Matutina's and Gerry's Seafoods' Newly-Opened Branch in Dagupan City

The facade of Matutina's and Gerry's Seafood.

The common belief that the province of Pangasinan is rich when it comes to blessings from its surrounding bodies of water is actually an understatement-- the place is literally overflowing with seafood (especially during circumstances that warrant an increase in the level of the tides). Pangasinan is where places dubbed as "Bangus (Milkfish) Capital of the World" and "Seafood Capital of the North" hail from. And from among the numerous seafood restaurants that serve freshly-cooked seafood in the unique Pangasinense way, Matutina's has been one of the oldest leading institutions.

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Matutina's is well-known not only in Pangasinan but also in other provinces in the North such as Pampanga and Tarlac. So famous is the chain of restaurants that their original branch in the seaside village of Tondaligan (also within Pangasinan) has been visited by notable personalities like the Pope John Paul II and former Philippine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The Matutina's featured in this post is a newly-opened branch located along Jose de Venecia Extension Highway, called Matutina's and Gerry's Seafoods (Gerry, according to my ever-informative mom, is the original Matutina's son-- now turned business partner).

Fountains only work and light up after sunset.

This is the entrance to the parking lot from de Venecia Ext. Highway.

The interior-- which, for my taste, is kind of small. And the three (or four?) units of split-type air conditioners, although brand new, did not give the space the reasonable temperature it deserves.

A refrigerated dessert station.

A section for house specialty products-- ideal as gifts or pasalubong.

I used to think that nobody else thought the same! Why, bless you, funny slogan!

Outdoor seating.

Upon being seated, we were given about eight pieces of complimentary pastillas (native milk and coconut candies). I appreciated this gesture very much!

A few minutes after the pastillas, complimentary soup was served next. In our case, it's super sour sabaw ng sinigang!

Three-liter iced tea tower (Php 300.00).

Pork barbecue at Php85.00 per stick, which is not bad because they're really savory and the meat is soft.

I forgot how much this costs; we only ordered it for the toddler we were with.

Buttered chicken dish (Php 350.00) for the kids. I thought the butter they put in was inadequate-- as a result, one could easily mistake this for plain fried chicken.

Sizzling bangus sisig (Php 180.00). This dish seemed OK for me, although I've had better-- far, far better.

We ordered Seafood Kare-kare as well. As the servers placed our food on the table, the manager informed us that it would be late because the kitchen ran out puso ng saging (banana plant flower) and asked us if we would like to compensate its absence with the addition of more sitaw (string beans). We gave her our "OK". 

Thirty minutes after all the other food have gone (except for some of our rice, which we saved for the highly-anticipated latecomer dish), my mom decided she couldn't wait for the kare-kare much longer and asked a waiter to follow up on our order. A flustered manager approached our table afterwards and apologized because actually, the kare-kare could not be served after all because they ran out of all the other vegetables as well. "Didn't the servers inform you of this?" she asked. No, they didn't. I wanted to tell her that as the manager, she should be the one to tell us in the first place. But after all the good food and great service that they provided for us, I figured we could let this one pass agreeably.

And so dinner ended happily for all of us despite the absence of kare-kare. I commend the staff and servers of this particular branch of Matutina's because they all provided great service while smiling, a reflection of their being considerate and patient to their customers' needs. Throughout the meal, we never ran out of drinking water thanks to their constant refilling. And those free pastillas? We are all very grateful for those. 

I did not find the taste of the food very spectacular, though. The portion size for the sisig was small in my opinion (but it's a fault I found only on this one dish). Also, the serving time was quite long. It took at least half an hour before any of our food arrived. But if there's any redeeming factor that is evident in all of the dishes we've had, it's the freshness of the ingredients and the fact that it's beautifully prepared and piping hot when they were served to us; they were obviously not cooked beforehand or reheated (we Filipinos have this penchant for eating bagong lutong homecooked meals).

Over-all, I'd come back for the service and for the opportunity to try more notable items on their menu (Crispy pata, anyone?)

Matutina's and Gerry's Seafood is located along de Venecia Ext. Highway (near the Arellano Street junction). For deliveries, contact them at 0977 826 0228 or 0932 853 9901.