| rev:text
| - I came here with CM for dinner at around 6:30pm on Sat. After a longer-than-expected hike at Raccoon Creek State Park, we were both quite hungry. Rather than heading back the way we came and paying homage to the mecca of chain casual dining that is Robinson, I suggested that we venture a bit out of our way to check out what is, to my knowledge, the only restaurant in the greater PGH area that serves Filipino food. Given that CM is of Filipino heritage, he was eager to try it, as well, so we headed over to Ambridge.
Upon seeing that Nelia's serves lumpia and chicken/pork adobo, CM became very excited, since he rarely sees these dishes offered at restaurants. Because their standard lumpia contain ground beef, which I don't eat, we split the order and got 6 beef and 6 fish (salmon) lumpia. For entrees, we ordered the chicken adobo and chicken on a stick. They also offered kaldereta, a pork-based stew, but CM nixed it, since he's not a big fan of Filipino stews. Finally, I ordered a glass of the fresh squeezed lemonade ($2.50). I don't remember the exact prices of everything, and I forgot to take a picture of the menu, but our total check came to $22.50, which I felt was quite reasonable for the amount of food that we received.
Unfortunately, despite his enthusiasm, CM wasn't able to try the food on the spot, since he is very susceptible to motion sickness, which hit him from the hilly drive over about 10 min. after being seated. However, I was, and in general, I was favorably impressed. Of the dishes I tried, my favorite, by far and away, was the chicken adobo, which was extremely flavorful and savory. The chicken consists of all dark meat chicken, which CM informed me is quite typical of this dish. When he tried it the next day, he said it was even better than his mom's version, which I took to be high praise. The chicken on a stick, which consisted of a skewered and stretched chicken breast drizzled with tomato-based BBQ sauce over a bed of rice, was not bad, but nothing particularly Filipino or special (perhaps it's supposed to be a faux/Americanized Filipino dish?). The BBQ sauce was rich and had a good flavor, though. The fish lumpia consisted only of fish and rice, and lacked the carrots and cabbage that lumpia typically contain. Because of this, they were rather bland, but the sweet chili dipping sauce added some welcome flavor. According to CM, the beef lumpia were good, but not quite up to the standard of some others he's tried before. CM said that the lumpia and chicken adobo were definitely very authentic for Filipino food, defying his expectations for ethnic food from Ambridge, PA (of all places).
Overall, we were pleased with the quality of food and service that we received at Nelia's. As others have mentioned, the ambiance is definitely no frills/hole-in-the-wall, which is my favorite type for restaurants serving ethnic food. Re: cleanliness, the bathroom had soap in the dispenser and was acceptably clean during our visit, and I didn't notice any cross contamination (though I wasn't watching the whole time--then again, if I was going to get sick, that would have happened by now, since it's over 24 hrs. later). The owner (Nelia) is quite personable--as we were leaving, she struck up a conversation with CM about his heritage, and upon hearing of his motion sickness ailment, advised him to drink some soda to settle his stomach. If you happen to be in the area or are seeking a new type of food to try, I'd definitely recommend stopping by Nelia's for some Filipino specialties, and supporting this great little restaurant.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)