Eastwood Mall, Libis
I was so excited to find out that Swensen's was finally coming to the Philippines; which was why we were right there on soft opening night. Not even their grand opening, me, my husband and my brother were already lined up at the nearest Swensen's at our place all ready to consume copiuous amounts of icecream. We've been to Swensen's Eastwood several times since its opening and the everything's been consistent so-far; service that needs improvement, tables are always packed and icecream thats always, always awesome.
Pretty much every time we've been to Swensen's in Eastwood, the place is packed and the service staff look disorganized. They have someone posted in front to direct customers yo tables - sometimes. Sometimes you're left standing there with several others and nobody knows if theres a qeue or not.
The place itself is a bit cramped; so much so that they have more tables outside than inside. The chairs outside though are horribly uncomfortable and the high traffic area does not make for a relaxing atmosphere. Inside, the tables are packed so tightly together that when its full; you could practically swap faces with the stranger next to you.
So its really not looking good for Swensen's; the battle for the table, the staff who looks lost half the time, the noisy environment, the excruciatingly slow service which doesn't deliver everybody's order all at the same time- which is a recipe for melting icecream. But, but, but, then the icecream appears before you, and its so, so good.
Their icecream is absolutely delicious. Its creamy, its sweetness is just right, the chunks are generous and its wonderfully complemented by the hot fudge, the bananas, the caramel, the wafer, the nuts... I could keep going for a while. They have a pretty good sundae selection and it caters to many different preferences. They serve uber chocolatey things, fruity bowls and flavors, kiddy servings, barkada sized monster bowls. Their coffee is pretty good too and for the price (Php60-100 each) very competitive.
I definitely recommend; the Hot Fudge Bonuz (Php145), Banana Boat (Php185), the Chocolate Fondue (Php555 - 9 mini scoops of icecream and other choco dippables) and if you're feeling very hungry; the Earthquake (Php655 - 8 big scoops and toppings). For all their sundaes, you can opt to change the flavors to anything you like from their long list of unique flavors. I definitely recommend the Rock@Heart, Turkish Coffee and Chocolate Chip. My brother worships their Vanilla. Dad loves their blueberry.
So, all in all, the icecream is great and the shop would be perfect if only they could work out the kinks in their service. A definite reco, but try it out at an odd hour to make the experience more pleasant.
You are so right about the service. I'm not really a discriminating foodie or whatevers / am a total food philistine so to me ice cream is ice cream is ice cream so if your service sucks then chances are thou shalt not see a sen of saturday at thine ice cream parlour again ~ sitting outside sucks ~ i don't know what's worse ~ being a non-smoker with the smokers or getting brushed by the passersby ~ then again, sitting inside swappin faces with thine neighbour doesn't really appeal to me either ~
ReplyDeleteBut you know, you are spot on again about the ice cream ~ once it shows up (and they get your order right 0_o;) ~ you forget forget forget that the serving humans didn't seem to understand a word you said or that you were sitting outside on these uncomfortable chairs ~ because the ice cream. Is. DIVINE. I might actually go again and take my aunt and sister and whoevers with me ~ but yeah, def at the oddest hour possible ~ maybe the serving humans' brains will be clearer and we can get a good seat ~
Last 2 words on le subject:
1) I wanna hork their glasses LOLZ
2) MR. SAN'S BABIES FTW!!!
Yeah, servicewise, they need a lot of work. But the food speaks for itself. I consider that slightly better than getting awesome service but really flat food.
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