Max's Restaurant Milpitas, Cuisine of the Philippines

Max’s is a familiar spot, and it delivers exactly what you’d expect: comforting food that stirs up fond memories, even if the menu sticks to the usual options. 🍽️

We started with the Shanghai lumpia, a crowd-pleaser that never disappoints. It’s a perfect choice whether you’re looking for an appetizer or something to round out your meal. Max’s prepares them skillfully, and they arrive in a creative deep-fried lumpia wrapper bowl. You *can* eat the bowl, but honestly, it’s not the tastiest part—it’s more for show than flavor. 😋

Next, we tried the pancit bihon, which was a refreshing switch from palabok. The noodles are thicker and moister, reminding me of Chinese long-life noodles. They pair wonderfully with the lumpia, creating a balanced and satisfying combination. 🍜

Finally, we had the kare kare—a rich, peanut-flavored chicken dish that packs a bold taste. The meat is oxtail. It’s almost too intense on its own, so pairing it with white rice is a must to mellow it out. 🍚

The service was friendly and welcoming, which made the experience even better. I only wish I’d saved room for halo halo—the picture on the menu looked absolutely stunning, and I’m already looking forward to trying it next time! 🌟

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 3

Service: 4

Recommended dishes: Lumpiang Shanghai Egg Rolls

This was a waste of our time. We drove all the way from Sacramento and we got there the ambiance was dingy and dirty. The server and the cooks were loud talking and joking. We can hear them from the kitchen. We ordered lumpiang ubod and they don’t have it. The pancit canton was ordinary. The chicken was dry and no taste. The halo halo was nothing special. If you have other restaurants to go to might as well try that. This branch of Max’s restaurant is definitely not worth your time and money. Will not go there again.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

Very good consistent food.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Pork Sinigang, Lumpiang Shanghai Egg Rolls, Garlic Rice

Went there earlier today from a 30-minute travel to have a late lunch. I wrote my name on the wait list - party of three, but then we noticed that there are plenty of tables available. The party ahead of us left and chose to eat to another place since the lady in charge to seat us just said to wait since they only have a few staff there. I understood the situation, but she never told us how long is the waiting period and kept on cleaning the tables even if i saw 2 other men doing it. She is very inefficient, and unwelcoming. I guess she just wanted to shoo us away so she would have lesser responsibilities. I WILL NEVER TAKE ANOTHER CHANCE TO TRY HERE ESPECIALLY WHEN TRAVELLING FROM A FARTHER PLACE.

waiter is not accomodating at all

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

Do not take orders if you cant complete it on time.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

Second time to came here and tried different dish this time it was chicken sisig with rice the meat was kinda hard i wished i just order pork sisig instead then i noticed the plate they server me has black mark on it both sides. It’s was 1st time for me to have halo halo it was huge but so much ice naman

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 3

Service: 3

It's Max anniversary ? came from Hayward just to buy their birthday Max chicken on sale.
Got there at 3:00 after work. Waited till 4:30 for them to re Open. Guess what????
No more chicken /sold out. Why made us wait for one hour and thirty minutes????
Hayyyyy it's not what we expected. First day of sale!!!!

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 2

Service: 1

poor service

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

This was our first visit to Max’s in several years! We had a very pleasant experience as we had a friendly and courteous server take care of our party of four.

The food came out relatively quickly and the dishes were delicious. Our favorites were the garlic rice (I know, it’s hard to get wearing), Max’s famous fried chicken, the pancit palabok and the Shanghai Lumpia served in a “taco” shell.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Lumpiang Shanghai Egg Rolls, Garlic Fried Rice, Lechon Kawali

The last time I had Max's Chicken was when I was a little boy back in the Philippines. My family went during special occasions only. I was then focused on finishing one whole chicken by myself. Today's visit did not echo that focus. I was more interested in tasting authenticity of dishes. We consumed a lot of fried dishes today. Max's Chicken was just that; fried to a crisp. Crispy Pata was perfectly fried. Chicharron Bulaklak brought back memories but I've had bigger sized ones. I know that these fried foods were not good for me but I appreciate that dishes weren't salty. We also tried their lumpia sariwa, kare-kare, garlic fried rice and halo-halo for dessert. Dishes were on par with most Filipino restaurants. Because we can make these dishes at home, it's truly hard to compare. Even the leche-flan included in the halo-halo was just ok. We spent over $230+ for 5 people during our luncheon. So, consider this eatery expensive for "par" food. Go somewhere else or simply cook these dishes at home.

Vegetarian options: Culturally, consumption of meat is standard so there are no vegetarian options in this menu.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 3

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Kare-Kare Beef Peanut Stew, Garlic Fried Rice

Good Filipino dishes. We always cone here when we visit the Bay Area.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 4

Recommended dishes: Pork Belly Sisig, Daing Na Bangus Boneless Marinated Milkfish, Kare-Kare Beef Peanut Stew, Pork Sinigang, Bangus Sisig Sizzling Boneless Marinated Milkfish, Lumpiang Shanghai Egg Rolls, Garlic Fried Rice, Lechon Kawali, Pinakbet

Not the best or worst Filipino food around but is a bit pricy.

The pork belly was a bit more greasy then other spots bug the chicken was pretty solid.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 5

Horrible customer service.

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 5

Service: 1

I have been to several other max’s locations many times and I expect a good meal in a nice restaurant. My latest experience was less than stellar mainly due to the attitude of our service. They had just opened and we were ignored for a while, and then were treated to a rude experience. It seemed that we were an annoyance for being there… we weren’t the only once being treated with attitude either.
The fried chicken and Lechon kawali we ordered was good as expected & the restaurant was clean. The men’s room was not so clean, but that was not unusual in my experience at max’s.
The staff at the front were friendly and greeted us entering and exiting.
Hopefully we get someone in a better mood next time.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 4

Service: 1

Recommended dishes: Garlic Rice, Lechon Kawali