After everything that has happened, our family decided to go on a vacation during the holidays. My sister knew about a resort in Talisay, Batangas that was very near Taal Lake (near meaning, it was located in the shore line of Taal Lake). When we found out that they had a promo, we instantly booked the place.
We decided to avail of the promo for November 1 and 2, 2014. The resort is Club Balai Isabel in Talisay, Batangas. The Halloween promo is for an overnight stay in the superior room for 4 people with free buffet breakfast. It costs 6,412 pesos. The original price for the room is more then 6,160 pesos for 2 people only plus 1,500 pesos for an additional person, so the promo is quite a steal!
Travelling to Talisay was very easy. Their website offers different options for travel. I suggest taking the Star Tollway route (option 2). We thought that there would be traffic since it was All Saints' Day. But there wasn't. It took us 2 hours to go there from Alabang. We were 2 hours early from check-in time (2 PM) that we decided to have lunch there and go around the place. The resort is beautiful! It was very nature-y and peaceful. Imagine a small village. They had multiple residences there (apartment-type, condo-type, hotel-type, villas and cottages). It was huge! You can opt to walk around the resort or ride the resort's cart. They give you a map of the resort so that it's easier to go around the area.
We stayed in Balai Mabini, which is just near the reception center. Our room has 2 beds, a bathroom, private veranda, mini fridge, and a kitchenette. This is weird because you can't cook inside the room. I loved the room because it was clean and spacious. It was nice that they actually leave a card with the name of the room attendant. It seems that they have 1 room attendant per floor (there were only 7 rooms on our floor). There are a couple of activities that you can do. There is bike riding, swimming (they have 3 pools), jet skiing, kayaking, pedal boating, and billiards. You can also go to the butterfly sanctuary, go to church (they have a beautiful church inside), have a barbecue with your family, travel to Taal Volcano, or purchase fish freshly caught from the lake. When you want to swim, you can ask the reception for pool towels.
Our stay was nice except for one thing. I really didn't like their service in the restaurant. They have a main restaurant, the Terrazas cafe, where they serve ala carte dishes and the buffet. There was a separate place for their pizzas, Isabela's. We had lunch twice at the pizzeria, which apparently was a good decision. They only served a number of flavors in solo or double. Price-wise, it's like you're eating in Manila. Taste is good, not that overpowering. But the amount of toppings is short of what there should be for its price. If you wanted to order anything else, let's say drinks, you have to order it from the restaurant. You also pay for your food at the restaurants, which is a hassle. Why separate it when ultimately, you have to go back to the restaurant? The restaurant... Sigh... We decided to have dinner there. You can either choose the buffet or go ala carte. Since we're not big eaters, we chose to go ala carte. Our first order was the Bulalo Batangas and Crispy Pata. The waiter informed us that we had to wait 50 minutes for the bulalo, so we changed it to Sinigang na Hipon, then to Beef Kare-kare. After a few minutes, the waiter informed us that Crispy Pata was out of stock, so we changed in to Bagnet. It was 8 PM already. Our food arrived an hour later. Seriously. They didn't even seem that sorry about it when they brought our food. Yes, it was an hour, maybe more than, because Hotel Transylvannia was showing on their TV and we got to half of the film before the food arrived. The food wasn't even warm when it go to us. It was annoying. I wanted dessert so I got Buko Pandan. Gosh, it was 120 pesos for a small bowl. Getting the bill was also long. I don't know if the service was long because it was November 1. But come on, the kare-kare was an option because it was supposed to be served faster than the bulalo. In the end, our food took longer than that. I suggest you just go to the grills and cook stuff for your family. That's faster and cheaper. For the buffet breakfast, the food also wasn't warm. There was no candle thing at the bottom of the dishes to keep them warm. Good thing we ate early so the scrambled eggs weren't gummy yet.
All in all, the experience was good. I would definitely go back here. I just hope that they have better dining service next time around. For more information, you can visit their website here. This is perfect for people who just want to relax but don't want to travel far. The view of Taal was amazing. I was used to seeing it when we're in Tagaytay, but this time around, being up close was wonderful. I'll give Club Balai Isabel a 7.5/10.
Happy vacation!
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