The watermelon margarita and steak kebabs at the Numero Uno Beach House Hotel and Restaurant. Erika P. Rodríguez for Insider Puerto Rico’s food scene is constantly evolving, and right now farm-to-table dining experiences are all the rave.
Keep reading for a local’s list of recommended restaurants and eateries in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Visit Insider’s hub for travel guides, tips, and recommendations Growing up in a Puerto Rican household in Philadelphia, rice and beans was our mac and cheese. It always hit the spot and made me feel comforted and safe.
My mom used to say that whenever you’re feeling sick, you need a plate of “arroz, habichuelas, y carne,” — rice, beans, and meat — to make everything better. When I moved back to Puerto Rico as an adult, it felt familiar to see the same dishes at local restaurants. Puerto Rican food is known for its heartiness and good seasoning.
The plantain is one of the island’s most versatile crops, and serves as the base for mofongo, a mashed dish with garlic, broth, and a choice of protein. Cooks also cut and flatten plantains to make tostones, a fried dish often served in the place of French fries. Once ripe, cooks use plantains to make maduros — soft, sweet, fried accompaniments.
Puerto Rico’s food scene is undergoing a massive shift. Agritourism and farm-to-table dining experiences are on the rise, and award-winning chefs are reimagining gourmet dishes with organic, locally sourced ingredients. Island visitors can best appreciate this movement in San Juan, the capital city that’s abundant with restaurants, food trucks, and hole-in-the-wall finds.
These are some of my top picks to taste your way through the city. Cocina : PúblicaDecoratively prepared fish at Cocina : Pública. Erika P.
Rodríguez for InsiderThis new venue serves as a restaurant, art gallery, and event space. It’s a community-gathering spot where you can do more than just eat — you can foster connections and support local artists. Yashira Vélez, a Puerto Rican chef, leads Cocina and combines local ingredients to create Caribbean-inspired dishes with world flavors, like a gandules masala that blends Puerto Rican pigeon peas with spices from Kashmir, India.
You’ll find favorites like empanadillas stuffed with bacalao — a turnover filled with codfish — and new classics like “Beet Dat Cheese,” a burrata with beet, tomatoes, and a sherry-wine vinaigrette. Restaurant employees have refined both the presentation and service, and while the setting is industrial, it feels welcoming. Numero Uno Beach House Bar & KitchenMediterranean plate and steak kebabs at the Numero Uno Beach House Hotel and Restaurant.
Erika P. Rodríguez for InsiderLocated on Ocean Park Beach, this restaurant at the Numero Uno Beach House hotel is the place to see and be seen. Guests can sit at a table (or on a bean-bag chair!) in the sand and enjoy everything from classic burgers to fresh ceviche.
They have an extensive cocktail menu, and mocktails that are equally as appealing, such as the “Passionjito” made with passion fruit, lime juice, and mint. MarmaladeMarmalade is one of the fanciest dining experiences you can have on the island and is great for special occasions like birthdays or anniversaries. Located in Old San Juan, the dining experience is flooded with different colors, textures, and flavors through a 5-course tasting menu.
You’ll have your choice of seasonal recipes from menus for appetizers, intermediates, entrées, ambrosial desserts, and dessert liqueurs. I recommend the “Tiny White Bean Soup” with scallions, black-truffle oil, and pancetta “dust” as your intermediate. For dessert, the “Choco-L8” allows you to taste chocolate eight different ways in one masterful cake creation.
The space is elegant, so avoid beach attire. Señor PaletaA fruit paleta with chocolate drizzle from Señor Paleta. Señor PaletaSeñor Paleta, a locally owned popsicle shop, has two locations: one in Old San Juan and one in Condado.
The shop also distributes its treats through the only locally owned fast-food franchise in Puerto Rico, El Meson. Since the shop skews the stick-to-popsicle ratio in the customer’s favor, the popsicles come in boxes to minimize dripping. There’s a long list of flavors including Nutella, dulce de leche, papaya, mango, and more.
The popsicle comes topped with drizzles and toppings of your choice, making it perfect for a hot day. Lote 23Mofongo at Lote 23. Jen RuizThis food truck park is an entrepreneur incubator where local businesses can get spots in the program and training to help develop their restaurant concepts.
It’s a fun place to walk around and browse different stalls. I recommend the poke bowl from El Jangiri and the turkey burger from Berger. You should also try the trifongo from El Cuchifrito, which is mofongo made with green plantains, boiled yucca, and sweet plantains.
They top it with chicharrones — fried pork rinds. The clean and air-conditioned bathrooms are a bonus and an unexpected find. Orujo, Taller de GastronomiaChef Carlos Portela preparing personalized dishes for the guests at his restaurant in San Juan.
