Di Zucchero — Restaurant in San Juan

I'm writing a long one to convince you NOT to go here!!. What a hot mess--but the cold pizza really does suck. Don't be misled by the positive reviews because on this and different sites, there are many really, really bad reviews with a disproportionate number of average and below reviews that speak of long waits, rude staff and bad pizza. Our awful experience was mainly due to waiting a long time for a terrible pizza and then experiencing an exceedingly rude bartender with a bad attitude. This is one of those businesses where a small business owner such as myself has to wonder how they stay in business. I've been to many establishments in P.R on four different trips and this was the worst. First, after getting seated on the balcony, we had to move due to the stench of highly volatile cleaning chemicals. Yeah--these are used widely in P.R. but please--not during serving hours and hopefully never as it can be nauseating. We moved to the bar to enjoy our beer and watch a football game. We ordered a simple margherita pizza and waited and waited for almost an entire second half of a football game (1-1.5 hours??). There is only one pizza oven--and it's a small one-so apparently everybody must wait a long time. We told the bartender we'd like two glasses of wine when the pizza is ready (The tiny pizza oven is at the bar!). Finally, when the pizza arrived, she had disappeared, but she eventually returned and started filling other orders and forgot about us. At that point I politely told her to please cancel the wine orders. She seemed perturbed as f we had insulted her. Had she handled it any other way, things might have turned out better. Anyhow, the pizza was awful. It was not hot, there was hardly any sauce and the cheese was poured on way too thick--and only in the middle. We were hungry after waiting so we picked at the pizza, left much of it on the plate. We paid and she shortchanged us a small amount--apparently purposely...but maybe not. I said "Excuse me but we are owed some change". I think it was forty five cents, but whatever it was, all customers should expect exact change. At that point, bartender gets pissed and angrily pulls a dollar out of her own wallet, shoves it at me and angrily insists that we take it because as she said "We don't usually give back complete change". Who ever heard of such a thing? Who ever heard of a pizza restaurant with one tiny oven? How hard is it to cheerfully serve a good pizza within 30 minutes? Apparently it is very hard...

Firstly we visited towards the middle of 2021 and the COVID pandemic so there were some restrictions that hindered eating in restaurants in any place all over the world and shouldn’t be held against these businesses that have to comply with governmental regulations while trying to keep their businesses open during a very trying time. We did have a minor issue trying to get seated when we missed the sun to wait outside for the host to seat us, which seemed to upset one of the staff. Fortunately the food completely made up for any disgruntled behavior on that person’s part. The menu was more limited than the normal pre Covid menu but once we got someone to wait on us, and they were incredibly friendly but a little bit green, we discovered that the food was fresh and light and not at all greasy, heavy, or felt like a lead weight in your stomach for the rest of the day. Certainly something to be proud of for patrons in this resort area who are going to spend the day on the beach or hiking the urban jungle. We ate there again before we left San Juan for home and were not disappointed in our second experience. The staff were a bit more friendly and experienced the second time and the food just as good as the first time. Highly recommend the Napoleon Salad and...

We visited this place last night and the wait was very long and inconclusive. The hostess was very sassy and stand-offish. She took my name and number for a 30-45 minute wait. When I returned 45 mins later, she said she couldn't give me an estimate because the kitchen was still behind and she wasn't allowed to sit anyone else just yet or even take to-go orders. When I asked if us waiting guarantees we will be served although they were closing in 45 minutes and she said "I don't really think that is going to happen." Last night I wondered how such a business was still open.

Today I returned for lunch at 12:30 and was told they were not serving lunch until 1pm. Our waitress was great. We waited 30 minutes to try some of the lunch appetizers. It's not all that good. Tostones Stuffed with ceviche is not good. Fish tacos is missing mango and enough slaw to compensate for the dry, overcooked, fried fish. The "slaw" is just red cabbage pieces and a drizzle of juice. The corn beef empanadas are mushy. I'm glad we had an $80 lunch bill of appetizers instead of waiting until dinner and spending much more and being hungry. I won't give them a second chance. The best part was our virgin pina colada and virgin...