Furca — Restaurant in Mata Redonda

TL;DR Worst service I’ve ever had in Costa Rica, food was cold and cooked incorrectly, over priced, very rude and pretentious staff.

I have never written a review because I have a lot of patience and have worked in the service industry at all levels for many years. But this was hands down the worst dining experience I have had in Costa Rica. I have lived here for 2 years and have a restaurant here in Manuel Antonio, so I know what standard service should be like. But this place did not even meet the basic standards anywhere.

Called ahead to make a reservation, they said they only had bar seats available. When we arrived it was empty, so we asked for a table and they reluctantly said yes. It was only half full the entire time we were there. We waited 10 minutes before the server came to to speak with us, and we asked for water. He came back 5 minutes later, which isn’t so bad, but in general he was not around at all. We needed things and were ready to order, but he was no where to be found. I noticed this in general, many other tables were waiting for servers for a long time and the server never checked in on us or them. They only came to drop off food and never checked in after.

The service was extremely slow, but that was not the worst part. We ordered octopus carpaccio, which was good, despite waiting over 25 minutes. We also ordered 2 Ribeye steaks Medium Rare. When the steaks arrived, they were cold and very Rare. They give a hot iron plate so you can cook it, which I understand is a cool concept. But in reality, because the meat was not already cooked properly, when you put it on the hot plate, only the outside cooked and the center was still raw. The meat was also heavily over salted, it was not a good cut or quality, it was gamey and tough.

We asked if we could have the steaks cooked a little more, and they were very condescending and said that we are supposed to use the plate to cook the meat. That’s obvious, but it was not working well which is why we asked to cook it more. They aggressively cleared our plates and one of the waiters gave us a death stare.

Later when they were bringing the new utensils, the waiter put them down and I said thank you, and he rolled his eyes at me. One of the waiters asked if it was my first time here, as if I didn’t understand how things work. It doesn’t matter where I’m from, a restaurant is a restaurant anywhere and there is a level of service and in general common decency of how you treat a person, let alone a paying guest.

We had to ask for the manager, and he just apologized a couple times, and was not sincere. They gave us a free cocktail, as if that fixes everything, and it wasn’t even good so I didn’t drink it.

We did not make a scene at all, I told him that we have heard great things about the restaurant, but we were very disappointed and confused with the experience.

We decided we were so unhappy that we preferred to get the food to go and eat it at home. They gave us a 15% discount but it was still $160, and offered us a free drink at their other restaurant Nunc, but not a coupon, we would have to go directly after dinner. Why would I support their other business after this horrible experience.

I don’t know if they are this way towards foreigners, but their attitude and service was rude and pretentious. I will never go back or to their other restaurants. And I will tell everyone I know to...

Went to Furca as a corporate event; 22 people. It wasn’t the first time we booked a corporate event, and the first time the experience (I will continue to say "experience," because this is what they want to sell) was absolutely awesome, so we wanted to repeat it and show it to our international (English-speaking) guests. As soon as we requested the service and all the introductions to the menu to be in English, the experience did a 180-degree turn; it was awful and rude. The new waiter, who spoke English, didn’t interact with us; there was no introduction; we didn’t feel welcome; it was just bad attitude. The food was great, but we waited for the main dish for an hour after we ate the appetizer, by the time the dessert came, most of our guests had left. We understood we were a big group, and I can be empathetic with that, but with the horrible service and the bad attitude from the staff (not only the waiter), it felt like they wanted us to eat, pay, and immediately leave the restaurant. So if you are considering booking a big group corporate event, I highly suggest looking at other restaurants. It’s a shame this happened because, again, we, as a business, previously went to this place and the experience was completely different. We...

I can say that the staff is very impressed with their restaurant. We made reservations. The outdoor table that we wanted was unavailable according to the hostess, but it was vacant the entire time of our meal. Let's get to the meal. NO Pasta??? Called ahead to confirm that they had it for my wife, and because they did, we went. I wanted their renowned steak...with a the hype of aging, master cooking, etc. Well, first thing I noticed is the rib eye cut was a wedge. Meaning not a straight cut of meat, like the person that the slice never butchered a piece of meat. Next, it was flat grilled, not like the pictures that show cross grill of a char grill. Then, it was placed on a hot iron platter, that destroyed the medium rare steak after a few minutes to make it medium well. Basically these guys are impressed with their store and really need some cooking classes. The steak was tough to boot. I overall, not worth $115 USD for 2 glasses of wine, two appetizers (that were actually pretty good) and two entrees that were trash. Avoid unless you really want a show and really don't care what they serve this...