Food: The Old Spaghetti House at Festival Mall, Alabang

It's been years since I ate at The Old Spaghetti House. And I know why. The last time I ate there, I was with my husband. I already forgot what we had then but I remember that we didn't like the food that much, and the experience didn't warrant a return visit. But just recently, we were at the Festival Mall in Alabang (me, mother and husband  -- and you could probably tell by now that we frequent this particular mall a lot). It was past lunchtime and we're quite famished, and the first restaurant that we saw was The Old Spaghetti House. So despite a disapproving look on my husband's face, we went in.

The branch in Festival Mall has a small dinning space inside, but they also have a space outside, if you want to dine al fresco. The interior is decorated with rustic furnishings lending a countryside appeal to the restaurant, which makes it kinda homey and intimate -- perfect for those spur-of-the-moment on-a-budget dates.


I wanted a pasta, but not in tomato sauce so I ordered Pesto with Grilled Chicken. My mom was cutting on meat (as advised by her cardiologist) so I suggested a heart-friendly dish, Fish Fillet Amandine with Lemon Butter and Almonds. And my husband, who wanted to order a safe meal, choose Skillet BBQ Porkchop.

After waiting for about ten minutes, our orders were served in big (and I mean big), heavy clay plates, which seemed to dwarf the meals. Sans the illusion, the serving size was enough for an average eater.

Pesto with Grilled Chicken (P170)

There's a lot more to be desired from this dish. Although I know that the pesto sauce -- crushed basil in olive oil and garlic -- is not exactly the most flavorful sauce, I've had other pesto pasta dishes that didn't lack in the flavor department. I thought this was just bland and the grilled chicken, which to me was grilled dry, didn't add any dimension to the taste.

Fish Fillet Amandine (P155)

My mother's fish fillet was a different matter. It was lightly coated and fried to perfection rendering the fish meat soft, juicy and flaky. Exactly how I like it. The lemon butter sauce was good, too -- creamy lemon-sweet-tangy sauce -- and complemented the fillets really well.

Skillet BBQ Porkchop (P175)

The porkchop was just ordinary and uninspiring. I could get myself a slab of porkchop, season and pan fry it, and I would have a better-tasting meal than this. The problem with the dish is that the meat was barely seasoned and it relied on the sauce for flavor. Good thing it came with a java rice, which somehow made the whole thing better but still not outstanding.

Like the first few times that we ate here, the foods filled our stomachs but failed to satisfy our palates. The prices of the dishes that we ordered are fair enough, for me at least, because my husband insisted that they're not sulit if you based it on the taste of the food. Which is why he didn't want to eat here, in the first place.

So it looks like we probably won't be coming back anytime soon, especially if I'm with my husband. Unless, of course, I'm with a different company and majority wants to eat at The Old Spaghetti House. In that case, I'll try the other menu items -- maybe their pizzas -- and let's see how they will fare this time.