, but a little too crunchy in my opinion. Lacked flavor too. Very little seasoning. Tofu especially was bland. Definitely dunk everything in the vinegar! Sizzling Pork Sisig... I had mixed feelings. There was a lot of flavor going on, to the point it was growing too salty. Some fattier pieces were tender and great with rice! Other pieces were really dry and tough in texture. I imagine the fish sisig would be more enjoyable for my preferences!

Craving filipino food this past weekend, with not many places in the area open after 6pm on Sundays (many not open at all on Sundays), we ended up at Kalesa. This is a rare filipino fine dining establishment, with plenty of items to choose from on the menu. We got the beef bistek, pork bbq, chicken inasal, and some steamed rice for takeout. Staff provided very friendly service, and we were accurately quoted a reasonable 20-25 minute wait for our order to be ready. The chicken inasal was a bit dry but had good flavor, the beef bistek was saucy with tender pieces of meat and lots of onions which I love, and the pork bbq had a good amount of meat on the sticks, slightly charred, with a nice balance of sweet and smoky, though a tad salty. Overall, I was happy with the quality and taste. But with such a hefty price tag, you really gotta blow me away, and I didn't think the value was quite there. The fact that they don't offer individual sized portions or plates for anything but breakfast kinda sucks. And even the silog dishes are $20+ after tax. On the bright side, we ended up with lots of delicious leftovers to last us several days.

Great food and nice environment, good for groups of families or friends. The kare kare was really really good.

Whenever we're in Milpitas, Kalesa is our go-to place for Filipino food. We came on a Saturday and noticed a big Birthday celebration; the place was reserved for almost 50 people. We're only a few who were able to get a table right away. If you're planning on dining here, call or make a reservation so that you won't be surprised by a waiting time especially if there's a big celebration they are hosting. We ordered the daing na bangus and Kare Kare. The Kare Kare is generous in serving. They have a lot of oxtail and they are tender. The bangus is fresh and cooked right. We always enjoy Filipino food whenever we come to Kalesa. The service is also fast and excellent.

Dining area is clean. Tables are close to each other esp if you are sitting in the middle. Service was good, they were nice and friendly. Then came the food..... Sisig was hard and dry. We all got a small spoonful each when it came out and no one touched it again. Felt more like 1-2 day old reheated meat. Better to get beef jerky sticks. Pancit bihon was definitely all BIHON. Barely any meat or veggies. No taste, very bland. Bihon was pale. Kare kare pata had a good taste except for it should be called green beans kare kare. Half a pata and tons of green beans. The whole bottom of the bowl was filled with green beans, a few pieces of eggplant. Bistek, good soy lime flavor. Good portion of beef. This was probably the most enjoyable out of all the dish. The stars are for service and the place itself. Food was a let down.

Really so famished so this hit the spot!! Very elegant looking spacious dining area. Tables covered with dainty cream linen and place setting of white ceramic dinner plate and utensils kept inside a small brown bag on top of paper white disposable table napkins. Amiable server gave a stellar service! Ordered TOCILOG breakfast served with pieces of pork tocino , 2 fried eggs and a cup shaped garlic fried rice ! Meat was tender and savory ! Gotta have veggies so the SITAW and Squash with shrimps in the coconut milk gravy was very creamy and delicious!! Now can't skip the LECHON KAWALI...pork belly slap with crunchy skin !! For 3 people with the large servings there were still leftovers to go!! Will definitely be back to try other dishes like SISIG, KARE KARE and DINUGUAN !

Tried Filipino food for the first time--not really my thing. Sizzling Sisig (2/5): First impression? Salty. Second impression? Dry and tough. Some fatty bits were a little better in texture, but overall it was just too salty and dry for me. Crispy Pata (3/5): The portion was huge--two giant pork knuckles. The skin was crispy, but in a super hard way that made it tough to bite into. Not the kind of crispy I was expecting. Sizzling Bangus Sisig (3/5): The fish was minced and cooked with onions and chili, and the crispy skin was laid on the bottom. The seasoning was quite sour--okay at first, but it got overwhelming after a few bites. There was also a half-cooked egg on the side... not really sure how I was supposed to eat it. Overall, the food wasn't really my style, but the vibe in the restaurant was great. A few tables were celebrating birthdays while we were there, and the staff really brought the energy and made it fun. If you're into rich, meaty, and bold flavors, it might be worth a try!

