San Juan Restaurants

  1. Ajili-Mójili

    The waiters wear hats and the reception displays aromatic cigars from the Dominican Republic, so leave your sandals and singlet in your room and venture out to this classy Condado classic. Housed in one of the neighborhood's few remaining eclectic mansions, the menu is high-end comida criolla - such as island-style pork loin with mofongo (mashed plantains) - while the atmosphere is refined and romantic. Expect discreet service and sky-high prices.

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  2. Aquaviva

    Cerviche's the word at Aquaviva, the third of SoFo's trendy restaurant trio and owned by the same company as Dragonfly and the Parrot Club. Designed with an arty water/sea-life theme - all turquoise blues and brilliant whites - the house specialty is seafood, in particular the cerviches, with plenty of patrons rolling in just to savor an appetizer with a pre-dinner cocktail. Often packed to the rafters, Aquaviva was invented with the word 'hip' in mind.

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  3. Barú

    Very popular with food lovers and martini drinkers, Baru doubles as a nightspot as well as a trendy restaurant. Dishes include 'yuccafongo' (yucca made like a mofongo ) with shrimp, beef carpaccio with basil essence or the mahimahi topped with crispy onions.

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  4. Café Amapola

    Ah the view! Watch crashing surf lash the pastel-colored shantytown of La Perla as you perch on the upstairs terrace at Café Amapola. Welcome to Old San Juan's only oceanfronted eating establishment, an unpretentious café-cum-restaurant that sells memorable homegrown coffee and tasty criolla -spiced appetizers. Take a seat bar-side and the waiters will impart a whole host of insider knowledge about where to go and what to see island-wide.

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  5. Café Berlin

    You've probably heard about the Taíno, the Spanish, the French and the Americans, but the German influence in Puerto Rico is less well-documented, unless you wind up sampling sweet pastries on the pleasant terrace here. In a setting that's more Viennese than Caribbean, the Café Berlin serves fresh European-style food with a strong vegetarian/vegan bias.

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  7. Café Cala'o

    It looks just like any other small coffee bar you might roll into in Chicago or Seattle, but in reality Café Cala'o is very different. There are two main reasons for this: the Puerto Rican coffee - which is hand-picked from various small farms in the Central Mountains - is smooth, earthy and not at all bitter, and the people who confect it are trained experts who know as much about coffee as an oenologist knows about wine. The muffins aren't bad either.

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  8. Café Mallorca

    If you spent the previous night in Marmalade or some other haute couture restaurant/club/fashion parade, then bring yourself back down to earth with a life-saving coffee and breakfast in this cozy nook on San Francisco. Cheap and simple, the Mallorca is where all-night ravers share pick-me-ups and American journalists sift through their travel notes. Zero pretension, but plenty of warm familiarity.

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  9. Casa Dante

    Casa Dante is a family-run restaurant that serves more variations of mofongo than one would think humanly feasible. All are delicious, and you can stick to fajitas or enchiladas or a basic steak, if that's what you prefer.

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  10. Chayote

    Named for a flavorful island vegetable, Chayote is situated in the understated and none too trendy Olimpio Court Hotel. But, with its robust criollo cooking injected with French, Hindu, African, Spanish and Central American flavors, the restaurant easily trumps the sometimes iffy rooms. International celebrities have been spotted among the traditional wicker and contemporary art furnishings here.

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  11. Che's

    Che t-shirts aren't too common in Puerto Rico, where the man who promised to 'create two, three…many Vietnams' in the Americas is regarded with a certain degree of suspicion. That said, you might see the odd red-starred beret in here tucking into churrasco and parrillada (grilled, marinated steak), or veal chops with a kind of revolutionary zeal.

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  13. Don Tello

    Don Tello is a perennial favorite cafe in the revitalized Santurce marketplace.

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  14. Dragonfly

    Duck nachos - say no more! Safe in its mantle as the hippest of the hip, Dragonfly is SoFo's most stylish culinary innovator; the G-spot of the Latin-Asian fusion movement that brims nightly with a plethora of self-assured well-dressed and, frankly, beautiful people.

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  15. Edith Café

    No frills, no formalities, but good food - and it's open 24 hours, though you'd think it wasn't operating at all looking at the heavily tinted windows. Come here for breakfast after one of those exuberant all-night parties and nip your hangover in the bud with two fried eggs, bacon and ham washed down with a strong cup of coffee.

