Isla Cueva — Restaurant in Lajas

This restaurant looked very put together, it had a sufficient amount of employees to cover all the bases, including serving drinks, providing continuous customer service, etc.

However, we had made a reservation a week prior for our party of 8 from 7:30pm-9:30pm, for a total of 2 hours.

We arrived at the restaurant at 7:12pm and let them know that we got there early for our reservation, to where I was introduced to Barbara, the manager of the restaurant, and she explained that she would contact us when the table was ready to which we were very understanding since we got there 18 minutes early. We let her know that we were going to stop for some drinks and she said she was going to advise us when the table was ready.

At about 7:45pm, 15 minutes after our reservation was supposed to start, we went back to the restaurant to ask the status of our table to which Barbara said “The table we have reserved outside for you still has an hour left. We can accommodate you inside or you can wait an hour” to which we answered we were able to wait 1 more hour (until 8:45pm-9pm) for our table. She asked for our number and said she was going to call us as soon as the table was available.

We went back at 9:05pm and still our table was not ready. It has already been 1 hour and 35 minutes of waiting after the time of our supposed reservation. Barbara the manager then proceeded to ask us to “be empathic” with her because she was too stressed…… Those were her words.

Finally we get seated at 10:06pm, because Christine, who seems to be the Leader of the Waiters, made what seemed impossible possible. Very thankful for her, she definitely knows about customer service and would be a better manager for this place.

However, we were seated in a table of 8 with only 3 chairs. We never received service after we were seated, and had to go to the bar to get drinks. After asking multiple times for the remaining 5 CHAIRS, we never received them.

(Btw, we overheard Barbara give instructions to the waiters to basically ignore us for no absolute reason)

After about 40 minutes of not seeing Barbara and not receiving any type of service, we got up and left. As soon as we turned, Barbara showed up and asked us “Oh, you are leaving already?” very sarcastically, to which I responded “Yes, we never got the 5 missing chairs, and we had to get up and get our drinks for our table”. She said nothing, until we turned around……. to which I heard a “Gracias” to our backs, again very sarcastically.

This place has a lot of potential since it is in a very great spot, and has a hard working team, but it really needs to fix the management part and find someone who can work under pressure and has at least some customer...

Exploring local spots in PR is a joy, but regrettably, my recent visit to this restaurant left me compelled to share a disheartening encounter, Bárbara. Our group had made a reservation a week in advance, with a confirmed time of 7:30 pm. Upon arrival, we were informed that our table would soon be ready. Embracing the delay, we engaged in other activities nearby, yet after two hours of patient waiting, we were informed of an additional hour's wait. Despite the delay extending to over two hours past our reservation time, there was a lack of acknowledgment or courtesy extended to us. In the absence of any gesture to ease the inconvenience, we opted to grab a bite elsewhere while keeping tabs on our awaited table. It was disappointing that no effort was made to accommodate the delay or even offer a small gesture of goodwill during our prolonged wait. A tipping point was reached at 10:06 pm when we approached the manager, Barbara, to discuss our options. To our dismay, she conveyed a lack of empathy by citing a vague "right of admission" policy. This interaction left us disheartened, especially considering our group's easygoing nature. Fortunately, amidst this ordeal, the genuine warmth and effort from Christine, the head of the bartenders and waitstaff, stood out. Her assistance in securing a table and facilitating our transition to the bar were appreciated, even though the service there also fell short, leaving us without a proper dining experience. Despite its appealing location and ambiance, it's disheartening that the lack of attentiveness and effort from a crucial role like the manager's can diminish the potential of an establishment. It is my hope that this feedback highlights areas for improvement in customer service and management, as the potential of the place is evident but overshadowed by such...

The worst! I called a several days in advance to make a reservation for my family of 10. I was told no problem. I arrived exactly on time and the first waitress told me she didn’t know what I was talking about. The second waitress admitted that she was the one who talked to me on the phone and took my reservation. But said she talked to the manager later who told her that they don’t take reservations. She never called me back to tell me that. After waiting we were able to put together a table for the 10 of us. We ordered the first time she came to the table, which was 30 minutes later. We ordered drinks and dinner all at once. Our reservation was for 6:30, at 8:30 we still had NO FOOD. we had asked several times. We watched all the tables around us, who had arrived after us get food. Finally after my children were near tears we went to the kitchen to try to get some food. Finally our burgers came out. Half of our food was cold, and had definitely been sitting in some corner of the kitchen. The onion ring order, of which there weee only 4 was clearly the outer ring of the onion that is not edible. We sent those back immediately. But of course they were still in the bill. We sent the fried sampler back bc it was also stone cold. All of these items were still on the bill when it came out. The waitress argued that we had ordered them so we had to pay for them. She told me it wasn’t her fault if the kitchen was slow. Apparently that was my job? Also worth nothing was that when we finally stood at the kitchen window we saw many many take out orders going out. They were clearly prioritizing to go orders over people actually at the restaurant. Save yourself an incredibly frustrating evening and go anywhere else. It was a total disaster and...