Remember I was telling you guys about Mom's project on the Ateneo Glee Club? Well now that, that's all over, Mom wanted some free time to not think about work and just relax. So last Saturday and Sunday I drove up to the chilly city of Tagaytay in Cavite. Everyone seems to be familiar with that place already. It's one of the most accessible places to go and unwind with friends and just get away from the hustle and bustle of city living.
And I think that's what Mom and I did, to get away from the city. We checked in at Alfonso Hotel, which technically isn't in Tagaytay anymore, but in the next town, Alfonso.
It was a very cozy place. Mom and I both liked it because it had multi-levels and it was just really bright. It was like a huge house, with plenty of rooms, it was just really pretty! :)
We liked the "art" on the walls of their lounge. I stayed here for a good part of the night after dinner just to get connected to their free Wifi! Breakfast would also be served here in the mornings.
Our room was 205, situated right up front near their restaurant. Everything was huge and spacious, from the bathroom to the sleeping quarters itself. Mom and I felt comfortable right away. Since I haven't watched TV in a long time (oh yes!) I just plopped down on the bed and watched, eventually falling asleep! It was just super relaxed! :)
When night fell, I woke up to a really bad case of the hunger pangs. I got lazy to drive all the way to Mushroomburger, which BOY I REGRET NOT DOING! So we just clambered up the steps to their restaurant called Il Gallo Nero, supposedly an Italian Trattoria.
Mom actually immediately smelled trouble. The owner of the hotel was some Japanese woman who married a Filipino dude, but then they start serving ITALIAN food. But being adventurous (and since Mom has basically supported and encouraged me to go on with my blogging) we decided to take a whack at it!
Since it was cold night, Mom ordered Mushroom Soup (no photo), when it arrived it was just so BLAH! And just like how it looked, the taste was equally as BLAH. It was bad, with a very watery consistency. There were no mushrooms whatsoever, and the soup had this grainy feel to it. I had no idea what it was! And it wasn't even HOT! Good thing we will eventually get to have REALLY GOOD MUSHROOM SOUP during out Tagaytay trip, but that's for later! :)
She also ordered this, I forget what it's called. It's thinly cut pieces of meat, filleted, and served with potatoes.
The potatoes were good. The meat was nothing special. Although it was soft and really easy to cut up and chew. But again nothing special. Blah!
I ordered their Carbonara, being a pasta lover.
Like their mushroom soup it had a very watery consistency. It wasn't creamy it was OILY! The noodles were soggy, and they didn't use bacon bits, they used ham chunks! I sat there staring at it for a while thinking of ways on how to save this meal, but no amount of Parmesan cheese could save this!
It was just sooooooo disappointing! As a person who loves food (and also a paying customer), I think it is only fair that they give us really good food. If not authentic Italian food, just good pasta or something. Inasmuch as I really abhore writing negative blogs on restaurants, it must be done! Check in at Alfonso Hotel BUT DON'T EAT HERE! Go to Mushroomburger instead (hahaha!).
Since it was a full moon, Mom and I decided to walk off our crappy dinner. We walked around the block and just checked out the rest of the hotel. Here's their other lounge right outside the reception area. Mom liked this place and she sat there for a while.
But in the morning, we had a really pleasant surprise. Their breakfast was really good! Just a little reminder, they do have free breakfast but only a meal of toasts and coffee. Since that was just plain stupid, Mom and I decided to "upgrade" our breakfast to these lovely meals.
Mom ordered their beef tapa.
She said it was good, and the meat was soft. She had no complaints about it, so I'm guessing she liked it.
On the other hand, I was busy eating my boneless bangus meal.
This was a real WOW! A nice save for that really crappy carbonara I had the night before. This was good! Their fish wasn't too salty, and with a little bit of ketchup, it made a perfect breakfast!
Oh and another weird thing with Alfonso Hotel although this is not related to food anymore, was that before breakfast Mom took a shower. But she had to wake me up because she couldn't reach the controls for the heater. It was too high up there! And it wasn't even making the water hot, so we had to call in the housekeeping guy who said that we really needed to call them to "fix" this thing. Which again was really plain stupid. Here you are ready to have a bath, but then the heater isn't working so you have to wait for a guy to actually make it work. Mom got a little pissed off she wrote on their comments and suggestions form!
Oh well! At least they were able to provide us a cozy place to stay in Tagaytay. Oh and we were able to book this way cheaper than their usual rates through agoda.com. I checked it out and they have the BEST DEALS on hotels! Superb!
Alfonso Hotel
Washington Avenue, Royal Tagaytay Estates
Alfonso, Cavite
Tel Nos. (046) 413-0770 or (046) 413-4077
Fax No. (046) 413-4076
Mobile No. (0906) 561-5292
Website: http://www.tagaytay.alfonsohotel.net
www.flickr.com/photos/alfonsohoteltagaytay
P.S.
Was talking to my friend Mariko the other day when we met up for lunch. I told her about the awful Italian food in a Japanese-owned hotel. Since the girl is half Japanese and sort of grew up in Japan, she told me that Japanese people actually LOVE Italian food. They love it so much that a lot of them have put up Italian "trattorias" to feed their love and passion for it. But they have tweaked the taste to accommodate a Japanese person's taste buds. Hhmmmm but we're not in Japan right? Hahaha!
The place looks nice,sorry about the food though.
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Yeah it was a really nice place with a very relaxed vibe. Plus they have very friendly staff pa! Panira lang talaga the food! :((
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