El Cepo Restaurante Mirador — Restaurant in Lares

Taking Lares To New Standards

At 1,695 feet of elevation, on the tallest point of Barrio Espino in Lares, PR. El Cepo delivers to be arguably the best restaurant in the small town. This hybrid of outdoor/indoor, fills its room with low beautiful music, beautiful scenery, great customer service and food that give any other restaurant in the area a run for their money. With only minor complaints to my side of this wonderful story, its fair to say, it blew my expectations from the get go!

Arrival/Location: We arrive on a Sunday afternoon to a pack restaurant, the wait time was around an hour to be seated which is only fair since we did not call in for reservations. But instead of waiting bored out of our minds we were invited to experience the restaurant and its "mirador" an open tower in which we could see the beauty of Puerto Rico's central mountains and all of its glory.

Customer Service: We were then called and seated. Eager and with big expectations we were assign our waiter. Reflecting the restaurants high standards, the waiter was helpful, smart and above all respectful. At the end of our Lunch, she even wrote on the receipt "Thank you for visiting us" and her name which im so sorry i have forgotten. A little detail that goes a long way with customers, showing us a lot of appreciation. I hope this is a reflection from managers to their staff, i hope they are paid and have the right benefits, doing such a good job should be rewarded.

Some imperfections but great food: I went with a hot appetizer, the soup of the day. That was fittingly pumpkin soup (since we are in the month of October) The soup was delicious, i almost did not order it as i feared it was going to be sweet, but it took me by surprise. Creamy, aromatic, well seasoned and the plating was beautiful with a bright orange and green coloring contrasting the white bowl. I had the opportunity to also try the "Empanadas de Eucalipto" with empanadas done 3 ways. The one with "Bacalaito" (salted cod) a Puertorican favorite was amazing, moist and seasoned well. The one with cheese and papaya was very good as well. With the only complaint coming from the one with "Ropa Vieja" it was a bit dry and needed more seasoning. Its a shame because Ropa Vieja is one of my favorite Cuban Dishes. For my main entree i had the Ribeye Steak, Medium rare with a side of Mofongo. The mofongo was well season, amazing cook on it and could be cut like butter with my knife, not braking apart and holding up its fantastic shape. The steak was well season, well cooked. Medium rare just like i asked, the only complaint i have is the fat wasnt cut or reduced in any form. I understand some Boricuas (Natives from the island) like the "chicho" (Fat) but i rather it being cut or reduced. My other complaint was that the plating, as it was very clumsy compared to that of my guesses. Although thinking it was a bit expensive at first, when presented with the big steak i got and how well it was cooked, i thought the price was fair given the quality. For my desert we went with a cheesecake that i shared with one of my guess since we were all full! The cheesecake was creamy and aromatic, with a caramel sauce to balance out, it was the perfect desert to end the day.

Overall and Final Thoughts: With only a few complaints, this restaurant manage to blow my expectations away. I had a great time and ate some fantastic food. It is an experience you need to see for yourselves and i encourage you to find the time and visit El Cepo. A stamp of approval from this customer, and i will definitely be...

Went here a few months ago and fell in love with this place therefore, I made sure to return as soon as I could. Unfortunately, my second visit was not as good as my first. Let me mention the positives first, beautiful place with amazing views, service of our waiter was really great, she new exactly how to handle customer needs and concerns 💯 to her (do not remember her name maybe Genesis). On the flip side; we ordered medium well and got medium rare meat (waiter handled well). The food was just ok; fish sticks felt dry and not fresh, risotto somewhat salty. We ordered glass of water with ice , we ordered an extra sauce for the fish sticks and olive oil for our salad to our surprise with no notice they bought bottle of water and charged $2.50 for each extra sauce. Do not get me wrong it is fine they only offer bottle water and charge extra sauce however, I believe they should let the customer know and let it be their choice if they are willing to pay this extra charge since this rarely happens in any restaurant. Last but not least my reservation was at 6pm (we did get there a bit earlier and were seated) with a 2hour opportunity for our reserve we should have been able to stay there until 8pm. It was a surprise when at 7:38 they were telling us we needed to leave the table not in a bad way but not in a comfortable manner either. So sad I drove a long way with high expectations. You have a lot of positives I just ask you to keep your standards in good and...

Beautiful scenery but unless you're nearby for a reason, I'm not sure if driving the long distance (just to come here) is worth it. Service is decent, albeit a little slow....even with early dinner reservations, they asked us to order our entrees quickly to get it in the kitchen queue.

Our party of 6 shared a few dishes, but only a few items stood out - the shrimp appetizer (CHICHARRONES DE CAMARÓN) and lamb chops (EL PASTOR JIBARITO) entree with risotto option for the starch. Both were seasoned well and cooked perfectly.

Unfortunately, the other items did not meet our expectations. Tomahawk steak that was meant to be shared by 3 people was way undercooked and had to be sent back twice. Should've been medium rare but it was blue rare/cold in the middle. They were nice enough to remove the item off the bill and fired up a Churrasco entree to take home with us.

The grilled snapper (CHILLO A LA PARRILLA) was served whole and while it was cooked okay, the entire fish had zero flavor. The accompanying mofongo was flavorless and dryyyyy. So sad.

Again, if you're in the area, it could be a nice place to share a few appetizers & bougie drinks with friends while snapping some cool photos against the lush plantation backdrop. But to drive a few hours out of your way JUST to eat here, meh,...