Max's Restaurant, Cuisine of the Philippines, Dillingham

The food was great, service was trash.
People waiting 10 minutes to pay their bill.
I waited 15 minutes just for the tab.
Once the order was taken, never really saw a waiter again (aside from dropping the food off). Never offered a drink refill or anything.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 5

Service: 1

⭐☆☆☆☆

Terrible experience. We arrived at 8:25 pm, well before the posted 9:00 pm closing time, and were turned away because they said they were “closing.” If you stop serving customers at 8:30, then be honest and change your hours — don’t advertise 9:00 pm and waste people’s time. Completely unprofessional and very frustrating. Save yourself the trouble and go somewhere else

Atmosphere: 1

Service: 1

Old school filipino restaurant I grew up eating in the Philippines.

Recommended dishes: Halo Halo, Kare Kare, Max's Half Chicken, Pinakbet, Pancit Bihon, Garlic Rice, Lumpiang Shanghai

Good spot for authentic Filipino food. They got everything from their famous whole or half fried chicken to pinakbet. Places got really loud with some waiters having loud conversations with some the customers so it’s became hard to hear. The front of restaurant needs to be more aware of their surroundings because we were there waiting for a good minute or two before the lady realized she had customers because she was busy playing on her phone and snacking, which unhygienic especially when serving people.

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 4

Service: 2

Overall it was good. I came here with my friend who is Filipino. I also came here once before. Anyway, he got the longanisa plate and I got the Max’s Plate which came with pancit, fried chicken and garlic rice. Ok I love putting the calamansi all over the pancit… made it so zesty!!! They gave plenty too. The fried chicken was good, I used their banana ketchup 😋 but a little dry inside tbh. The garlic rice was just rice with garlic on top LOL why did I envision fried garlic rice or something… it’s chill tho. It’s a good, cheap, quick meal that will get the job done.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 5

Extremely disappointed in the food quality Maxs!

Husband and I got the “bicol express” & nilaga. It was far from that! I called the waitress over, and she explained that it’s a different version( maxs version) well you should put that on the menu because this was not traditional Bicol express! It was lechon with coconut sauce on top and chillis as garnish. Not Bicol express at all! the Nilaga was so salty we couldn’t finish! Highly disappointed in the food quality here! Do not come here if you want traditional Filipino food.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

I can understand why this restaurant has low ratings. I am extremely disappointed with the food we had. We ordered bicol express and nilaga. For the bicol express, it was not traditional bicol express. They basically took lechon kawali and put it in bicol sauce. This was a horrible idea and the fact they thought this was ok is a disgrace to the dish. I was expecting soft, spicy, and creamy pork. Instead I got soggy skin because the sauce got soaked up and the sauce was too salty. The nilaga was also too salty.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 2

Blasted music for a birthday party. 1/3 the restaurant was for a birthday party. They sang karaoke at max volume and had singers perform. Everyone else in the restaurant couldn't even hear whose witting next to them or the waiter. They didnt even stop them. Just let it go for hours. I wouldn't ever come back.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 2

Service: 1

Yesterday on July 21st I ordered Hawaii Pack C to take out from Max of Manilla in the the Dillingham area next to Costco in Iwilei. The food was excellent for a chain restaurant. I was pleasantly surprised by the succulent Lechon Kawali. Our party of 8 enjoyed the delicious meal of chicken, soup, pancit, karekare and rice. There was even drinks and dessert. It was worth it for the price we paid.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 4

Service: 5

placed a take out order of fried chicken,crispy pata,bulalo and bistek they said order will be ready at 8:00 pm,I get there, pay $97 for my order the cashier confirms my order,I leave get home to have Father's day dinner with my wife I open up the bag and there is no bistek they put laing instead of bistek I call them back to tell them I got laing instead of bistek they don't answer the phone I repeatedly tried calling and no answer so I head back to the restaurant it is now 8:35 my food is cold and when I get to the restaurant 2 employees cashier and expediter sitting in the front not answering the phone.They get the manager and all she can do is apologize I told her my food was cold and the messed up my order,she keep making excuses for the people not answering the phone more excuses about the people bagging,she then said that she will have the kitchen remake my order and that she was sorry.In my opinion very bad for business,poor customer service.

This is an old fashion family restaurant that I grew accustomed to back in my days in LA. It’s fried chickens and banana ketchups brought back lots of memories. I took my granddaughter here and she enjoyed its fried chicken. I had the Pancit Bihonvwhoch was good, but not one of the better ones. The service was very friendly and our orders arrived quickly. The fish filet in black bean sauce was very salty. Parking lot was a chaos due to Costco’s customers.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 3

Service: 5

The food was not authentic. The kare-kare was bland because they use powdered kare-kare packet. The Lechon Kawali was not crispy because they used crispy pata trimmings. The Dinuguan was not tasty at all as well. We tried both the Dillingham and Waipahu branches and bith were a disappointment. I will never go back to Max’s HI.

Your typical Filipino food. I gave this place a 3 because the only thing I would recommend from this place is their Max’s Fried Chicken, which is what they’re known for, and their halo-halo. Most of their food at very salty and the service is not that great either. Some of the servers tries to convince you to order more and next thing you know, there’s way too much food on the table and you are paying more.

Always a good experience with the family. The food never dissappoints.

The costumer service is worst . We noticed that our food hasn’t arrived yet, and we saw the other costumers who ordered after us got their meals sooner not to mention the same order. Why???? The taste of their food is disgusting. Not coming back again!!!