What a great food experience!!! Casita Miramar easily earned a spot in my top 2 restaurants I've…read morehad the pleasure of dining at in Puerto Rico when it comes to quality food and an overall amazing experience. The restaurant itself is absolutely beautiful, and the service was excellent from beginning to end,from the hostess to the servers and bussers. Our server, Jeffery, was amazing! He was energetic, professional, attentive, and you can genuinely tell he takes his position seriously. I loved that! We were greeted with complimentary sopa de plátano and bacalaítos, and I was NOT expecting to love them as much as I did. This was by far the best sopa de plátano I've ever had. I never thought I could fall in love with a soup, but here we are! (I ordered a whole extra regular size bowl )The bacalaítos were another surprise because they're normally not something I order or even particularly like--and I've tried quite a few in my life--but these were absolutely delicious. My S/O and I shared the churrasco with arroz mamposteao, along with a side of avocado salad and majado de viandas. Everything was a straight 10/10. Not one disappointment on the table. They also make an amazing Rojo Pico, which was the perfect addition to the experience. 100% recommend Casita Miramar. Don't overthink JUST GO! Beautiful atmosphere, excellent service, and most importantly, genuinely delicious, quality Puerto Rican food. This place absolutely deserves the hype and its spot in my top two!

The workers were honestly the sweetest. the environment is so welcoming and calm…read more although i wasn't very happy with the food. i went with my family and we found the food very bland and overpriced!! my mom LOVES cooking and she could tell when frozen beans are served to her. the food tasted old and the rice look like it was reheated from days ago.. definitely might be a tourist trap. the aesthetics are beautiful but isn't worth the price. on the good side, they sell natural juices and the parcha juice was the best i ever had!!

When it comes to Puerto Rican food, I truly only know Grandma's cooking. Our close friends mom,…read morewhom we refer to as Grandma cooked some of the best Pernil,arroz con gondules, tostones, and so on. So on our first night in the PR, we definitely wanted some authentic Puerto Rican food and with no recommendations, I resulted to what I know and did some Yelp searching. Not far from us was Toston Jibareño. As soon as we entered, I knew we were in the right place. The place has a decent amount of people inside so I knew it had to be ok. The menu has items I wasn't familiar with, but I went with what I thought I knew. Let me just say everything we ordered was spot on authentic to what I know. The pork chops was out of this world. The mofongo's and tostones brought back memories, the skirt steak was so tender and they did not have arroz con gondules, but instead arroz con habichuelas which are beans and I can't eat beans. It was a great first night. As much as I would love to come back,I have to try different places and different things, but if you are a local and haven't been here or a tourist and want good PR food, this is a great first stop.

We were recommended to come here by an employee at the rum distillery we were at before this (Ron…read moredel Barrilito), and it may have been the alcohol speaking, but it was delicious. My friends and I shared the skirt steak with mofongo, and the mofongo was the best we had our entire trip. We got to try to chicharron too, and it was crispy and flavorful. The steak was tender and juicy. I can't remember much else from the meal, but I would definitely come back, even just for the mofongo alone!

We ended up dining at Refran for dinner our first night in San Juan and it did not disappoint. Our…read moreserver was so sweet and attentive. We ordered the bacalaitos (codfish fritters) as an appetizer and the mofongo with shrimp (and another with pernil). The bacalaitos were perfectly fried, not greasy. The mofongo was the best mofongo I had in San Juan! It was full of flavor and the shrimp was the perfect compliment. My son housed their rice and beans. My husband ordered the tres leches cake. It was probably the best tres leches I've ever had. We'll definitely return next time we're in San Juan.

