Restaurants in Eastern Puerto Rico
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Dinghy Dock
If you can brave the gauntlet of cigarette-smoking expats that requisition the steps nightly, you’ll find the DD to be something of a culinary revelation. Unusually for Puerto Rico, there’s an all-you-can-eat salad bar to quell your early hunger pangs, and you can chomp on your lettuce and cucumber while watching the kitchen staff throw morsels of food to the giant tarpon that swim right up to the deck. Fish is the obvious specialty here – fresh catches such as swordfish and snapper done in creole sauces. The busy bar is a frenzy of expats nursing Medalla beers and acts as the unofficial island grapevine. If you haven’t heard it here first, it’s not worth hearing.…
reviewed
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Duffy’s
Esperanza’s newest bar is a sleeker and slightly more refined version of Banana’s next door. It fills a gap in the market with fresh salads and creative seafood, but still nurtures an undone Caribbean flavor. Opening out onto Esperanza’s main strip, the laid-back street atmosphere infiltrates the shady interior where expats and locals mingle over beer and scallops.
reviewed
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Chez Shack
What have ’60s psychedelic band the Mamas and Papas and Vieques’ most bohemian restaurant got in common? They both owe at least a part of their success to expat impresario and restaurateur Hugh Duffy. In the 1960s, Duffy owned a restaurant called ‘Love Shack’ on the nearby island of St Thomas, where he hosted folk-music nights with a quartet of spaced-out hippies called the New Journeymen. It was an important first break. But while the Journeymen changed their name to the Mamas and Papas and headed off to LA for some California Dreamin’, Duffy transplanted himself 13 miles to the west where he opened up Chez Shack, a quirky Caribbean hangout that quickly began t…
reviewed
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Juanita Bananas
This revolutionary restaurant gives new meaning to the words ‘fresh’ and ‘sustainable.’ Sporting its very own greenhouse and garden, almost all of the fruit, vegetables and herbs listed on the menu will have traveled only a few hundred yards before hitting your plate. The seafood is also local and fished using sustainable methods. Specialties include tasty soups, fruity desserts and the famous sofrito sauce (garlic, onions and pepper browned in olive oil and capped with achiote – annato seeds). The restaurant is situated on a small rise about half a mile from Dewey. Reservations are necessary.
reviewed
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Belly Button’s
Make a beeline for breakfast at Belly Button’s and bring a good appetite. Your belly will be more than happy after you’ve heroically demolished the three Frisbee-sized pancakes that appear rather magically on your plate here. Consisting of a small collection of alfresco tables located outside a kitchen trailer on the malecón, this expat-run breakfast phenomenon conjures up enough food to keep you going until 6pm. Grab a copy of the San Juan Star, help yourself to a mug of gourmet coffee and make plans for a day of breathtaking action – or indolence.
reviewed
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Café Media Luna
Romance is not dead in Vieques’ original ‘posh’ restaurant where candlelit tables and a tiny street-side balcony add panache to any meal. And there’s more. Isabel II’s music scene more or less begins and ends in this attractive colonial building where smooth live jazz accompanies lamb chops, seared tuna and rather authentic pizza. OK, so the price is a little steep, but with a comprehensive wine list and free entertainment provided by the pizza-tossing chefs in the open-sided kitchen, you might just be inspired to dust off your credit card.
reviewed
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Barbara Rosa
You are the waiter at this diminutive restaurant/bistro. You’re also in Barbara’s house – her front verandah to be more exact, so tread carefully. When you’ve decided what you want, take the menu into the front room and holler through the kitchen hatch at the busy Barbara as she scurries around the kitchen. Hey presto, 15 minutes later out comes fish and chips, a juicy burger or a plate of homemade crab cakes. It’s rather quaint, once you get your head round the system. Barbara’s is situated on the road north out of Dewey toward the airport.
reviewed
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Blue Macaw
No birds here, but plenty of fancy metal curves and elaborate downlighting. One of a trio of plush new eating houses that could quite easily have been plucked straight out of San Juan’s SoFo neighborhood, the Blue Macaw was fire-damaged in 2005. Relaunched in 2007 in polished chrome, it’s reignited itself (the restaurant, not the fire that is) with all its old vigor, displaying a menu that’s as delicious as the decor is plush. Try the scampi, the lamb tenderloin or the tempura trout and leave room for a lavish dessert.
reviewed
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Topacio
The newly opened Topacio has already cemented a firm reputation among those with a penchant for delicious seafood served Caribbean-style. Sheltered on an outside patio underneath colorful lights, you can sample the generous paella, fish in a creole sauce, seafood mofongo (mashed plantains) and lobster cooked in garlic. Unpretentious, efficient and brimming with fresh and locally caught ingredients, this place offers great Puerto Rican authenticity without sacrificing on the quality.
reviewed
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Pasión Por el Fogón
Lobster medallions, filet mignon and chicken stuffed with sweet banana and bacon – sound tasty? The governor of New York, Mariah Carey and Carlos Delgado obviously thought so, as they’ve all eaten here at one time or another. Listed as one of Puerto Rico’s leading Mesónes Gastronómicos, Pasión por el Fogón is situated opposite the Villa Marina and – in keeping with its name – has a real passion for cooking.
