Tasca El Pescador

My sister-​in-​law and I walked up to the Plaza del Mercado from Condado and decided to have lunch. Tosca del Pescado wasn’t yet open but we decided to wait, and it was well worth it. We had conch salad. Our waiter told us it was large enough to split and it was. It came with a side and he recommended the tostones. They were the best I had. My sister– in-​law ordered the crema de pana. It was delicious. Our waiter then brought us some tostones de pana which were incredible. An excellent lunch with a lot of food. At our waiter’s recommendation, we had the white wine Sangria. Amazing! Nestor, our waiter, gave us excellent service. All in all, a very pleasant lunch.

El Pescador is the real deal. This is where locals get their fresh seafood fix, with a traditional spanish-​criollo menu. Small place, but if you come before/​after pick hours you might get an outdoor table facing the popular Placita square.

back to el pescador for a second time, just before we leave puerto rico for ny. we came here because we know this is the place for sea food lovers and because there is not much else in san juan that offers a clean taste of the ocean. in the land of lechon we dream marisco. we had a few tapas, they were all very good, the black rice divine. we met the owner, a very dedicated, passionate and professional owner-​chef. if there is one thing this place is missing is a front view of the ocean but la placita-​mercado is very lively and fun to be around. about the food we received, i will let the photos to speak for them self.

Absolutely delicious. We had the sea bass and the halibut in caper sauce. The avocado salad and the passion fruit mousse were also outstanding.

Very poor customer service, slow and aloof. We misheard seafood cup for $ 8 when it was actually $ 18. That’s fine, accents and all make it hard to understand others sometimes. However, we were charged $ 22 and when we pointed out it should be $ 18, he took the bill away and returned it to say $ 20. What?
Anyway, sardine peppers were good, drinks were good, plantains were good, and the seafood plate was sooo good… but service was piss poor.

The sea bass was amazing. Maybe the best fis I have ever had. The place was on a lively square. It was late and we were seated quickly. Wonderful.

Going in we were not sure what to expect because there were mixed reviews about this restaurant.
The verdict is this place is just a lot of noise for nothing. Overpriced menu for small portions and not really that fresh, tap water smelled like fish (the waiter brought a Fiji bottle without even asking if I want tap or bottled water water).
I would not recommend. We loved having desert at the place next door –Asere– very good service and delicious desert– We regret not dining there instead.

Within walking distance from La concha if you don’t mind a nice neighborhood stroll. Not a bad neighborhood at all. There were some really beautiful homes on the way to look at. In fact we did twice we liked the area so much!
Now on to the food!
We happen to stumble upon this place while exploring the Santurce Saturday night street party. It was too late to eat there that night so we came back the next day to check it out. Not much to look at but totally worth it. Very fresh fish and the most AMAZING octopus salad, actually most amazing octopus I’ve ever had. I had no idea octopus could melt in your mouth like butter. Incredible. And all on the recommendation of the very friendly and helpful waiter. If we ordered something that he felt wasn’t up to pare that day, he told us. I originally ordered the conch salad but I guess it wasn’t so good that day and he pushed for the octopus. I am glad I listened! Our waiter was kind enough to translate the specials into engligh for us. This is a local neighborhood place after all. And on his recommendation ordered the Monkfish in green sauce. Not so much a sauce but more of a stew with the most flavorful broth/​stock I ‘ve ever had. My only complaint is I wish I has some bread to sop up all the delicious broth. Almost a week later and I still think about that dish. Others at the table ordered the whole fried snapper, very fresh and tasty and the Paella which was very good as well. I recommend the Paella for anyone that may not be the most adventurous eater or prefers a more mild flavor. I also recommend sitting outside so you can watch as the world goes by all while sipping wine and listening to salsa music. :)
Next time we come to San Juan we will definitely be going back to this place!

If you’re looking for good seafood in the metro area, this is the place to go. Everything is so fresh! Most of the time is packed, but you can wait in la plaza with a mojito, or sometimes inside in the bar. The service is very good and attentive. Go and eat like a pig, and when you’re finished, please dance salsa in the place on the corner!

Go. If you love fresh seafood its worth the wait (if any). Conch salad — so fresh. Cuttlefish in garlic and butter — mouth-​watering app. Squid with rice in squid ink — a pyramid (try it!) of flavor. Servers are super friendly but busy turning over tables. Reasonable prices and excellent quality.
Do not even try to drive here. If you need a cab ask your server to call one when you get the check — street outside is boisterous on a weekend night.

Long wait sometimes but worth the wait!
Awesome food and great sangria!
Have not been disappointed by any of the offerings. Love it love it.