Big dinning area. Can accommodate about 70 people. This place do catering. Ok reception. Great service. Good flavorful grand ma kitchen food. Lechon kawali was super crispy yet not burned. Squash/string beans with coconut milk was my favorite. Tocino/sunny side up egg and garlic rice (Tapsilog breakfast plate) was good.,Came in at 11:00 am when they opened and still served. Sago (tapioca) on the gulaman drink was hard and not fully cooked. Colorful presentation but disappointing taste. Not sweet enough. Overall, it's still worth coming back.

I've been here many times and it's always a good experience. The place is small but cozy, clean, and has plenty of seating. The food is always delicious and consistent. Never had a bad meal here. The staff are super friendly and make you feel welcome every time. Definitely one of my go-to spots for good filipino food.

We came out on a busy Sunday evening for dinner. We were calling to see how long the wait was but nobody answered . By the time we got there, they said it would be a 35 minute wait . I'm sure we got seated even quicker than that, maybe only about 15 minutes of waiting . It's situated in a little strip plaza so parking was kind of hard, there was plenty of it but it was a busy Sunday and there's a ton of other restaurants using the same lot, so we had to circle around a bit until we got lucky. Ambiance 4/5: Clean, spacious looking restaurant with large dining tables, evenly spaced out, perfect for dining with families or large crowds. Moderately noisey. Tableware was also already set out for family style serving. Service 3/5: It looked like there were several different parties going on at a time so I feel like we may have been forgotten because after about 15 minutes of waiting we did have to flag somebody down because other diners that had sat down after us were getting their orders in before us. Our waitress was very apologetic and she did seem flustered at how busy it was. After we got our food , our water never came so we had to get up and ask the hostess if we could have water. It was an entire battle the rest of the evening to try and flag somebody down for a container to go, the bill, where the restrooms were, LOL forget even asking for more water. Food 5/5: We ordered the garlic rice, fish sigsig, pork sisig, and pancit palabok. Everything was delicious! Portions were huge! Food reminded me of home style cooking like if it was prepared by my Mom or Tita. The pork sigsig was sizzling and had that unctuous bite. I loved all the flavor that went into the fish sigsig, it was tangy, savory and fresh! Overall, it was a good experience! We would love to come here again to try all the other items on the menu, perhaps at a different day or time of the week when it's not peak hours!

It is located on the corner of a quiet parking plaza with ample parking and clean front area. The waiter greeted us and checked for a table right as soon as we arrived. Heres the verdict: Service (4/5) - we were seated and order quickly, moving tables to accommodate our order, but we waited a bit to pay and leave. Calamari (4/5)-flavor was good slightly hard to chew but still really good Crispy pata (5/5)- just wow and they serve two pieces, our order was amazing Tokwa't baboy (4/5)-this dish was amazing, also on happy hour, they did not miss Sisig (5/5)- my personal fave Beef nilaga (5/5)-flavor, texture portions, all yum Bangus sisig (5/5)-i havent had this dish before and we were pleasantly surprised with the flavor profile and happy with it Halo halo (4/5)-not pictured- really good and everything, plating could be a little better since the halo halo over flowed but could have been human error. Would highly recommend this place!!!!

I really wanted to give this a zero rating. The food quality has decreased immensely. I will not be eating here ever again. We ordered food to go. The bistek had so much oil in it. Couldn't enjoy the food. The kare kare was ok but for the price not enough meat or veggies just sauce. Lechon kawali was ok but had lots of oil as well. The bicol's pride was the better of all the food we ordered however it was more soupy, couldn't taste the shrimp paste or coconut milk. Oh and upon arriving no one was visible. The employees were hanging out in the back. Waited 5 min and still no one. Just took my food when an employee came out and rudely asked if she could help. Don't go here!! Spend money elsewhere!

