Restaurante Tablas — Restaurant in Ponce

I visited this place for the first time on March 13, 2022. After 1.5 hours of waiting I inquired why my food was taking so long. In a flash my order was placed in front of me, but not my friends. I tasted it and it was COLD 🥶. My friend was facing the counter and he said it was at the counter already and they just grabbed it and brought it to the table. I went to the counter and told the person at the register that I didn’t want my food because it was unacceptable as it was cold 🥶. They offered to warm up the food but I decided against it being that kitchens have a reputation of messing with a clients food after a complaint.

The manager apologized and said they were short on staff and she stated that I would get a new plate free of charge. My friends food was delivered steaming hot but the “can can chuleta 🥩 “ pork chop was like rubber, and this happens when is cooked for too long. He didn’t want to say anything, ate a bit and left it.

Finally my food was delivered and I ate some, by this time 3 hours had passed since my arrival. I get the check and I was being charged for my plate. I went to the counter to ask to review the check since it was supposed to be free of charge and left to the restroom. My friend said that the cashier, the manager and the waitress were all upset because I claimed for them to remove the plate from the receipt. Don’t say one thing and do another! After 3 hours of wait time, the courtesy expected was for them to honored their offer. I will never again...

Visited Tablas for lunch after enjoying the square and its wonderful environment. Tablas is a fairly new restaurant, having been around for about two years. This site was a Church's Chicken in it's past life.

The dining space is open floor, no booths, and has what appears to be a bar towards the rear of the dining room but no bar stools.

The appetizers and entrees we ordered we very good and ingredients seemed fresh. The seafood entrees we ordered seemed fresh. We enjoyed our meal and time at Tablas very much.

I do have to say that our food did take some time to get to the table. But this is the norm in Puerto Rico. Some folks may not be used to it if not from here.

I would like to mention, though, that Amex is not accepted at this establishment and not a huge deal, but why do I need to pay for the bill at the bar/counter like a diner after the check is given to me? At this kind of establishment, patrons should not have to walk to the register and pay for the bill?

All in all, I would like visit again when we are...

My husband and I stumbled upon this place after leaving the casino. We come to PR 4x a year, but this was our first visit to Ponce. The food wasn’t horrible at Tablas, but it isn’t anywhere near the best that we have ever had in PR. However, the service is the real reason that we won’t be returning. We came for lunch around 1:30pm and the waitress only had two tables. After she brought the food to us, she never came back to check on us. We waited over an hour just for her to bring us the bill and we actually had to get another server’s attention to even get that because ours was too busy laughing and talking at the bar with what appeared to be a manager, maybe a bartender, not sure… and she was texting on her phone. We are very generous tippers because I know how hard people work for their money and I do try to give as much as I can, but I ended up only leaving $10. Our bill was $106, so I feel bad, but at the same time, 20%...