www.CostaRicaTicas.com

Not sure if I'm spelling Inka right, but looking for a good dinner tonight with una favorita. Any opinions on which might be better? Had dinner at Machu Pichu two nights ago. Haven't seen much written about Inka Grill?

They are totally different.The Inka grill is Peruvian food with a strong emphasis on seafood. It is VERY similar to Machu Pichu but a lot better atmosphere and more expensive. It is a 5 minute walk from my apartment in Escazu,but I've only eaten there once in the last 5 years. Personally I'd rather eat the same cooking at the Soda Peru for lunch.(enough said ) Il Ritorno,in my opinion is the best overall restaurant in the SJ area. It is Italian and not very expensive. The atmosphere is good for either a dinner with the guys or a romantic dinner with the novia.

Thanks Vegas Bob, Went to Il Ritorno (Casa Italia for taxi drivers). Both the food & wine were excellent. The food was not expensive. Mi amiga liked the pictures of Tony & musicians from all over Latin America and the food. I think I founf a hot little foodie.

Would go back in a heartbeat!

Can't go wrong with Tony and Il Ritorno. I agree with Bob, probably the best overall restaurant in Costa Rica. Cheap too.

Just watch the bill if you are in a large group

The food was outstanding but.......let's just say Tony is an opportunist

+1. Good advice !

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

Ouch but that is good advice for most anyplace in SJ, seems most will phuck over a large group of gringos in a heartbeat. Practically everytime a large group of us gathered for dinner I'm sure we got ripped off. You can't hardly spend over 8 bucks solo in several places but go with a big group dinner is suddenly 20 or 30 bucks a head.

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Living well is the best revenge
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Are you sure the bill was padded? He has no history of that at all. I have been in large groups there 6 times this year without a problem. I do find that if you ask for wine and not the prices they will serve you very expensive wine at their discretion.

BKTUNA
I am never going home

My issue with Tony was not about padding the bill rather, when he was told to bring us a red and a white for the party of approx. 14 he chose to bring us an $80 bottle without mentioning the price. So yes, part of the blame is on us for not selecting our own bottle.

A smart operator, who desires to have a repeat clientel would at least make a couple of suggestions and in a few different price categories or at the very least mention the price when presenting the intial bottle. Tony did neither.

I walked into this dinner late, had I had been there when the dinner commenced I would have asked for suggestions and then indicated what price range I was looking at.

I am not in the habit to educate a group of friends on the taste of a high end Tuscan at their expense with dates that prolly have never even tasted an $10 Malbec from Argentina In my opinion, Tony saw an opportunity to take that check average above $60 in a place that usually averages near $30 per person.


Several members of our party have frequented this restaurant many times in the past, noone has ever given an indication in the past that we would normally order wine priced in this range. In fact one guest dines there monthly in a large group and was so taken aback by Tonys' actions that he will never return.

The long and short is yes, it was our mistake to let him select for us. Tonys' mistake was being short sighted in the profits for the evening and not worring about us returning. Tony was contacted by the person that set this dinner up. This person manages a well run hotel that refers plenty of guests to his restaurant. When Tony was given the opportunity to make things right and the requests were not unreasonable trust me he commented that he gave us the wine at 50% off. Unfortuantely, I can cannot review his list online but trust me I will have somebody research this. But I am highly suspect that he is charging $160 for this wine, no it really wasn't a Super Tuscan.

The food was very good, maybe one of the best Sea Bass dishes I have had. But as someone who is in the biz,with a higher price range I would never take such liberties in serving an $80 of wine to a large group without making sure the client is aware of the cost. It just prevents from such scenarios from happening. In the end Tony has lost some clients, some of who dined there monthly with large parties.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it

HolaB,

I agree. That is the only complaint I have ever heard about Tony´s. I figured that must be it rather than just overcharging.

BKTUNA
I am never going home

I don't drink wine, so I can't really comment on that, but Tony has always seemed very nice and forthcoming.

I am one of the group who attended this birthday dinner. I have to agree this action by Tony, choosing the most expensive wine on the menu for us, in MULTIPLE bottles was out of line. Tony knows most of the attendees of that evening as many (if not all) of us have frequented the establishment both together and separately on many occasions..

Tony was also given an opportunity to make this right and flat out refused, stating that he had given us a 50% discount on the wine as it was. Now I find this very difficult to believe as I asked to see the bottle of white after he was finished pouring, I do not recall the name but it was a decent Pinot Grigio, no where in the class of a $80-100 bottle of wine. In fact I have tasted better Pinot that I have purchased in rhe US in ther $15 or less range. I believe we were charged $45-50 per bottle for this and this supposedly is with a 50% discount... I find that somewhat amusing...


Needless to say with this attitude from ownership (typical gringoizing IMHO) and the multiple good restaurants in and around the San Joser/San Pedro areas, I will not be returning to Il Ritorno anytime soon....

Just one gringo opinion

For the record, it was:

3 bottles of Brunello for 135000
2 bottles of Pinot Zucl. for 43500

He took advantage of the situation, but we are at fault for letting him and not specifying. We asked for a red and a white. I believe the exact words were "just a red and a white please", but I don't remember.

Il Ritorno has been my favorite restaurant in SJO. I've always has good meals there. But this was a shocker.

In addition, I don't believe Tony was honest about the price of the wine, and he also said when talking to the hotel about it that "we asked for those wines", which is patently false.

Either way, he lost far more than the price of those wines in business. Bad business decision.

So it is no longer recommended? That was a dirty trick he played. Works for me, I thought it was good, but I have had better. I prefer to go to the places that give CRT discount, but will venture off at times. Does anyone know why the sea bass in CR, though very good, is nothing like the sea bass in America, which is far superior and a completely different looking and tasting fish?

I wouldn't write it off due to one misunderstanding. Dining with a large group is usually a blast, but sometimes less fun sorting out the bill. Their wine list has all the prices clearly listed. I saved my check because I was amazed how inexpensive it was and we ate pretty much everything on the menu with a nice vino tinto.