A lot of my filo friends come to Kalesa so I was excited to dine here! My friend made a reservation for the four of us but we were running late, however they were super accommodating! The atmosphere itself was inviting and bustling, expect a lot of conversations! We ordered Sisig, Lumpiang Shanghai, Chicken Inasal, Pancit Bihon, & Shrimp Sinigang! The Sisig and Sinigang for me in particular was memorably delicious, I loved the tenderness of the meat and pairing the sour soup with rice was amazing. The Pancit fell a little flat for me, it tasted a bit bland and not as flavorful. Chicken Inasal and Lumpia you can never go wrong with ordering! We absolutely ADORED getting the Turon ala mode for dessert, the fried banana rolls just compliments the mango and ube ice cream so well! Personally it was the perfect dessert to share after a hearty meal.

When I go to Filipino restaurants I really only care about the crispy pata (4/5) and kalesa makes them really well! For sure will come back here just for that alone :) The pancit bihon (2.5/5) in my opinion wasn't very good but it depends on the person. I thought it lacked flavor. Halo-halo (4/5) was very good though. So my recs would be crispy pata and halo-halo :)

Came here to celebrate my birthday with 10 guests on a Saturday for lunch. Foods were amazing and plenty to share, from starter to main dishes & delicious desserts (halo-halo, maiz con yellow). It's a fun place to celebrate birthdays. Wonderful service & friendly staff.

This place is good if you're looking to try Filipino food for the first time and if you want the milder Filipino cuisine flavor. Good fried lumpiang Shanghai (mini egg rolls) and lechon kawali (fried pork belly). They don't have the Lomi on the menu but they can make it if you ask. Very tasty broth with lots of garlic flavor. Their pancit (noodles) are ok. I'd recommend the bihon over the moki bihon. Somehow the bihon has more flavor. Kare Kare was ok. The gravy needs the shrimp paste for flavor. They cook the really well; was pretty tender. They use green beans instead of the traditional long string beans. Sisig was good but the meat was a bit hard. Tocino was good, without too much fat. Best of paired with the garlic rice which was also good. They were generous with the Halo halo. It has both mango and ube ice cream and a big chunk of yummy leche flan. Similar price with other Filipino restaurants in the area. Good place for celebrations as they make the food pretty fast.

Horrible good. Pancit had hard pieces of chicharrón, tiny shrimp from a can. and non-existing chicken. But it boasted the three of them. Yuck! Too expensive for a poor quality fish.

Kalesa is our go to Filipino eats. The food ate solid and tasty. My only gripe is the scarcity of vegetable selection. We ordered pinskbet, tokwat baboy and crispy dunuguan.

What stands out: 1. Mandatory 5% Tariff: wondering if they remit this to the US federal treasury fund, or does Kalesa keep this 5% - needs to explain if they import materials and pass on to consumer. 2. Mandatory Gratuity/Service Charge: 1-5 guests: 15% 6 and above: 20% 3. Tip is required. 4. Tax is required. Expect to add around 30-35% on actual cost of dining at Kalesa. Btw, they also increased the price of all items in the menu by minimum of 30% (pork sisig used to be $19, now about $25.) Food - salty, lukewarm, and tastes ordinary (nothing special). Service - so so, nothing that stands out... Ambiance - nothing to see... cleanliness is okay. Clean silverware, dishes, table... NOT COMING BACK. THERE ARE SEVERAL RESTAURANTS in the area THAT ARE BETTER (Like the famous filipino chicken restaurant at Landes).

We visited on a Saturday night and found parking quickly in the plaza parking. We ordered the sagot gulaman and it was too sweet. The calamari was good as always with vinegar-y soy sauce and a creamy tartar sauce. We ordered the pata, crispy pork, which was good with the sauce, the squid was good really chewy and I liked the char flavor, bangus sisig was really good very flavorful definitely recommend. I also really like the Chop suey vegetable mix and the grilled chicken both flavorful as well! The staff was helpful and the food came out fast. The ambiance was aesthetic.

