Restaurante Rancho JSM — Restaurant in Pavones

We’ve eaten at Rancho JSM several times on the way to and from San José to the Caribbean coast and until today we’ve always been very pleased. Today we arrived at about 1:30pm for lunch. No one greeted us so we selected a table and sat down. Then, despite two servers on the floor (and two more chatting with a friend at the bar), we waited and waited for someone to take our drink orders a give us menus. Finally, my companion flagged down a server and she gave us menus but didn’t stop to take our drink orders. After another 10 minutes my companion went and asked another server to take our drink orders, which he did. My companion’s drink arrived right away but mine never arrived so I went to the bar where the server was again chatting with his buddy and another server and said that I’d pick up my drink myself. He gave me a look like I was bothering him and told me that someone would bring the drink to the table, which happened a few minutes later. At that point we were contemplating leaving because we weren’t feeling very welcomed but a server arrived to take our orders so we stayed. The server highly recommended two items on the menu, the Delmonico steak and the Puntas de Solomillo. We both decided on the Delmonico steak, though pricey at about $23 per person. We had both enjoyed Delmonicos before and my companion ordered his rare and I ordered mine medium rare. The meals arrived within 15 minutes or so but the meat didn’t look at all like a Delmonico steak! It was very thin and as we cut into our steaks they proved to be full of gristle and very fatty. Not marbled, but fatty. I couldn’t eat at least half of my steak because it was nothing more than gristle and fat! Adding insult to injury my companion’s steak was well done (it was so thin it must have cooked immediately on the grill) and mine was overcooked as well. To be fair the sides (a very fresh green salad, country fries and fried plantains) were excellent. But we were paying for a steak meal, not $46 worth of salad, potatoes and plantains! Before we asked for the check we flagged down a server and explained that we’d enjoyed several meals at the restaurant but this meal fell far short. She called the manager so that we could explain to him our experience, which we did, and who then happily charged us the full price for a terrible meal. With drinks, service and taxes almost $100. We left feeling like the place really doesn’t care at all about its clientele (repeat clientele at that!) or the quality of the food it serves. Today was the last time we’ll be stopping there. There are too many other excellent steak houses in Cartago to...

SCAM ALERT!! We ordered chicken wings and 2 beers which we enjoyed. However the problem came when we wanted to pay. The server took my card and charged me 20 840 colones for the meal and drinks. The equivalent of about 38 euros. I was returned the payment receipt obviously without the items that I ordered. I queried this with the server who proceeded to explain that due to accompanying taxes the meal was more expensive. I then requested to have a print-out of the receipt. She realised that she'd been caught out and came back with the original receipt (I've included both in the photos) and 8800 colones cash. I required 8980 change. I then had to query it again and prove it to her that she had short changed me once again. I know that I'm a tourist but I also don't have imbecile tattoed on my forehead. Nevertheless this is a well known tourist scam in Costa Rica but after 2 and a half weeks in this beautiful country, this was the first time that we actually experienced this. Pay attention to your...

It has the makings of a great restaurant, beautiful woodworks , on the main road, plenty of space for seating and parking. But they miss the spot by a mile… with just one waiter, during a breakfast rush at 7:30 am, after sitting it took 10 minutes for the waiter to take the order, it took another 10 minutes for the waiter to bring the beverages, and 35 minutes for the food, and that’s not the worst part, there were flys and sweet bees roaming everywhere, and the sour cream I believe was either spoiled or left out for too long outside the fridge. The only good thing was that the breakfast taste really good. This management is cutting too many cost which will make a great restaurant a...