Ilustrado Restaurant

The place is incredible. It is situated in the middle of Intramuros and you can really feel the old Manila vibes with the wooden flooring, windows, and structure of the place.

The food, awesome! Their paella was to die for! We really loved the Filipino-Spanish cuisine. The wait was long but when the food arrived, it was all worth it! Their dinner roll, which we took home two packs, was the best dinner roll we've eaten! And their chocolate cake, which we ordered for our child companion, was delicious; we all took a bite!

In terms of the service, it's impeccable! It is our first time eating here and the staff accommodated us despite the fact we didn't have any reservation. They were friendly and fun throughout the service. During our check-out, they forgot to punch-in the discount in our bill so they gave us a free slice of cake. We truly appreciated the gesture because their chocolate cake is so good.

This restaurant, located in the back of a beautiful courtyard, is a great way to eat fresh and tasty food in a delightful atmosphere.

The menu is interesting, the staff was nice and the atmosphere was quite unique for the Philippines.

I recommend booking on busy days. There is a small terrace and parking area within the courtyard, so it's quite practical.

Had a great Friday night dinner at this place! Food is a bit pricey but the ambiance and the service more than make up for it.

Dining staff is attentive and pleasant to talk to. The whole experience is personalized and they were nice enough to accommodate the flowers I ordered for my girlfriend when it came hours earlier than our reservation.

Portions are good and very delicious! Selection is good so whether you're looking for Filipino, Spanish, or Western cuisine, they all have it here. Bagnet Sinigang and their Spanish chorizo is highly recommended.

Ambiance is really noteworthy as the main dining area is quite small so it gives the sense of home dining. A three-man band also delighted diners including ourselves with some music as we enjoyed our meal.

I found this place several months ago when I was looking for a place for my mom's birthday. The ambiance and the food in the photos of their socmed were so convincing, so I made a reservation with them and got a response within the day.

The ambiance was really nice, it feels like an old Filipino ancestral house. It gives me a feeling of dining at my late Lola's house.

For the appetizers, we ordered the grilled squid salad and croquettas. The salad serving was surprisingly big and definitely flavorful. The croquettas have this melts in your mouth feeling. For the main dish, we ordered their signature paella, Illustrado paella and Bagnet paella, and the Kalderatang Kambing and Sinigang na Salmon, which i had no photo of as it was consumed immediately. The paellas are both good. I'm very particularly with the taste of paella, and these two hit all the right spots in my palette.

The meat in kaldereta had the right amount of tenderness and is very flavorful. The sinigang, oh my God, the sinigang has the perfect kind of asim I long for in a sinigang. We also odered their cheese cake, and it has the right amount of sweetness and buttery taste in it.

The servers were also very accommodating and even sang happy birthday for my mom. I highly recommend this place and would definitely go back!

Had a memorable dinner with my friends. We were serenaded by the three uncles while eating their famous paella. We had beef with it and to balance the tasty paella and beef, we added cheese croquet. For dessert, we satisfied our sweet tooth frozen brazo de mercedes which is actually a slice of brazo de mercedes on top of cheesecake, and its infamous sampaguita ice cream. First taste of the ice cream and i was brought back a memory of my childhood in the province with my cousins, with us stringing together sampaguita flowers for Mama Mary. Another taste brought memories of elementary graduation. It also felt like i just got out from the church😅.
I want to commend their staff who are all all polite and accommodating.

Illustrado continues to be the most romantic fine dining in central Old Manila. Beautifully located in Intramuros, they maintain a high degree of service and quality in their offerings.

Spanish - Filipino, they prepare with the best ingredients and have highly trained, knowledgable and truly professional service staff, something of a rarity in Manila these days.

For that truly special night, dinner at Illustrado followed by a romantic stroll in the old city can't be beat.

The only drawback are the customers who would prefer to watch videos or loudly play games on their cell phones like they were in Jollibee, completly oblivious to the experience. Here is to hoping Ilustrado steps up their game and finally imposes a silent phone rule.