I ordered food for our Christmas dinner, paid almost 300, and I was really disappointed. I ordered crispy pata which was overcooked, bbq was burned, the only dish that my family enjoyed was dinakdakan. The rest was not up to par

I have a huge update! I came here yesterday for an early dinner with my wife and we had an amazing experience. This is my first time dining inside and the place is pretty spacious with lots of tables dripped in white linen and silverware. I automatically smelled the sizzling smoke from the fried fish and pork in the air which was welcoming. There were a lot of people eating inside as well as celebrating a special birthday or get together. It was pretty festive yesterday. We thoroughly enjoyed their pork sinigang with white rice. The pork belly meat was cooked perfectly and soaked the soup. The vegetable are crisp and has it's vibrant color on them. At first glance, the sinigang looked bland with it's pale and half-cooked look to it. But after eating and sipping the soup, the balance of salt & pepper and seasoning was just right. The ukoy is thick and cakey with huge chunks of meaty shrimps. The texture was perfect with it's fried coating having a nice crisp. I love dipping it into vinegar and chowing down. This is a must with rice. Their pork sizzling sisig was so great tasting. The loud sizzle from the meat did it for me. The taste reminded me of thinly sliced Vietnamese lemongrass pork chop which by any means, is so delicious and worth it. There is a lot meat in this dish and works perfect with the blend of freshly diced jalapenos and onions. I do however, like my sisig with squeezed lemon juice to give it that kick. I also like my sisig a bit saucier BUT that's ok. For dessert, we shared a halo-halo which was served in this goblet glass cup, and topped with ice, condensed milk, ice cream, jellies and flan. This is also delicious and one of the best I've have. They serve large portions of food here which is all worth the while. I am a huge fan of this place and will love to come back again. To me, this is the best in the area for Filipino food.

We recently had a luncheon here and staff were amazing. I placed a reservation earlier in the week and preordered two days before. The staff was also able to accommodate more people and additional orders of food. When we arrived, the lumpia were on the table. The entrees arrived before the rice. The pancit and bangus sisig came last. Everything was delicious and not too greasy. The pork sinigang had more fat than meat. The kare kare had subtle peanut flavor. Tables were set up nicely. There was a birthday celebrant for another customer. It was fun and lively. We didn't know they celebrated birthday celebrants. We also happened to have had two birthday celebrants and asked one of our servers if they can also do it for them. It was so fun and made our lunch even greater.

I was invited by my uncle and his wife to this restaurant for my grandmother's 83rd birthday. This restaurant is quite fancy for a place that serves ordinary Filipino food. I love how most items from the menu are displayed to see how they look like though they won't exactly replicate them being served to us, which is why I decided to take pictures of them. The food is good though, but some food needs to be a bit warmed up like the pancit. Some tastes alright but they don't really stand out. Most of them taste like home since I grew up in a Filipino household. The portions of the entrees are appropriate for hosting a party. Desserts are amazing though! I recommend going to this restaurant for friends and family if you're willing to try Filipino food in the Bay Area.

The food there is good but theyre on the pricey side of thangs but its ok in this economy you know the service is good as well if you are craving for some filipino food go here

A great place to eat with the family. The interior feels homely and familiar. Staff are personable. We didn't know they were closing at 7 and we came in at 6:30 with a big party. They were still willing to serve us. The pork sisig was okay. It didn't have a fried egg, so it felt like something was missing from the dish. I did appreciate the portion size as it is one of the bigger portions I've seen of sisig from a restaurant. The pork and bangus sinigang was salty and sour. The meat was tender and the medley of vegetables were great. As a soup lover, I also loved how much soup the dish had. It paired so well with rice and the other fatty dishes we ordered. The lechon kawali was delightful. It was rich and had a light crunch. The crispy pata was hefty and the meat wasn't dry. The soy sauce based dipping sauce paired great with the fatty pork. The chopsuey was great assortment of vegetables and meat. They did not hold back on the shrimp and pork either. My favorite dish was the chicken inasaal. It was tender and cooked so well. Each piece had the perfect amount of char and the meat was flavored all the way through. It didn't need any sauces. I know good Filipino food and this was good Filipino food. Definitely bring your family and friends here if you have a big group. We ordered so much food and we paid around $30 per person, we were stuffed!

A great spot to have some good Filipino food. We like coming here with our family. The portions are good and deliciously made. The service is quick and the staff is kind. They do sweet things for birthdays. We ordered our favorites, pancit, Kare kare, crispy pata, bulalo, bulaklak and halo halo. The bulaklak is my all time favorite. Great crunch and flavor! Kare Kare is very creamy and has a lot of meat and veggies. We had to take some food Togo cause we couldn't finish it all since we saved room for halo halo.

