Max's Restaurant, Cuisine of the Philippines, Chicago

Extremely poor customer service. I could not get through to anyone on the phone, and my online order was canceled without any notification or attempt to contact me. This is unacceptable and very frustrating. I won’t be ordering again unless their communication and service improve.

When I went to supposedly pick up “the food”, the front desk just said oh, “I cancelled it because one out of the three Oder is not available.” She was claiming she left a Voicemail. I showed the call logs and there’s none. This happened on January 1.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 5

Service: 1

I ordered Lechon Kawali and classic sisig for pick up. I was disappointed in the amount of food I got for what I paid. The food tasted good but I would’ve liked it more if I got double the amount I received.

Food: 4

It feels at home dining in this restaurant where you eat the good food and with the good servers. Thank you everyone for always giving your best to always feel us at Home.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Max’s Restaurant satisfied our palate craving for the Max’s flavor of Manila. Awesome! Gina was very hospitable and easy to deal with .

Gina is so great, so accommodating and very nice. We will come back because of Gina.

We ordered classic pork sisig and lapaz batchoy. We barely ate either of them, (maybe 1-2 bites) sisig was so smushy it didn’t look appealing at all and not tasty, same with the batchoy. We told them we didn’t like it and we didn’t even eat it but they still make us pay full price. Very Disappointing!

Edit: responding to Max’s: Actually we absolutely did tell her! When she asked how it was we told her it was not good and very mushy and we weren’t eating it. She told us next time just order the sisig kawali. Then she brought us the check. So to say we failed to mention anything is a straight up lie… growing up in the philippines I have had lots of sisig amd this was definetly not “original sisig” it was honestly very bad

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

Food are delicious. Highly recommended.

Worst experience of my life!!! The food took forever to arrive, it tasted like garbage, and the servers had the audacity to be rude to us and everyone in the restaurant. Highly recommend you never enter this establishment!!!

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

We drove an hour to get to Max’s and arrived at exactly 4:45 PM on New Year’s Eve. The staff initially told us they would ask if dine-in was still possible. I mentioned that I checked online and saw that the closing time was 6:00 PM.

The supervisor on duty, Gino, approached us and said they could no longer accommodate dine-in. I politely asked if we could be considered as the last dine-in customers, given the posted closing time. Unfortunately, he responded in a not-so-good tone, saying that if we insisted, the staff would have to stay late. 😕

I completely understand being concerned about staff hours especially on New Year’s Eve with so many bulk orders but the way it was communicated felt unprofessional and unnecessary. That was the most disappointing part of this experience.

We decided to just take the food to go, and before leaving, I even apologized to the staff, knowing how exhausting the day must have been. 🙏 I genuinely hope our food was prepared with care.

That said, I am still an avid fan of Max’s, even back in the Philippines 🇵🇭, and the food remains top-notch and consistent as always. 🍗🔥

For today’s experience, I’m giving 2 stars, mainly due to the supervisor’s attitude. However, I still love Max’s and hope future visits will be better. ❤️

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 5

Service: 2

I've been going here since they opened. The food is very authentic and tasty. The staff are very friendly. It felt like I was in the Philippines. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to try the Max's. I like the Sisig and garlic rice; it's my favorite. For winter time, bulalo is my favorite to eat there.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Missing item from the order and had to wait 30 mins from the pick up time. This order was already placed the day before! Mind you I had to call 8 times NO ANSWER! First call was answered and no one was talking. All I hear was customers on the background. Had to pay $18 more for something I didn’t receive.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

Terrible customer service and zero understanding.
We accidentally placed an order through Uber Eats at one of this chain’s locations in another state. The fact that Uber Eats even allowed the order to go through across the country is absurd—but what’s worse is that the restaurant refused to refund it, even though it was an obvious mistake and we reached out right away.

This should have been a straightforward fix. Instead, we ended up losing our money and still had nothing to eat, because we needed that refund to order from the correct location. A simple act of understanding could have kept us as loyal customers, but refusing to help in a situation this clear-cut means they’ve lost future business from us. Disappointing and unnecessary.

Edit: this really just doesn’t sit right with me. If this was a delivery order, they would have to cancel and refund our order due to not being able to deliver our food. If we were eating in the restaurant, we would not pay until AFTER receiving and eating our food. They have fully taken advantage of the fact that we prepaid for pick up. We clearly could not receive it. In the end they’ve stole our money. Just so incredibly rude it’s made me sick to my stomach.

Service: 1

Today October 16, 2025, @1pm. I’m a secret visiting chef and what I’ve experienced today is really disgusting from the 1 lady receptionist and 2 ladies servers. I am with my sister and nephew, serving only 2 cutlery since they see us as three people, then all the people around are very accommodating and friendly in manner except for us 3 no one could ask how our food is or experience. No one is saying thank you or even a smile. What are the most common mistakes of some Filipinos is stating a person by the means of their appearances. I guess seeing those things you should make an assessment of the attitudes of employees making deals with all customers rich or poor, dressed or simple get up mentioning the 3 ladies who were assigned today you should learn how to deal with customers.

Food: 1

Service: 1

Good food great customers service! Give it a visit you won’t regret

Honestly, the BEST Filipino food we've had outside the Philippines. Had the sinigang na bangus, Pancit canton, and Max's Inasal chicken. All were EXCELLENT. And our server, Jeanna, was thoughtful, attentive and super gracious. A GREAT experience. Thank you!

Should've taken pics, but TBH we ate it too fast.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5