Fire Lake Grill
This is an awfully late post but I have to share my not so nice experience dining at Fire Lake Grill located at Cliffhouse, Tagaytay.
During the holidays, I was so excited to bring my husband and our friends to the place I have been so raving about, Buon Giorno. We took sweetie’s new ride and traveled to Tagaytay for dinner. We embraced ourselves as we walked across the chilly parking lot of Cliffhouse to the cozy Italian restaurant. To our dismay, the place was bright, not to mention packed. Waiting time for a table was approximately 45 minutes.
Normally, our stomachs could bear to wait for the time when we would be called and led to an available table, but the freezing temperature did not make, sitting outside the restaurant such an appealing task. So we decided to see if there was somewhere else we could dine at without leaving Cliffhouse.
When we passed Fire Lake Grill, we were at first wondering how such an elegant looking place can be so empty. I mean, there are a bunch of people waiting in line on the other side and here there were tons of empty tables beckoning out to diners. What helped us make up our minds was the delicious grilled meat smell coming out of their kitchen. So we selected a table outside so that we could enjoy the cold air with our food. The night was turning out to be okay until our server decided that we were not worth his time.
We watched as he almost kissed the feet of a newly arrived family with several rambunctious children. Our server was too flustered to remember that he was supposed to be asking us for our orders first before moving on to the next table. I wanted to hit him on the head when I saw he was not paying attention to us and instead had his eyes on the next table. Duh!
After he finished taking our order, he then went to setup our table with plates and utensils. I should not have expected more than a haphazard way of putting everything on our table as if he was in a hurry to finish up (maybe so he could be free to serve the other table?). It is such a sad thing to see a nice enough pricey restaurant ruin a diner’s experience because the head waiter is disagreeable.
I swear this is how the plates looked like after the waiter placed it in front of my friend.
It could have been a complete and total disaster if the food turned out to be mediocre. Good thing, it wasn’t. Not that it was great or something I would rave about or even recommend but at least I enjoyed how tender the steak meat was. Well it should be! It was definitely priced so that you expect it to be.
Grilled US Porterhouse Steak Php 940
My husband and I ordered the Grilled US Porterhouse Steak split between us (at a cost) and a side of mashed potatoes. As I said, the meat was extremely tender and despite the sufficient serving size, it left me wanting more. The mashed potatoes did not do much to alleviate my appetite for more meat because it was made in the way that I hated most, the type that tasted too much like boiled potatoes and nothing more.
I know that there are places that charge you for splitting an order but I find it too much if the place is only going to cut the meat in two and serve it in a separate plate. What are you paying for anyway? Is it the extra plate? Or do places need to bill their customers the cost of washing an extra plate? Since Fire Lake Grill was obviously in need of customers, then maybe they do need that extra charge to recover cost. Sigh.
I don’t think I will be back at this place. I love Cliffhouse and Buon Giorno but surely there are other places where I can get value for money or delicious food and satisfactory service.
For those who are (still) interested:
Fire Lake Grill
Unit 3 Cliffhouse Tagaytay, General Emilio Aguinaldo Highway
Tagaytay City, Cavite
Tel. No: (046) 413-2069
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hahah. had a similar experience. the waiters made us feel we were not welcome. sobrang snobs. i hope they close shop soon. sayang lang yung puesto.
berg – I agree that the waiters could have been way better, on the other hand, hoping they would close shop soon might be a tad over dramatic. Like all other things in life, improvement may be realized if given the opportunity…. or you can just opt not to eat there again.
Cheers!
How can they split a porterhouse? A porterhouse has a bone in the middle that splits the srtriploin and tenderloin. If they split it in half, one half gets the striploin, the other half gets the tenderloin. Not practical to split it, the practical thing to do is slice it like peter luger and mamou does it and then share it with the plate in the middle. It is the bone and the combination of two kinds of cuts that makes the porterhouse special
iFoodTrip – I guess split is not the word to use but rather “to share”.
I have been to Firelake Grill many times because I love the food and the service and usually, I bring my family and even endorse it to clients and friends who have relayed to me the same comment. I doubt if the picture posted (re: how the utensils were placed by the waiter) is a correct and true depiction of how the plates and utensils were placed. As the picture clearly shows, the butter was already opened and partly consumed which explains why the butter knife has remnants of the butter. The bread surely must have been consumed before the picture was taken contrary to what the author wanted to depict. Evidently, it was the guest who ate on the plate that disarranged them. Sadly, someone most likely has an axe to grind against Firelake ….. a competitor maybe or someone disgruntled due to some other things. Moreover, Firelake has a select breed of customers unlike the other restaurant on the other side which, although serving good food as well, is not as pricy as Firelake … for obvious reasons. Firelake is a much recommended restaurant comparable to the likes of Le Souffle’, Carpaccio in Makati, Paparazzi of Edsa Plaza, Le Suise Gourmand at the Forst etc. Do try it.
iFoodTrip, you are right! The steak in the picture looks more like a ribeye. Guess this blogger doesn’t know her steaks. I’ve had a big, yummy 700 gram porterhouse at Fire Lake (not by myself) and they cut it up for us American steakhouse style!
nonoy – Thanks for your detailed comment and observation. Yes you are right, we were actually having our bread and butter (and my friend already finished hers) when the picture was taken. In fact that is what happened to the small bread plate after the waiter laid down the dinner plate in front of her. I dont have an axe to grind with Firelake grill as I dont know the owner or any competitor of them personally. But in my dreams I do wish I owned a restaurant even half the status as Firelake Grill. If you read my post, my conflict was with the service not the food. And I doubt other diners would share my sentiments as I am sure that other family at the other table would feel just as pampered as you did during your visit. Too bad I dined there the same time that there were “more important” customers. I don’t believe the owner knows or even wants that to happen to guests as that is purely the head waiter’s decision. Come to think of it, maybe you were with the group at the other table that dined the same night we did. So that’s why!
Art Basa – Yes I don’t know my steaks but I don’t claim that I do so if you are looking for an expert, I doubt you will find one in this blog. I just love to eat is all. We ordered porterhouse and that was what we got. So maybe I should have stood up and yelled and complained that I got a Ribeye instead of what I ordered. But I was too busy trying to get the waiter to notice us that in the end I just wanted to enjoy the food that was served.