reviewed
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Sandy’s Seafood
Obscured on a quiet street, Sandy’s is the most popular restaurant in town and, by word-of-mouth, manages to attract the odd tourist-resort escapee. Perhaps best described as a fish-and-chip joint for lobster eaters, it’s certainly not posh – sauce bottles adorn the tables – though you can get the full gamut of seafood here, from a traditional red snapper to jalapeño peppers stuffed with shrimp or lobster.
reviewed
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Shimas
If you have a sushi craving that must be met while in Luquillo, head to Shimas at the Westin Río Mar resort. It serves authentic Japanese food, as well as some Thai and Chinese dishes. There are 12 restaurants and lounges in the Río Mar. Other good eating choices are Ajili Mójili, serving traditional Puerto Rican food, and Cactus Jack’s, which has won awards for its innovative Tex-Mex cuisine.
reviewed
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Panadería & Repostería Lydia
With a 4am opening call, this veritable hole-in-the-wall bakery-cum-coffee bar is ideal for insomniacs, late-night party animals and ferry workers on the graveyard shift. On a quiet weekend morning in sleepy Isabel, it’s one of the only places likely to be open. Stop by for caffeine, pastries, sandwiches and sweet bread, and fight with the locals for one of the two plastic tables that furnish the sidewalk.
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Yuquiyú Delights
This small food concession with sheltered tables situated next to the Sierra Palm picnic area is the only real ‘restaurant’ in the forest. It does decent burgers ($6), comida criolla (traditional Puerto Rican cuisine) and smoothies and should replenish your legs ready for a few more miles of hiking. A few smaller kiosks sell snacks and soft drinks around Km 7 on Hwy 191.
reviewed
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bbh
With its high-end magazine cover setting in the Bravo Beach Hotel, you would expect this restaurant to be trendy and chic. And naturally, it is. This place is foodie heaven, with European cheeses, New Zealand lamb and plenty of infused local ingredients. Tapas are the specialty, but there’s also a wine room and the poolside Palms bar where you can enjoy an alcoholic appetizer.
reviewed
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Pandeli
Ideal if you’re twiddling your thumbs waiting for the 6:30am ferry to Fajardo (the Pandeli opens at an eye-popping 5:30am), this deli/café sells pastries, pancakes, salads, sandwiches and coffee. Come 8am and it’s inundated with school kids and stray travelers using the internet. A good place to take breakfast and lunch and catch up on the local gossip.
reviewed
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Scoops
Junk food hasn’t arrived on Vieques yet but, if you need something fast and palatable, you can grab a cheap pizza here and watch the local teenagers as they gamble away their pocket money on the arcade machines. An adjacent room holds more tasty treats with Häagen-Dazs ice cream and fresh fruit juices. They’re ridiculously expensive, but what the hell?
reviewed
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El Nuevo Horizonte
Just a mile or two west of Parador Costa del Mar, the view rarely gets better than it does from this place. This restaurant is perched high on the mountainside overlooking the Caribbean. You can smell the asopao de langosta (lobster stew) cooking 200yd before you get here. A cauldron of the stew will set you back about $18 and serves at least two people.
reviewed
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La Viequense Deli
If it’s breakfast you’re after, this is the place to come for your 6am pancakes or hangover-curing coffee. If you miss the 11am cut-off you can feast instead on decent baked goods, tortillas and sandwiches. Service is no-nonsense and fast, the decor clean and modern, and the clientele local with a smattering of in-the-know tourists.
reviewed
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Bili
Bili is the recently rebranded restaurant at the Amapola Inn. Offering the island’s finest selection of vegetarian food, it’s also a haven for noncarnivores who’ve grown tired of eating omelets. The yucca salads are good as is the seafood and you can shoot the breeze alfresco as the malecón crowds steam past.
reviewed
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Blue Iguana
The Fajardo Inn has two restaurants, but this one is by far the best, with great Mexican fare, sharp service and unbelievably cheap prices (for sizable portions). In the earlier hours it’s a good option for families; later on the pool table and ample bar attracts a drinking crowd. On weekends it’s very popular after 10pm.
reviewed
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Lolita’s
Lolita’s is 3 miles east of town on the south side of Hwy 3. The Mexican meals are so popular that the owners have moved into a building twice the original size. A soft taco costs $2.50, and many dinners run under $10. Imported Mexican mariachis provide the music.
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Bamboo Lounge
Aside from offering first-rate horse rides and mountain biking, Carabaldi also has a great restaurant, with panoramic views of the ocean and the rainforest. There’s great Puerto Rican fare, a kid’s menu, and a bar and patio area that stays open until 2am.
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El Mar de la Tranquilidad
Once the road returns to sea level (heading west), look for this establishment on the seaward side of Hwy 3. Beer on the outdoor terrace is a rare pleasure, and you can get salmorejo de jueyes (land crab in tomato sauce), lobster and some decent cocktails.
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La Exquisita Bakery
Well perhaps not ‘Champs Élysées’ exquisite, but, as far as Luquillo goes, this place could satisfy a few sweet tooths. Slap-bang in the town’s sleepy main square, this is where locals gather for cakes, pastry, coffee and sandwiches.
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