Casa Nativo — Restaurant in Isla de Vieques

Detailed review of food, ambience, and service.

This was a sweet space. As others noted, the air-conditioning is excellent. That doesn’t always matter, but it was an exceptionally hot summer. Very little breeze, and it was nice to have lunch in air-conditioned comfort. The food is also excellent. Wonderful renditions of classical Puerto Rican food. We had five people in our party, and everything we ordered was very good. The atmosphere is a little dark inside, and it is small, small, small, so don’t come expecting big and festive and bright and sunny, but do come for the excellent food and drinks and to have a nice experience in a boutique cool (literally) restaurant. The service was fine, not super friendly, as other folks have also noted, but efficient and fine. Food: the sides are generous. The side options are really great, and so you end up with quite a bit of food. All entrées come with one side. And again, the sides are super generous. You can choose from Tostones or Arepas, Mofongo and Trifongo and more. We had the bacalaitos (cod fritters) as an appetizer, and they were exceptional. I love fried cod fritters, and sometimes they’re a little greasy, and these were not. They were nice and fluffy! And the flavor was on-point. I had the shrimp ajillo. Daughter had the octopus salad (so tender!) My son had a burger (it was fine, but nothing to write home about, but probably not the best thing to get on the menu, as burgers are not the focus, just there for mainlanders who don't wish to branch out perhaps)? The pechugo empandada was good. The dishes were all great versions of what they were. And, the drinks were good. We had a little mixup with the ferry and a friend of ours, who lives in San Juan, missed the ferry and so we had four hours, and so we went for a late lunch. And since we were technically on vacation, I had a nice drink at lunch and it was really good and packed quite a punch. My daughter accidentally ordered a drink as well. I think it was my fault. I was speaking Spanish, and I said the same thing twice, and so we ended up with two really delicious boozy drinks. Margaritas. Which, frankly, I’ve had worse problems than accidentally ordering a second drink! They were very good; we both enjoyed them. But the food is really...

Was really excited to eat here… Our night ended with the owner, drunk, yelling at us over a $5.00 mistake on their behalf. I do not recommend eating here as it is a hostile environment created by the owner.

If you care to read about our experience, please see below.

Arrived on time for our reservation, 8:00pm. No table available. Stood at the bar for 20 minutes. No drinks. You finally sit down. Another 10 minutes before anyone comes over.

After half an hour waiting, our entire party of 5 puts in their drink orders and food order at the same time.

Waited an ungodly amount of time to get our drinks, even just a can of soda from the fridge. While this is happening, the wait staff is now making drinks and attending a larger party that came in after us. We get our drinks after them.

Food finally comes. But only half. We ask for salt and pepper, none is ever brought to the table. The kitchen messes up the side order. Waiter fails to mention it until we began eating, as we were starting and now going on an hour. It was like pulling teeth asking for anything from anyone here.

Other half of food for the party is missing their food. It finally comes after asking and asking. They kitchen hadn’t fixed the side order. Waiter finally apologized for the food. We finish and notice we were double charged for the side order that was a mistake on the kitchen and servers behalf.

Immediately after bringing this issue to our servers attention, they run outside to the owner. He rushed in bombards us with an aggressive and unprofessional attitude and manner.

In a professional dining establishment, a manager or owner would discuss the situation and seek for a resolution. Simple as that. The kitchen and staff were at fault for the extra order.

However the owner proceeded to give us his alcohol fueled monologue about his life, his vast knowledge in many areas such as real estate, and then proceed to let us know he had “been watching” us since we arrived and “was ready for this moment”. Ego ego, ego.

To the owner: A bad tree does not...

By far the worst dining experience I have had in a very, very long time.

If you decide to eat dinner here. Be prepared to spend at least 2+ hours

First the good. This restaurant has the best/nicest space out of all the restaurants in Isabella II.

Unfortunately, that pretty much sums up the positives.

The staff is friendly. As you would expect. But they are very inattentive. That empty glass will sit there for a good while. Before anyone can be bothered to ask if you would like to order another drink.

When I asked the waiter for a recommendation. You would have thought I asked an advanced calculus question. It seemed to stump him and he had no good/useful answer.

It took about 30 minutes before anyone took our order for food. Approximately 75 minutes after that. The first person's meal arrived. There were only 2 of us.

She ordered the cod fritters. There did not appear to be any cod present. It was smashed flat breading.

She also ordered Pollo Empanadas. They were not even average. It was bland, unseasoned chicken. Placed in a bland unseasoned popover. I am not sure these were not a frozen meal. They purchased from the grocery store.

45 minutes later and I still had not received my meal. I asked the waiter how much longer. It took 15 minutes and 2 trips to the table. Only to be told that there "was a screw up" and my meal had not even started cooking.

The apologies we received were perfunctory, at best.

Despite the fact that it was now late and almost all the restaurants in town were closed. I decided that no dinner was a better choice. Then trying to get food from Casa Nativo. I had no faith that it would be prepared or cooked properly. Nor that it would ever...