This place was awesome. It is the only Filipino restaurant in Madison. It serves food buffet style all day- we went for dinner and it cost us $8.99 per person. Drinks are ordered separately- they have a cooler of can soda, juices, etc. to choose from. The owner informed us they are also pursuing liquor license so they will have a bar soon. It cost us $21.65 for two dinner buffets plus a bottle of Pepsi and can of diet Sprite. The food array is pretty impressive- of course they had lumpia (long and skinny meat eggroll type thing). There were a lot of meat and fish options. My favorite was the fried pork fat- it's like they fried pork fat to glaze it then stewed it just a little bit. So yummy but definitely not healthy. I also had marrow straight from the bone and some coconut chicken stew. THey also stewed brisket. There weren't any food labels so you just have to experiment. I don't mind that because I think each dish was unique and very flavorful. There were also dessert options- flan, homemade cookies, and sticky rice and taro things wrapped in bamboo! Sure beats the little frozen cake things most Chinese buffets serve.
The best part- they have karaoke. I don't know the details like if they charge or not but they have it. The owner says they get lots of Filipino families on the weekends. The owner/chef herself is Filipino and also owns the local Filipino grocery store. She was really nice and came out to chat with us. She offered us some additional foods like tamarind fish and pork buns. We were so stuffed by then but we were happy to try a sour fish soup she brought out. All the food tasted fresh despite the buffet setup.
The ambiance is definitely diner style- no fancy linens and dim lighting to get in the way. The restaurant is straightforward and basically serves up delicious, home-cooked style soul food. I am excited to try Mabuhay again!
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