A very small restaurant with absolutely authentic Puerto Rican food with about 10 tables or so,…read moreabsolutely do not miss this place! So what do you get by coming here? You get the real deal, real Puerto Rican dishes, with the greatest flavors and fair prices. Unless you prefer playing overpriced, find dining restaurants with average Puerto Rican food, which there are plenty of in the area. I'm not able to emphasize how small this restaurant is, it's located right along the main walking strip in Coronado Beach. Maybe 10 tables or so. No reservations walk up wait in line if you have to eat and leave. Not only will you eat the best tasting food during your trip, but probably also pay the least amount of money. We went here twice! Their rice and beans recipe is probably what it's all about! We got grilled shrimp and skirt steak over rice and beans and honestly, I could've had it all week long! This little gem local place is not to be missed! Highly recommended!

This was by far the best place I had in Puerto Rico. Having lived with a few Boricuas for a few…read moreyears, I was never impressed by Puerto Rican food. It's mostly fried and fatty (sorry) but this place was the opposite! My local guy in Puerto Rico told me I would love it since I told him I wasn't a fan of overly fried foods. So he, my client, and I went there and saw it was super cool and right next to Ft Buchanan Army base! This place was packed with locals, cops, blue collar, business folks.. every kind of person was there and everyone seemed to know each other! They had amazing maduros with chicken, carne, veggies, and rice that was so tasty! We ended up going two days in a row for lunch because it was so fantastic and I cant wait to come back here! Thanks for changing my mind on Puerto Rican food!

What a surprise! This place was far from what I expected! Simple environment, simple menu but…read morebeware, you are in for a treat. I was so grateful that my coworkers took me to this place. I was on line with a bunch of people who knew what they came for: good old Puerto Rican cuisine. I went for the pork stuffed with yuca. In was covered in bacon. What a delight!!! I have never tried this and was ecstatic at the combination of flavors. I had two more carbs as side dishes as if that was not enough. Yuca frita fríes and arroz con longaniza. I was in heaven. I was told by saint Peter that this will be served in the heavenly banquet. I was well beyond full from the serving size but not ashamed of the generosity of their service. No longer could I pretend to have an inspired working dinner. I was a clear recipient of the culinary genius behind this creation. Enjoy!!

This is my favorite place to eat! Theres homestyle cooking food everywhere such as spaghetti,…read moreravioli, rice and beans, sausage, chicken, meatloaf, you name it! Chef Ivette really pours her heart and soul onto all her dishes, along with a healthy dose of scowels to accompany you across your culinary experience. Just dont bring dogs or cats- she hates those! Sometimes the food can be a little greasy, but it wouldnt be St. Kitts style Puertorican food if it wasnt accompanied by an immediate emergency run for the toilet! Good food, surrounded by good friends, good family, and a grumpy older woman from St. Kitts hobbling around on what seems to be a peg leg old pirates used while mumbling inaudible tired grunts and sentences from her mouth. You just cant get more authentic than this!

Kept seeing a bunch of reviews on how amazing this place was and honestly it's up there…read more To start off, I'm not really a sweets guy so my take is going to be a little off from the general public. We were able to snag a reservation but for a late time which was about an hour and a half before close. The service was super great but one thing I wished they mentioned that the bottled water was going to be a $40 charge lol. Makes sense for any upscale restaurant though. Should've mentioned we wanted tap so fair warning, ask cause you WILL get charged haha. We had a group of 10 and for how big the group was, the food came out pretty fast. I don't think we ever had a time between drinks to entrees where we were waiting for food to come out. We got the watermelons mojito for drinks since it was the most raved about. It was good but personally nothing crazy for me. 8/10 score on that. We also curry popcorn chicken, the ahi tuna lollipops, the empanadillas and the goat cheese quesadillas for apps and honestly overall 9/10. This is where I don't like the sweetness part of this meal. The empanadillas were what I was most excited for but it was more sweet then savory which sort of lose my appetite a little. I think if you like that kind of taste then it's going to be good. It wasn't a bad taste at all. Just too sweet for my liking. The curry popcorn chicken was good and the lollipops were great. Again, nothing crazy. The goat cheese quesadillas was good as well but again, too sweet for my liking. Now on to the entree, they didn't have the porkchop since we came late so I ended up getting the porkchop belly dish. When it came out, it looked amazing but then I got a whiff of it and smelled cinnamon. That's when I was sort of disappointed. It was like eating pork but tasting Cinnamon Toast Crunch and as said before, it tasted great but too sweet for me. This one was way too sweet to where it seemed like a dessert item. I just had poor luck and got one of the one items that were sweet. This doesn't tank the rating down whatsoever because I also should've read it had cinnamon. It would've been great if they made a dipping sauce or something to pair it with and not have it on the pork belly itself. I got to try other dishes my friends got which were good as well but I wish I got to try something else. If I came back I would try the sold out item which was the pork shank or the sea bass. I know for a fact the sea bass was amazing. Had a bite of it and thought "I'll come back for that" Overall, 10/10 experience and nothing bad about the place but gotta try different items when I go next time. I understand the hype now

