Josephine's Filipino Restaurant

Three work colleagues and I tried this restaurant for lunch as an alternative option. The food was terrible. I ordered the Inasal na Manok Grilled Chicken (Chargrilled fillet of chicken breast in barbeque sauce) for £8.30. A chicken breast smothered in soy sauce (not a barbeque sauce) was served. It was very salty rendering it virtually inedible. This was not served with a side dish and for an extra £3.25 you could get bowl of chips or £3.00 for a bowl of plain boiled rice. The chips were brown and very soggy and had a rubbery texture. The waitress wiped the table cloth with a wet sponge leaving the table cloth wet and smelly. A 12.5% service charge was automatically added to each individual bill. the final straw was receiving my change short by 20p. In total the meal of a chicken breast, bowl of chips and a drink cost £17.20. I would not recommend this restaurant, the food is horrible, the service is slow (only one other table) and it simply isn't value for money. The only edible item was the ice cream which a colleague said was good. I will not be eating here again.
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Ez - View all reviews by this user
2 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 2
Friday, September 16, 2011

I don't know where the previous reviewer dined but our experience at Josephine's was a Highly Enjoyable Dining Experience.

We had the Crispy Pata which was Crispy and Roasted Pork. We also had a "Set Meal" which worked out cheaper than if we bought the dishes individually.

If its good enough for celebrities to eat there, it was certainly good enough for us. The staff didn't bother us about the photos, they were too busy to talk about it. When they did talk to us it was to ask us if we were enjoying ourselves.

The set meal had a dessert and a coffee. We had Halo Halos which were like the ones we had whilst on holiday in the Philippines except these were bigger. The coffee was quite aromatic, its not a coffee house but they knew their brew.

The food tasted like the stuff we had whilst on holiday except in London we get Bigger Portions!

If you like Filipino food or Pacific Rim Fusion get down here and give it a try! I enjoyed it!
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Jackie Williams
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 10
Monday, March 28, 2011

I was so ashamed to my forieghn fiancee and his family!

The food was poor. It was not an authentic filipino food, they used different ingredients on their cooking and the crispy pata wasnt cripy at all it was more like extremly chewy pata! and halo halo fruits seem to came out of a tin can and I don't think that what they served us in general was fresh.

Atmospher was not filipino at all....Budah??? it was more like a museum of filipino celebs.

I did not like tha fact that during our dining experiece the waiter kept bothering us by showing us photos of filipino celebs who dined in their restaurant.... they did not even realize that my fiancee's family wasn't even interested at all as they don't have a clue who were those people on the photo. I think that they are using filipino celebs to attract more customers.. well I say that if they are really confident about their food and service they wouldn't have to disturb their customers while dining and just let their food and service speek for it self.

I want to include as well their hideous menu it was so confusing the 'meal for certain number of people' We ended up paying more than what we thought we would just because the girl who took our order doesn't have a clue about our questions i think she kinda made it up the answers and just went along with it. Defintely not the kind of service that you would expect if you dine in Charlotte Street.

NEVER GO IN THIS RESTAURANT! ITS A TOTAL RIP OFF!

By the way they have no clue what a real expresso is, it was so watery it was more like a filter coffee!!!
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love
1 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0
Saturday, March 26, 2011

After a very long time not tasting a good quality of traditional Filipino foods. I have been searching for Filipino restaurant and I found this lovely friendly place. I asked my husband and my family to take us at Josephine's Filipino restaurant.

We didn't regret after we had a lovely dinner. We loved the food and it was very tasty like special bihon,special bihon mina,lechon kawali and most of all the Halo-Halo...Thanks to all the staff and job well done...We highly recommended to anyone who wants to taste a traditional Filipino foods....My opinion to have a larger space much better to accomodate more customers to come....
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sheily
9 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Saturday, February 26, 2011

Originally from the Philippines, I miss our food so much so I visit this restaurant almost twice a month. I wouldn't say it is perfect but I must say it is one of the best Filipino restaurants in London.

Food -- I love the Crispy Pata and Lechon Kawali...very authentic!! Part of my order in every visit. Their Kare-Kare and Sinigang are average. They don't generally use authentic Filipino veggies, which may upset a Filipino customer. But overall, their Filipino veggie dishes are good.

Alcoholic drinks -- Try Red Horse and San Miguel - original Filipino beers

Non-alcoholic drinks -- try Calamansi juice

Desserts -- Halo-halo is my favourite although the exotic ice creams are also very tempting

Ambience -- Not very Filipino aside from a few paintings and pictures of famous Filipinos who have visited the place. Having said this, if you have been to other Filipino restaurants in London, you will say that this is by far closer to home.

