Lemon & Olive Baguio Honest Food Review

Wow, this restaurant is way too popular. We first tried to eat here on our first day but the queue was too long, the security guard was the one who told us that we should just go and try another time (10:30am or 6pm) or day.

Well try we did, so we came back the next day, albeit a bit late (around 11AM) and we were already 9th in line. Crazy! The particularly difficult part here is the parking as their parking space is quite limited. Thankfully, the guard was nice enough to help us out and we were parked!

Ambiance-wise, it’s very bright and airy. If you sit outside (which I highly recommend), you get to enjoy this beautiful view as well as the nice chilly air of Baguio. In that regard, I think it’s much better to lunch here rather than dinner so you get to maximize the view.

Food-wise, we got the Manestra soup (₱150) which tastes like Minestrone. The servings are HUGE. This one order is good for 4 roughly.

And the Evia Salad (₱360 to share). Wow, this salad is delicious! It had pomegranate pearls, dried greek figs, walnut and feta cheese tossed with mixed greens and a sweet balsamic reduction. I’m not a salad person, but I took a 2nd helping with this one. Really, it’s delicious!

For the mains, we started with a Souvlaki Mixed Plate (grilled lamb, chicken, pork) (₱350) on pita bread drizzled with Greek sauce, accompanied by dips and fries. The fries isn’t great. Forget about that. The pita bread? Delicious. The lamb and chicken – also good (although very limited in quantity). The pork? Way too fatty. Consider getting beef next time.

We also ordered Moussaka (₱280), which is a lasagna of sorts but made up of structured potato, eggplant, and ground beef layers with a very tasty bechamel sauce on top. This was delicious.

Next, we got Stuffed Tomatoes and Peppers (₱270). It sounded really nice in principle – read the description: a tomato and bellpepper filled to the bursting with specially seasoned ground beef, rice, feta cheese, and tomato sauce. Sounds nice right? But it tasted rather icky. The bellpepper was just too overwhelming. Blech.

We also got the Mediterranean Pasta (₱340 solo). This was a very simple dish – olive oil-based pasta with capers, garlic, basil, olives, seafood (shrimp and octopus), parmesan cheese and garlic bread. I found the pasta noodle itself weird? It breaks off too easily – feels like it was overcooked. I liked the simplicity of the dish though, but my parents found it flavorless.

Finally, we got the Lamb Stew (₱545), a traditional Greek tomato lamb stew cooked with potatoes, Baguio beans, peas and carrots. I remember the lamb stew we had when we were in Santorini so I was really excited to try this here. Hmm, it was alright. The lamb could be more tender. Excellent stew though.

For dessert, we got the Baklava Cheesecake (₱170), Ekmek (₱130), and Athena yohgurt (₱150). These were excellent!!

Let’s start with the Baklava Cheesecake. The cheesecake itself was good, and the bottom layer was the traditional phyllo, layered with chopped walnuts and pistachio. Gosh, so delicious.

The Ekmek? Also great. It’s a traditional Greek dessert made with a layer of shredded crispy phyllo pastry soaked in lemon honey syrup, topped with milk custard and cream on top. The phyllo pastry? So good. The milk custard and cream on top – a bit overkill. Could do with less of that.

Lastly, the Athena frozen yoghurt – made up of yoghurt (obviously), honey, walnuts, olive oil, sea salt flakes and thyme. Also delicious.

Service-wise, food came out quickly and this is probably the first restaurant I’ve eaten at where I didn’t feel they were understaffed. Servers were quick to flag down and they were attentive. BUT the bill took forever to come out, I have no idea why…

Overall – definitely coming back here. I can see the appeal!