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  16. El Burén

    If you rate intimacy over elbow room, inhale deeply and pull up one of the 24 chairs at this stylish purple and tangerine bistro. As trendy as it is tiny, El Burén offers an eclectic menu with distinct Puerto Rican flourishes, with food delivered to your table like art on a plate. Check out the lamb, prawns or lobster.

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  17. El Patio de Sam

    This legendary Old Town staple overlooks San Juan's oldest square and a statue of Ponce de León, who looks on jealously as drinkers down cheap margaritas and tackle juicy burgers with hungry relish. Part of the San Sebastián nightly music fest, there's glimmering neon on the inner patio along with live Brazilian jazz music at weekends.

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  19. El Picoteo

    One of El Convento's culinary highlights is this terrace tapas bar that could rival anything in Andalusia. Perennial favorites include tortilla, meatballs, garlic prawns, garbanzos and various cheeses. If you're after something more substantial there's also pizza and paella washed down with sangria. Suspended above the hotel's central courtyard the ambience at Picoteo is terrific and, during the afternoon, the canned music is punctuated by the familiar clack of dominoes.

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  20. El Popular

    The vintage El Popular lives up to its populist name with huge portions of delicious comida criolla .

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  21. Hacienda Don José

    Condado on the cheap - it can still be done. Indeed, the Don José is more redolent of a Mexican beach bar than a plush tourist trap. Waves lash against the rocks within spitting distance of your pancakes and huevos rancheros, and busy waitresses shimmy around the tiled tables and colorful murals. If your swanky hotel's all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet has worn you out, drop by here for a little bit of local hospitality.

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  22. Kasalta's

    Wake up with a jolt at Kasalta's, a popular early-morning breakfast haunt and the sort of authentic Puerto Rican bakery and diner that you'll find yourself crossing town to visit. Tucked into Ocean Park's residential enclave, the coffee here is as legendary as the sweets that fill a long glass display case and encapsulate everything from Danish pastries to iced buns. Plentiful seating, myriad newspapers and a buzzing local ambience add even more icing to the cake.

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  23. La Bombonera

    The old-fashioned coffee machine hisses like a steam engine, career waiters in black trousers appear like royal footman at your table, and a long line of seen-it-all sanjuaneros populate the lengthy row of bar stools, catching up on the local breakfast gossip. It shouldn't take you long to work out that La Bombonera is a city institution: it's been around since 1902 and still sells some of the best cakes in town.

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  25. La Fonda El Jibarito

    Welcome to the neighborhood, hermano . El Jibarito is the kind of salt-of-the-earth, unpretentious place that you should reserve to sample your first mofongo or arroz con habichuelas (rice and beans). A favorite of local families, in-the-know tourists and passing New York Times journalists, the meals are simple but hearty with good pork and prawns, or plantains smashed, mashed and fried just about any way you want. Pull up a pew and chow with the locals.

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  26. La Mallorquina

    A must for historically-minded food buffs, or food-minded history buffs, La Mallorquina is the grande-dame of Old San Juan eateries: its been around for 150 years, quite a feat in the musical chairs of Fortaleza Street and its surrounds. It's worth a gander, if only to have a drink at the immense slab of mahogany that is the bar. Should the smells from the kitchen tempt you to stay, try the house specialty, asopao, a rice broth stewed with all type of herbs, seafood or meat.

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  27. Makarios

    Just when you thought you'd already circumnavigated the culinary globe in Fortaleza Street, you move a block south and end up in Lebanon, or Turkey, or is it Greece? Makarios is San Juan's rather boisterous, but authentic, take on Middle Eastern cuisine that shimmies to the rhythms of its resident belly dancers on weekend nights. Arrive with your water pipe (plenty do), tuck into falafel, hummus or delicious lamb kabobs, and ponder the alfresco antics of San Juan's musical youth as they prance and pose outside.

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  28. Marmalade

    With a name liable to dupe over-excited Brits who've been missing out on their early morning toast and marmalade fix, it is somewhat surprising to find that Marmalade doesn't actually serve the stuff at all, except perhaps in a marinade. Promoted as SoFo's latest culinary innovator in a street full of them, this starkly minimalist eating establishment is decked out like the Korova Milk Bar in Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange .

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  29. Metropol

    You can't miss this place - it's right next to the cockfighting arena. It's a neighborhood favorite well-known for the plentiful portions and simple (but not plain) Spanish fare. Wandering tourists are sometimes lured out of their upscale resorts and into its inviting fold.

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