el Refrán — Restaurant in San Juan

Just went there and had the worst experience of my life at a restaurant. The only time I felt any service is when a lady came to our table. I immediately knew that must have been the manager.

The waiter we had took a while to get to our table and when he did he didn’t greet us and went straight to our order. He was short and didn’t seem interested in taking care of us. All good, I gave him the benefit of the doubt and figured he’s just a hardworking guy that’s super busy today. Let me not add to his night and just enjoy my meal. We didn’t get a single refill the entire night, but all good, like I said I’m not adding to his night. We asked for the bill and as my wife was asking him to split the bill, I kid you not Mid sentence he walked away to get us the check. When he returned we asked him to please split our bill to which he responds, “you should’ve asked in the beginning”. His tone was the rudest of the night and I called him out for it.

I spoke to the lady who also serviced us who indeed ended up being the manager and explained my discontent and that this would be the first time I leave a restaurant without tipping. She’s responds with “we’ll have a chat” and failed to tell me I already tipped because a 18% gratuity was included. No I’m sorry, nothing besides “we’ll have a chat”.

Of course I’d be treated this way in a tourist area , not like there is any repercussions. Guranteed a tip and a little chat with...

The food here was had was pretty good but as we ate it, the flavors all started to taste the same. Everything was pretty salty, and by the end of the meal we were kinda over the flavor. We ordered the wings (probably the best dish we had), the Mofongo de pernil, the Cuban sandwich, and a side of truffle fries. Starting with the wings, these had a good crunch and were a sweet/spicy flavor from the sauce. I would recommend these, as these were the best thing we had for lunch. The Mofongo was dry/salty compared to others we tried on our trip. The Mofongo itself had a strong bacon/salt flavor, and we were hoping for more of the sweet/plantain flavor to come through. The pernil (pork) was pretty dry and just salty. The Cuban sandwich has a nice crispy bread but the mustard/salty meat flavor overpowered it. It came with a side of chips that just tasted like store bought potato chips. The fries were decent but I couldn’t really taste any truffle. Ira a pretty cute restaurant though and our server was very nice! I just wouldn’t probably go back...

Alright all you tourist's out there looking for the goods and want local flavors, this IS the place. Don't expect fancy, just a nice family style place with good music and FANTASTIC service. If you have never had Mofongo, this is the spot! Ordered surf and turf, shrimp was cooked perfectly and very tasty. The star of the show however is the skirt steak. Absolutely out of this world. More on that later. The Mofongo was delicious and rounded it out perfectly. That being said, wife ordered churasco and tbh I was a little jealous. Served over a bed of truffle fries (yum) and a generous portion of the skirt steak and this is easily the BEST skirt steak I have ever had (and I make damn good skirt steak). Fortunately the portion is so big that my wife couldn't finish it. Yahtzee! No leftovers! Seriously though, give this place a try, you will not be disappointed (other than you have to go home and it might be a long time before you get to...