Cafe Puerto Rico

The Mofongo with Yuca is amazing. Our party tried the shrimp, steak and chicken and all 3 were a huge hit. They lost their liquor license. If we could have enjoyed a glass of wine or a beer likely would have rated it 5 stars.

This review is a bit belated (about a year) but when a place sticks… Came here with my bachelor party the morning after our first night in PR. Tired, hungry and ready to scarf down some authentic local cuisine, we would not be disappointed. Between us we ordered about 7 types of mofongo, from poultry to steak to seafood. None of us had any regrets, absolutely delicious. We sat upstairs, next to a fantastic draft coming from the large windows overlooking a square in Old San Juan. The prices were slightly steep, but given the location it wasn’t a big deal. I’m going with 4 instead of 5 stars as we had to wait a substantial time for the food (about an hour). I’ll be coming back with all of the people I’m trying to the religion now as Puerto Rican.

Ok this place just gave the WWE smackdown to every other mofongo I’ve had. Absolutely delicious.

This place was awesome and Omar was incredible! He took the time to explain their Puerto Rican cuisine. The skirt steak, sweet plantain mofungo and rice were all fantastic. Definitely a place to visit in Old San Juan.

Nice place. Came here due to the 4 star rating. We ordered the ½ combo appetizer– it was all fried but good. I’m from the south where we fry everything. Plenty of food for the two of us so instead of ordering a full dinner I ordered the black bean soup and it comes with choice if side for only $ 6. My wife went straight for the tres leche cake with Nutella and all she said was wow.

They say if you want a taste of Puerto Rico you have to try this place! The meal was amazing! I felt like I was eating in someone Puerto Rican home. Very small cozy spot on the strip in Old San Juan. Was able to get a Table right outside! Excellent piña coladas!

Very nice café here with great mofongo. The mixto plantains is my favorite and simple. A good spot in a great area. Come here for authentic Puerto Rican in el viejo San Juan. Good service too

Long wait for food even though we went later in the night and it wasn’t as busy. Bar was closed. They had us walk around instead of staying right there to wait so we went and got a drink and walked around the city. My husband got the bistec encebollado and I got the mofongo, salad and arroz y habichuelas. It was all perfect!

Great food, great location, great ambience located at the heart of plaza colon in osj.
I came in for dinner and although the bar was closed my server Slyvia fixed me with fresh squeezed lemonade before the food arrived.
I got the regular plantain mofongos and this place has the option of regular or sweet potato plantain and you can top veggies, chicken, shrimp, and meat. The food was amazing and the service was top notch! Slyvia was super nice, big shout out to her if they read the review!

A+A+A+!!!
This was the best meal choice of my vacation!!! The place is very small so be prepared to stand in line or wait and enjoy the weather. Once in side the small wood interior it is very clean and intimate very enjoyable with a small group. If you have more then 8 –10 people this may not be the place for you if you need a lot of elbow room. But the food takes care of everything and makes it great!!! I had the skirt steak and I was totally surprise and satisfied. The MEAT (pause) was succulent and divine… nutritious and delicious! The veggies and rice and beans also mouth watering!!! I will be back if I am every in the area!!!
I have absolutely nothing to complain about this establishment… WONDERFUL PLACE!!!
HOWEVER, the people cutting in line and disregarding the elderly and babies to eat first… your are scum!!! I was glad the family were not punks and neither were we so get in the back of the line!!! Everyone else waited you and your lady friend can to. HINT TO Lady friend your man is a jerk rethink your relationship not bow your head in embarrassment.

Ha! I beat Chef A. to a review! I wonder if he’ll do a review of Café Puerto Rico, if he ever gets down here.
My wife and I made Old San Juan Puerto Rico one of our stops on a 10 day cruise. Up from where the cruise ships dock, next to Plaza Christobol Colon Sq. CPR is a wonderful place to experience Old San Juan.

This place is fantastic in so many regards – where to start? I know where. The piña colada are out of this world! Their coladas are hand made with fresh ingredients and not overwhelmed with sweetness. The creamy texture of fresh coconut milk and fresh fruit juices really come through for a refreshing experience.
Our meal consisted of marinated grilled to a perfect medium-​rare skirt steak, Spanish styled rice, and fried plantains.
The skirt steak was perfectly grilled with the right amount of char to give it outstanding balance. The rice was spicy and tender; but not so spicy as to be overpowering. The sweet plantains were fantastic — — taking me back to the plantains served in Bangkok Thailand. We enjoyed a fantastic meal — — one to remember for sure. I think this may make my top 5 meals of my life – simple and basic, but so well prepared.

The food was amazing! Highly recommend the Mofongo chicken entrée. The service was exceptional.

