Rate-A-Restaurant, #79 in a series

Restaurant: Goldilocks

Location: 2700 Colorado Blvd., in the Westfield Eagle Rock mall (Eagle Rock)

Type of restaurant: Filipino

We stipulated: It was around 2:30 p.m. on a Saturday afternoon, and we were starving. If we were in the Philippines, it would almost be time for merienda or snack. But we hadn't eaten lunch yet... so we decided to head to Goldilocks' dining area for a full-fledged meal.

They stipulated: A new addition to the Eagle Rock mall, this is the fanciest Goldilocks (which also has Southern California stores in Cerritos, Panorama City, West Covina and on Vermont Ave. in L.A.) I've seen. Part of the space is devoted to the bakery, while the restaurant side allows for both eat-in and carry out.



What we ordered: BBQ Pork skewer (above, left; $5.99); Mixed adobo -- chicken and pork ($6.99); steamed rice ($0.79)

High point: Service was strong -- the waiter even gave us a free scoop of ube ice cream, specifically for Blogger Baby. (But Evan can't eat ice cream yet -- so mom and dad came to the rescue). The food is OK -- decent adobo, while the pork skewer wasn't too charred. but given that it's a restaurant in a mall, not bad.

Low point: Rice was extra -- and in our case, we needed two orders (Evan has started eating rice). Granted, it was cheap -- but why doesn't it automatically come with your food?

Overall impression: We were happy to see both Jollibee and Goldilocks open in the Eagle Rock Mall -- particularly Goldilocks, which adds class to a beat-up mall and dramatically improves its paltry eatery options.

Chance we will go back: Good shot, expecially to taste their halo halo dessert, which looked fantastic as we watched a worker prepare it for the people next to us.

For a complete archive of our Rate-A-Restaurant reviews, check out our newly revised companion ratearestaurant.blogspot.com website.