Crepes & Waffles Zazué — Restaurant in Santa Marta

For over 20 years my family and I have been regulars at Crepes & Waffles at different locations in Colombia. We love the place, the waiters, the food, and the prices so much that we don't really care about waiting in line every now and then.

However, the experience at this location left us rather disappointed in several aspects. Start with how crowded the place usually is. It looks insanely packed inside, let alone the 20+ minute wait in the outside heat that leaves you exhausted. Despite the high number of servers they always seem to be understaffed and unable to help patrons effectively and timely. Great examples of this are the 30 minute wait to get your orders and how unattended their salad bar was, no utensils, not enough food, stale items, you name it. During my visit, I tried to get my salad over 4 different times and there was always something missing despite my constant complaints to different waiters. Also, my water never arrived nor did the extra serving of chicken I ordered.

I noticed an unusual interest in them selling you bottled water instead of offering their free of charge filtered option. When someone orders filtered water they immediately suggest it is not a good idea for visitors in the area to drink this kind of water in Santa Marta, no matter how appropriately filtered it is, it could get you SICK. After such a warning, your common patron will of course order their bottled, rather expensive, water option. What a surprise when their waiters confide you they use the exact same filtered water in making their smoothies and juices. TOTAL NONSENSE!

At the end of our visit I demanded to speak with the manager and got nothing, not...

The service is HORRIBLE! Wait time to get a table is between 30 to 40 minutes. If you get a table on the back (garden area) They will forget about you. Only if you get angry they will show up but when then, your food will be coming to your table after 1 hour minimum and not hot. They have plenty of staff but they are incredibly lazy and slow. They literally only work if you get upset, it's the only way to get service at this place. They will make you waste minimum 3 hours in total. A complete disaster. The only thing that comes on time is the bill, by the way very expensive for the type of service you get. And on top they asked you is you would like to add a tip. These...

Never disappoints! C&W is probably the best Colombian chain restaurant and a "must try" if you visit this beautiful country. I've tried several ones throughout the years, good quality and good service all the time. Even this one in the middle of a small shopping center in Santa Marta was pretty good. This time we had the Pollo Rosarito (Mexican flavors), Crepe Zeus (Smoked Salmon), and Thai Salad (with Turkey breast), all of them recommended. Ice Creams are pretty famous too here. My trick, get a scoop of Avellana (Hazelnut) in a cup, a espresso shot, drop it inside, and Voila! Make your...