The Mar Azul — Restaurant in Isla de Vieques

Servers are entitled; food was good but find somewhere else. if there is a party over 6 keep in mind they will charge an automatic 20% tip that they won’t disclose, so they will then have lazy service and probably forget your food or not put your order in at all, when the business gets criticized they turn around and blame the customer, I love traveling and supporting local businesses, but this one doesn’t deserve it.

Edit For after "owner response": I left an honest review based on our experience. Rather than addressing the feedback professionally, your response only confirms the attitude we encountered during our visit. Thank you for making it clear to others what kind of service they can expect.

Edit 2: Thanks for the colorful reply. It’s unfortunate that instead of addressing a clear issue—our server’s poor communication and lack of professionalism—you’ve chosen to double down with public insults.

To clarify:

We genuinely enjoyed the food, and the restaurant itself has a lot of charm.

The owner was kind and attentive when we interacted.

The cat? 10/10.

However, the experience was ultimately soured by a server who seemed more invested in conversations by the screen than in handling our table of 7, which she later justified with a hidden 20% gratuity. That gratuity would have been fine—had it been disclosed up front and earned through attentive service.

I worked in the servise industry for 5 years and managed one for 3, so I understand what busy looks like. This wasn’t that. It was dismissiveness, poor communication, and an unwillingness to engage with basic requests.

Your choice to mock customers rather than listen to feedback is… certainly a tactic. One that says more about your priorities than my review ever could. Best of luck turning this into a t-shirt.

Edit 4: one thing this place doesn’t have is honesty, I would never dispute for a full amount, we ate the good food. One thing we wanted back was the tip for the awful service, do not act like you are holier than thou, I GAVE you the benefit of the doubt, an refunded less than the actual tip, we have worked hard for our money, and we respect your business but not...

Food was amazing and I loved the restaurant in itself. The owners cat was a highlight of my night; and the owner was also friendly and quick to help. However our overall experience was ruined by our server. It took an hour 40 after arrival to receive all of our entres and she got two of our orders wrong. She didn’t seem to be in charge of actually delivering any food or beverages so I am unsure as to how this wasn’t properly and timely placed. Upon leaving we were charged 20% automatic gratuity since we were a group of 7 (this was not previously mentioned to us during service). She also denied us sour cream on the side but the owner happily provided this for us when asked. Server spent most of her time talking to people and standing by a screen near kitchen window.

Edit: I just know this is the server; if you’re jealous of people vacationing and coming to your restaurant just say that? We worked and booked things months in advance to be able to take this trip and pay for our own stuff. One thing not worth our money was the tip that you were getting, that’s what the dispute was for. You can’t just not take care of your customers because you get an automatic tip, which you didn’t even tell us about! We’re not even the only people who have had this problem with you. Maybe instead of acting spoiled and blaming everyone else you could actually take the criticism and improve on it. Like you said, you’ll learn soon enough how the world treats spoiled kids.

Prt 2: I’m confused as to who I’m talking to at this point but it doesn’t matter. Nothing that was said in my review is to “blast you” or untrue - it wasn’t even unkind- it’s feedback on your service. That’s what reviews are for. Like I said we’re not the only ones who have come forward with this...

I’m done playing with y’all. So sorry to disappoint, but all of us have big girl and big boy jobs and financially support ourselves, but I love how that’s your go-to instead of the ACTUAL problem here, which was you not telling us there’s an automatic 20% gratuity on parties of 6+. I’m not stupid and yall aren’t either, that’s sleazy. You have a moral if not legal obligation to disclose that BEFORE customers order. Do better.

As for the service, it genuinely didn’t feel like our server cared. She forgot to put in our order so it came out over an hour later with 3 orders incorrectly made, and we only had 20 minutes to eat, pay, and leave to get to the ferry in time. That’s why we didn’t stay and talk about the charge. We didn’t even fight yall, we said that 20% was insane and not deserved, that’s just a fact. I worked in the food industry from high school to college, so I’m not being “entitled” with expectations, I’m being realistic. I think yall do it on purpose too, otherwise you wouldn’t have so many other reviews with the same experience as us. Is it cuz you automatically get tipped anyway? Mm dots are starting to connect. Crazy how you’re sooo busy but have time to insult any bad comment you get, btw. You have the privilege of working in a beautiful island with a massive tourist industry and that’s how you choose to act? Damn. Your cat...