Pez Vela Restaurant — Restaurant in Playa del Carmen

Scammers. beware. We sat down here for a quick coffee and two aguas today. When I asked for the bill the waiter just sheepishly said '155 pesos' without bringing the receipt. I asked for the receipt and he said 'ok' then disappeared. When he came back I handed him a 500 peso note - he hasn't brought the receipt btw - and he then told me he couldn't take it as it was 'too deteriorated'.

That's when I thought something fishy was on. So I tried to hand him another 500 note and he looked at it funny , before eventually deciding it was ok. He came back with change and again, I asked for the receipt. He disappeared for an age before finally returning with a receipt for an amount which was - guess - 122 pesos, not 155. I asked him why he had told me a different amount to begin with then finally charged me less when I persisted and asked for the receipt. 'Count your change, it's correct' he replied. Ok but it's weird you didn't want to take any of my 500 notes and were fishing for exact change, no ? ' Count your change' he replied. Busted.

So yeah, he was hoping I'd pay the exact amount, and without seeing a receipt would walk away without realising I'd been ripped for 30 pesos (The 122 was actually including a gratuity, it turns out from the receipt). Be careful...

Check your Bill!! It’s a real turn off when they try to cheat you. The server read the items we ordered off the bill and when I handed the credit card he asked how much tip we wanted to add. I asked to see the bill and he wouldn’t give it to me and just kept saying you had this and this and your total is this. It seemed very fishy so I demanded that he hand me the bill. There was already 15% service charge on it. When we questioned it he said the kitchen staff gets that and he doesn’t. We would have tipped our usual 20% but he lost it by including 15% and lying about it. This was in November and then same thing happened again when we visited in February. We are very happy and generous with tipping but when someone tries to be sneaky it’s very upsetting. Would’ve given 5 stars for the location and great mole enchiladas but it’s not cool to lie to your customers for few extra pesos....

Ok. This is about the third time this has happened in various establishments on 5th Avenue. The food was ok but expensive. 17 dollars for a beer and some tacos? I’ll give them that because it’s the tourists area I suppose. But what gets me is where did I give permission for them to set their own tip? Scribbled on the invoice and not even asked. Not only that, they never bought the change… and forgot my beer in the first instance…. fuming I couldn’t be bothered to ask for it. Oh and injury to insult they bought the bill 15 mins before advertised closing effectively evicting me. On that note, I won’t be back. Maybe I’m the mug for paying it but it’s too hot to argue. This tip culture needs to stop. I have no problem tipping for good service but the assumption and leg lifting tourists...