Why does this place not have 5 stars!!! Local, small and not at all touristy… exact how I like it! Amazing seafood! I had the cazuela de mariscos… I am so full but happy! Amazing food! Recommending it to everyone!

This place does not look too inviting on the outside, but the food here is good. Pretty big menu but they need more vegetable variety.
Octopus was very good and so was the salmon!
Also, a bit noisy and a very small restaurant inside.

Three girls stumbled in hungry on a Thursday night. Looking for another restaurant but the wait was over 45 minutes. It was already 8pm so we went back to Tasca.
Location right smack in Plaza de Mercado (La Plazita). Somewhat crowded on a Thursday night. The waiter immediately brought us to a table. Menu is all in Spanish. We opted to get the appetizers from a handwritten paper. Boy was it a great delight that we got them. I wish I scribbled the names down.
Appetizers were small portions. Order a couple apps if you enjoy a good seafood meal. One was just three peppers filled with bacalao in a tasty tomato cream sauce. We asked for more bread to get more of the sauce.
A second app was the sliced squid. Again the sauce made it so good.
A third app was a specialty, fish neck. Not something for the weak. It has a gooey taste to it and was extremely salty sauce. I liked it because there was no fishy taste just the saltiness from the sauce.
The entrees were standard. The waiter asked if we wanted avocado salad. Be sure to get it because the entrees come with fried sides. Although the food was mainly Spanish, the sides were Puerto Rican style… meaning don’t expect much greens.
We realized there were many forks on the wall. For a restaurant, the interior decoration looks okay. The food was very on par to good quality seafood and they got the fork awards to prove it.
We only regretted not ordering the octopus salad. Next time!
Three girls went home full!!!

Ceviche 5
Mohitos 4
Chilean sea bass with shrimp sauce 5
Fried snapper 5
This place is Awesome!!!
DO NOT MISS THIS SPOT!

This is a bit off the beaten path. It’s in a neighborhood /​street that even our cabbie and ppl at the hotel didn’t know. When we got to this area, we were surprised. We thought it would dark, secluded and scary but there was this huge street festival going on. Great vibe. Salsa music, dancing in the streets, kids eating ice cream, lots of activity. Definitely take a cab out there.
The odd thing about this place is it closes at 7:30 pm, so know that. It’s very small as well. Seafood primarily.
We got the empanadas (cod, if I remember correctly). Good, not great. I got the seafood grill which had a little of everything (prawn, shrimp, oysters, clams, scallops and calamari). I would recommend that if you’re not sure of what to order. My wife got the squid/​ink dish. I think she liked it but wasn’t wow’d. It’s one of those things where she tried to be adventurous and although once she got right to the squid, she was fine, digging through ink/​rice wasn’t probably her fave (although she didn’t say she didn’t like it). We also got the avocado on the side — it was big and drizzled in oil and some light tomato topping.
As people who visit San Juan quickly realize, it’s got a lot of stray cats. They’re not mangey and are taken care of very well by the city before being returned so you don’t feel odd petting them. We sat outside and a calico we nicknamed «Pes-​gato» (pescado meaning fish in Spanish and gato meaning cat), she sat with us the whole meal. Just wanting to get pet and waiting for us to drop something. We shared some of our seafood with her.
Down the street was a loud place with salsa music /​dancing spilling out into the street. My wife and I danced some salsa before heading back.
The service in San Juan is traditionally very slow and this place did very little to break that stereotype. For a small place with only a couple of diners, we would’ve thought we’d get a bit more attention.
The prices were very good incl the wine prices. A very good value overall.
Not our fave meal in San Juan but different, fresh seafood and overall a nice dinner place. Give it a shot.

Horrible, horrible, horrible. As I was Doing some research for an up coming trip to Puerto Rico, I came upon a YouTube video showing Tasca El Pescador. Delicious seafood is a must when in Puerto Rico, so without a doubt I Unilocaled it and found some decent reviews and decided this was a place we were going to eat at.
When we arrived, it looked completely different from the video but I had high hopes for their food. The food for the kids came first which were calamari, fried shrimps and French fries. The calamari was really good served with a delicious tartar dipping sauce. French fries were also good and shrimps as well. So far, so good. I ordered the paella. What they served me was crap. Mushy rice, and bad seafood. No dpi t about it the shrimps they served me were bad. The taste was pure ammonia. It was horrible and disgusting. So bad that I thought my throat was closing up from the ammonia taste. I couldn’t eat them, nor, could I eat the rest of it.
Not only was my food disgusting, it everyone had a problem with their food. Everyone who had shrimp, had the ammonia taste. The conch was tough and chewy and overall they just served us bad food.
Not to mention the staff was rude and kept us waiting really long!
I will not go back and it was really upsetting since this was our «farewell Puerto Rico» dinner right before out flight. What a way to leave!

