Quaint little authentic Puerto Rican restaurant in Old San Juan. My girlfriend and I ordered margaritas (2 for 10 dollars), an appetizer of cheese sticks and we both ordered the chicken with yellow rice for our main meal. The margaritas tasted delicious with a perfect mix for our taste. Not too strong and not too weak. The cheese sticks were perfect. They were large and the thick breaded kind which I love and came with a side of marinara sauce. The chicken and rice was delicious as well and cam with a side of beans, salad, and plantains. Put the beans on top of the rice and chicken. You won't regret it. I wouldn't call it a super dirty place but the tables could be cleaned a little better and the table cloths reminded me of those cheap plastic ones in pizza restaurants. The only had one server for the whole restaurant so we had some minor issues with the service. Will definitely be back. read more

Genesis - Chicken with yellow rice, beans, salad and plantains - Puerto Rican Near Me - San Juan, Puerto Rico

Stop what ever your doing and come here! A group of us was walking down the street and a waitress stopped us in our tracks and invited us in. We shared a shrimp monfongo for an appetizer and for the entre we had seafood paellas . There was a total of 5 of us and we couldn't even finish it! I highly recommend it! read more

Genesis - Seafood Paella - Puerto Rican Near Me - San Juan, Puerto Rico

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We came here because I have the same as the name as the restaurant and I'm glad we did. The waiters were super friendly and helped me find something I could eat since I'm vegetarian. The food was delicious and so were the sangrias. We ate outside read more

Genesis - Vegetarian - Puerto Rican Near Me - San Juan, Puerto Rico

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I had the shrimp Mofongo, and it was excellent. Service was good and the ambiance. Best little hole in the wall in San Juan Puerto Rico.

Garlic sauce shrimp was the best ! And the homemade sauce was amazing ! Definitely recommend

Great place in Old San Juan! We went to Old San Juan to do the walking tour and at the end of the day, we were thirsty, exhausted and very sweaty. The Southern part of Old San Juan is probably the most "touristy" area where the Tourist Information Center is located, and also where a lot of the big hotels are located. The woman who worked at the information center recommended Genesis to us, and said it was a place that locals also ate at. We arrived early in the afternoon around 5pm and were the only ones in the restaurant on a Thursday. Service was fantastic. The hostess did not speak much English, but through her minimal English and our minimal Spanish, we were able to communicate and order a table full of delicious food. Mofongo was really good. The fish dish and rice were also pretty good. We chugged our three medallas (the "beer of puerto rico"!) and were all smiling, happy and full by the time we finished our meal. Food is very affordable and service is impeccable. If you plan on visiting the Old San Juan area, definitely give Genesis a try! read more

We had lunch here on our second day in San Juan. We sat outside on the sidewalk - three tables outside and not much traffic noise. Inside looked cozy and perhaps a bit dark - it was s unny day so hard to say for sure. Excellent sangria (best either of us have ever tasted) and I of course had the local beer - Medallia. Tasty and cheap. I had a very tasty piece of chicken with some delicious spices, with plantains on the side. I love plantains, expecially prepared this way - cut in to thin slices and fried like chips. Yum! Luch with drinks and tip was barely $30.00 - money well spent. read more

Loved the cozy atmosphere and home feeling! Great, authentic Puerto Rican restaurant in the heart of el Viejo San Juan. Ran by a home grown family. The food...9/10, service 10/10. Overall, a delightful dinner experience!! Price for two people was around $40 bucks which was a little overpriced in my opinion but good stuff. read more

Genesis - Puerto Rican Near Me - San Juan, Puerto Rico

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Where do I begin - my niece ordered Red Snapper Filet and when the waiter brought the dish to the table it looked unappealing but my niece tasted it and she didn't like it. She informed the waiter that she didn't like her fish and he immediately had an attitude. He never offered her something else his attitude was - oh well. Anyway I waited until my daughter and I finished our meal and asked to speak to the manager because we was not going to pay for the Red Snapper which was left untouched. The waiter was upset because I was speaking to the manager about our meal. The waiter was totally and completely out of control, he started yelling, making a scene and calling us obscene names. Ohh my gosh he proceeded to call us 'you people' are you kidding!!!! Anyway the manger took the Red Snapper off of our bill but this whole incident ruin our evening. read more

Went to this place because we were famished and needed a spot to stop at with a large family group. Steak tasted like they defrosted it - dry and disgusting. Breaded chicken was hard and bread falling off- only good thing was the coffee and beans. Sorry that I went there. read more

I ate here twice. Food was authentic as well as the atmosphere. I tried the MODONGO here not to be confused with the other island treat. My taste buds were happy. Try the pepper sauce condiment. Prices same as the rest of the strip but better food. read more