WOULD recommend (dinner). Stopped by during first night in Puerto Rico, we had a reservation around…read more9pm so we were able to see the festivities associated with La Placita. I suggest doing reservations at least 3 weeks in advanced if you want to time that you want especially during peak days like Fri, Sat, etc. When we came in, the staff were very hospitable to us. This establishment has was very intimate, well lit; upon entry the music was a bit loud but then became manageable for casual conversation. We saw a good amount of large parties as well so they have good reputation for celebratory outings. We started off with drinks, ordered the Paper Plane, was very sour but wasn't bad in my opinion (Rating: 7.1/10), but the Perfect Lady on the other hand, was amazing lavender goodness, I don't think I have had a bad lavender drink yet from any place I have had so glad they kept the train going (Rating: 9.0/10). Next, for appetizers we ordered the Empanadas, that have different flavors everyday. The day that we came, the flavor was BBQ pulled pork, which I personally absolutely loved. Crispy, not hard exterior, hot and fresh (Rating 8.8/10). For the entrees, we ordered the Tacos De Mero Empanados (Fish Tacos with Chipotle Coleslaw) and the Milanesa De Pollo. The fish tacos were definitely the best dish at the table, came with 3 tacos that had rich flavors, ordered from the "Daily Specials" section of the menu (Rating 8.4/10). Next, the Milanesa De Polla was a large, breaded chicken breast that was honestly good for multiple people, came with side of arugula and cherry tomatoes with light dressing (almost nonexistent to be honest). It came with a sauce on top, like an aioli that wasn't bad honestly. This dish was a good safe option if you aren't sure what to get (Rating 8.1/10). I wanted to originally order the Pastelon De Amarillos but they were out of stock of that dish during the visit. Overall, Santaella offers pretty extensive menu with foundations of a high quality restaurant. Their service during our visit was definitely top of the line, no complaints. I just wished they had more than 2 single use bathrooms as the line definitely added up which could pose an issue for guests with urinary urgency/frequency. Pricing also wasn't horrible, was able to get a full course dinner for 2 for under $150 so can't really complain, just check their menu before going if you want specifics. They also have Rooftop Sundays at Azotea for those who are interested in their alternative dining setting. This place was good nonetheless and I would recommend it, is right in between fine dining and casual making it good for those dressier date nights.

We were thrilled to find this amazing experience. There were five of us…read more We were initially provided a table in the front of the restaurant but we wanted to be in the back room where there were table cloths. The servers were kind enough to allow us to go into the back room. However, it was really cold in the back room. Then we asked to change Tables that were not directly in front of the a/c. We moved but were still cold and we moved again! They were kind enough to move us. The food took a long time to come. However, it seems as if it was due to the fact it was cooked to order. I shared snapper and seafood paella which was amazing. The lobster/steak combination was beautifully presented and really delicious. The drinks were great! The folks were amazing even though they needed to be reminded for extra plates and silverware.

The food was good and the service was pretty fast. The ambiance is nice and chill. Had chuletas…read morewhich were very good and the whole family came and enjoyed the hang.

