Jump to content
Chapala.com Webboard

Terrible Experience at Roberto's


Sailor

Recommended Posts

jrp, we are talking about a restuarant, not a faith. these reviews are helpful. there are many places here to try, why not go to the ones who get good comments. then after going, i will decide for myself.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you have never been there why do you feel compelled to add a negative comment about the restaurant? That's just piling on. I hope that when my time comes that God doesn't send me to Ajijic to run a restaurant to atone for my misdeeds.

Well put. That would atone for anything, including premeditated murder.

What I'm seeing is Roberto caught between a rock and a hard place, with no easy or profitable way out. I understand that and empathize. I'm sure he thought that turning it over to a younger person, highly motivated to earn a living for his family and who is also an excellent cook in his own right.......was the solution. I've encountered a number of people who were good cooks and had the notion they could, therefore, run a restaurant. As the lady who was running "Sugardaddy".....a place people liked....and who gave up recently put it, she had no idea how hard that job was physically or in terms of the many management issues.

How to retire from a job like that and go on to something much more low key? Beats me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Roberto's was once my favorite restaurant when it opened down by the lake and when it moved to its present location.

Bobby needed to slow down a bit and maybe really retire and looked for someone to take over the restaurant. After a long search with fits and starts Omar, who had been on his radar all along, stepped up to the plate.

He is a lovely young man but does not know how to run a restaurant of the size of Roberto's. I don't think that Bobby has understood what skills, personal and professional, Omar lacks. Omar tries but it just isn't there and Bobby is no longer there very much. The place is very different with Bobby in attendance but he no longer has the drive to set it straight.

I still go on occaision but it just isn't the same. Now the ambience is the best part about it and no longer the food.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Why are we discussing the possible reason for owner's failure/disatisfaction....limit discussion to excellent, good, bad, ugly..period

Because it is a discussion board, not a "check one" survey?

And......it's not that easy to rate it. Once it was "excellent" and is segueing into "good" or even "bad" if you had to wait two hours to be served on a holiday. Some are curious about the why of it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not piling on, and I've expressed my opinion good and bad about the restaurant (see above). But even in the few times I've been there over the course of a year it is not any more than eating. If it once was a dining experience as it has been described, I am sorry I missed it. It was obvious at the affair I mentioned that Bobby was in charge, but I've also shared the disappointment of "Chinese Night", (I even did "Chinese Night" 3 times to see if it wasn't just an off night), and the dinner menu is nothing the shout about. I believe that last year, in August, Roberto's even resorted to 2 x 1 nights to attract diners. A restaurant as was described here should not have to do that.

So I'll have to agree, an up and coming restauranteur in this town will replace Roberto's as the go-to place if only based on Bobby's alleged response to the comments posted here.

That is unfortunate, the man and his restaurant has a a great reputation and is legend with a faithful well catered to following, but when the spark to "do it" is no longer there, the flame goes out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not piling on, and I've expressed my opinion good and bad about the restaurant (see above). But even in the few times I've been there over the course of a year it is not any more than eating. If it once was a dining experience as it has been described, I am sorry I missed it. It was obvious at the affair I mentioned that Bobby was in charge, but I've also shared the disappointment of "Chinese Night", (I even did "Chinese Night" 3 times to see if it wasn't just an off night), and the dinner menu is nothing the shout about. I believe that last year, in August, Roberto's even resorted to 2 x 1 nights to attract diners. A restaurant as was described here should not have to do that.

So I'll have to agree, an up and coming restauranteur in this town will replace Roberto's as the go-to place if only based on Bobby's alleged response to the comments posted here.

That is unfortunate, the man and his restaurant has a a great reputation and is legend with a faithful well catered to following, but when the spark to "do it" is no longer there, the flame goes out.

My comment about piling on was not addressed to you. It was addressed to bennie who felt compelled to post negative comments about a restaurant he had never tried.

I don't think that I have ever considered going to Roberto's a memorable dining experience. As you have said the menu is and actually never has been anything to shout about. Although we don't go often I think Roberto's was and continues to be a fun place to go for a couple of drinks, eat, enjoy the landscaping, and watch people. Admittedly it is better when Bobby is there.

For those who may not know, Bobby has opened a B&B on the beach and enjoys cooking impromptu diners there on weekends.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am a relative newcomer to Lakeside, but I have to chime in here. I have been to Roberto's a number of times. Every meal has been tasty and the service has been fine. On occasion, the check has been slow to come, but that wasn't a big deal. I go there for the nice outdoor dining, to meet friends from Joco and San Juan, and sometimes, just to eat a dinner that I won't/don't cook at home ( liver & onions for one.) I don't expect fin dining, just a nice meal served by competent waiters. That is what we have had every time.

We are not unfamiliar with fine dining, having lived in a city with more Michelin starred restaurants than anywhere else in the world. I have dined at many. And, I will tell you, that you can be disappointed and get less than stellar service in those places, too. And the menu $$ make you gasp, which Roberto's does not.

I do not go out to eat on holidays, because you can just expect the staff to be overwhelmed, and the food mediocre at best. No other way to feed big groups of people.

The only exception would be brunch at a BIG hotel like a Hyatt Regency, and there is nothing remotely like that around here. Even then, they run out of certain items and often rush to put something out before it is really ready.

I am sorry the other posters had an unpleasant experience. I just wanted to share mine. We don't go out often, but we will continue to patronize Roberto's.

Too bad he can't get someone, maybe a graduate of the technical cooking/tourism school to help out front and let Omar shine in the kitchen.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...