Mata’s Philippine Cuisine is located at 4350 W Waters Ave #102 in Tampa. Credit: @thisbabeeats for Tampa Bay Wine & Food Festival

There may be dozens of Filipino restaurants in the greater Tampa Bay area, but a fan favorite is unfortunately closing its doors in a few days.

After five years at 4350 W Waters Ave #102, the family-owned and operated Mata’s Philippine Cuisine will serve its last customers on Sunday, Dec. 22.

The restaurant’s ownership took to social media earlier this month to announce their imminent closure, but didn’t share any reasons that led to it. However, Lena Mata—who runs the eatery with her parents and sister—tells Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that her parents, Delio and Ellen Mata, are simply retiring since they are both in their early seventies.

This weekend is Mata’s last day open for regular service, and folks have until Sunday to place a holiday catering order for pick-up on Christmas Eve.

“My parents actually retired like a decade ago, but they came out of retirement to open the restaurant in 2019. They always had a passion for cooking—and cooking has always been a family affair with us,” Mata says. “At that time, we were actually one of the first full-service Filipino restaurants in Tampa.”

Before the brick and mortar iteration of the restaurant, there was Mata’s Carinderia, a family-run pop-up that hosted an uber-popular stall at Tampa’s annual Philfest, a multi-day cultural festival held each spring.

After 2019’s festival, with another year of customers waiting hours to purchase their food in the books, Lena proposed the idea of opening a standalone restaurant.

Mata’s is known for its Philfest favorites—lechon kawali, the beloved fried pork belly, as well as sisig, with their version consisting of diced kawali (instead of the traditional ear and nose), chilies, onions and calamansi.

Other popular menu items include pork blood stew dinuguan, noodle dish pancit, the ubiquitous chicken adobo, peanut and oxtail stew kare kare, pinakbet, fried bangus, BBQ skewers and more. Mata’s also serves a variety of traditional Pinoy desserts like bibingka, halo halo, ube ice cream sandwiches, puto, sapin sapin, ginitaan bilo bilo and ube flan.

Delio and Ellen Mata, the chefs and owners of Mata’s Philippine Cuisine. Credit: @thisbabeeats for Tampa Bay Wine & Food Festival

The Matas hail from the Rizal province outside of Manila, but have been in the U.S. since they were teenagers. While Delio and Ellen always had 9-5 jobs and other business endeavors, their daughter says that cooking was always their passion and side hustle. Till this day, Lena says that her parents insist on dicing vegetables by hand instead of using a food processor—adding a comforting, home-cooked feel that many other restaurants simply cannot harness.

“The reason why we never hired anyone from outside the family was to keep our recipes sacred—no one knows our recipes except me, my parents and my sister,” Mata tells CL. “Throughout the years, I’ve really realized that our customers—young and old—want authentic, traditional food that reminds them of their Lola.”

Over the years, Mata’s Philippine Cuisine has reached non-Filipino audiences as well, through popular events like the Tampa Bay Wine and Food Fest.

Following 2020’s COVID-19 pandemic, the Mata’s even stopped their cafeteria-style set-up to ensure the freshness and quality of their food.

After the restaurant closes its storefront this weekend, the Mata’s will continue to do catering throughout the greater Tampa Bay area. Lena also plans to keep her and her parent’s legacy alive by hosting pop-ups around town, selling Mata’s branded food in local stores, or doing “ulam” meal prep-style orders. A cookbook filled with their tried and true family recipes may also be in the works.

There’s also a possibility that Mata’s Carinderia may return to future iterations of Tampa’s Philfest.

“Even after COVID, through every hurricane season, the Tampa Bay community has supported us since literally day one, and we are very thankful for that. Family, prayer and hard work has gotten us this far,” Lena adds.

Until this Sunday, Mata’s is open from 11 a.m.-7 p.m. on Thursday-Saturday and 11 a.m.-3 p.m. on Sunday. Head to @matasphilippinecuisine on both Facebook and Instagram for updates on the continuation of Mata’s brand throughout Tampa Bay.