Gerry's Grill - National City, California

Victor M. G. E. M. M. C.

Todo bien,buena atención,buen menú de comida me gusto,recomendable

Wendy L.

I really wanted to like Gerry’s Grill in National City because I’ve heard great things about this chain in the Philippines but the food just wasn’t to my liking.

My uncle booked a reservation for about 20 of our family members on a weekend for my aunt’s birthday. We arrived at opening and were seated promptly. There were already a lot of guests so we picked a bunch of items from their menu to please everyone’s palate. Unfortunately, the server said they were out of the BBQ Pork Skewers so instead we went with another dish. No big deal. When the food arrived and to our surprise, they actually brought out the BBQ Pork Skewers. Awesome, right?! No! It looked incredibly delicious but the meat was sooo tough and very hard to chew. We couldn’t get it off the skewer with any of the utensils. Sliding it down the skewer, piercing the meat, and trying to cut it weren’t good enough - it was just tough. I’m not sure why they brought it out but I’m wondering if that was the reason why “they were out”.

Other items we ordered were:
* Calamares - This came out first and it was perfectly cooked. It was one of the best items we ordered.
* Lumpiang Shanghai - it was crispy but the meat inside the egg roll was super salty.
* Pinakbet - didn’t eat due to allergies.
* Chicken Inasal - The flavor was delicious
* Crispy Pata - Didn’t eat this but one of my aunts enjoyed it.
* Inihaw na Bangus (Grilled Milkfish) - This was my favorite and I especially liked the Ensaladang Itlog na Maalat (Salted Egg Salad) as I had never had any condiment like it before.
* Crispy Pork Belly on Pancit Bihon - It was alright. Pancit was dry and the pork belly seemed like an after thought.
* Sizzling Pork Sisig (without egg) - This wasn’t my favorite Sisig. It was greasy and I missed the flavors of other Sisig I’ve had.
* Crispy Bicol Express - Didn’t try this due to allergies.
* Calamansi Juice - Good.
* Bagoong Rice - Didn’t try this due to allergies.
* Crab Rice - Didn’t eat this due to allergies.

Gerry’s Grill is located at the Plaza Bonita mall and is visible from the parking lot. I liked the ambiance because it was brightly lit and very open. The colors were warm and inviting. There was a stage, which I believe could be used for karaoke, meetings, or other entertainment.

The service was just okay. The wait time from ordering to when the food arrived was longer than expected. And long breaks between serving each dish. I think the workers looked a bit overwhelmed with the weekend crowd too. So I may have come on a busy day/time. There was only one guy that caught my attention, though, as he was working very hard. He only assisted our main server and also was the busboy.

Overall, I know Gerry’s Grill is popular in the Philippines but we spent an unnecessary amount of time of 2.5 hours (time stamp from the first photo I took at the entrance to the last photo at the exit)! Again, no wait time upon entry as we were seated right away but the wait between the arrival of dishes took long. Secondly, the food was mediocre at best. I spent just under $400 for lunch, which is pretty good considering we were about 20 in the party (just under $20/person) but the quality and timing of food arrival was just…meh.

Gina C.

Our group of 14 really enjoyed the great tasting food! Kare-Kare was my favorite, and of course, the Halo halo had the perfect shaved ice.

Paolo L. (.

Looking for authentic filipino food? This is the place to be. Serving is a lot and price is good. Service is awesome too they checked on us time by time. Our go to place every time we’re at cali or san diego.

Must try the Pork sisig, lechon kawali , grilled pork and sinigang!

E W.

The food was akin to the Philippines, it's weird because I've had an extensive amount of time trying the food there for roughly 8 yrs now and I have to say the BBQ Chicken here at "Gerrys Grill" is family. (Ps. I'm foreign 😌) The food is outstanding.

Maricel R.

Very attentive staff. Great ambience. Live music. We didnt order food, just drink. I dont taste alcohol. Ate Melinda is so attentive and accomodating.

My L.

It’s located in Plaza Bonita Mall next to Target towards the outside facing the parking lot.

Plenty of seating if you wanted to have a large party. Service was quick and food was excellent. Usually Filipino cuisine can be too salty for me but not here. They did run out of a few things like the beer selections. We will for sure come back for other dishes.

We ordered:
-pork sinigang
-chopsuey
-pancit palabok
-beef kare kare
-pork sisig

My favorites were beef kare kare and pork sisig. The sisig had the perfect crisp. Pancit palabok was lacking calamansi so we asked for lemons.

Great portion size to share amongst 4 of us and with left overs on the pancit and soup. Rice was sold separately by individual bowls.

Josh B.

Went here on Wednesday night around 6 pm, we had a group of 11 and we did not need a reservation. Got seated right away, and ordered pretty quickly. We ordered: Rice, Garlic Rice, Sizzling Bangus (Milkfish) Sisig, Pancit Canton, Crispy Pata (Pork Knuckles), Chicken Skewers, Bangus Ala Pobre, Pinakbet, Calamares, Sinigang na Boneless Bangus (Milkfish). My favorite was the Bangus Sisig with Garlic Rice, also nice to get an egg added to it as well. I also like the Sinigang na Boneless Bangus, I love sour soup and this had the perfect amount of sourness. I tried everything and there was not anything bad and no one left hungry. The only bad part about this restaurant was the live music was too loud to the point where you couldn't have a conversation with the people at your table, felt like we were at the club. Overall great place and hard working employees.