La Ranita Gourmet — Restaurant in El Valle

By far the worst food and service we've had in Panama.

After sitting and waiting for an hour, a plate of frozen hummus turned up. Flavourless, dry, frozen. How can hummus be 'dry'??

Twenty minutes later, still not a single drink served, one of us then received the most bizarre veggie 'schnitzel'....6 balls of deep fried broccoli. That's it. Not an actual schnitzel at all. Eventually one person got a drink. Followed a further twenty minutes later by three, sharp, disgusting flat "lemonades".

A bowl of cold spagetti with a pile of basil on it that was supposed to be pesto pasta was then served. It was vile. We asked for it to be heated up again and the request was received with utter disgust. I mean, I know that pesto 'can' be made from fresh basil, but for the love of god, make an actual sauce out of it. How can you serve someone that as 'pesto pasta'.

The service was truly terrible and non existent in this place. And there was one other table occupied in the restaurant.

The 'vegetarian burger' then arrived which was quite obviously a tin can of black beans chopped up and put in the shape of a burger patty. Dry as a bone. Zero flavour. Such a disappointment.

Receiving the cheque took three requests and alot of patience to not simply walk out of this poor excuse for a restaurant on many occasions. There was one other table being served! One! What the heck were all the staff doing back there! Definitely googling how to make all of our dishes. Which they failed at.

This was the worst restaurant we've been to in the whole of Panama, perhaps in a very long time in any country. The food was served by the most miserable waiters who should quite clearly not be in hospitality.

I have every confidence in saying not a single dish was prepared by a chef or anyone competent in actually making food.

Will not eat there again as there are plenty of other...

I’m writing this review as I sit here waiting for my check an hour after I’ve finished eating even though there aren’t many people here. Good thing I have plenty of time to fantasize about what my day tomorrow will look like when I have bloody diarrhea on the bus ride back to Panama City.

They served me “The Classic” hamburger which I asked to be cooked through. I was served literal ground meat. It’ll be a miracle if I don’t get sick.

Thanks to the arrogant chef not using a thermometer to ensure he isn’t serving customers raw beef, I now get to spend the next 10 days of my life praying to god that I don’t get violently ill and stay within 25 feet of a restroom, despite using public transportation.

The good news is, after showing the waitress the uncooked pile of beef on my plate, they coordinated a $6.25 discount!! Good thing it wasn’t only $6. Now that they took .25 cents less of my money I’m going to be spraying bile from both ends of my body with a...

I had high hopes for La Ranita, but unfortunately, it was a major letdown. The service was painfully slow—despite the restaurant being nearly empty (only two tables occupied, including ours), it took an entire hour for our food to arrive. There was no explanation or apology, just an unreasonably long wait for what should have been a simple order.

When the food finally arrived, the disappointment continued. Hummus was clearly not fresh -- it was fridge-cold. The guacamole was not made from fresh avocados—an inexcusable offense in a country where avocados are abundant and easily accessible. It tasted bland and artificial, completely missing the rich, creamy texture that fresh guacamole should have.

Overall, La Ranita failed on both service and quality. With so many better options around, I wouldn’t bother...