I took some time off last week to accompany my mom-in-law to Ikea Philippines; it's a good reason to spend the day in Ikea and finally create content about it.
Ikea has opened its biggest store in the world last November 2021 right here in the Philippines and it's located in Macapagal Boulevard, Pasay City where the SM Mall of Asia Complex is; not a surprising location because Ikea has partnered with the SM group for the initiative.
Ikea is one of the biggest, most successful furniture brands in the world; mostly known for their affordable modular furniture, wide range of home goods, and minimalist yet highly functional design guided by Swedish interior principles. Filipinos are no stranger to Ikea because there are a lot of third party resellers that have been reselling Ikea furniture locally even years before it has opened shop in the Philippines. At least today, Filipinos can finally get Ikea products at distributor price.
Let me share with you my Ikea Philippines experience!
Ikea Philippines has its own separate building, but is joined with one of the newest wings of SM Mall of Asia. To get to Ikea's main entrance, you have to pass by the new wing located inside the mall.
Ikea Philippines is MASSIVE. It's four floors of furniture goodness categorized into the following:
FIRST FLOOR: Entrance/Swedish Bistro
SECOND FLOOR: E-commerce operations and stocks/Ikea Exit/Parking
THIRD FLOOR: shopping area/Swedish Bistro/Coffee shop
FOURTH FLOOR: Showroom/Ikea restaurant
The first order of business was food, of course, because we got there at lunch time. However, the line was crazy long, but we were saved by senior privileges, thanks to my Mom-in-Law. We went on a Thursday so naturally, there were a lot of people because it was almost near the weekend.
According to some friends whom I have interviewed, they said expect to fall in line for at least 1.5- 2 hours for the restaurant.
But is the food worth all that wait? Let me share my thoughts.
Ikea's restaurant is primarily self- service, except for the payment and hot meals area. I think this is one of the reasons why the wait is too long: Filipinos are not used to this type of service and a lot are trying to find their way around the restaurant, thus affecting the queue (couple that with our natural inclination to taking our sweet time when purchasing).
HOW TO ORDER FOOD IN IKEA?
1. Only two are allowed in line. The others must be seated to prevent clogging the line.
2. Take one of the three layered carts, put trays, and get your utensils.
3. First to your left is the cold food section: there's salad, desserts, marinated salmon, juices, and water.
4. Next is the hot meals area. This is where you will order the meatballs, baked salmon, pasta, chicken tenders, and the rest of the hot meals.
5. Right before you exit, you will see the bread and pastry section; it's just a small, four- layered cabinet.
6. Finally, soup area.
7. Cashier. Pay for your food and the bottomless drink glasses are located here. It's only P49 for a bottomless cup with 5 drink options: sparkling pear, sparkling lemon, lingonberry, sparkling water, and sugar-free cola.
After eating, CLAYGO. This is one of the habits that I wish Filipinos would adopt: clean your tables after you eat!
IS IKEA'S FOOD WORTH IT?
I would say it's fair enough for its price. Remember, Ikea's restaurant is affordable food and technically, it's canteen food so don't expect restaurant quality. It's probably one of the most affordable food destinations in the area; for P2,000+, I think we almost bought all of their items in the menu already.
The most raved food item in the menu are the meatballs. Is it good? On its own, it's not, but if you put gravy and Lingonberry jam (these come with the platter), the flavor becomes more interesting so I highly recommend that you go for the meatball platters. I like meatballs and it's the kind of food that I don't have standards for (like steak) so I would say Ikea's meatballs are pretty good, but not mind blowing as what some vloggers on Tiktok are claiming. It's supermarket meatballs, friend.
P.S. You can purchase the meatballs in frozen form at the grocery section at the third floor. Good luck though. It's always out of stock.
The spaghetti is nice. It's not your typical Pinoy- style spaghetti that's sweet and saucy; Ikea's pasta is the European kind: less sauce, more tomatoes, and sour. This is my kind of pasta so I would say it's good.
The mushroom soup is also one of my favorites because there's just so much mushroom bits in there and it's only P45.
Another favorite of mine is Marinated Salmon with Gravlax sauce. The sauce is pretty good and generally, I love raw salmon. A little expensive though at P200+ for three thin slices.
Baked Salmon is one of my must- try food suggestions because of the potato-brocolli-chives muffin that came with it; god that pancake thing was really good.
And go for the Nordic Glass bottomless drink; it's worth it for the drink selection and price.
As for dessert, go for the dark chocolate cake; it's the best among the three cakes I've tried (that, carrot cake, and apple cake).
