Restaurants in San Juan we "found"

[alfaeric]

Just spent a week staying on Old San Juan, at an AirBnB near where the day port is.  For the week, we went out of our way to not go to anyplace a second time, and really tried to only eat at new restaurants that we've never seen before.

 

The first few were where some of the OOF family of restaurants where- some of you who have been to Old San Juan before may remember the Parrot Club, Toro Salao, Dragonfly, and Agua Viva- all of which closed in the past few years due to heath issues of the owner.  Sad, as they were very good, but life goes on....

 

The first one we visited was Concha Fiori- the food is elevated Puerto Rican- so instead of ground beef in an empanada, they use steak.  The food and drinks were very good, and it's location is in a plaza that is just up a short hill from the day port used in San Juan.   If we got our old locations right, this replaced Toro Salao. 

 

The second one that we visited was The Parrot of Old San Juan- which you guessed right is where the old Parrot Club was.  Similar to the old menu, it leans to Puerto Rican food, but it's not as diverted as the Parrot Club used to be.  Again, we loved the food, and very much enjoyed the drinks, as they used actual fruit to make juices instead of from a carton.  

 

There is a third replacement were Aqua Viva was, but since it was more Italian/steak, we didn't eat there.  No reason to not eat there, but when we go to Puerto Rico, we would rather eat the food from there.  

 

Some other places- in the same general area of the Parrot Club was a small bar/Tapas bar called La Republica.  Very small menu, but the food was really good.  They have a nice bar there, and can make anything, but I would suggest trying something off of the small cocktail menu, too.  

 

Up the hill a lot more- at the corner of San Gernaine and Calle Sol was a place called Mezzanine.  More of a small bar, but they had a larger menu than La Republica.  More Spanish Tapas vs. Puerto Rican tapas, and still quite good.  This happened to be just down the street from a friend's apartment, so we liked that.

 

For those of you brave enough, we went to have dinner in La Perla.  There's a kind of new restaurant called La Garita- which is just under a Garita in the wall.  We had real dinner here- with me having a Chuleta Can Can (huge fired pork) and my wife having a whole fried fish.  This was really great, and the prices are cheaper, even with the short walk to Old San Juan.  With it's location, it was a short walk down from one of the fort walls.  We actually drove there, and I would never suggest that- not that it was dangerous (at least to what we could see), but because ALL of the streets were barely one lane wide- but were all two way streets.  Thankfully, the residents are well versed in helping, so we managed to get out without crunching into anything.  But just make it easy, and walk there.

 

We also ate ate a few "new to us" places that have been mentioned before- like Cafe Puerto Rico and the Kiosks in Paza de Armas. 

 

For the places we didn't like so much, I'm not going to post anything, as it's possible that they get better.  

 

Lots of places to explore, eat, and drink in Old San Juan- I hope you can go out and enjoy it!  

[EeyoreRN]

Thanks so much for taking the time to do this!  I very much appreciate your opinions and information. 

 

How was your cruise on Freedom? I haven't seen any reviews from your sailing.

[D C]

Thanks for the reviews! We'll be there in about a year from now.  Nice to not have to chance it when browsing while there. 

 

Last month, we had a fantastic waitress at Disney World who was from Puerto Rico.  I like to ask people for recommendations on places where they're from, in order to get ideas of where the locals go.  She recommended, and used to work at, a place called Barrachina.   Haven't been there, but maybe someone else who chimes in here will have a review.  

[alfaeric]

1 hour ago, EeyoreRN said:

Thanks so much for taking the time to do this!  I very much appreciate your opinions and information. 

 

How was your cruise on Freedom? I haven't seen any reviews from your sailing.

Good- pretty much the same was it was the last time we were on the Freedom.  I rarely do reviews anymore, unless the trip was very unusual for us.

[alfaeric]

1 hour ago, D C said:

Thanks for the reviews! We'll be there in about a year from now.  Nice to not have to chance it when browsing while there. 

 

Last month, we had a fantastic waitress at Disney World who was from Puerto Rico.  I like to ask people for recommendations on places where they're from, in order to get ideas of where the locals go.  She recommended, and used to work at, a place called Barrachina.   Haven't been there, but maybe someone else who chimes in here will have a review.  

We've been to Barrachina many times- the food is really good there, and there's a large sign about the origination of the Pina Colada.   And since we've been there before, we decided to not this time.

 

I've seen other reviews of it, especially since it's a place to store luggage.

[Ashland]

During our pre-cruise this past September we really liked :

The Choco Bar (mallorca and an ice chocolate drink)

La Bombonnera (mallorca)

Roof top restaurant above the Milano Hotel (yummy happy hour coconut Mojito's and nachos) ****

Barrachina (pina colada)

[alfaeric]

1 hour ago, Ashland said:

During our pre-cruise this past September we really liked :

The Choco Bar (mallorca and an ice chocolate drink)

La Bombonnera (mallorca)

Roof top restaurant above the Milano Hotel (yummy happy hour coconut Mojito's and nachos) ****

Barrachina (pina colada)

 

Nothing wrong with those places, but since we've been to all of them before (more than once), we focused on new or new to us places on this recent trip.  

 

Which is fun, given all of the restaurants in San Juan.

 

[Ashland]

2 hours ago, alfaeric said:

 

Nothing wrong with those places, but since we've been to all of them before (more than once), we focused on new or new to us places on this recent trip.  

 

Which is fun, given all of the restaurants in San Juan.

 

Of course nothing wrong with those places...was just giving some additions to perhaps others looking on this thread.

We have also enjoyed the Parrot Club during other visits and miss it.

[3smithboys]

Thanks for all of these suggestions. We’ve never been to PR before, and we will be going on the Breeze in August. We will be in port from 8-4 and my boys will be 21, 16, and 16... We are not going to do an excursion here, but I think the plan might be to just walk around OSJ and look for a place for lunch or snacks that would be PR.  

 

We probably aren’t going to get off the ship right away, so I think that’s all we are going to do.. maybe a bit of shopping too. With the age of our kids and looking at lunch or snacks, are there any particular places people might suggest?

[alfaeric]

How willing is everyone to try different food?

 

Most places that sell Puerto Rican food have very good appetizers- Epanadas, alcapurias, fried plantains (fully ripe and sweet or green and starchy), etc.  Or a heavier meal where people can try mofongo (which most tourists love), or classic dishes that include rice and beans...  

 

It all depends on the appetite.  

[Ashland]

Raices might be an option too...very good local food. Now that you've been given some suggestions you might want to Google each of these and see what you think looks good to you and your group. Best of luck and enjoy.

[Spacecaydet]

The need to try punto de vista in Old San Juan is real! The place is incredible! Look it up on tripadvisor. The classic Puerto Rican dish Monfongo is created and served to perfection. Plus the drinks there are usually 2 for 1 with the Pina Colada not to missed! 

[3smithboys]

Thanks for all of these suggestions. My guys are pretty willing to eat most things as long as the protein in there isn’t anything too strange. They will eat spicy food! They liked the idea of trying out the local fare. I will see if I can find some menus ahead of time and see what might look good. Thanks again!