Souq Pampanga - San Fernando

Food is so good. Their malunggay pesto kare-kare are worth a try. Would like to try their pizza negra next time because it was not available at the time of visit.

Most of the time, Filipino restaurants fail to capture the true taste of Filipino dishes that we enjoy at home. Souq is one of those restaurants who are able to replicate real Filipino home dishes and serve it in their restaurant. The restaurant has this quaint feeling with lots of wood pieces adorned throughout the place. We had the fresh lumpia and ukoy for appetizer. The fresh lumpia was okay, I wished there were some proteins inside though to balance out the taste. Ukoy was quite good. For main dish, we had the seafood salpicao, kare kare and caldereta. The seafood salpicao was okay, tastes a bit like those “pulutan” (bar chows) during beer nights. The kare kare was a bit good but lacked the rich taste of the sauce which came from stewing the beef together with the sauce. The components were obviously prepared separately. But it was rich in ground peanuts which you can taste with the sauce. The bagoong does not compliment the dish as much as we would like it to. But serves its purpose. The caldereta, on the other hand, is DELICIOUS. The meat was really tender and the sauce had the right level of acidity, saltiness and sweetness. The mashed potato in the middle was a great touch too. You can try to blend in the sauce with the mashed potato and it makes the sauce a bit more creamy. Restrooms were a bit untended to though. The male restroom didn’t even have a door knob. I just wish the management would try to fix the restroom as this is still part of the overall experience of the restaurant. Overall, will recommend for people to visit.

I see why this place is highly reviewed but I feel like something was still missing. Their food was more on the sweet side, textures were good, but portion size is small for the price you pay. I like the service but the aesthetic/ambience could be improved. Dining Tips: Don't get the Kamote Chips. Expect a very sweet Kare-Kare. Sisig is good.

Generally good eating though I think much can be improved in terms of ambience and cleanliness (men’s restroom in particular)

Food is good and the portions are nice, great for sharing! Our favorite out of what we ordered was the Crispy Binagoongan. Affordable place to eat with a nice ambience.