And would I fall in line for 2 hours for the food? Not really. I'd let the wave die down first; or go there during the first work days of the week where everyone is too busy to go malling or Ikea-ing.
After eating, burn all those calories by going around the showroom. The showroom is HUGE, but I highly suggest you pay this area a visit before going furniture shopping because you will get a lot of decor ideas and save yourself from buying furniture and other home goods that you don't really need.
Going back to its size, again, it's HUGE. It's like you need an hour or 1.5 hours to get through all the showroom stations; there are like 20 stations categorized as dining, kitchen, bedroom, living room, toilet and bath, etc. We had to take the shortcut in order to exit to the shopping area because we were only there for cabinets, honestly. We're not building a house so there was no need for us to go through all the stations.
Btw, Ikea has designed their stores in such a way that a customer has to pass through all the stations before the exit; they want people to spend more time in the store, thus increasing the chance of a sale or more sales. But as mentioned, you can take the shortcut if you don't want to bother.
The third floor is where you can buy a majority of the furniture and all of the home goods. Take note, you cannot buy the stuff on display at the fourth floor; it's just a showroom.
HOW TO PURCHASE FURNITURE AT IKEA
This is the part that might confuse a lot of first timers (raises hand) because we're so used to pointing at a furniture and have a customer representative pull out the furniture for us.
At Ikea, you do it all by yourself.
1. If you see something you like at the showroom, take pictures of the tags because you need to know the RACK and SECTION numbers indicated on the tag.
2. Head to the third floor. Go to the SELF-SERVICE FURNITURE AREA
3. If you're going to buy huge cabinets, you may need to get one of the flat carts. They're available by the entrances of the self- service furniture areas.
4. Look for the SECTION first (this is like the aisle) and then find the RACK or the location of the furniture in the section.
5. Take the furniture you need. If you have a bad back or for some reason, unable to carry heavy things, request for assistance.
6. Pay for your items at the counter.
7. You have the option to DIY the furniture or let Ikea put it together for a fee. You also have the option to have the item delivered (for a fee) or picked up.
The best thing about Ikea? You can customize furniture!
HOW TO CUSTOMIZE FURNITURE AT IKEA:
1. Head to the showroom. Check out the different door, mirror, cabinet, layer, and lighting combinations and ideas presented in the stations. Don't forget to take a photo of the tags because you need to take note of the RACK and SECTION.
2. Basically, follow the steps above. Because you need to get everything yourself at the self- service furniture area.
3. Pay for all your items and have them put together all the items or you can do it on your own at home.
HOW'S THE FURNITURE AND ITEM STOCKS AT IKEA?
When it comes to furniture, expect to be a little disappointed because stocks aren't that many, but demand is high because Ikea is still fresh; buying furniture at Ikea is a first come first served basis. They also do not entertain orders and reservations. All you can do is give them a call and ask if your preferred item is available and when it is, you need to go on the same day and asap if you want to get it.
For the rest of the little home goods such as cubes, chairs, storage items, etc., they have plenty of stock.
P.S. Download the Ikea Shopping app for a more convenient way to know if your preferred items are back in stock. Sign up and be a member of the Ikea Family to receive product stock updates via email.
PPS. If you buy dinnerware, you gotta wrap them individually by the self- service wrapping area right after checkout.
The famous yellow bags. Pick up one before heading to the shopping area. This is not free, btw.
The shopping area at the third floor. My favorite purchases were the blue Ikea shopping bag and the ziplocks. Ikea ziplocks are pretty cheap.
Finally, before heading home, pass by the grocery to pick up the frozen meatballs, lingonberry jam, and this amazing chocolate:
Daim! Ahhh, I love this milk chocolate + honeycomb treat so much!
Expect to be disappointed also if you're planning to take home some frozen meatballs because most of the time, it's out of stock. However, the vegetable meatball is always abundant so maybe you want to consider that as an alternative.
IS IT WORTH VISITING IKEA?
Honestly, if you really need to buy furniture, then pay a visit. It is furniture heaven and indeed, the prices are very affordable, especially if you are after modular furniture. Otherwise, you might just end up disappointed because it's just four floors of furniture; it's not a theme park, but at least there's a mall beside it that you can visit afterwards. If you're there just for Ikea though, then manage your expectations.
If you're just after the food, that's fine too, but just don't expect stellar, restaurant- quality taste. That said, include the furniture shopping and general strolling in your itinerary to complete the Ikea experience.
Will I keep on coming back? If I only need to buy furniture.
And finally, here is a store tour and restaurant review. Visit my youtube channel HERE and watch it.
Have you been to Ikea Philippines already? What's your experience? What can you say about the food?
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