Restaurants near Araneta Coliseum: Before and After a Show

The restaurants near Araneta Coliseum that suit a group before a show are the two walk-in food halls, Food Express and Palenque, both in the Gateway malls, in the same part of Araneta City. Eat before the doors open, because the malls close at 9 PM or 10 PM, and afterwards head to Paeng's Gateway Bowl or Cubao X Brewery, which both run until midnight.

Why the meal goes before the show

The Coliseum is Araneta City's arena for concerts and for PBA and UAAP games. It opens on event nights, and ticket prices vary by show. Take the door time from the Araneta City shows page.

The kitchens around it mostly keep mall hours: 10 AM to 9 PM from Sunday to Thursday, 10 AM to 10 PM on Friday and Saturday. A concert that starts at 8 PM lets out after those hours. A barkada that plans to eat afterwards ends up hungry on the pavement with everyone else who had the same idea.

Restaurants near the Coliseum for an early dinner

Every place below takes big groups.

• Nobody booked anything. Food Express on Level 3 of Gateway Mall 1 is a food court costing under ₱500 a head, with stalls such as Sisig Hooray, Salo Lechon Belly Kitchen and Bebang Halo-Halo. People arriving at different times can each order and join the table. It is a fast way to feed eight people before a show.
• Still no booking, slightly more to spend. Palenque at Upper Ground B of Gateway Mall 2 is a regional Filipino food hall where you walk in with no booking, at ₱500 to ₱1,500 a head.
• Someone planned ahead. Vikings at Upper Ground B takes reservations and seats dinner from 5:30 PM. A buffet is slow by design, so book the first seating and give it two hours.
• A food hall with a later kitchen. World Kitchens on Level 4 of Gateway Mall 2 has 15 show kitchens. From Monday to Thursday it reopens for dinner at 5:30 PM and serves until 10 PM. On Friday and Saturday it runs until 11 PM, which makes it one of the few mall kitchens that might still be serving after an early finish.
• Half the group is driving. Food Exchange Manila is the buffet at Novotel, beside the arena, at ₱1,500 and up a head. Diners get three hours of free parking. Dinner runs from 6 PM, Monday to Thursday only, so it suits a weeknight show.

Set the meeting time by the slowest eater and the longest ticket queue, then move it 30 minutes earlier.

After the encore

Two places that take big groups stay open until midnight every day.

Paeng's Gateway Bowl is on Level 3 of Gateway Mall 2, with 24 lanes and six billiard tables. It accepts group reservations. Bowling after a concert sounds odd until the alternative is standing in a ride queue with everyone else from the arena. An hour at the lanes lets the crowd clear.

Cubao X Brewery is the drink. It is an open-air microbrewery taproom on two floors in Cubao Expo, about a 12-minute walk from Gateway, the longest hop in Araneta City. It has no kitchen, so food comes in from the neighbours, and Ichiban Takoyaki in the same compound is open until midnight from Monday to Thursday and 1 AM on Fridays and Saturdays.

For a real meal after a show, Dampa sa Farmers Market is a possibility with a caveat. The market is open 24 hours and is about a 6-minute walk from Gateway, but the paluto stalls keep their own hours. Send a message or a scout before marching the whole group over.

If the group splits up

Not everyone lasts until midnight, and smaller stops work for two or three people peeling off.

Grace Park on the ground floor of Gateway Mall 2 is open until 11 PM daily, later than its neighbours. The 6th Manila is the pool bar at the hotel beside the arena, which turns into an evening club with music and dancing by the pool.

Getting home, or not going home

The ride home is the hard part of any arena night. The practical answers are to leave late, as above, or to stay. Novotel is beside the arena and ibis Styles is above the Gateway expansion. Hotels in Cubao for a staycation compares the two.

Plan the rest

The night-out planner builds group nights for up to 15 people. Start with the barkada night out guide. For a show at the theatre on Gen. Aguinaldo Ave, read where to eat and drink on a theatre night. For more tables that take a crowd, see Gateway Mall 2 restaurants that seat a big group, and for what is still cooking at midnight, late-night food in Cubao.