Los Mangles at Las Gatas

How recently have YOU been to Las Gatas. It is the same story over and over, over charged and poor service. AND the last pangas do not stop running at 4:30pm. I totally agree with Rob that, although the customers should have been bugging the waiter about where their food was, the restaurant was at fault for charging them for items which they did not receive. Ripping off the tourists does absolutely no good for Zihuatanejo's reputation. I personally appreciate this notice to avoid the restaurant in question.

Friends went to Las Gatas between Christmas and New Years. They can't recall the name of the restaurant, but they were surprised to be charged 300 pesos for their table. They were clearly told that the 300 pesos was "a minimum", and presumed, understandably, that the 300 would be applied against their total bill. When presented with their bill, the 300 was an added charge. They complained strongly to their waiter, who insisted he had told them the charge was in addition to whatever they consumed. Finally, he relented and said "OK, give me 200 pesos." They paid it, but there's another instance of a restaurant visit leaving a bad taste in guests' mouths.

With those same friends, six of us had so enjoyed Christmas Eve Happy Hour drinks, dinner and the sunset at one of the beach restaurants on La Ropa, that we thought we'd do it again on New Year's Eve. That night, we were disappointed to be told by our waiter that "Happy Hour is cancelled tonight". I then questioned the policy with the restaurant owner, who replied: "Look at this....(waving her arm at the crowded tables).... I don't want to hear about it. I won't discuss it."
The restaurant was, indeed, absolutely jam-packed with people. Why the size of the crowd would have any bearing on a decision to cancel Happy Hour is beyond me.
My friend then tried his hand at reasoning with the owner, suggesting that the owner's response might prompt us to consider dining somewhere else....to which the owner replied "I don't care about your business."
So, we left, and instead enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Trattoria da Gianni on La Ropa Road. (Thanks, Gianni, for taking us in without reservations on a busy night. The food was delicious, the music appropriately muted, the wine cold and reasonably-priced....something several other Zihua restaurants, with their shamelessly-priced 70 peso house wines, seem to have forgotten.)

On New Years Day, we went to Popeyes, one of our favourite Playa Larga restaurants. They too were charging a minimum of 300 pesos for a table, though they did make it clear that the 300 would be applied against our total bill. Since we didn't plan on spending that much, we left and went down the road to our other favourite spot, Punta Playa Larga, which assured us they were not charging any minimum. Try their food - the only place on the beach with blue corn tortillas.