Ernesto's — Restaurant in San Miguel de Cozumel

CORRUPT! The employee(s) were very pleasant but made a strong recommendation that I stop at a very specific PEMEX gas station on my way back. I drove around the island which is about 40 miles (64km). When I got to the gas station, I watched the pump and used 8.5 liters (slightly over 2 gallons) of gasoline at 15.7 pesos per liter. The total was 135 pesos. The gas station attendant then hit some button and the price jumped to 586 pesos. The attendant got out a calculator and stated the conversion is 17 pesos per 1 US Dollar (18 or 19 pesos per dollar is more common). According to the attendant, I owed $34 US Dollars. I drove 40 miles and used just over 2 gallons of gasoline. I WATCHED the pump which said 135 pesos ($8 US Dollars). It was not until I told them to call the police before they agreed to take the correct amount of money. When I got back to Ernesto's, I asked "Nicefero (the employee)" if he was friends with the people from the gas station and he smirked and laughed. I have no doubt he was in on this scam. The gas station attendants probably do this to ANYONE who pulls up in an Ernesto's Jeep. The keeps are decked out in stickers and are very easy to identify. On top of that they are in VERY poor shape. They were filthy, the steering wheel was sticky, no radio, no A/C and several warning lights were...

I am rating the Jeep rental service out of the same location as the restaurant. It's easy to want to rent a jeep here, Ernesto's jeeps are very visible around town. $70 for a day of rental, seems a bit much, but we gave it a shot. The ignition cylinder had been replaced with something from a tractor or boat and the key liked to fall out while driving. The handbrake came right out of the floor when I tried to use it. The windshield washer was INOP and after taking a bit of salt spray across the window it would have been nice to clean it off. The low beam headlights were DOA and only one high beam worked. Radio missing and so were the heat controls, they were plated over with plastic. No spare tire. The Jeep drove OK though and it was fun to bop around the island. I think about how much these guys are taking in with at least 15 of these jeeps being rented daily, especially with the cruise ships rolling through and it's just embarrassing that they cannot replace a $20 headlight bulb. Rent here if you like, just know what you are getting, a seriously worn out,beat up, and un maintained piece of crap that you are being...

My wife and I are frequent visitors to Cozumel. I’ve rented from Ernesto’s many times in the past. I always was able to negotiate a lower price on site at the time of rental for their bottom of the barrel VW bugs. This time, I made a reservation for a Jeep online. I expected a better vehicle for the $60/day price. What I got was a Jeep which barely ran, literally started about half of the time, and absolutely nothing worked, including the emergency brake. I’d turn the key, nothing would happen. The Jeep did not come with the advertised fuel level in it, and the gauge was also broken. Luckily, we had a second rental car as a backup because we were a large group. I later found out when I was turning the Jeep in that they offered a discount for cash payments. Nobody told me this in advance, and I had no cash. Despite my complaints, Adelaide was absolutely insistent that I paid the original $60/day for this POS which we had rented for a week and were barely able to use. We will NEVER be back and you shouldn’t either. There are other, much better places to rent on the island for...