Per my fellow Unilocal elite’s advice below, get here at 515 because this place packs out fast! We got in line at 515 and there was already a line formed with about 10 people ahead of us. Beware, line stranglers will test you and try to jump the line after no waiting.
I came here on a recent trip to Old San Juan. We’d heard rumbling of just how awesomely delicious their food was.
I dined on the whole fried red snapper, rice and beans and a salad. Accompanied with 2 glasses of albarino, my tab came up to less than 40 bucks. That included tax and tip. At first I was a bit apprehensive because market value stickers always indicate the driving up of prices. Not here! The snapper and 2 sides were 19.00. Yes, fresh whole red snapper for 19.00. And it was soooooooooooooooo good. The rice and beans were also deliciously good. You know how you go to some spots and the rice and beans have no soul, that’s not the case here.
The interior although small, is clean and dimly lit. It has a cool old world vibe. You know minus the technology :)
If you find yourself traipsing the streets of Old San Juan, make Café Puerto Rico one of your stops!

This was a recommendation the hotel gave us as a good, authentic lunch spot. When we told the guy who got us the can where we were going, he had a huge grin and told us his two favorite items — mofongo with shrimp in a cream sauce and mofongo with the steak. We got them both, and they were tasty! I got the shrimp, and my friend couldn’t wait for me to take a picture of his plate before he took his first bite, ha! The flavored were great and we ate everything. We also got the fried cheese to start, and that was ok. It’s not your typical fried cheese and the texture was firmer than I expected.
Overall, a must-​go! Also, note that they close between lunch and dinner. Some people who were walking by (they have outside seating too) wanted to try it but they were closed and we were some of the last groups still eating.
Also, I’m pretty sure I saw this featured in the American Airlines in-​plane magazine in a San Juan-​featured article!

We were recommended by a friend to go here and so happy we did! It’s a small space so be in the area by 5:15 so you can go in right at 5:30 when they open! We ordered the traditional mofongos with skirt skirt and chicken– my husband got the plantains with it and me the cava (which was soooo good). Large dishes so think of sharing. Otherwise– pack it up– and drop it off the homeless right around.
Friendly service– great drinks– pricey. We dined at only two ‘fine quality’ restaurants and did mostly ‘bar’ type of food for most of our trip. So choose wisely which restaurants you really want to eat at.

FOOD
Shrimp stuffed yuca mofongo with a side of salad and white rice. The shrimp had a lot of flavor and the yuca mofongo was moist and tasty. ⁴⁄₅
SERVICE
Our servers did a great job managing all 30 of us. They were very friendly and helped us with the menu. They were also attentive. ⁴⁄₅
FINAL THOUGHTS
Good food and service. I recommend this restaurant.

This restaurant was recommended by the hotel and was a great one. The chicken and plantains were really good.

Right in the heart of San Juan this small little café dished out some major flavor and hospitality. We were told in the airport we needed to visit this spot for some real deal authentic mofongo. I was familiar with the area since I had visited this part of town before on my last visit. Upon arrival we were greeted and only took about 5 minutes to seat us.
We all ordered a sampler platter that brought delicious pieces of fried plantains, croquettes, pieces of octopus and chicken. Everything was cooked very well and had great flavor. Especially the chicken with a spicy mayo type sauces and the croquettes.
I ordered the Tropical Punch, the guys laughed because it was a fruity and girly drink. Therefore I spiked it real good with Bacardi 151. Yea nothing fruity about it anymore. Really Good!!!
Then came the mofongo! Jesus this was amazing. I ordered a mix of skirt steak and shrimp. The mofongo was very rich in flavor with great consistency and texture. Great olive oil flavor with garlic and onions. The steak was very tender as was the shrimp. We all had a great meal with very attentive service and I would recommend for people not from the area.

Café PR was some of the best food I had during my week in Puerto Rico. A friend recommended Café PR and the mofongo was everyone’s favorite.
Opened at 5:30, sat a group of 11 right away on Monday night. Sat upstairs in the private dining room. Between everyone, we ordered breaded chicken breast, creamy PR soup, chicken mofongo, steak mofongo, veggie mofongo and fish in garlic sauce.
Prices were super reasonable, the $ 21 steak mofongo was arguably the best dish of the night.
We were in a tad bit of a rush, the server really helped us along and we were in, ate and paid in 1.5 hours. Great liquor selection, cocktails were really good.
If you’re in San Juan and looking to eat, this is an obvious and delicious choice!

Bf and I were here on a Saturday evening, around 7PM. There was a line at the door, but we were offered seats at the bar with no wait, so of course we did that. It was the nicest bar I’ve ever sat at! Very spacious and clean — I highly recommend sitting at the bar if you can.
This was my first meal in PR so I was set on having mofongo. However, I didn’t really know what that was… I just knew that I should eat it, so we relied on the bartender’s recommendations. I ended up with the skirt steak mofongo with cassava (yucca) and bf had the shrimp mofongo in a light garlic sauce with mixed sweet and green plantain. The sauce that came with the skirt steak was unbelievably salty so I wasn’t a huge fan of it. Even thinking back to it now makes me thirsty. The shrimp was great though. Plus, the bartender (Che) makes some awesome drinks and doesn’t skimp on the rum! Oh and if you’re debating dessert, just do it and get the tres leches cake. It was such a succulent piece of goodness!
Overall, the meal was ok but I would have preferred more for the price we paid. If we come back, I would get something besides mofongo. It wasn’t the best I had in PR.