White Rice Morena

I've always wanted to try Filipino food, and this storefront in Liberty Public Market always smells so good! My partner and I stopped here on Sunday 8/4/24. They had somewhat of a long line, but the service was still great- we were helped quickly and were given a time estimate for how long our order would take. They said about 10-15 minutes but it felt like our food was ready quicker than that. What we ordered: The crispy pork belly rice bowl: I am in love with this dish. The outside of the pork was perfectly crunchy and seasoned, and it was topped with an over medium egg. It looked picture perfect, seriously. The bowl had some seasoned carrots on it as well- they were a bit sweet and sour at the same time. Lastly, it came with a gravy-like sauce on the side that we poured on top. This dish had a lot of different flavors that all tied nicely together. The only thing that was a little off was the pork belly- it was a bit dry/ hard to chew easily. Perhaps if the pieces were less thick it would be easier to chew. Ube Pandescal- I really liked these as well! The bread was a vibrant purple color, and a little crispy on the outside, while still soft on the inside. The bread itself was not too sweet, but it came with an ube butter that was a sweet compliment to it. I look forward to coming here again and trying something else.

The negative reviews for this place are totally not justified. They have fantastic pork rice bowls, from their pork adobo to the lechon. No matter what dish, the pork is juicy and fatty, and delicious when mixed into accompanying sauces, rice and egg. This is easily one of the best restaurants in this morena area, so do not sleep on this if you like Filipino food. If you like drippingly fatty pork meat, get the sisilog or lechon. If you like less fat, get the adobo! I think there were some issues on the soft opening mentioned in other reviews (lumpia issues? Wait times?) that have since resolved. We've had no issues with service, speed and accuracy of our orders in the four or five times we've stopped by for lunch. Please give them a try!

So we ordered a big bowl of Ponsit, the white rice with garlic, and two orders of the lumpia. Everything is so delicious. The chili dipping sauce for the lumpia is right on. The Ponsit is any good as I've ever had. And of course we loved the white rice. Good size container.

This place is located in a very tight parking spot on Linda vista near USD.. when we arrived there.. there was no one in the restaurant and we waited for a bit before someone actually came out from the back to take our orders. After ordering our food we went to sit down.. another group came in after us and was greeted with a big warm "welcome" Something we didn't received when we first walked in.. while the presentation looks good, the food came out cold.. not even warm.. cold.. our food came out after they had already completed 2 takeout order.. which explains why our food came out cold.. we've been to other spots and although they are slower, at least the food came out hot.. lighting in this place is great.. just not so much of the food.. we will not come back to this place.

I moved to Linda Vista when I moved in with my now husband and have been craving Filipino Food (I used to live in Chula Vista) so I was super excited when this spot opened up near my apartment. I only have positive things to say about this location! I usually order lunch here when I'm working remote and I haven't had time to cook and I love that the food is always nice and fresh and there's service with a smile! As a now mid-life Millennial, I now make it a point to support small businesses, especially ones that are Filipino owned! Great job to the White Rice Team - keep it up - I'm excited to see you grow!!!

Judging from the Yelp reviews, I assume this place recently opened. As someone who was born and raised in the Philippines and living in the Bay Area but happen to visit San Diego, I'm very familiar with Filipino food. I like how Filipino food is slowly being recognized in the United States. That is why it is important for a place like this to eixst. However, the restaurant definitely needs improvement so that future customers will have a good impression once they visit this cute little Filipino restaurant.Google recommended this place when me and girlfriend were craving Filipino food. My girlfriend bulalo, garlic rice and Bicol Express to-go. The bulalo is very tasty. Bicol Express is spicy but the string beans needs to be a little bit softer. We both ordered Ube Milk Tea. Ube is one of Filipinos favorite food. The milk tea needs to be a little creamier to make it even tastier. I suggest less water and more milk. Oat milk if customers prefer it to be vegan. Lastly, I ordered a chicken tocino silog, or Tocinong Manok (should have an "ng" in the word tocino because it it possessive in Filipino language). Boy, I'm quite disappointed at my order. The chicken has to be well-done but also soft. I suggest boiling the chicken to make it tender. The chicken I had is not even cooked. Secondly, the chicken to be marinated in 4 main key ingredients to make a very tasty tocino. You need plenty of sugar, salt, pepper and LOTS of crushed garlic. These ingredients will bring best flavor of any type tocino. Chicken has to be cooked in boiling oil to bring the best of the tocino until the exterior part of the chicken becomes caramelized. Overall, I'd give this place 4 stars. Staff is pretty friendly and the place is clean. I hope my review helps to improve this cozy restaurant.

