COCONUTS HOT SPOT — Competition for share of stomach, especially when it comes to breakfast food, has never been this fierce. Serving morning meals is serious business, and restaurants who offer them all day have to step up.
Good breakfast food is hearty, indulgent and reminiscent of happy times. Shamelessly deep fried. Hot-buttered-anything. Loads of carbs and sugar. Freshly squeezed juice. Good coffee. Big servings.
It’s actually pretty hard to mess up. Diners just need to get the feeling of being cared for, as if they’re enjoying a nice morning plate cooked by grandma.
Ally’s is a perfect example of an all-day breakfast restaurant done right. Generally.
Their menu is straightforward. There’s a little something for everyone: sweet, savory, American, Filipino, light, heavy. They have a strong line-up of silog meals with a signature taste. And they have bagnet, rellenong bangus, fried chicken and other Pinoy dishes too — perfect cures for a bad case of hangover. Their DIY pancakes and waffles are showstoppers.
Their pancakes are usually fluffy. Their waffles crisp. Their rice meals satisfying.
My favorite thing about the place was its simplicity. I felt like I could always count on Ally’s for good, homey breakfast food.
And so, my recent disastrous visit felt like a betrayal.
Perhaps it’s because their business is expanding. Perhaps it’s because somebody in their staff woke up on the wrong side of the bed.
In the end, the mess up ruined Ally’s as my go-to place for comfort and goodness.
Let’s start with the pancakes (starts at PHP90 for DIY pancakes). They tasted like disappointment.
They looked fluffy, but it was not as soft and light as pancakes should be. It was almost like having bread.
The waffle had a good crisp, but it was, like the pancakes, too heavy. There was definitely something wrong with the batter. It was probably overbeaten or had too much baking soda.
Also, both have a lingering bitter taste — they might’ve been (gasp!) burned.
Though their bagnet was crispy, it was a bit too dry. The meal came with two eggs, rice and a drink, but only a few people would willingly pay PHP260 for a plate this ordinary.
The chicken (PHP240) was okay. The serving was huge and there was a unique Filipino taste to it, but it was not enough reason to remember Ally’s, especially given that all their other items were mediocre.
The saving grace of that meal was the Hungarian sausage (PHP90 as part of the DIY breakfast). Plain as it may have looked, it was actually the best thing on our table. The sausage was oily and tasty, and it was huge. It paired well with the pancakes and waffle.
The servers were obviously trying their best but they can still be pushed with a bit of training. They were not rude but they weren’t confident enough to explain the items on their menu. There was also a bit of confusion with our orders, but it was resolved with a smile. No big complaints here.
In a business as competitive as all-day breakfast restaurants, players need to be consistent if they want to keep their customers.
A quick look at the ratings on Ally’s Facebook page is enough to confirm that something is indeed wrong with how they do business nowadays. Many of their customers are not happy.
Ally’s just lost their charm as a simple, homey breakfast place. Is that the price they have to pay for their recent expansions?
Ally’s All-Day Breakfast Place, 2/F The Rock Lifestyle Hub, Holy Spirit Drive, Quezon City; Facebook.
