He is 100% correct. Even though now with good cache things have improved. But hands down no framework will never outdo a regular old php pdo query. In fact eloquent and querybuilder convert at runtime to regular sql.
Frameworks have gotten over inflated. The reason is users want more and more and more instead of writing some of the stuff themselves.
See my reply here https://laracasts.com/discuss/channels/laravel/yet-another-verifycsrf-token-issue I write my own csrf routine.
But I like laravel because it's flexible and optional things are not forced on you.
Example I do use querybuilder, and even the orm for some things. But for more complex queries I use regular pdo via getPdo().
Bottom line the way Taylor made it a flexible to use framework is why I like it and the community is great and helpful.
Edit: Even @Snapey is alright, haha