Badjao Seafront: go for the sunset, not the tuna
Come for the setting and order defensively. Badjao is a dining room on stilts over the water at the end of a long wooden boardwalk through mangroves, facing Honda Bay, and it rates 3.9/5 from about 860 reviews — meaningfully below KaLui's 4.4, and the gap is the cooking, not the view. Dishes run ₱125–550 and the seafood platter is ₱1,150; expect ₱500–900 a head. Arrive around 17:00 for the light, order shrimp, lobster or the coconut-milk vegetables, skip the grilled tuna, bring cash because cards are not accepted, and have your tricycle wait.
A long boardwalk, then a room over the water
The walk in is the best part of the meal, and that is not a criticism. It is the reason to come.
Badjao is on Abueg Road, reached by a long native-style wooden boardwalk that runs out through mangroves to a dining room built on stilts over the water, facing Honda Bay. There is sea breeze, there are mangroves either side, and at the right hour there is a sunset that does most of the work. It is genuinely one of the best-looking restaurants in Palawan.
It is also not walkable from anywhere. You need a tricycle or car from the centre and the smart move is to have the tricycle wait — a charter with waiting time runs roughly ₱300–500 and saves you standing on an unlit road at 20:30 hoping something empty comes past. There is no Grab in this city to fall back on.
Hours are the one soft fact here. TripAdvisor lists daily 10:00–23:00 and an aggregator says it closes at 21:00. Treat closing as somewhere between 21:00 and 23:00, unverified which is current, and do not plan a late second round here. The other hard fact is payment: cash only, confirmed by an October 2024 review, and it surprises people every week.
When to walk the boardwalk
The entire argument for this restaurant is a 45-minute window, and most people book it an hour too late. Sunset in Puerto Princesa runs roughly 17:40–18:15 through the year.
The hour. Order now, eat as the light goes, and you get both the sunset and food that has not been sitting.
Order this, not that
The reviews are unusually consistent about which side of this kitchen works. Shellfish and coconut-milk vegetables land; big grilled fish is where it comes apart.
| Dish | What it is | Price | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buttered-garlic lobster | The house signature and the thing to spend on if you are spending | up to ₱550 a dish | WORTH IT |
| Sizzling prawns | The dish reviewers single out as excellent even in otherwise critical reviews | ₱125–550 | WORTH IT |
| Sizzling calamari | Squid, hot plate, garlic. Hard to get wrong and they do not | ₱125–550 | WORTH IT |
| Eggplant in coconut milk | The best vegetable dish in the building and the vegetarian's order | ₱125–250 | WORTH IT |
| Squid adobo | Vinegar, soy, garlic. Robust enough to survive a busy kitchen | ₱125–350 | WORTH IT |
| Seafood paella | Big, shareable, slow to arrive. Order it first or not at all | ₱350–550 | DEPENDS |
| Seafood platter | The group order. Convenient, photogenic, and it includes the grilled fish you were told to avoid | ₱1,150 | DEPENDS |
| Steamed fish | Safer than grilled, because steaming forgives the timing that grilling does not | ₱250–550 | DEPENDS |
| Grilled tuna | The repeat complaint, described in one review as way overcooked and dry | ₱250–450 | SKIP |
Everything here is cash. There is no card terminal, there is no ATM on Abueg Road, and a table of four ordering lobster can pass ₱3,000 without trying.
The practical bit
If you only get one splurge dinner
KaLui
4.4/5 from about 2,545 reviews, #6 of 240, and a ₱795 set for two that includes soup, sides and dessert. The room is a wooden nipa house with your shoes at the door. Closed Sundays, and dinner needs a call the day before. Full verdict →
See current reviews ↗Badjao Seafront
3.9/5 from about 860 reviews, a dining room on stilts over Honda Bay, and a kitchen that is inconsistent under pressure. Order shrimp and lobster, arrive at 17:00, and bring cash. Open when KaLui is not — including Sundays. Full verdict →
Check current hours ↗Why the rating is 3.9 and why that is fair
Social sentiment about this restaurant rates the ambience above the cooking, explicitly and repeatedly. That is the whole story of the half-star gap.
The pattern in the reviews is not that Badjao is bad — it is that Badjao is inconsistent. In the same review you will find grilled tuna described as way overcooked and dry and the shrimp described as excellent. The shellfish, the sizzling plates and the coconut-milk vegetables come out well. The big grilled fish, which is the thing a first-timer instinctively orders in a seafood restaurant over the water, is the thing most likely to disappoint.
So order against the instinct. Shrimp, lobster, calamari, squid adobo, eggplant in gata. Arrive at 17:00 rather than 18:30, both because the light is the point and because a kitchen that wobbles under pressure wobbles least before the rush. Do that and Badjao is a very good evening for ₱500–900. Do the opposite and you have paid a view premium for dry tuna, which is exactly the review you have already read.
Draw cash in the city, and draw more than feels reasonable. Tours, tricycles, markets and most restaurants are cash. Foreign cards are charged about ₱250 per withdrawal at nearly every bank and per-transaction limits run ₱10,000–20,000. Airport machines empty at weekends and around the 15th and 30th. Sabang is effectively an ATM desert — arrive with the whole stay in your pocket. Always decline the machine's offer to charge you in your own currency.
Check the hours, and think about the ride
Badjao takes no online bookings and the closing time is genuinely uncertain. Two minutes of checking prevents the most annoying possible version of this evening.
Badjao Seafront questions, answered
Is Badjao Seafront worth it?
For one sunset dinner, yes, if you order shrimp or lobster and skip the grilled tuna. Its 3.9/5 from about 860 reviews sits well below KaLui's 4.4 from 2,545, and the consistent line in the reviews is that the view outshines the food. Budget ₱500–900 a head.
Does Badjao Seafront take credit cards?
No. Cash only, confirmed by an October 2024 review and still the rule. There is no ATM on Abueg Road, so draw in the city first — a table of four ordering lobster at up to ₱550 a dish can pass ₱3,000 easily.
What time should you go to Badjao for sunset?
Arrive about 17:00. Sunset in Puerto Princesa falls roughly 17:40–18:15 through the year, and arriving an hour before means your food is cooked before the kitchen hits its 18:00 crush. Turning up at 18:30 gets you the queue and a dark view.
What should you order at Badjao?
Buttered-garlic lobster, sizzling prawns, sizzling calamari, squid adobo and the eggplant in coconut milk. Dishes run ₱125–550. Avoid the grilled tuna, which one review called way overcooked and dry — the shellfish is where this kitchen is strongest.
Is Badjao a paluto restaurant?
No, and this is a common mix-up. Badjao is a normal menu restaurant with printed prices. Paluto — where you buy the seafood raw by the kilo and pay ₱100–150 to have it cooked — happens at the Baywalk dampa stalls and near the public market, for about ₱300–500 a head.
Do you need a reservation at Badjao?
At weekends, yes. On weeknights and before 17:00 you can generally walk in. There is no online booking system, so it is a phone call or a chance taken — and the room is large enough that mid-week refusals are rare.
How do you get to Badjao Seafront?
By tricycle from the city centre to Abueg Road, then along a long wooden boardwalk through the mangroves. Charter the tricycle with waiting time for roughly ₱300–500, because there is no Grab in Puerto Princesa and very little passing traffic on that road after 20:00.