One of my favorite Filipino restaurant in the bay. Been going here since I was a kid and it has never failed to bring the best tasting food. The service is great and I love all the staff. Great place to eat with your family and friends.

Much better if I'm the one who cook,all food that i ordered is zero ratings,maybe I can apply as their cook,even 1 star is hard to give,by the way it's my husband's bday today...not very happy

I had a reservation 8 and we ordered quite a bit of food and shared family style. Everyone loved the kare kare with Crispy pata and the bagoong. The lumpia Shanghai and the pancit were delicious with fresh ingredients and veggies. The sinagang soup was so comforting. Most of us ordered the halo halo for dessert. The food came out super fast and service was ok. We had to ask for water multiple times tho. I will say the prices here are quite high compared to other restaurants in general. The kare kare was almost $30 and most of the items on the menu are $20 and above. Even the halo halo was $8+. It's a great place to go if you're craving good quality Filipino food but if you want a less expensive option go to another spot

Looking forward to starting our weekend with a Filipino dinner on Friday evening. We picked Kalesa in Milpitas on a recommendation. I have to say that we were disappointed in the food quality. Rice was undercooked Kare Kare was not hot Lechon was not as crunchy. We were looking forward to a good filipino dinner and top it off with a halo halo but the disappointment of the food led us to not ordering dessert. Not sure if they were understaffed or had equipment issues but it left an questionable impression on our dining experience

Kalesa occupies a commercial strip with 3 boba shops And a Taiwanese chicken shop. Inside dining area is vast. walls decorated with Xmas items, other pics. Not uber fancy, more upscale than most Filipino eateries. Was greeted by host upon entering, assigned a table. Got a menu. Ordered soon after. Offerings: drinks, desserts, sides, vegetables, noodles, soup, seafood, chicken, pork, beef, all day breakfast, appetizers, "what's good"...individual dishes are of different cooking styles... Eats: crispy pata (24.50)-deep fried pig trotters/knuckle -seldom see this, choose this over lechon kawaii -very crispy skin. Tender, juicy meat with thin layer of melted fat. Some Fats are monosaturated good fat. -pata doesn't taste marinated, natural flavor. All flavoring comes from the soy-vinegar dip. * decadently deliz. For health reasons, once a week is enough. Garlic rice (4) one scoop -had nuanced flavor like the others. Wouldn't re-order. Halo halo espesyal (7.50) -2 scoops of ice cream on top, shaved ice in middle. Beans, fruits, gelatin on bottom. Deliz. -ate it along with crispy pata. Didn't wait till after. -nice mix of rich creaminess with the rest. Shaved ice an annoyance. Should have scoop it out sooner. *prices dining in is lower than online ordering.. October is Filipino American History Month -commemorates the lst Filipino appearance (via Spanish Navy) in the U.S. on 10/18/1587 at what is now Morro Bay, Ca.

Service was excellent. Gigi was very personable and attentive to our needs making sure our drinks were always toped off!! Ambiance was nice. Tables were not too close to each other and noise level was tolerable. Food: 1) Crispy Dinuguan - very tasty and pork was not fatty. 5 of 5 2) Pancit Miki Bihon - flavor was slightly bland 3 of 5. Seemed like it was missing something but could not figure it out 3) Pinakbet - kind of soupy and we liked as it was not too salty. 4 of 5 4) Chicken Inasal - flavor was spot on so 5 of 5 5) Crispy pata - excellent 5 of 5 6) lumpia shanghai was slightly over cooked 3 of 5 7) calamari was also spot on so 5 of 5 We know what to order at the next visit and we look forward to having Gigi service us. She is great and we really enjoyed interacting with her!!

Came here a couple times with my family. Overall, the food feels like home! Tastes as if my grandma cooked it in the kitchen. My only reason for 3 stars is the place is a little small and everyone is kind of close to each other. Also some of the glasses and silverware looked a bit dirty so had to rewipe them. Other than that, definitely check it out for the food!

