El Nuevo Rancho

This restaurant was recommended by a friend of ours in Old San Juan. It was easy to find, once you get on 184, its all uphill restaurants and a big party atmosphere. I liked the open air restaurant and the band was warming up for a Sunday afternoon performance. My reason for the three stars is the saltiness of the pork. While tasty, if slightly dry, it was overpowered by how salty the meat was. The rice was bland as well. We enjoyed our meal but felt we could have found something better. I would try a different lechonera next time. Photos attached. It is a pretty cool place.

Before heading into the mountains for our search for good lechon we read reviews that said to «keep going straight until we passed sign 27 for the real deal lechoneras» and that is what we did.
We also read that we would see a small stream overlooking lots of additional seating once we were there, picture shown. However, this stream was not easy to find and we only realized we were in the right area after we finished eating and headed towards the back of the parking lot to see the view that we noticed it.
Since we went on a weekday it was not at all crowded. The shops had plenty to offer from Puerto Rican favorites to lassagna. We tried a little of everything which included an array of root vegetables such as yucca, youtia, breadfruit, etc. roasted whole pork, chicken, rice, beans, accupuria and other fried yummy goodies. The reason why i am giving it a 4 and not 5 is because their pastelles were bland.
Besides that, we found the pork to be well seasoned and the rice to be just right. The root vegetables were just that… starchy and enough to fill the belly but the rice and pork were the main attractions. Additionally the elevation of being up in the mountains was a fantastic. However, please note that you can find roast pig all over the island and don’t need to drive all the way up to guavate to get some. If you drive outside of San Juan towards El Yunke you will see them as well as other businesses along the road (referred to as kiosks).

All types of pork! We got roasted pork– plain & with BBQ sauce. Rice and pigeon peas, and sweet plantains.
Wait in the line, cafeteria style. The person at the counter spoke English and recommended we get the flan too. She was super friendly and made the whole experience less overwhelming.
Live music, which was fun, but even sitting as far away as we could was intense.

This place was recommend to us by someone at our hotel and the drive was well worth it. There was live music fresh food and it was not pricy at all. The lechon was the best I have tried. This is one of my favorite places in the PR and I totally recommend this place to anyone planning on going to Puerto Rico.

Our first objective arriving on Sunday was to get to Guavate for the lechonera! It was quite a distance from the San Juan area but very easy drive on the highway. The minute we arrived at foot of the winding hill we were so stoked! We drove past Mojito the very first lechonera at the foot, but we decided to keep driving and see what we could find. We went up, up and up finally we couldnt find El rancho so I decided to look up the Unilocal app and saw this El Nuevo Rancho lechonera. It was at the top of the hill and quite a spectacle, there was loud music and what looked like a dance hall attached next to the restaurant. We parked up the hill and made our way down there was a line for food and lots of locals dancing salsa and merengue there was loud music, singers and lots of dancing! We were just so excited to try the roasted pork. We ordered 1 lb of pork, some blood sausages, bacalao, yellow rice and some kind of liver. We didnt speak much Spanish so it was a struggle but what worked was money and pointing. At first they missed the blood sausage since we made it all the way up this amazing place I really wanted some blood sausage for my bf. I pointed and pointed and they understood me *smile*. We found a table in the pavilion overlooking the dance floor. Dancing was so much part of the PR culture I really enjoyed it. We tried all the stuff on the tray and I generously passed the blood sausage to my bf told him he was welcome to have it all. He thought I should really try it I decided to muster some courage oh what the heck right? It was turned out to be the most delicious dish on the tray. The pork was overcooked it was dry and the skin was not crispy it didnt beat the other Lechonera T Rancho place we stumbled upon in Camuy. But the blood sausage it was herbal and spicy I really enjoyed it and wished for more. The Guavate hills really made my day.

The best lechonera in PR!!! My wife & I have been vacationing in PR for 5 years now. The locals have always told us about the lechoneras (pig roasting restaurants) in Guavate. We have always been put off because of the drive and the directions or lack there of. If you ever ask for directions in PR you know what I mean. That being said we decided to finally venture off & give it a shot. Amazingly enough it was pretty easy to find. There seems to be only one road in this whole town & all the lechoneras are on this street. We were told to keep driving until the end of the road for the best one. So we did. The pig was amazing. Best in PR. It was not dry at all. The arroz con gandules was amazing. This is traditional Puertorican cuisine at it’s best. Nothing fancy, just good food. The only downside was the acoustics of the band that was playing… Cut right through you. A must try if you love true Puertorican food.