We were headed back to the hotel in Ponce from spending the afternoon in San Sebastian and initially were trying to find a mom and pop PR restaurant in San Seb but got lost as the GPS was getting confused with all of the mountain terrain. As we were approaching Hormigueros, I googled PR restaurants in the area and this one popped up located right off of the highway so we decided to give it a try.
I love how many locally owned and operated restaurants out here are located with indoor/outdoor seating, and this one is no exception! It was not busy on a Monday evening and we were greeted fairly promptly by the bartender/server who told us to take a table anywhere we liked.
We started off with the queso frito and a couple of Medallas. In addition to the regular queso frito, our server brought us some round fried queso frito as well. Both were served with mayoketchup along with some guava sauce. Both were delicious. BFF and I both ordered the same thing: mofongo el relleno de pollo. We also wanted a side order of arroz con habichuelos (rice and beans); however, the server recommended ordering just one to share as the mofongo was a large portion, and, boy, was he right! The portion size was actually perfect as I was not stuffed but completely satisfied and both were very tasty.
As for pricing, it is very reasonable and mostly on the lower end, depending upon what you order. Both of our mofongos were 16.00/ea and the queso frito app was 9.25. Medallas were 2.24/ea which is a great price considering most places charge 3.50/ea. Service was also very good, although a tad slow but that was fine as our server was the only employee on duty and we were not in any hurry.
Overall, great place and loved the atmosphere. The only thing I did not like were the bathrooms (they were disgusting). They are located around the back of the building outside and were nasty! They were very dirty and also flooded as I was standing in a puddle of water. They had no soap either, but luckily when I was walking back to the outdoor cantina area they have an outdoor sink and soap dispenser so I could wash my hands. read more