www.CostaRicaTicas.com

Went in last night around 7pm. had about 5 glasses of wine in me at that point, buzzed not drunk. Stayed about 1 1nd 1/2 hours, drank maybe 3 more cups of wine, bought 2 beers for a woman who sat next to me.

When I asked for the bill the blonde older waitress ( giselle) said 9500 colones, I said what... let me see the bill. She charged(robbed) me for 6 cups of wine. I insisted I only had 3 at the most but to no avail. Oldest trick in the book I guess is to pad the bill on someone they think is drunk(I wasn,t).

Talked to the owner(Jimmy) he listened but I felt he did not believe me. Never offered me my money back either. Bummer as I really liked the place.

Beware..........

5 or 6 of us went there for dinner the other night, 2 of us never got our sandwiches by the time all the others had finished, almost an hour had passed and still no food- so I told the rest of the guys to just go on to the strip clubs without me. Sandwich was OK but no excuse for service like that especially when we kept reminding them every 10 minutes and they weren't that busy.

_________________

Living well is the best revenge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwUtj_YnNoY

With all due respect you went in with 5 glasses of wine in you to start with. By your own admission you are not sure how many "cups" you drank while in the place. Is there a chance you might have been slightly liqoured up and forgot how many you ordered? I say this because a couple of weeks ago a DR bartender over in the BM was telling me about this gringo who was drunk and refused to pay for something like 5 shots of booze and made a big scene (I have seen this happen myself... I'm a cafe man myself in general). I think the bartender is honest and the event happened as she described.

Berk.....

That's too bad, I had lunch there a few times in May and the service, food & price were good. Sounds like they're slipping a little.

I would never ever accuse anyone of stealing if I was not 100 % sure.

I had 3 cups of wine at the most and was charged for 6.

Like I stated I was a little drunk but I always always remember what the bill should be.

This is one of the oldest scams in the gulch, The DR and KL bartenders are famous for it.

By the way this has never happened to me in either of those places. Or the New York Bar.

The only place I will run a tab in CR is the Sportsmens. Every where else I pay as I go even though it is a pain in the ass.


BKTUNA
I am never going home

You should check your bill at the Sportsmen's as well. I was there with a friend one night for dinner two weeks ago. When we got the bill, we noticed a "Bailey's" was added, which we didn't order. Could have been an honest mistake, but my gut feeling is that it wasn't. The waitress was a cute little dark haired girl wearing a Harley Davidson tank top and a black beret.

I had been at the Sportsmen's the week before, and this same girl waited on me. I had forgotten my reading glasses, and couldn't read the bill. To make matters worse, the lighting was dim and the print on the bill was really faded. I was at the mercy of the waitress to tell me how much it was. When I asked her if any tip was included on the bill, she said "no," so I gave her a nice tip. When I went to the Sportsmen's the following week [with my reading glasses] I again asked this same girl if any tip was on the bill, and she again said "no." After looking over the bill, I told her "yes it is, it's right here," and pointed to the bill showing her the tip. Her response was "is that what that is?"

BOTTOM LINE.....ALWAYS KEEP YOUR GUARD UP.

Zebra

Man con Strips... I have to ask you. You have been on this board since May 05 and have 1,200+ posts and you didn't know that the tip would be included in the bill at SL... a drinking and eating establishment?You are pulling my leg right?

Berk......

This was only the 3rd time I'd ever been in the Sportsmen's. For some reason or other, I rarely go there. I always stay at the Castillo and eat and drink at other places.

Zebra

Berk....

Zebra,

Doesn't every single eating and drinking establishment in CR (or at least San Jose) add a service charge ("tip") on to the bill? Even at the Castillo's bar?

Having said that, like BKTuna, I keep a running tab at SL. Mistakes have been made, once in my favor and once against me. I don't pretend that I could keep all those tabs straight myself, even sober! However, I do think that they are honest at SL.

Ciaociao

Cia,

Yes, most do.....but some do not. For example: Soda Peru. Tax and tip is not separately listed on the bill, though I assume it is included in the price.

Zebra

The FREE hot dogs at Shannon's on the 4th of July were good.

So were the FREE hot dogs at the NYB.

Same thing happen to me at Sportmens about 18 months ago. For some reason the bartender added 2 beers on my bill and thought I wouldn't notice. I had already ate lunch and if any one knows me I don't drink beer. Her mistake, Bill was nowhere to be found. She finally removed it with some help from a fellow gringo. She gives me a dirty look when I didn't offer a tip, I said tip already on bill and I'm not offering to pay double. This incident has left a bad taste in my mouth for that bar. Side Note: There is no reason to offer a propina as they already add this into your bill.

_________________
"You can only keep a secret between two people if the other one is dead." Ben Franklin

The bartenders at HDR shortchanged me 1000 colones the other night and I took them the bill and my change and they brought a manager over who said "so do you want your 1000 colones" as if I was being a cheapass for pointing out that I was shortchanged.

FWIW, we ate at Shannons and enjoyed it and I believe we were billed correctly. Still, I have a hard time understanding why they think one guy by himself drank all that wine and why the manager wouldn't help out. It makes me leary of the place.