Zazones — Restaurant in Aguadilla

I do not understand the great reviews for this place. Everything about it was bad. The atmosphere was bad, the service was bad, and the food was bad. That this place appears on lists of the best restaurants in Aguadilla only makes me want to ignore those lists in the future. I have to wonder if they changed ownership/location/kitchen staff since all of those good reviews were written.

We arrived at 7pm on a Saturday and the place was empty except for one other table. We should have left as soon as we saw how empty it was on a Saturday night, but the reviews said it was great so we decided to stay. Big mistake. It was still empty when we left.

It's in a strip mall and the inside feels like a restaurant that's in a strip mall. It felt fake, like an AI-generated restaurant. It was cold and the tables were bare and undecorated. If "authenticity" or a warm, inviting space is what you're looking for, this is not it.

Our server seemed bored and annoyed that we were there. Questions about the menu were replied to with one word answers. There were specials on a board by the door that she never mentioned. She clearly wanted us to eat and go.

The side of mofongo was dry as sand. The "stuffed mofongo with steak and mushroom sauce" was steak that tasted boiled, with the same dry mofongo, and what seemed like a can of mushroom soup poured over it. The seafood risotto was OK, except the mussels, which tasted fishy and spoiled. There was one scallop in the whole dish.

The risotto was soupy so I needed a spoon, but had to get up and go find our server to get one. I wanted a second beer, and had to go find our server to get it. We wanted our check, and had to go find our server to get it. We wanted to pay but had to go up to the counter to do it. We were mostly just ignored for the entire meal.

I think those other reviewers are...

Very unpleasant experience. Came in 2 hours prior to close and the restaurant was empty and being respectful, we made sure it was ok that we came in and made sure they were ok with us coming in before sitting down, they claimed it was ok. We immediately ordered 2 bottles of wine and appetizers. As soon as I asked a question about an alternate sauce for the calamari is when the server clearly got annoyed and went into the kitchen clearly yelling with her kitchen. From there she seemed very annoyed with our presence, even though we were no longer the only table, as another had come in. The atmosphere became super uncomfortable as we felt completely unwelcome. The kitchen staff was coming in and out of the kitchen and staring at us, we were obviously the talk of the restaurant. The icing on the cake is our server locked the doors of the restaurant and as she passed by she asked how everything was and sneakily snapped a photo of us and walked away, looks like we made her Snapchat because I was able to notice her typing as she walked away. Then the food comes out and the server snobbily demanded I cut into my Churrasco and it was completely raw but after how uncomfortable they made us feel I said it was fine because I was not about to trust my food going back to that kitchen. We boxed up our food and left. Our check was $170 for 3 people which based on the menu prices, was a decent check and we gave her $40, because as people who are in the industry, we feel guilty tipping bad, but definitely was not deserved. We frequent the area and we are sad that we have to mark this place off our list as we heard great things. Do yourself a favor, go across the street to Desecheo instead, we had a MUCH better...

After reading all the reviews, my husband and I really wanted to try out this restaurant. Walking in, we waited for awhile to even be seated. There was no one else in the restaurant. Saw the lunch menu prices and couldn’t believe how good they were so we ordered off of there. We then asked how much would a specific alcoholic drink would be and the waitress said it was $6, sounds great right?! So we order 2 each. Tasty drinks. Then we order the garbanzo risotto with the steak. Waitress asked how we want our steak cooked and we stated “medium rare to medium.” Got the risotto and I immediately noticed that the steak was raw, not even cooked rare, just straight up raw. We informed the waitress and she said “well you asked for medium rare and that’s medium rare.” We couldn’t believe it. Look at the pictures (first picture is what we first received.). Then she takes it back and has a terrible attitude about it. Not even two minutes later she brings it’s back out and the steak was just seared for 20 seconds on each side. We cut it open and it’s still raw. We were frustrated but just ate the risotto and pushed the steak to the side. When we received our bill, it said the drinks were $8 each instead of $6. We informed the waitress and she goes “oh??? Sorry???” And does nothing about it. The service is a lackluster and it’s a shame because there’s a lot of potential here but that service will drive people away. Beware of eating...