Movie Stars Cafe's Dino Buffet

When we ate in Buffet 101 MOA a couple of weeks ago, we saw this new restaurant in the area called Movie Stars Cafe, which was near Vikings. Fast forward a few days later and I saw that they were offering a discount for their Dino Buffet at just P399 (instead of P699). I got a couple of vouchers since we had a friend visiting from out of town and we really wanted to try this new place out. I made a reservation via their website and got an email confirmation soon after.

Ok, first the good. The place looks really cool, with characters in full costume greeting you from outside. In fact, there are a lot of people wanting to take pictures with the characters, even passersby. Inside, there are lots of TVs all around which are tuned in to different channels like HBO, AXN, Star Movies, etc. There are also lots of movie posters, memorabilia and life-sized statues of famous characters like Ironman, Shrek, Batman, etc. Actually, it sort of has a Universal Studios feel to it. You can even have your photos taken with the servers, in full costume, at your table. We were seated inside, but there is also an alfresco area by the bay.

Now the food. The buffet area is just one strip with an open kitchen. Since it's aptly called a "Dino Buffet" (notice the T-Rex head in the middle?), the food is made up of hamburgers, sausages, chicken and steak. There are also onion rings & fries, but that's pretty much it. To be honest, the food for us was nothing great so it was a good thing I had the vouchers because I don't think it's worth the actual price. The menu is pretty limited (everything on the buffet table can be found in the pictures I took below), but if you're a meat lover like me, then maybe you just might enjoy this.

Don't expect a huge selection of desserts like in the other buffets. This was all they had when we ate there, although I did like the cake.

Now the bad part, for me. But first, let me give a disclaimer that this is based on my own, personal taste and I mean no offense for those who actually enjoy this type of entertainment. Ok, here goes. My first issue is that the music was SO loud. We could barely hear ourselves talk over the sound, so the TV screens around the whole place was actually a good thing since you can just watch while eating. Maybe it would have been better if we were seated outside, but I wouldn't know since they also had speakers on full blast there. It was a disappointment bringing our balikbayan friend there since we couldn't even make chikahan with all that noise. It was like being in a club or bar, but they kept playing songs like Gangnam Style (I think they played this 10 times?), Shots (which is so 3 years ago!) and other party songs. Definitely do not go here if you want to have a nice, intimate dinner with someone. And do not bring your grandparents or elder relatives here because they will surely go deaf.

Another thing they had were performances from the waiters and waitresses. So one minute, they're just regular staff in costume taking your order, then the next minute they become the "MSC Dancers", called on stage for a production number. Again, this might be entertaining for most people but it was just so loud and distracting for me. I wouldn't have had an issue if the performances looked professional or well rehearsed. But the performers seemed like they didn't know their proper places on stage, they were nudging each other, and some looked like they didn't even want to be there. Honestly, it just seemed like a bad Christmas party number where they force the new employees to dance. And again, the songs! Spiderman dancing Gangnam Style? It was just way too baduy for me.

They also had a couple of birthday celebrants in the house. And if it's bad enough in some restaurants when the staff sing for you, here they ask you to go on stage! Again, if you enjoy this kind of thing, then by all means, celebrate your next birthday here and be the center of attention.

Happy Birthday to some dude named Christian

The performances would be tolerable for me if they had it once every 30 minutes or more. Because at least mid performance, they would tone the music down a teeny tiny bit allowing a window of opportunity for some small talk. But no, it seemed like they had one every 5-10 minutes! In one part, they announced that they would be having a Mask of Zorro and Spiderman musical number which would be perfect for the kids. Well, I thought musical number meant some singing or something, but it was just Zorro and then Spiderman fighting with the "bad guys" (which featured some awful sword fighting and poorly choreographed stunts).What made it worse and such a turn off was the way the host (Mr. Gingerbread Man) kept commentating on everything!

"Parating na po si Zorro... ayan na po si Zorro...at kasayaw niya si Catherin Zeta-Jones!" (weh? asan?)

It was so bad it was actually funny! Like we just kept laughing over how corny everything was! After the performances, the band came on, and again, nothing great. I mean, picture this. There were 3 singers on stage but they only had 2 microphones! So one girl was just bopping around during the song, just clapping her hands and stuff, then after, the other singer would pass her the mic. What?

Like I said, the whole place actually reminds me of Universal Studios with the set up and all the characters roaming around. But the entertainment is just not for me. I wish all the MSC dancers well, but I don't think I'll be coming back to this place. I'll just stick to the other tried and tested buffets like Yakimix, Buffet 101 and Vikings.