[Review] Libertad: Cafe + Restaurant - Aesthetic Charm with a Culinary Identity Crisis?

3 of my friends, including myself, have birthdays this month (December), so we thought we'd jointly celebrate by having coffee and cake somewhere. After some deliberations, we decided to go to Libertad: Cafe + Restaurant.

I had to look it up online. I have been here in Iloilo full-time for over 3 years, and I have gone to the Plaza Libertad numerous times to go to the City Hall. I have never heard of the existence of this cafe. I looked at photos online, and it looked a bit fancy, definitely not a hole-in-the-wall type of kanto kapehan. I could swear these new cafes are sprouting overnight like mushrooms.

It is located just across the Iloilo City Hall and is marked with an A-frame sign in the pavement advertising their coffee + pandesal deal for only 55 pesos. A tasteful sign proudly displays their name and logo on the side of the building. Inside is a spacious cafe with seating both on the ground floor and on a mezzanine level where the function rooms are located. The initial view of the space right after entering the cafe is impressive; your eye is immediately drawn to the cake display case right in front, and you take in the staircase going up and the high ceiling with chandeliers.

We picked a spot on the upper floor, and I first ordered an iced latte since 2 of my friends were running late. When they arrived, they ordered a couple of pizzas and a pasta dish for sharing.

The pizzas were good if a little pricey. The serving size of the pasta was a bit small for the price (a small plate for PhP 350. 

Since it was a birthday celebration after all, I decided to buy several slices of cake to share. Something like a sampler of what they have to offer. I got ube, chocolate, a cake with a leche flan as a top layer, and 2 others that I could not remember at the top of my head.

The flavors are definitely there, but I can say that all of the cakes we ate that day were really dry!

I know it is not the cafe's fault, but during our stay, the power went out after about 20 minutes of being seated. The second-floor area was nice and cool at the start, only to become like an oven after the power outage persisted. They have a generator, but it was only powerful enough to turn the lights back on.

Overall, I have very mixed feelings about this place. I love the aesthetics, and the location is at the very heart of the city. However, I am sensing a bit of an identity crisis when it comes to the offerings. I get that distinct feeling that they are trying to hit different market demographics all at the same time. On one hand, you have a posh-looking cafe offering espresso drinks, pizza, pasta dishes, cakes and pastries, more like a cafe bistro type of establishment, and on the other, you have a lutong bahay/ turo turo karinderya style of counter, complete with budget meals offering. You get the jarring contrast?  Plus, it can cause some confusion. When your smaller-than-expected plate of 350 peso pasta dish finally arrives at your table, and you wistfully think that maybe you should have gone for the sisig with rice and a bowl of guinataang mongo instead. 

Now, I am not saying that offering affordable items on the menu is a bad strategy. All I am saying is that I do not fully understand their restaurant concept, and it can be a little disconcerting to review. I also do not think that just because I couldn't properly categorize something on a particular lane, then it means it is not good. Go ahead and try the restaurant for yourself and tell me what you think.