Genesis - Puerto Rican Near Me - San Juan, Puerto Rico

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Awesome awesome prices! We stopped just because I saw the specials. I'm not from around here so maybe they aren't the best but we came from a cruise ship where one drink with half an ounce of alcohol is like $10 lol. The mozzarella sticks were good too but we mostly came for the alcohol so we didn't try anything else. The staff was all great too. :) and the local beer was pretty good! I'd come back. It was super quiet too which was nice because I was getting sick of being surrounded by so many other tourists so it was nice to be in a more quiet environment. Probably not the greatest thing for the business but I enjoyed it lol. read more

Excellent choice for authentic spanish food while in Old San Juan. Yoha, our waitress was so helpful and anything we need she anticipated and had it ready for us. I tried Mofugo for the first here and it was great!. I order gralic shrimp with yellow rice and beans on the side. It was enough to get 2 serving from. I going back to PR just to wat here again read more

Genesis - Gralic shrimp with yellow rice and beans on side - Puerto Rican Near Me - San Juan, Puerto Rico

Fabulous, strong, fabulous mojitos! Their margarita & pina colada, not as fabulous but the prices are right if you don't mind empty calories! read more

I was waiting for my family to meet me as we were taking a family vacation I came from Los Angeles my oldest Daughter was coming from the East Coast and got hungry... Found this little gem and the food was delicious best pork I have had in a while. I liked it so much I took a sandwich for later knowing that they will have tons of food but the Cubano was just that good read more

This was a great find in Puerto Rico. The food was amazing! I tried their paella, mofongo along with a plantain dish (cant remember the exact name). I really enjoyed the food here. My friends and I sat outside on the patio, you are pretty much sitting on the street but do not underestimate this place, there is a full restaurant inside and the food is tasty. They also have drink specials during happy hour. I would love to come back for the paella, Puerto Rico sure had a great spin on a great Spanish dish. Tip: The paella portions are BIG! read more

This is our second trip back to this restaurant. It has a great local vibe, delicious churrasco, garlic chicken and lobster mofongo. The rice and beans are delicious as well as the ham croquettes and beef and chicken empanadas. The experience is capped off by cold a/c, popular drink specials and great service. read more

Seems a bit touristy from the street, but stop by, you won't be let down! Went here for some more Mofongo and Sangrias! My wife had a deliciously prepared Red Snapper Filet and I went for the Skirt Steak Mofongo. Sangrias were great, as were the Mojitos. Service was a bit slow, but they were super busy. Both of us loved our dishes! read more

Horrible service, 20 min seating down waiting and the 2 guys that were serving didn't even approach us for nothing, no acknowledgement at all, we got up and left and obviously they didn't care either read more

One of the very few breakfast spots open around this area. They don't open really early, it's either whenever they want to open or somewhere between 8 or 9 a.m. If you're not doing early morning tours or excursions, you should come here and also if you have a few hours to burn because it's not only this place, but most places in PR service is just slow or maybe I'm just a spoiled American. They do all breakfast foods from egg and omelettes to pancakes all served with your side of meat. I ordered a fresh squeezed OJ, a Spanish Omelette, a piece of ham and pancake from the gf and half a tuna melt. Portions are what you expect for the price (average of $4 bucks a meal!). Place is so cheap too! For the price, you can't really beat this place, but the price can cost you time! read more

Genesis - Puerto Rican Near Me - San Juan, Puerto Rico

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Genesis is on a main street of Old San Juan. Like other restaurants, it has sidewalk tables in addition to indoor tables. We ate dinner at 7pm. Adjacent restaurants had wait times to be seated but Genesis was nearly empty. We were allowed to pick our table and given dinner menus. The bilingual waitress provided lunch menus upon request. Our two entrees were both home made. The chicken stew (with rice and beans) was very simple yet hearty; a good pick for clean eating. The lasagna (with rice and beans) was a 4" portion; enough, unless you are overeating. The fried cheese sticks were the typical restaurant type. Pass on these and get one of thier dishes made in house. Side salads were simply iceberg lettuce and tomato. The delicious Flan was home made. Prices were low, entrees were freshly made, coffee was delicious, service was prompt. So i asked the waitress why they were slow compared to the neighboring Raices? It must be the Raices traditional uniforms because Genesis is equal or better in all aspects besides ambiance. Bring your own ambiance. Genesis gets the nod compared to Raices. read more

I liked this!!! can i give 6 stars? very good.. if you are in old san juan area come here for some good food and drinks! i see other yelpers leaving comments about it but this was very good when i came here at least. i got a pina colada and some breakfast food and it was suuuper good! also if you want to get away from the heat its nice and Air conditioned in there as well. had some delicious mofongo!! read more