4.7 ⭐-food Taste/quality
4.5 ⭐- food presentation
5.0 ⭐- Staff friendliness/hospitality
4.5 ⭐- fast service
4.0 ⭐- Environmental friendliness
4.5 ⭐- Room atmosphere (nice, quiet and relaxing, good for socialization)
4.0 ⭐- location and accessibility (at the back of Silahis)
4.6 ⭐-OVERALL value for money👌

The place is incredible. It is situated in the middle of Intramuros and you can really feel the old Manila vibes with the wooden flooring, windows, and structure of the place.

The food, awesome! We really loved the Filipino-Spanish cuisine. The wait was long but when the food arrived, it was all worth it!

In terms of the service, it's impeccable! It is our first time eating here and the staff accommodated us despite the fact we didn't have any reservation. They were friendly and fun throughout the service.

Food: 5/5 | Service: 5/5 | Atmosphere: 5/5

Great lunch here today. A unique restaurant with good food and friendly service.

Traditional Filipino food, heritage intramuros ambiance, good friendly service.
Forgot my credit card, day after called and they kept my credit card, which I went to pick up.

Food was amazing! Service is excellent. The waiter are accomodaring and very candid when we asked if what the sampaguita ice cream tasted like. It is a must try.

Came here on my own and was hoping to have the famous paella, however it is a big portion (according to the waiter, for 2 ppl) and the wait was around 35 minutes.
Decided to have grilled calamari salad with a side of pork & tofu bakwa't and both dishes didn't disappoint!
The salad dressing was tangy and citrusy, and the pork & tofu so crispy!

We go here for our YE party and it didnt disappoint.
The Atmostphere is great and very notable, it brings you back to rizal era.
The food, OMG the food makes your mouth water and have a second round to third thats how delicious it is.
The Service Crew is very very very nice and assist you in every way possible.

Great ambience and very good food. The service is pretty fast. Very nice spot in Intramuros.

One of the best meal you could get in Manila
We order a Gumbas Al Ajillo, Morcon Plaridel and coffees for drink.
The morcon is made in beef tenderloin and it was perfect. The beef wasn't over cooked and make a perfect match with their sauce
The Gumbas (prawn) is fresh and didn't have any fishy taste. The sauce is a little bit sour and make a great match with the prawn

Good food ( I recommend the croquetas, callos, and the eggplant)
Very friendly and accomodating waiters/staff
Feels like you're in the Spanish times

The stuffed chicken relleno was scrumptious! It came with gravy drippings that made a perfect combination with the juiciness of the meat and the chorizo del bilbao mixed in. We ate this pleasant dish in a comfortable homely feel of a Filipino-Spanish ambiance, I felt like I time travelled. Moving to the dessert menu, my husband and I found a peculiar yet interesting dessert called Sampaguita ice cream. We were able to split this ice cream into two as it is two scoops per order. As I took the first spoonful of the ice cream. It was surprisingly piquant! A dessert with a refreshing flowery taste! The trip going there was worth it.

The llustrados were the Filipino educated class during the Spanish colonial period in the late 19th century. To that end this restaurant feels like a fine place that many educated folks would murmur about the inequities of society while enjoying a heavenly meal together!

I had a wonderful experience and would highly recommend anyone who can to try this place out. The deserts are divine and the food beyond delicious!

One can easily work up an appetite with everything that Intramuros has to offer! So should you find yourself nearby treat yourself to a wonderful time

Thank you Ilustrado, you did a good job for granting my simple request. My bf asked you for a last minute request and you granted it too. I enjoyed your Happy Birthday song for me and you made our first lunch together memorable ❤We enjoyed the food so much, it was my bf first time to try Filipino food and he really enjoyed it! Love to watch him eating with so much joy. Thank you again guys!

Probably the best restaurant in Intramuros and definitely a contender for top restaurants in Manila. Absolutely delicious Filipino and Spanish food, everything we had was good, paella, eggplant, and fried chicken dishes were stand-outs for me. Drinks were good as well, definitely recommend the mango daiquiri, they have a very wide range of cocktails which is always good. Service was great and atmosphere has a very old Manila vibe (seeing as it is in Intramuros) which was wonderful.

For the taste and quality of the food, everything was fairly priced, I would 100% recommend this restaurant if you are around the area. They also have their own parking lot next to the restaurant which is great as Intramuros can be a hard place to find parking.

Overall, this restaurant is amazing and definitely lives up to and deserves all of its many rewards. Would definitely recommend you try it if you can!