www.CostaRicaTicas.com

Guys,

There was a recent thread about Hooters on the board and just wanted to provide an update.

Twarag, Mikey-B, me and several ladies and other people wound up going there Wednesday of last week... my, what a mistake.

The place is absolutely gorgeous and looks so much better than the average Hooters. The food was the same as stateside, which means that if you like Hooters food, you won't be disappointed in that department (though some of the food we got was cold...). It is actually quite expensive to eat there as well by CR standards , with the food seeming to be more costly than a stateside Hooters.

Where the place fell SERIOUSLY short is in service. We practically had to BEG for a waitress every time we wanted to order something. It took almost half an hour between the time the first person on our table ordered and the last person on our table ordered. I had to chase down the waitress for every single refill of my drink, and the food order for my group not only came out wrong, but it took about 3 times as long as any other hooters to even get the food. The girls there are lazy and are just sitting around talking amongst themselves, and I unfortunately have to say that it is not worth anyone's time to go check it out.

The kicker of the whole thing is that when we got the check, there is actually a line at the bottom for "Tip", which is the first time I see that in Costa Rica. Due to the terrible service (and the fact that the waitress ALREADY has a 10% gratuity patched in to the original tab), Twarag decided to put 0 (zero) on that line... upon seeing that, our wonderful waitress gave him a dirty look... imagine that, she actually thought she had earned a tip...

Anyways, it's unfortunately not worth the time or effort to go there. What a shame, too, as I love Hooters stateside and would have loved to have one in paradise to take the local friends to.

Oh well.

Ruffnutz

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EVERYONE'S A ROCK STAR IN C.R.!!
"Just when I thought I was out... They pull me back in." -- Ruffnutz on trying to quit CRT

Just goes to show that you can put the Hooters in Costa Ricavile, but you cant make a Tica into a Hooters girl. As has often been discussed on this forum, service is not an inbred mentality in Costa Rica and many flagship name businesses and hotels here are always challenged to find first world service mentality..especially that speaks English.

Its obvious Hooters is learning a tough lesson in transcendence of international service barriers. It also seems to me they havent looked at realistic local market prices of food and beverages...again from what I have heard. I think I will take your guys word for it and skip this "cultural" experience. Especially since there are so many "legitimate" hooters joints in CR where you can touch taste and smell the hooters in the room ... for a fraction of the cost.

I am not big in supporting American chain operations in CR it takes away from their true culture too me while it drives up prices. I rather support the local native places.

I personally hate American chain restaurants in Latin America.I would much prefer it with out those kinds of places.It kind of ruins the real culture to me.rbc100

Zippy & RBC, point well taken and I had that same philosophy when I visited here.

Now that I have lived here for a couple of years I really appreciate being able to get a Bloomin Onion and medium rare prime rib at Outback or a Grand Slam at Denny's.

Not something I do all that often but I like the ability to be able to satisfy my craving occasionally.

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Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine

Zip and RBC, I'm with you 100%. I can understand going to the Hooters in CR just to check it out. It is kind of a novelty in the US so, might as well see how it compares to the original versions.

dapanz1

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Paradise= Sitting outside the Bodega in Panama City about 1 am. Drinking cool Balboas with cool friends and blazin' hot Colombianas. I want to be there..RIGHT NOW!

I haven't been to McDonalds stateside in 20 years but went with some locals in SJ and I think the prices were very high. 2500c for a happy meal.
I'm guessing that's a lot more than here.

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Why Chicas Come to CostaRica:

"Predators gather where prey abounds"

It truly sucked! Pricey, w/shitty service. Lots of eye candy, but you can get that anywhere in CR. .....And the look on the waitress's face when Twarag put "0" on the line for propina ????? Priceless !!!!!!!!!

RN's absolutely right on with this one. Save your money guys. It's not worth it.

Mikey-B.

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You ALWAYS have an option ....... "NEXT" !!!

McD's prices are very similar to the US. In general, I would say that McDonald's here is very well run in comparison to its stateside brethen. Same applies for KFC. Can't say the same about BK.

I agree concerning McDonald's and KFC. I never ate at a Burger King in San Jose.

of course hooters sucks...

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MPM
The Guide to Getting More out of Life
http://www.thegmanifesto.com

Hooters , where good looks sells bad food!!!! Ruff, being the fluent spanish speaking person in the group you should have explained to your waitress after the fact what service level is expected in a Hooters restuarant. Its not your duty, but it would have been interesting to see how she took it.
Sparky

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Sparky
Get in line to ride the lightning!!!


Almost legally single again! Voy a Colombia otra vece!!

What waitress ????? That was part of the problem. She was nowhere to be found. Service truly sucked. But I think she got the point (or maybe she didn't) when Twarag put "0" for propina. Ph*ck Hooters. Don't waste your colones!

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You ALWAYS have an option ....... "NEXT" !!!

Gee Mikey awfully cranky today aren't we
Sparky

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Sparky
Get in line to ride the lightning!!!


Almost legally single again! Voy a Colombia otra vece!!

All aside, service is always going to be different,most anywhere you go. You should try Hong Kong.....very very bad service..if you get any at all. They don't know what that word means. Service varies by culture, not resturant. If you want to be waited on hand and foot, you need to stay in the states at a fancy resturant where you pay through the nose for food that sucks anyway. So as long as you can wave your hands and get "someones" attention, you should make out ok.