La Pícara by Chef Xiomy — Restaurant in San Juan

We have been frequent clients of La Pícara, having dined here over 10 times in the past. We’ve celebrated special occasions, brought friends and colleagues, and spent considerable amounts of money. Until today, it had been one of my husband’s favorite restaurants.

Unfortunately, today’s visit was an absolute failure on every level. We came for lunch — not dressed to impress, without our usual high-end jewelry — but still expecting the same level of service we’ve always received. What we encountered was insulting, unprofessional, and degrading.

We were a party of three and ordered three dishes. When the food arrived, only two plates were brought out. The waiter casually admitted he had only ordered two. No apology, no urgency. The third dish took so long to arrive that I had to personally go to the kitchen to check on it — something that should never happen in a place of this caliber. By the time it came out, the rest of us had already eaten. It ruined the experience completely, especially for my husband, who lost his appetite entirely.

To make matters worse, they changed servers mid-meal — a sign of poor organization — and the new waitress arrived with a visibly bad attitude. We were treated with condescension, as though our casual attire today somehow made us less worthy of decent service. It was offensive and deeply disappointing.

Let me be clear: we are medical doctors, professionals who have supported this establishment many times. The treatment we received today felt like a direct judgment based on appearance rather than loyalty or value as customers. Disrespect like this is unacceptable — from anyone, let alone restaurant staff.

We brought our concerns to the manager, and later to the chef/owner, expecting at least an acknowledgment or apology. Instead, we were met with complete dismissiveness and zero accountability. The chef even tried to justify the poor service by saying the original waiter was having a “crisis” and was crying somewhere in the back. Frankly, if a staff member is emotionally overwhelmed to the point of abandoning their responsibilities, they should not be working in customer service — and certainly not without backup support from management. Trying to guilt the customer into feeling bad for pointing out obvious service failures is completely unacceptable. This was his error, not ours, and deflecting blame onto the guest shows a total lack of professionalism.

To make it worse, she went on to compare the situation to us treating patients who might be upset — as if that was somehow a valid comparison. It was completely out of line and deeply offensive. We don't expect perfection — we expect respect, accountability, and basic hospitality. None of that was shown today.

We will not return. What was once a place we loved is now a glaring example of how quickly a restaurant can lose its soul.

From two loyal customers — never again.

Response to your reply: Dear La Pícara Management,

Thank you for your response. However, I must begin by clarifying that my name is CORAL, not “Carol.” Attention to such details is fundamental, especially when replying publicly. It calls into question the sincerity and care you put into addressing your guests.

Secondly, I find it deeply disappointing that after expressing valid concerns, my comments were deleted from your Instagram. This action reflects poorly on your commitment to transparency and integrity.

Despite your assurances, the way my party was treated was unacceptable and cannot be excused by blaming “human error” or staff well-being. True professionalism means owning mistakes fully and ensuring that customer respect is never compromised, regardless of attire or status.

I will not be returning to La Pícara. This experience has shown me that you do not value your loyal customers nor know how to properly address...

Last night I went to La Picara for the first time. I was part of a group of seven celebrating a friends birthday.

The place is absolutely beautiful. Reservation was at 6:30 and we were reared around 7:00. I was not told that we only had two hours to eat, so in the beginning I noticed sort of a Speedy Service where the waiter even opened a wine bottle we brought in without being asked, and proceded to serve one friend. We said we would have the wine later. He already had served champagne almost at the same time.

We ordered drinks - One of our friends declined, but she was served a drink. We sent it back.

Speedy appetizers, good taste and proper amount.

We ordered our food and as it arrived, one of us got the wrong dish, so she had to eat hers later as it needed to be prepared. Food was excellent, tasty and flavorful.

Desert time and we had a Cake that the birthday girl brought. The waiter then served us cake and as her husband was eating his, they gave him the BILL. Here is where it all went downhill. As he finished his desert, he proceeded to ask us for our share while he settled the bill. It was around 9:05pm Two of the women at our table went to the ladies room, and the person in charge came to us and asked us to get up because there were people waiting for our table 1/2 an hour ago 😷. He suggested that we could go to the Bar.

At this moment I had it with this nonsense and simply said: We are leaving! We got up and waited for our friends at the entrance.

I personally will never visit this place again, knowing that they are the owners and can proceed as they want. As a customer and also a friend of the birthday girl, I can say that these was a very rude treatment.

I respect all the hype La Picara has, but mistreating customers is not a good way to make up a...

It was great, pretty nice atmosphere. Great service and wine selection. Great meat cuts, REALLY GOOD MEAT. Rated 4 stars only because most if not all of the "sides" that are included with the main dishes are not adequate, id say they disappoint when you take into account the price of the main dish. Included sides example; Regular french fries, regular breadfruit or plantain tostones, regular sauteepotatoes etc. Basically the mains include these poor side options that made it really difficult for us to decide... we had to order another side... a REAL side for the main dish. Side plates like a rissoto or pastas (without protein) are another plate, All im saying, its crazy to pay $70 for a meat cut that includes a poor "side" like fries... taking you to add a $35 side of rissoto on top of the $70.... I actually prefer getting good sides included even if its going to cost a little more than 70.... seems like a greedy strategy for me, hooking up customers with this design in the menu.... just saying, this was my experience. Ended up with poor sides on the table that we didnt want because "they were included" My bill was...