Barbara's Coffee Shop - Manila

We went there for a cup of cappuccino and some snacks this January. They made a coffee that tastes really bland. We told the server nicely that the coffee didn’t taste like one, he told right away the comment to the barista guy. Right then, we were told that the espresso machine is broken so they used the brewed coffee instead. They are not even aware that they are not supposed to use brewed coffee in espresso drinks. They didn't even apologize for the mistake. We talked to the barista guy nicely but he is so rude by walking away from us while we are talking. Acting that he is busy and our concerns are not important. We asked him if its okay if we don’t pay for the coffee since we barely touch it.

This was the only coffee shop that was open when we visited Casa Manila early in the morning. We ordered three kinds of iced coffees and one bread (since their bread looked a lil bit sad, although i think it's sulit for its price because of its size). We were expecting good food since it's one of the well-known restaurants in the area but the coffee tasted like instant coffee with ice.

Nice tucked away place with old charm atmosphere. We had the grilled fish and it was delicious and good value. We sat in the court yard but there's other options.

Barbara's coffee shop is a bit of an expensive place but with all the orders that we had, there was none that we did not like. From the fried baby squid, the crispy tadyang (crispy beef rib), pinapaitan (bitter soup made from innards), seafood paella, fresh lumpia and pansit canton. These were all of excellent quality but the baby squid was the best of the bunch. The pandan tea was light and refreshing and complimented the heavy food. You'll get serenaded and by very good musicians and you'll get to see how old homes used to look like in the Philippines.

The place is nice but clearly a tourist trap. We ordered coffee, cheese ciabatta panini, tuna melt ciabatta panini and mais con hielo. The coffee came out after 20 minutes and the rest of the order after 40 minutes. The coffee was stale and acidic, like it's been sitting in the coffee pot for too long. They served 2 cheese paninis in sliced bread, not ciabatta like we ordered. I told the server that we ordered 1 cheese and 1 tuna but the server said the tuna was somewhere there beneath the cheese. It wasn't. After biting into the paninis, I told another server that there wasn't any tuna in either. He said they must have ran out of tuna. The mais con hielo was weird the ice tasted like metal. We left it alone after a spoonful. I guess the cafe is a good place to visit if you'd like to take photos or rest your feet. In such cases, maybe order something safe like a canned juice or a soft drink.