Service -- The staff may sometimes lack smile but this may be attributed to the Filipino 'shyness'. I agree though that they should smile more and show the true way of Filipino hospitality.

Atmosphere -- may be bland in comparison to the other restaurants in the area but I love the 'homely' feeling in this place. The feeling is like visiting your local Italian 'Trattoria'. Maybe because it is family run and you feel like eating in someone elese's home! :)

Value for money -- Filipinos may say the food are expensive in comparison to other Filipino restaurants. But we must definitely factor in the location of this restaurant. The prices are competitive in comparison to other restos in the area. I agree that there may be other restos around that are more value for money...it all boils to taste at the end of the day.

This is the only Filipino restaurant in London that I will recommend to friends in terms of value for money and location (++++). It's the only one I've brought my friends to so far.
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Malty
7 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 7
Sunday, August 22, 2010

I concur with the negative reviews on here. Am also a Filipino and quite frankly was ashamed after bring some non-Filipinos here. The food was far removed from what they taste like in the Philippines, decor has absolutely nothing to do with the Philippines (a Bhudda statue?!) and staff was surly. Also, it is quite frankly a bit pricey for what it is - there are far cheaper and better options in Charlotte Street.
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Jose Manuel Tapia
1 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, April 13, 2010

It seems like there is a range of views on this site with regards to this wonderful restaurant.

I have had the pleasure of dinning at Josephine's several times and have to disagree with its critics.

Everything from the service... to portion sizes had been above and beyond the humble styling's of the place at every calling. The staff are extremely friendly and always willing to help.

The food is of a high quality and exceptionally fresh . In particular the Bicol Express... it is to die for.

I would definitely recommend Josephine's. And intend to dine there for many years to come.
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Armin Teymouri
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Saturday, March 27, 2010

Dined here two years ago and never came back. I know Filipino food quite well, and this is not at all what I would say the right place to go to experience Filipino cuisine.

The food was more 'traditional' dishes, but if the intention of the place is to stay with a 'traditional' experience (which is good), I couldn't help thinking that the owners needed to go to the Philippines to see what Filipino cuisine and restaurants are now like-- and this was not at all what it is (not fresh, not exciting). The place could have used an upgrade too-- the ambience was NOT FIlipino. The staff needed to smile a little bit more, the food was pricey for what it was.

All in all, very disappointed with Josephine's. Will not recommend and not go back again.
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PMR
2 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 1
Sunday, February 21, 2010

4 of us chose to eat at Josephines last night, there were many other restaurants in Charlotte St we should have chosen, but were intrigued by the menu they offered and the fact they had spare tables when everywhere else was packed....What a mistake.

We shared a mixed starter that was the only decent-ish food of the meal, a tasty chicken satay and ribs were good.

Mains were just plain awful. Prawns in a coconut sauce that was so sweet and gloopy it could have been coconut cream straight out of a tin. Stuffed calamari was weird, filled with mashed crabsticks, mussels and other undiscernable seafood mix encased in a tough rubber calamari tube, smothered in again a sweet, nasty (and strangely chewy) sauce.

My chicken adobe was ok, though the sauce was very cloying. A friends pork belly was incredibly dry and tough, again a very sickly sauce accompanied it. Garlic and steamed rice accompaniments were ok.

For some reason we wanted to be tortured some more with desert. We were game for the 'exotic icecreams' which were coconut, yam and avocado icecream and turned out to be utterly gag inducing flavours with odd stringy pieces in them, and 'Josephines special' which comprised of those exotic icecreams plus a peeled under ripe banana that still had its strings on it and some bright green and red jelly type lozenges under it that I think were a type of odd wine gum. Really disgusting.

Service was tentative and totally useless, the girl had no idea when we questioned her about various dishes or what the ingredients were, she kinda made it up as she went along, maybe it was her first night.

The bill was a shock, it was higher that we had estimated. Very ordinary table wine such as Jacobs Creek merlot that costs around a fiver in Tescos was £18.50, similiar with the low grade/high price Chilean savignon blanc ordered. Terrible expressos (sic) were £1.75 each!

An experience not to be repeated.
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Sarah R
3 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 2
Saturday, October 17, 2009

This restaurant seems to have received rather a range of reviews. Me, my wife and some of her workmates had a really enjoyable evening here, and while not packed, neither was this place dead on the Tuesday night we went.

The food was good. We had chicken adobo, Guinataan fish in coconut sauce, both of which were pretty tasty, but it was the Bicol Express which was a revelation to me. I would go back just for this dish.

The decor is maybe a bit cheesy, but otherwise the only qualm I had is the price, which seems a little high. But I would definitely recommend giving it a try!
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SirStan74 - View all reviews by this user
7 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 6
Sunday, September 13, 2009