Wow what a horrible experience.
Took my family here before heading to the airport, we had a great time in Puerto Rico but unfortunately our last meal before heading back home was here at Tasca El Pescador and It was not pleasant.
I was happy to recommend this restaurant and bring my whole family here after seeing this restaurant featured on YouTube (Keyword search «Puerto Rico»), we sat outside at their curbside tables, we ordered appetizers such as Fried Calamari and Fish Broth Soup as starters, the Calamari and Fish broth Soup was delicious and had high expectation for the rest of our meal.
After we received our appetizers the service got slow, we waited at least an hour for our main entrees, when we finally received our main entrée, the shrimp and seafood on everyone’s dish tasted like Pure Ammonia… Yuuuuuck!
Everyone was disappointed and scared thinking we just swallowed ammonia, everyone left their dishes untouched, we paid and walked out disappointed, what a shame for our last meal in Puerto Rico before heading back home,
I do not recommend this restaurant, Slow Service and food tasted like ammonia… after some research i got informed that seafood can taste like ammonia if it is spoiled.
Peace.

Not sure how this place has managed to rack up such great reviews…
Let’s start with the good stuff.
FRESH fish galore. Look at the specials, if you can read them (the writing is horrible). I ordered the seared Tuna with grilled onions, and it was great.
The guy at the cash register, possibly the owner or manager was awesome. Friendly, fun and took time to chat with us. I would come back here simply for that experience.
Now, the bad.
Service was HORRIBLE. WE walked in and were stuffed in to a back corner at the counter. We waited for about 10 minutes to TRY to get a menu… then waited another 10 minutes just to order, before we moved seats. While ordering, our waitress really didn’t seem to give a rats ass about us. When our food came, my Tuna dish (mentioned above) was absolutely delicious, but the grilled mix plate that my buddy ordered was downright gross. The calamari was bone dry… rubbery and gross. No flavor what so ever. It almost seemed like they took calamari rings that were completely frost bitten and cooked them far too long. The Clam, was nothing but a shell. No meat inside. TOTALLY not worth the $ 22 price tag.
I almost feel as though we were targeted as tourists and given a second rate service. We had a local turn to us and ask, ‘how’d you find this place?” as it is off the beaten path… I mentioned Unilocal… which is exactly where they can find my review. BOOM!

After spending a few days in Puerto Rico my friend and I were a bit eager to get out of the touristy areas and find some good local fare. Since Puerto Rico is an island we were expecting to see more seafood places, but there really didn’t seem to be many options to choose from. So we relied on our friendly Unilocal app, and for a local spot with great seafood, Tasca El Pecador seemed to be the best fit for what we were looking for.
We had rented a car, so we ventured into the heart of San Juan to find this place. When we found it, it was located in what appeared to be a small little square with other restaurants and shops in a residential neighborhood. Although the neighborhood was residential and not as high class as the area we were staying, we never felt unsafe. Parking was a bit of a pain, but we managed and find decent street parking. When we arrived at the restaurant on a gorgeous 80 degree sunny late afternoon, we got a table for two outside on the patio.
We ordered the sangria, which was a tad too sweet for my taste. We also ordered the fresh seafood salad, which came out served cold. It was full of octopus, scallops and shrimp, green pepper and onion. The taste was surprisingly light, crisp and a tad sweet. Next we got a small bowl of the seafood soup which was also very light. It was what I believe to be a chicken based soup with a touch of tomato and Spanish herbs with tons of fresh seafood boiled to perfection. It was very tasty!!! For our main, we ordered the seafood paella which not only looked amazing but tasted amazing. The rice was cooked perfectly and the dish was ample enough to feed two people and they did not skimp on the seafood at all. the seafood was very tasty… the clam and the muscle were a tad overcooked for my taste but overall the paella was just as good as the best one I had in Barcelona.
I didn’t find this place expensive at all. The quality of the food and the generous portions make it a fantastic value, much cheaper than many of the other places in the more touristy areas of San Juan. In fact that had to be the cheapest best tasting Paella Ive ever had… it was 16 dollars. Id paid twice that where I live.
The service was a tad on the slow side but that was perfectly ok for us. Who would want to be in a rush on a gorgeous sunny 80 degree afternoon on vacation while sitting outside on a patio enjoying the local spirit and flavors of the Caribbean? Not me! I happily would’ve sat there all day. This experience was worth of a picture in National Geographic. This is how I will remember Puerto Rico and when I come back, you bet you will find me here.