Naxional South American Diner - Pasig

Visited this place twice last year -- first with my officemates for a light merienda and 2nd with our HS friend. I was able to try the following dishes: Bacon Tocino - this was just okay. At first, we loved it but eventually grew tired of it. It was not crunchy and crispy anymore but was hard and chewy. It was a struggle eating this one. Not worth it, imo. Patacones - this was okay. Usual. Elote - this was goood! This is my only favorite dish here. Though, serving size's too small and too pricey for 200 pesos. Barbacoa - usual salad. The greens were fresh but too much dressing was added. The pork was very tender and tasty. Lesser fat sana. Fish Tacos - this was too sad. Overpriced. The fish fillet looked old and the breading was not crispy. Parang luma na. And too messy to eat, as well. Churrasco Platter - highly recommended by our server. Best seller and good for sharing DAW. For almost 1400, I was expecting something more than what was served to us.... read more

We went to Uptown Parade to try something new and we ended up in this place. We ordered their lechon asado and carnitas flautas. The orders were pretty generous so having one main and one appetizer was more than enough for 2. I love their lechon asado. The sauce gave the pork the right level of taste. The rice that came with the lechon was the perfect complement to the meat. While their carnitas flautas was presented well with different sorts of ingredients that gave it different layers of taste. Finally, we ordered their tres leches as dessert. It was ok and I liked the cream on top since it tasted like merengue. This is a unique place and it seems that it is a good joint as well for some drinks.

It was a let down from what I expected. Initially I was excited to see Bandeja Paisa in the but then when it arrived, it didn't give me the Bandeja Paisa feel when I was in Bogota,Colombia. Some components of the Bandeja Paisa were missing. On the other hand the paella was mehh.

Generally, when you hear "South American" one thinks a churrasca Brazilian setting. Naxional is far from that, but not necessarily in a negative way. Menu is a diverse offering of different dishes from South America, the Caribbean, and Mexico, although the flavors were not too diverse - generally grilled foods with vegetable sides "swimming" in their marinade. The Naxional Paella was good, but could be considered too oily for many. Overall, the proprietors may have overreached here and there with their menu, however, I'd give it another try. Hmm..yup a 3.0 sounds fair.

Met with my best friends, for our monthly bonding. We ordered a dozen of appetizers so we can wait for our other best friend.   We ordered the following appetizers: Päo de Queijo P195 Brazilian Freshly Baked Bread and Cheese Rolls/Mozzarella Guacamole & Chips P395 Fresh Avocado Dip/ Sweet Potato Crisps/ Fried Plantain(banana)/Tortillas Elote P195 Chargrilled Sweet Corn/ Chili Butter/ Mayo Lime / Crumbled Cheese The Guacamole and chips had a pretty hefty serving and we weren't able to finish all of it. But the Guacamole for me lacked avocado, the taste of a true guacamole I know wasn't that evident. We liked the Päo de Queijo and Elote both have unique taste. Like the Päo de Queijo isn't like your ordinary cheese bread. The bread is much softer and the filling of cheese was one with the bread opposed to as it was jammed in, then melted inside. The Elote was a throwback to sweet corn from the streets except this is 10x better te mayo lime and chii butter together with crumbled cheese.was a game changer to the street sweet corn game. We kernelled our sweet corn so that it would be for sharing and didn't have the corn on the cob experience. Then came our mains which was: Picante de Pollo P330 Slow Braised Chicken/ Black Beans/ Root Vegetables/ Coconut Creme/ Fried Garbanzos Pollo Peruano P385 Peruvian Pit chicken with corn rice/ mixed greens/ chimichurri The Picante de pollo looked like your squid dish except it was chicken. The black color came from the black beans. Although it was slow braised chicken i found the meat to be a little too tender for me. It was good eating it at first but due to the hefty serving and the linear taste, I was kinda sick of it when I was finishing the rice. The Pollo Peruano was more of a delicious meal than the picante, the chicken was good combined with the corn rice and Chimichurri. Shouldve ordered this too instead. Food- 4/5 lots of great appetizers Service 5/5 Service was prompt and they were telling us what dishes would take time. Price 3.5/5 Aside from the appetizers I found the mains too expensive. Although it has a hefty serving they couldve opted for a smalelr size as well. Ambiance 4/5 I like the aesthetic of this restaurant. It sticks out from the chain of restaurants its aligned with. it shows the latin/mexican roots of the resto.