I was hesitant to post this because of the great reputation that La Perlita has but after just returning from another trip back to the isla, I thought I post some "food for thought" since there are so many other great and honest restaurants on the island. The incident in question occurred in Feb 2015, not my most recent trip but I finally decided to write something.
As I stated above, I was hesitant to write this review because I've had many great experiences at La Perlita. As someone who used to live on the island briefly and still makes about 4-5 trips a year back to Cozumel for the last 12 years I have recommended La Perlita a lot. I still love the food there but will no longer go due to a particular wait staff member. Sorry to say I don't remember his name. Two bad experiences on different months have led me not to recommend them anymore.
I'll speak about last experience. We had a large group of about 10 people and I had brought approximately 15 good sized lionfish that had been completely de-spined to the restaurant for them to cook which is usually never a problem. The restaurant was not super busy but it was steady as I've seen many times before.
First problem, It took ages to get our menus. Literally we asked twice and waited about 10 minutes. I had to go get them myself from the desk. No problem I guess it happens.
Second problem, It took about 30 minutes to get another round of beers/drinks. This trend continued for the entire duration of dinner. We had to ask multiple times. When we finally did get our drinks they had forgotten other peoples drinks and they had to wait again. Usually this is not a problem but when a restaurant is not super busy..this shouldn't be a big issue.
Third problem, the waiter blatantly told me there was not enough lionfish for everyone and we would all need to order additional meals. We apparently only had enough for some appetizers? Not true. This really annoyed me and it's the second time it has happened at La Perlita. I bring them lionfish all the time, in addition to many other restaurants in Cozumel. I know we had plenty even if they had kept some. We were all planning on ordering more meals anyway but I know we had brought them more than enough lionfish. The kicker here is when I asked to order another meal containing lionfish (I think it was burger), I was told they were out of lionfish?!
Fourth problem, food came out at an astonishingly slow pace. Some meals came out 20-30 minutes after others while other meals basically never arrived at all. Hard to fault slowness, kitchens get backed up but the fact that some meals were forgotten and then came out at completely different times when others had already finished their meal.
Finally, last and biggest issue I have with La Perlita, (really that particular wait staff), I was ripped off about 500 pesos. I understand we had a complicated bill with lots of people and drink orders (some of which never arrived..) We left a very generous tip because as much as I had issues with the service, the food was still great. The bill was counted multiple times by multiple people in the party to confirm.
On our way out the waiter flagged me down (everyone else in the party had already taken a taxi back and we were waiting for another one), and told me the bill was short 500 pesos. At this point I was so disgusted with the experience and not in the mood to argue anymore I just gave him the money and left. I should have held my ground but I genuinely believed that maybe someone did make a mistake. It was confirmed later that other members in the party had indeed counted the bill and we had left a very healthy tip so it was definitely not short 500 pesos.
While I will not tell you not to go to La Perlita anymore I'll let you make your own decision. There are PLENTY of good and honest restaurants on the island and they all can cook lionfish. However if you do happen to go there bring your bill up to the cashier and pay very close attention to the itemized list on your bill.
As I stated above, I was hesitant to write this review because I've had many great experiences at La Perlita. As someone who used to live on the island briefly and still makes about 4-5 trips a year back to Cozumel for the last 12 years I have recommended La Perlita a lot. I still love the food there but will no longer go due to a particular wait staff member. Sorry to say I don't remember his name. Two bad experiences on different months have led me not to recommend them anymore.
I'll speak about last experience. We had a large group of about 10 people and I had brought approximately 15 good sized lionfish that had been completely de-spined to the restaurant for them to cook which is usually never a problem. The restaurant was not super busy but it was steady as I've seen many times before.
First problem, It took ages to get our menus. Literally we asked twice and waited about 10 minutes. I had to go get them myself from the desk. No problem I guess it happens.
Second problem, It took about 30 minutes to get another round of beers/drinks. This trend continued for the entire duration of dinner. We had to ask multiple times. When we finally did get our drinks they had forgotten other peoples drinks and they had to wait again. Usually this is not a problem but when a restaurant is not super busy..this shouldn't be a big issue.
Third problem, the waiter blatantly told me there was not enough lionfish for everyone and we would all need to order additional meals. We apparently only had enough for some appetizers? Not true. This really annoyed me and it's the second time it has happened at La Perlita. I bring them lionfish all the time, in addition to many other restaurants in Cozumel. I know we had plenty even if they had kept some. We were all planning on ordering more meals anyway but I know we had brought them more than enough lionfish. The kicker here is when I asked to order another meal containing lionfish (I think it was burger), I was told they were out of lionfish?!
Fourth problem, food came out at an astonishingly slow pace. Some meals came out 20-30 minutes after others while other meals basically never arrived at all. Hard to fault slowness, kitchens get backed up but the fact that some meals were forgotten and then came out at completely different times when others had already finished their meal.
Finally, last and biggest issue I have with La Perlita, (really that particular wait staff), I was ripped off about 500 pesos. I understand we had a complicated bill with lots of people and drink orders (some of which never arrived..) We left a very generous tip because as much as I had issues with the service, the food was still great. The bill was counted multiple times by multiple people in the party to confirm.
On our way out the waiter flagged me down (everyone else in the party had already taken a taxi back and we were waiting for another one), and told me the bill was short 500 pesos. At this point I was so disgusted with the experience and not in the mood to argue anymore I just gave him the money and left. I should have held my ground but I genuinely believed that maybe someone did make a mistake. It was confirmed later that other members in the party had indeed counted the bill and we had left a very healthy tip so it was definitely not short 500 pesos.
While I will not tell you not to go to La Perlita anymore I'll let you make your own decision. There are PLENTY of good and honest restaurants on the island and they all can cook lionfish. However if you do happen to go there bring your bill up to the cashier and pay very close attention to the itemized list on your bill.
