Hard Kock Cafe is an expat hangout on Bantayan Island.  There’s usually a card game going on that sometimes results in some heated disputes from the way the players were talking but they went on to say everything works out okay and everyone remains friendly.

Like most restaurants on the island and many other places in the Philippines, it is an open air cafe.  They also have an inn and provide the lowest price I’ve been able to find so far at only P600 per night.  They advertise that they have a “real mattress” too.  Most beds in the Philippines use foam as a mattress.  They usually are not very thick and not as comfortable as the bed I had in the States.  Of course, the price is about $700 less too.  I think I paid $700 for my mattress on sale. 

We did not get a room at Hard Kock.  I went there to try their pizza.  They had a meat lovers pizza that was very good.  Jessie didn’t like it because it had little, if any cheese.  It was good tasting but a bit too small for my liking.  I’m going to give this place another chance as I had such high hopes for it.  But on this visit, things went rather poorly.

I still wonder if they were trying to run us off for some reason.  We had to ask for menu after waiting about five minutes.  We were very hungry and perhaps a little   impatient because of that but things got worse from here. We waited an hour for our Pizza.

I think the waitress just forgot to bring it to us.  It was not hot when we got it, it was still warm though.  I kept trying to get someone’s attention to get a second beer but finally had to go to the bar to get it!  I don’t understand, it was almost like they wanted us to spend less money.

Now it is not common for a waitress to return to your table after being serviced to see if everything is okay as I’m use to in the US.  It is also uncommon for waiter to check to see if you’d like something more to drink or desert.  It is even common to have a hard time getting someone’s attention.  I got the feeling they were avoiding us.  Probably not, I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt on this visit and will try again.

However, if they make me feel unwanted again, I’ll assume that was the intention!  I hope not because I would like to visit there more and get a room there due to the lower cost.  I believe the price with an air conditioner is P750 or about $15.00 per night.  Since I didn’t stay there, I’m giving no opinion on the Hard Kock Inn.

I’m also going to refrain from giving it a numerical score until I revisit.  I don’t wish to rate it as low as I’m going too based on that one visit.  The owner was there, at a table right next to me, he spoke when I first arrived as did his beautiful Filipina wife.

The quality of the food was very good, but when the service make  you wonder if they’d rather you leave, then the service is as bad as it gets.

[View with PicLens]