Genesis - Puerto Rican Near Me - San Juan, Puerto Rico

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We waited over an hour for our food. We decided to try Mofongo with shrimp and creole seasoning and another with the garlic seasoning They were both tasteless. On the plus side, I had a patron margarita that was amazing. read more

Service, even when it's not busy, is shoddy. The restaurant is across from a large parking garage which is convenient. The food was delicious but good service is equally important for me. I had Mofongo stuffed with crab. Good flavor but I would recommend the Mofongo stuffed with chicken. Add a little salsa to it and you're in business. Don't ask for the fruit punch- it's the same ole fruit punch you get on the mainland. Try one of the local juices (but not the fruit punch). The grilled chicken with beans and rice were tasty. The empanadas were also tasty, we had shrimp in them, serving size was tiny, but still tasty. Not sure if they were worth the price. The food was tasty. The service leaves you wanting. read more

Stopped in here twice during our stay. The waitress recognized us the 2nd time and took care of us. Very friendly staff and attentive to us. - food was very good. Maduro stuffed chick was on point. The pernil was very soft, moist and flavorful. Mofongo was good. No complaints here. - i would definitely visit the next time im out there. read more

My friends and I turned to Genesis after our 15 min wait at a different restaurant turned into an hour. Service was a slow, the food was pretty bland, and the drinks weren't terrific either. It was convenient that they didn't have a wait, but next time I'd rather wait and have a better meal. read more

Great food and air conditioned restaurant. We had empanadas, tosrones and croquetss. All the food had a great taste and was reasonable priced. Restaurant is family run and has very polite and interested servers. MaMa's Cheese flan was exceptional. Will look forward to our next trip to Puerto Rico to come back read more

Old San Juan is beautiful to stroll through, but a lot of the restaurants give off the vibe of a "Puerto Rican Chili's." Not this place. It's "divey" on the inside, which is exactly why we decided to try it out. Our order was simple: a plate of chicken empanadillas (4), mofongo, rice with beans, and 2 Medalla beers (2 for $5 when we went). The results in a word: perfection! Just goes to show, when something simple is made with fresh ingredients and prepared expertly, no bells and whistles are needed. Also worth mentioning, our waiter was super chill and cool to talk to - made the meal that much better. Will def beeline to here next time we're in Old San Juan! read more

I had one of the worst experiences I've ever had eating in Puerto Rico. I normally love the food I get no matter where I go, but this was brutal. Terrible service and terrible food! She maybe came to the table twice, after taking our order she asked us what it was 3 times, and she said "you're gonna drive me crazy" for asking her to split the bill in half. Please save yourself the trouble of coming here. You wait forever even for drinks, the food is not what Puerto Rico is known for, and the service is the worst! It was hard for me to pay anything for this place. The waitress had an attitude and honestly didn't look like what she knew what she was doing at all. It's very sad the way things are run here. read more

Food was alright but very expensive for smaller sized portions. The drinks were above average and fairly priced. Service was awful. My family and I were the only ones in there and took it around an hour to just get our food. It also took a long time to get pur drinks and our waitress was not very good. Food was very pricey and service was lousy, would not reccommend. read more

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We picked this place on random. The food was cheap. We had the fried fish (which was too salty) and fried chicken (ok). The food came quick enough. Service was nothing special. read more

Meh, just okay. we were hungry after hiking all day around old san juan and this place had good prices. it wasn't bad by any means, but wasn't memorable either. read more

They have a great location. They managed to snag us and get us in the door as we wandered around Old San Juan looking for Puerto Rican food. When we left we realized they were right at the start of a strip of restaurants. We were the only people in the restaurant. The portions were small, the food was okay. The pina colada was decent. Wouldn't go back with the other options just a few doors down. read more

First yes the wait is forever that being said they have spoiled me. First time for mofongo(chicken) soooo good. Paella first time OMG Just get the Paella read more

Very tasty and reasonably priced. Staff very pleasant. I had the snapper and my wife had the roasted chicken, and we were both happy with our choices. read more

Just happen to drop in for a quick bite. Food was great. Service was okay, drinks were cheap. All in all I would recommend this place.

Came here for breakfast one morning...and it was definitely worth it. We ended up getting Spanish omelettes. They were pretty good, for $5.50! The coffee was unbelievably delicious. I even ended up getting a coffee to go. The waiter was extremely friendly too. Would go back for another meal next time were in the area! read more

One of the best meal I had in Puerto Rico. I ordered the whole fried red snapper with a side or beans and rice. Delicious and their drinks were strong and good. read more

Great meal and GREAT price for Old San Juan. Very large portions with truly authentic taste. Friendly and very attentive. Everything was on point. read more

I go to San Juan 2-4 times a year. Best mojitos in town. And the empanadillas (shrimp and crab) are FANTASTIC. Make sure you get the bottle of Xxxtra Hot Habenero sauce with them. Love this place. read more