Finally Filipino food nearby!I hated driving to National city and Mira Mesa just for some good Filipino food. I actually forgot that there was a White Rice tucked away in Point Lloma. This location is much more accessible and I feel like the menu is more expansive (or maybe they just updated)! I look forward to coming back and would love to continue to support this great restaurant!My fiancé got the pancit and absolutely loved it (don't tell my Mom). I tried to be healthy and got the vegan sisig, which was intriguing and ended up being so flavorful! Their mushrooms are so good!!! I couldn't resist the lechon calling for me, but I was on a diet. Well they offered to add just a side of the lechon to the sisig and I was SOLD. This is absolutely the best combination! The lechon was so crispy yet so tender, and paired really well with the vegan sisig/rice. Did they get a hand of real calamansi? Tastes like it. I'm writing this a day after I had it, and I'm already thinking of going back as I type. The prices might look on the higher end, but don't worry, the portion sizes are justify the cost! I can't wait to taste the rest of the menu and show my friends Filipino food! Parking lot is small and spaces can be tight depending on the time of day. P.S. if you think I'm biased because I'm Filipino, you should also know Filipinos are typically pretty critical of Filipino food, so #trustmeitsyummyUpdate:Came back to try the longanisilog. Flavors absolutely on point. Yummy garlic rice. However, definitely could stand to shed $2-3 off the price. Or throw in a second fried egg?

SUPPORT THIS LOCAL RESTAURANT!Their first proper sit-down establishment. It has the same menu as the Liberty Station & North Park locations; however, they also serve alcohol. For instance, you can order a San Miguel beer tower ($40 for approximately 9 glasses)--the same quality Filipino food. I always order the Ube Pandesal w/Ube butter (so good). Calamansi Iced Tea is another go-to for me as well. You can't go wrong with any of the "Silog" entrees -- they're all traditional and delicious. Hopefully, more TVs will be added so sports fans can enjoy games while eating fantastic food and sipping cold beers! Friendly staff who like to hold a conversation. The decor is simple but nice, with great music playing in the background.

After wanting to try White Rice for a long time, this experience was a letdown. We came for the Friendly x White Rice Collab (TF is me and my partner's favorite burger joint in SD). We came shortly after the popup began and every item from the collab menu was sold out except loco moco (they had cheeseburger lumpia!!!). We opted for a lechon bowl and the loco moco. I understand it was a grand opening, but we waited outside for an hour before we got our food. I am almost positive they forgot about our order, since folks that had come after us had already received their food (some of them had even finished eating and left before we received our order!). Eventually, one of the team members brought out our food and gave us some free ube crinkles on the house, which was nice of them. As for the food...it was pretty mediocre for how much we were charged. The lechon wasn't crispy and was tough and fatty. The loco moco was okay...it's exactly what you expect from a hamburger patty with rice and a fried egg. The ube crinkles were FINE...They lacked ube flavor and tasted more like a sugar cookie. Hopefully, the restaurant has streamlined its operations since opening. I will eventually give them another chance, but if the wait is going to be like THAT again (on top of that, the Linda Vista parking lot is a cramped nightmare), I might go to another location.

The food here is really good. Large portion sizes. The pork belly bowl was very flavorful. The staff was really nice. I would definitely eat here again