We came to eat at 4pm. The place was not packed which is good. We're Filipinos and the food confused us.The taste is not there. All of their dishes lacks umami. The pancit malabon had bits of squid that is so rubbery. It also has bits of pork that seems old and as hard as a pebble. This was our second time eating here. The first time was not impressive however we gave it a second try. Now we can say we're not going back.The taste of their food lacks a lot of things. Our server was an older guy. He is nice but he's serving 4 other tables. There are other servers around and they were just passing by us, the lady servers kept checking at their faces on the big mirror on the wall and never saw that our glass was empty. Nobody bothered to ask if need more water. This is very basic in a restaurant and then again they failed. So frustrating to get a service like this in a Filipino restaurant.

Kalesa has been a great spot for catering and large parties for our family. The food is traditional like homemade and tasty! The staff was helpful w/ our group of 30 on a Sat night. Previous they catered for us for 75 people. Parking is easy w/ a lot outside.

First time trying a Filipino restaurant! The interior is nice and kind of homey and the servers were great. Will do a quick breakdown of all the food ordered but favorites were definitely the Pork Adobo and Halo Halo for dessert. Kare Kare (6/10): The peanuty flavor was good but I think I'm a little biased against this dish because I didn't think the oxtail and choice of veggies were that palatable. Thankfully my girlfriend seemed to enjoy it a bit more for the oxtail but I wouldn't order it again. Pork Adobo (8/10): I loved this as my main entree, so juicy and flavorful, but the only downside was it's super salty. Portions are huge though and I would order again. Large Garlic Rice (9/10): I didn't realize "large" would really mean this enormous plate of rice. The closeup picture really doesn't do it justice as I tend to devour 2 cups of rice on my own, but this would have easily fed 4-5 people. The flavor was delicious, it's not just rice! Halo Halo (9/10): We savored this dessert for sure, you get a touch of flan, Ube ice cream, and some jelly-like ingredients that im ignorant on. It's a really nice blend of different textures and flavors, definitely get it! Overall, Kalesa has got me craving Filipino food again after writing this!

Met up with a friend that really likes this restaurant. We had lunch and order a few items. what we ordered and rating: - young coconut water 5/5 really good. felt like i was in vacay for a min -pancit 3.5/5 it was pretty good but, a bit salty -lumpia 3/5 good, tiny -fish fillets 3/5 definately didnt expect it to be good -halo-halo 4/5 was really good and shareable overall, the food is good and i had a good experience!

I met a couple of friends here for dinner, and we decided to split everything family style: - dinuguan (5/5) - pork sisig (5/5) - pancit bihon (5/5) - Lechon kawali (I did not taste this dish myself, but by the looks of it, it was really good and everyone else enjoyed) - pandan iced tea (5/5 especially if you enjoy four seasons drinks) - garlic rice Our server was extremely attentive and made sure we had everything we needed. The food was absolutely delicious and came in huge portions so we had plenty of leftovers. The restaurant was clean, parking was easy, and I loved the family friendly atmosphere. We'll be back!

Tried eating here on a non busy day. Front service ignored us the whole time for more than 15 mins while talking to another group about catering. And the other couple servers just passes by and ignored us for the same amount of time. Food looks good but if that's how they treat their customers it's not worth it.

Delicious food! We had a family style dinner and I tried the kare kare, pancit palabok, crispy pata, sisig, lechon, and the garlic fried rice. All very delicious food and very authentic. Service was good. This place is VERY CROWDED, so make a reservation. Even with the reservation, you will still have to wait a bit. Would love to return again for more someday.

I don't usually eat filipino food so I was super excited to try this place out. The prices are great and portions are huge. Busy for a Friday night but my group was able to get seated right away. Fast service. Garlic rice is a must. I could just swallow it all. I love garlic rice. The sisig silog is probably the best I've had! Big portion and had the grill taste to it. Pancit was not so much, but too lemony. Not enough shrimp for what you're paying. Crispy pata was just a no.... Smelt like pig and I was not about that. Too fatty but not the restaurants fault. Just a fatty foot. Halo Halo - Expensive for lots of ice. Some of the best flan I've had. The workers here are sweet. Even after they closed and I was in the parking, I knocked asking if I could use the bathroom and they let me back in.

