Caficultura — Restaurant in San Juan

Coffee was best I had in the area. Avocado on toast with eggs was also best breakfast I had in the area.

Removing 1 star because the service is pretty bad. When we arrived, there was one staff lady at the entrance. She had her back to us messing around with the cash machine. We stood politely waiting at the entrance for a while but the lady kept ignoring us. Another group turned up behind us. So there were 6 people waiting in total, but still we were ignored. After a while a different staff, the barista lady further inside behind the bar, waved us in and told us to sit.

Then we sat ... and no one came to us for ages again. The place was like 25% capacity. It was about 9am. Eventually we got up and went to the lady who ignored us before and asked for a menu. She told us to sit down and she would bring it. A little later she brought a QR code, which we couldnt access. Anyway we knew we wanted a coffee first and so we asked for one. She told us she wasnt our waiter and we should wait!!! By this time we are wondering what is going on here, it must have been 15 minutes already. We watched this lady for the remainder of our stay. She literally did nothing, stood around looking at her phone the whole time. I think her job was meant to be welcome new arrivals (but she had ignored us) and do the bills. Anyway, why couldnt she tell the barista, who was right there, to make our coffees??

Meanwhile the table next to us was being served by a waitress who also ignored us. Next up, finally, the lord be praised, came our waiter, who appeared from around the corner. He exists! He took our coffee order and brought us a physical menu. Then he promptly disappeared again. He was basically a leprechaun. We saw him about 3 times during our 1 hour stay. He had the power of invisibility. Clearly an honest man, since he could have used his powers to rob banks... But instead he was our key to everything, our only route to food and drink. THE GATEKEEPERRRRR lol

So yeah, the front lady needs to be sacked, the waiter needs to be docked a week's wages and given a final warning, the barista deserves a raise, the place needs an investigation into systemic bureaucratic failures and a wholesale overhaul in governance and procedures, and then maybe I can turn up and get my darned drinks and food in a reasonable timeframe - which were...

At the entrance to Old San Juan, you will find this gem of a place! I have been a lover of cafés since I was a teen. Caficultura is a remarkable establishment. The coffee was incredible! As far as I know, it is all Espresso based coffee drinks, so if you want basic drip coffee you have to settle for an Americano. It was delicious as well as all the other coffee drinks. They have a small and approchable beverage program that offers thoughtful cocktails, local beer, small curated wine selections and teas. Of course the coffee is the star! The culinary offerings were perfect for breakfast, brunch or lunch. Our family tried the Crouque Madame, the Mallorca French Toast, Quinoa Bowl and the basic breakfast. It requires multiple visits to try all the menu. All the food was delicious. The menu was sophisticated yet very approachable! The service was attentive, warm, welcoming and informative. They answered all questions and requests with helpful responses. I don't recall the name of the person who helped us, but they took care of our table with patience and made our experience enjoyable. The vibe of the space also takes the experience to another level. It is classic Spanish Colonial architecture with the furnishings that felt eruopean, like stone table tops with ornate cast iron bases, and a center chandelier that took me 150 years into the past. Don't let that fool you because even though they give nods to San Juans past and coffee traditions, they are very rooted in the present by the vibe they present! The playlist was great too. An amazing Café experience on the Isla...

We showed up ahead of our big group to let them know there was going to be 17 of us, the hostess said that was fine but there would be a wait which we were expecting since there were so many of us. Then 2 minutes later another employee approaches us and tells us that the largest party they can fit is 7 so we said it would be fine if they split us up and they didn't seem to like that either. Once that was settled and we decided to wait we asked if we could sit at the empty bar and order a coffee while we waited, the hostess said that would be fine and then she proceeds to tell the bartender to not serve us food in Spanish (my husband and I both speak Spanish) so that to me was unnecessary because we weren't going to do that. 15 minutes later 3 of my cousins arrive and they also order drinks and a pastry, when it came time to split the bill the waitress was rude and we had to explain to her 3 times how to split the check. Mind you we were being nice during all of this. She kept saying she didn't understand what we were asking and so my cousins explained everything to her in Spanish and she was shocked that we understood Spanish because she had been making comments to her co-workers about us in Spanish thinking we wouldn't understand. Even after all that she was passive aggressive and still didn't fix the check. To top it all off we decided to walk around while our table was ready and even grabbed a bite at a food stand outside to kill some time and we never got a call from them. Needless to say we will not come back...