We were in the area shopping around and exploring. It was earlier in the day so not many places…read morewere open, we saw signs leading to this food truck. They had such poor service, they were not helpful in providing menu items or recommendations. Very impatient. The truck was pretty small, clean interior, and drinks were organized. They had limited seating with NO shade/umbrellas. After they took our order we waited over 40 minutes for three boxes of food. The platter came with meat, veggies, two sauces, and another side of choice (I chose fries). We all got Chicharrones, it was very juicy and tender. And the exterior skin was surprisingly really crunchy! Super tasty!! The fries were mediocre, cold and thick cuts. Portions were filling, none of us were able to finish. I don't recommend, plenty of other restaurants that offer the same items with better service and shorter wait times.

Love Trifongo Taino the bartenders are amazing and the food is fresh and delicious! If you come to…read moreLa Placita you must make a stop at Trifongo Taino is right in front of Paraiso.

Look, were we at an alcapurria spot ordering pastelillos? Yes. Do we regret it? Absolutely not…read more We got one each of vegetariano, cebolla y queso, pollo, and guayaba con queso. The vegetariano was mid, but the other three? No complaints. But honestly, the food is only part of the story here. The vibe is everything. Salsa playing, high energy, warm service. We rolled in late and hungry, looking for sweet refuge from La Placita crowds, and they welcomed us like we belonged there. The music started out mixed, but at some point it shifted to Contra La Corriente front to back. We were enjoying our pastelillos, singing along to No Me Conoces, minding our own business when... el apagón. Not the whole Placita, just a couple spots including this one. The staff didn't miss a beat. Flashlights came out, mood lighting appeared, and nobody rushed us. We finished our food. We paid. We left happy. 5 stars because some experiences are bigger than the sum of their parts. This was one of them.

This is not a polished, Instagram-perfect restaurant and that's exactly the point. That's why I…read morelove it so much. Tucked inside La Placita de Santurce, its a small, casual, almost hidden spot that's usually packed with locals. Think plastic chairs, outdoor tables, music playing and a constant flow of people coming in for a quick bite or drink. Feels more like a neighborhood hangout than a restaurant. I've been coming here for years and this is what I've learned, take it from a local. For a quick bite, alcapurrias are a MUST -- especially beef or crab. Also the "pastelillos" are amazing-- corn beef, chorizo, morcilla... Everything freshly made to order. Now, if you want to sit down and enjoy an authentic Puerto Rican meal, here are some of my favorites: chuletas fritas, chicharrones de pollo, bistec encebollado and carne frita-- of course with a side of rice and beans or tostones for the win. Bottom line: you come here for flavor and authenticity, not comfort. Enjoy

We visited at the recommendation of a friend and WOOOOOOW. This was my favorite dining experience…read morein San Juan...maybe all of PR. The high quality preparation combined with the classic tastes of the island... mwah chef's kiss. LB and I ordered apps and split and entree. There was sooo much food and it was all so delicious. Our server was a DELIGHT and made it feel like we were dining with friends. Love the ambiance. The location. The menu. Put this high on your list of things to check out

Farm to table Puerto Rican food, James Beard winning chef. Highlights for me were the appetizers…read moreand cocktails. The buñuelos de malanga and the longaniza empanadas were excellent. The Funk Fashion was an interesting take on the Old Fashioned. My wife ordered a few other cocktails which were also very good. As for main course dishes, My lamb fricasse and the rice with rabbit were delicious. The only reason I'm taking off a star is because it was hot af. Seating is mostly outdoors. Interior seating is very limited so expect to be seated outside. The patio is very nice, but there is little to no breeze so it gets very hot. My parents went earlier in the year when temperatures were lower than they are this summer and they experienced the same. My suggestion is wear light breathable clothing: shorts, skirts, open toed footwear. Maybe bring a personal fan. Overall, a must foodie destination.