Cervecería del Callejón — Local services in San Juan

I’m giving 2 stars because they were friendly and open on New Years Day (hardly anything was). However, this is one of the worst restaurant experiences I’ve had in a long time. They said the wait would be 30 mins, but it was closer to an hour. There were 3 of us eating - we ordered pork dumplings, veggie dumplings, 2 KFC, and 2 fried rice. They brought out the items one dish at a time with a significant wait between dishes. My friend walked over by the kitchen to see what was taking so long and they were hand cutting items and prepping as they went. The dumplings should have been prepped way earlier in the day. The organization was majorly off. This should have taken about 20-30 mins not the 2 hours it took. The dumplings were small and burnt. The KFC was disgusting. They were dark meat (menu didn’t mention this) and the chicken had not been trimmed of fat so they were grisly. The flavor was nonexistent. I ate one and was so disgusted I couldn’t eat any others. The fried rice was not cooked properly. Once again it seemed like they were making the rice as people ordered. It was crunchy and not cooked all the way. Also, it had some kind of sweet sauce that it was swimming it. It was nasty. I was starved so I ate some of it, but the meal over all was horrendous. I used the restroom and it was dirty. They also did not have any soap. Would not recommend and will never go back when...

I'm not sure anyone in boh has had a Bánh mì before. It's a simple sandwich that is as easy to make as it is to mess up. Their attempt included loose, lukewarm pork loin strips with a vague approximation of the flavors and drenched in Sriracha mayo. No pate, no headcheese, and I can't recall if there's pickIed diakon. I also waited nearly 2 hours for it. The Vietnamese shop around the corner from my house back home can crank these out every 5 minutes in a shoebox of a kitchen. We also ordered the kimchi and the cucumber salad. These were GOOD. They added papaya to the kimchi which was a great touch -- it was a shame we waited over an hour for those considering the main ingredients don't even need to be cooked. My concern is with the overall organization of the kitchen. Major red flags when dumplings are being individually assembled in the middle of a busy service -- either prep accordingly or 86 them. When I brought up the wait the server said they have a full house -- yes -- this is precisely what the menu and the kitchen should be prepared for and nothing on the menu is complicated enough to warrant the delay. We would up leaving before our fried chicken came out which is a bummer -- it looks good but not...

Great Beer, People, & Food

Thursday night in Old San Juan, and we decide to look for a brewery (knowing it might be a bit of a long-shot without leaving Old San Juan proper). We actually only found one.... and it was super close to our room.... like in the same building. We figure, that's just about as convenient as you can get, so we pop out onto Calle de San Francisco, and find signs leading us down an alley, along with another sign advertising Asian fusion cuisine. Once we get to the place, we realize that they are both for our place and we start to get excited. The place is definitely hipster-decorated when you walk in, and feels super comfortable. We're greeted immediately, and we realize the place is empty... (it's also early on a Thursday evening, so I guess not too surprising).

The food was amazing, we got some tuna tartare, veggie mandu, and some house fries. All were fantastic. The beers on tap were all good, and we ended up talking to the brewer about the collaborations with other local breweries.

Fantastic place, will be going back every time we visit Old San Juan!

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