Many mixed feelings, but I also have the sense that on their good days it's a solid pick for legit filipino food. That also being said, they don't really give much guidance on what their food even includes so for newcomers like myself it's a bit opaque (and our server wasn't helpful in sussing things out). Willing to give it another try, but the experience definitely could be improved on. Parking is at the very least a ready thing as the lot is quite wide open so it shouldn't be hard to drop by and try things out. Service is something of a mixed bag and it's sometimes a bit confusing as to what to listen to. We were told by one server to just sit tight for a second, then told by another to write our details down (with phone number), then get told by a third we could sit immediately. Talk about whiplash. Our server that took our order didn't seem interested in helping us figure out the menu and which ones had (shell)fish due to my brother's allergies...so we just eyeballed our dishes. When I asked them later about the unidentified paste with the Kare Kare, they didn't seem too apologetic for not telling us ahead of time it was shrimp-based. ==Kare Kare - 2.5/5* If you eat it with their shrimp paste it's probably closer to a 3.5, but without it it's honestly a pretty underwhelming dish. The shrimp paste seems to have *all* the salt you need, and probably a few heapings more. It was honestly kind of tricky figuring out how much to put in cause it's so strong. But if you can't eat shrimp and assumed it was only beef it's extremely bland and the peanut flavor is really muted. Veggies were fresh, but felt rather undercooked for a stew, especially the eggplant. The stew texture was reasonably thick, but didn't really help when the flavor was just not there. ==Sizzling Sisig - 3.5/5 Reasonably good juicy pork bites, albeit with a few minuses that didn't sit great with me. The platter, while hot to touch, wasn't sizzling anything and yet the meat was generally half burnt on the bottom. A bit of charring is fine, but burnt bits messes up meat a lot. This next thing might be a cultural differenec, but it was also served with diced raw onion and green pepper, the former of which gave a really strong bite I wasn't too fond of. Definitely would prefer it just to have been cooked and it'd be so much better...which might've been more likely to happen if it was more sizzling, but it was also served on top rather than on the bottom. Pretty solid value either way, since it's a positively massive serving. ==Garlic Rice - 3/5 It was perfectly fine to eat, but just didn't seem all that special for a cup of rice with fried garlic bits tossed into the mix. Portion size + price is up so my brother and I split a single 'cup'. ==Halo Halo - 5/5 Honestly the meal's saving grace. Undeniably good, despite being rather different from our typical dessert fare. The ube ice cream melting around the shaved ice and flavoring the beans and jellies made for a wonderful blend as we munched through.

My bf took me to Kalesa for my first time trying it as we were nearby the area. We never really get filipino food outside as we already have them at home, but this was a great time to try the place out. We went on a Monday so it was not busy at all, and the service we received was super speedy and chill. I'm super indecisive when it comes to ordering and I can say that Kalesa's menu made it even harder for me to choose since everything looked so good. If only I could order and have a little bit of every single thing on the menu. I am Filipino so I've had 90% of what the menu has, but it is definitely different seeing many of the foods introduced by the Philippines in one sitting. Makes you wanna order more than what your party can eat! We decided to order their sizzling sisig and their sitaw kalabasa sa gata, which is basically a veggie stew with string green beans and squash in coconut cream. The sisig was a 5/5 as the cut was more thick and bigger compared to how other Filipino restaurants do it, and I loved that because it felt more savory to eat. The toppings also had a great ratio with the meat and the serving size was bigger than I expected! With the veggie stew, it was a 4/5 as I love anything with coconut cream and the veggies were a perfect pair to the cream, although it could have been a little less salty. Overall, the meal was delicious and filling. We also ordered their halo halo for dessert because obvi it's mandatory before heading out! It was perfect for the hot day in Milpitas and I was impressed with the amount of jellies and toppings they put.

I ordered party trays for a bday celebration. All of the food are salt laden except Kare Kare. I threw the left over Pancit Bihon- super salty. 2-3 guests had swollen ankles when they got home lol.

My parents often seek the comfort of Filipino food, whether for takeout or dining in. This restaurant holds a special place in their hearts, especially for my dad, who passionately recommends it whenever we plan to eat out. Their fish sisig is a delight, and the beef mechado and beef nilaga, along with all the soups on the menu, are truly exceptional. You can always count on their lumpiang Shanghai, which is my son's favorite!