Erika P. Rodríguez for InsiderOrujo, Taller de Gastronomia is the latest project by award-winning local chef Carlos Portela. There’s no set menu — Chef Portela prepares a full gastronomic flight that can range from 7 to 20 courses.
The line-up is different every time, though always featuring the finest local ingredients. It is a chef-led concept, meaning your hosts are the chefs. You’re encouraged to walk in the kitchen and interact with them.
The experience takes about four to five hours and with only a handful of tables, it feels like you’re attending a private party at a friend’s house. During a recent visit, the courses I had included a play on a traditional alcapurria with hand shredded plantains and local yellowfin tuna, cornish hen and mushroom ravioli with sweet yellow peppers and Iberian ham, and steamed mahi mahi with sweet potato broth. There’s an impressive wine selection, each expertly paired with a dish.
Reservations book up months in advance. This is more than a meal — it’s a one-of-a-kind dining experience. La BurguesíaIf you’re craving a burger the size of your face, visit La Burguesía, where cooks make gourmet hamburgers from scratch daily.
I’m partial to the El Principe de Asturias, which comes with fried Serrano ham, gruyere cheese, and truffle oil. The restaurant is known for its legendary 16-ounce shakes, with playful names like “If You See A Bear, Play Dead” for their s’mores recipe and “Wonka Kong” for their chocolate-on-chocolate option. ViandaSnook ceviche with lulo, jalapeño, sweet pepper, red onion, radish and avocado at Vianda.
Erika P. Rodríguez for InsiderChef Francis Guzmán and his wife, Amelia Dill, opened their farm-to-table restaurant, Vianda, in spring 2018. In 2019, the James Beard Foundation named Vianda a semifinalist in the Best New Restaurants in America category.
The restaurant elevates Puerto Rican ingredients in recipes like the pork-belly kimchi, served with a coconut broth and bok choy. If you’re craving a plate of well-prepared greens, you’ll find them here, and they always serve root vegetables in some form of salad or appetizer that changes seasonally. Reservations are a must.
Cocina AbiertaZucchini pakoras with beet and carrot relish and Kalamata olives yogurt at Cocina Abierta. Erika P. Rodríguez for InsiderThis high-end restaurant has prix-frixe menus with 6 courses and three options — vegetarian, pescatarian, or carnivore.
I enjoy the beef Wellington on the carnivore menu, lobster ravioli on the pescatarian menu, and breadfruit and goat-ricotta gnocchi on the vegetarian menu. You can’t mix and match dishes, but if members of your party choose different menus, you can sample from each other’s plates. It’s a slow-dining experience perfect for a celebratory night out with friends and family.
Stuffed Avocado ShopBowls are generously filled with healthy ingredients at San Juan’s Stuffed Avocado Shop. Stuffed Avocado ShopIt can be hard to find affordable, healthy food on the island as farmers often export or sell local produce and seafood to restaurants. Stuffed Avocado Shop is a solid lunch option that serves customizable avocado bowls with vegan and vegetarian dishes available.
They have three locations, two of which are in San Juan. In addition to their bowls, they also have avocado-based desserts, like a chocolate mousse and a brownie. YokoJapanese food is not common in San Juan, but Yoko delivers.
They have a tiny space, so reservations are a must, but that’s what makes it feel like an intimate dining experience with attentive service. Their pork-belly bao, wagyu steak, and lychee crème brûlée are all outstanding. They also have an extensive sushi menu and original sake cocktails.
PimentónLa Pimentón pizza, with pomodoro sauce, mozzarella, parmesan, peppers, grill sausage, cantimpalo, pepperoncini, and arugula. Erika P. Rodríguez for InsiderI never thought I’d be recommending gas-station pizza, but Pimentón is that good.
What started as one man with a brick oven in a gas-station parking lot has turned into a separate-but-attached restaurant with, arguably, the best pizza on the island. You can get the house special, “El Pimentón,” with chorizo, pepperoni, arugula, and pomodoro sauce, or opt for a wild card like “Hot Honey,” infused with honey and a spicy oil. Loiza DarkLocated across from SJU, Loiza Dark is my favorite place to bring guests before they leave.
The chocolate factory uses single-origin, locally grown cacao to make delicate, exquisite, hand-painted truffles that look almost too pretty to eat. The recipes vary by season but the passion-fruit and guava truffles are my favorite, and they make the perfect souvenir to bring the flavors of Puerto Rico back home with you. View Insider’s comprehensive guide to visiting San Juan, Puerto Rico.
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From: insider
URL: https://www.insider.com/best-restaurants-where-to-eat-in-san-juan-puerto-rico
