La Monserrate Sea Port — Restaurant in Ponce

My wife and I have been going to La Monserrate restaurant for over 40 years, as well as dozens of times for business meals. This place has been an icon in Ponce, always Great food, service and priceless view. I moved away from Ponce 17 years ago but would eat here every time we came back for vacation, maybe 8 times a year.

This year, we went in March and it was bad. Both food and service were not good at all. Something had changed drastically.

Went back this month of May, to see if it was simply a fluke.

This time it was really bad. We asked and were told that the original owner passed away last year and the family sold the business.

Everything has gone bad and decided that this was our last time eating there. It's really heart breaking to see one of the few great restaurants in Ponce go like this. I foresee they will end up closing very soon.

Anyway, in short. Prices were raised to ridiculous levels. Food serving size is now about 70% what they used to be. Side salad which was always included now is sold separate. Drinks, if available, are not well prepared. Many items on the menu are not available for lack of groceries. Crab tastes like canned, not fresh. Lobster is hard and tasteless. Juices are from concentrate. We were a party of 6 and they gave us 3 menus, because they didn't have many (we were only 1 of 2 tables with people). Menus were damaged by water and barely readable. Was charged $5 for glass bottle of water which they re-fill from a filtering machine.

Such a priceless location now damaged. This used to be a go-to place for tourists but they will now leave with a bad experience.

On the flip side, there are some old and new restaurants in Ponce which are quite good. La Casa del Chef is always great. Tablas in front of the Cathedral also good. Campioni and Rincon Argentino...

Awful, just awful! This breaks my heart to write this. I’m from Puerto Rico, I’m from Ponce. This restaurant WAS my rock steady, seaside, go to for fantastic seafood & to watch the sun set into the ocean. To sit on the open air deck and enjoy the ambiance of Puerto Rico. Not anymore. This isn’t authentic Puerto Rico seafood. I could use a lot of Gordon Ramsey expletives which would be wasted. I can’t believe the cook would send this food out. I suspect the island is still trying to recover from the agriculture damage from Hurricane Fiona limiting fresh produce. The house side salad looked dry & old. Even though seafood is available, flavor seems to also be in short order. At least they should be honest & state to the customer that their options are limited. If this is the reality they should have become creative with offerings, preparation and presentation. I threw some of the food over the deck railing in to the ocean to the fish down below and even they rejected the food. My piña colada a famous Puerto Rico staple, was a mess of frothy coconut water and a capful of rum. Horrible, revolting and downright embarrassing are hardly enough to describe what was provided. I hope time will heal their wounds and that this restaurant recovers its dignity. It’ll be a long time...

Great seafood restaurant that's out of the way!

We came here looking for some good seafood here in Ponce, and we stumbled upon this place.

One thing to note, getting here is kinda difficult, as it's right off the freeway towards Ponce. There's parking in front, but pulling in/pulling out can be a little scary so it's best to come here when traffic isn't busy.

The restaurant is low key and right off the water, and it has a lovely view of the sea! The service is pretty great too.

The food is good for the most part. Starting off the salads were fresh, but the garlic bread had no reason to be that delicious. My partner and I would order a plate of that alone. I had the red snapper filet catch of the day, and while the fish was good, I would maybe recommend the garlic sauce to go with it. The fried plantains were absolutely delicious though! My partner had crab fried rice which was good, but her Mofongo was delicious. We also shared a margarita that was tasty and heavy 😉

Overall pretty good food! I probably recommend getting the fresh catch of the day maybe earlier rather than...