Julio César — Restaurant in Mayagüez

Julio César is an elegant and very good Italian restaurant in the center of Mayagüez. It has a classic feel created by a well-done renovation of an old building decorated with modern highlights. It has a great atmosphere, but the music plays too loud at times. For appetizers, we ordered the Aperitivo all'Italiana, Melanzane alla Parmigiana and Arancini di Riso alla Siciliana. The aperitivo was served on a small stone plate with a fair amount of olives and pickled onions, but the prosciutto and the parmigiano were too scarse; the melanzane was exquisite, perfectly done with a flavorful sauce well balanced with the parmigiano. The Arancini were too dried and lacked flavor. For dinner, we ordered Parppadelle al Burro e Tartufo and Filetto di Maiale ai funghi (pork tenderloin with mushroom sauce). The Parppadelle was delicious, but the serving was small, and to have tartufo grated over the pasta came at an extra cost . The tenderloin was delicious and satisfying. For dessert, we had Tiramisu and Bombolone alla Crema. The Tiramisu was silky and delicious, served to share. The bombolene was good but a bit dried. In summary, Julio César is a very good restaurant where you can enjoy a nice time with friends and family. The service is superb from the moment you step in front of their door, and the food in general terms is exceptional. Though, the main ingredient in some of their plates are scant for the price charged (It is not enough to add flavor-infused oils or place a small amount of an ingredient in plain sight to charge as if the main ingredient was present)....

From hero to zero in just a few months. It is hard not to root for this local restaurant. It is indeed beautiful and they put in a lot of work renovating this historic building. The chief of service, Pablo, is professional, courteous, and making the best of the situation. So is the server staff.

But one goes to a restaurant to dine. I have tried almost all the dishes with the exception of the ones flagged by my fellow diners as non-worthy. I have gone for business and personal occasions. Small and large groups.

Unfortunately, my favorite restaurant has not kept up with the promise of authentic, well-prepared, Italian food. On our last outing, I had to apologize to my friend for a complete disaster in terms of food service (long waits, incorrect order) and food quality (poor plating, undercooked, burnt, insipid, over-salted). The inconsistency across plates was disappointing and frustrating. Total bill was $300 for four people - so we expected a high caliber dinner. I should have returned my appetizer and my plate but didn't to avoid any more stress on our guests.

There appears to be no quality control at the pass. Food is flying out poorly plated and with severe quality issues. There has to be pride in each plate. Italian cuisine has standards that yield memorable experiences.

I do wish the management takes action. I am not actively recommending this restaurant any more. The last four visits have turned me from a huge fan to a local spectator of the...

Nicely decorated, nice ambiance. Seems to me it’s a poorly managed place. We were a group of 11 people, had reservations. The waitress took a long time to tend to us, also, they didn’t have enough menus for everyone 😦. We were placed on the second floor, very poor ventilation there! Did not feel the AC, Avoid that area if you can. Only one waitress assigned to this large group, she was very nice but can barely keep up with the demand, management should do better at distributing waitresses. We were hoping for some good wine, they have an enormous list of wine of which they only stock a few, they didn’t have the first five wines we asked for, then the sommelier took his sweet time to get to our table. In the end we decided for cocktails instead, the mojitos were the worse I ever had, And the old fashion ni se diga! I decided for water all night! I was really looking forward to some good wine! The food arrived at different times and it was cold, everyone’s food was cold! I honestly believe this was because the poor waitress couldn’t do it all alone ? That place was quite a disappointment. On the other hand, the pasta I ordered was ok and the prices were reasonable. They had live entertainment and that was nice. Not sure I’ll be going back? But wonder if things would have been better if there were less people in...