MUSA — Restaurant in San Juan

Excellent Food, exceedingly long wait, even for a slow-paced area. From ordering our meals to receiving our meals, was one and a half hours. Please keep in mind that I understand and value the concept of taking your time with a meal. I also understand the length of time it takes to prepare excellent food. But I think in any situation 1 1/2 hours would be excessive. I’m not saying that we were in the restaurant for one and a half hours, we were in the restaurant for 2 1/2 hours. I am saying it was one and a half hours by the time we ordered our food to the time the food arrived. It was 2 1/2 hours total for the experience, because it took some time for the server to arrive and for us to order and for us to have our drinks, etc. The entire experience was 2 1/2 hours. That is not an excessive amount of time for lunch. I have been to lunches that stretched far beyond that. Where we linger over a bottle of wine and then have dessert and then coffee. That is not my complaint. My complaint was the hour and a half it took from ordering our meal to the food to arrive. I had ordered the “unlimited” mimosa special, and, at some point, I just stopped drinking mimosas, because I was getting a little tipsy without any food. 45 minutes or an hour would have been an acceptable waiting time, but an hour and a half? We were really starting to feel like something had gone wrong in the kitchen. At about an hour and 15 minutes, our server told us our food would be “right out”, and then it was still another 15 minutes. It was getting uncomfortable. At some point you could hear our tummies grumbling! And then it becomes the focus of the conversation. We also saw several other tables (that were seated after us) receiving their food way way before us. So it truly did feel like something happened to our food, but no one came out to explain it.

All that said, let’s talk about the food, which, again, was quite good. My daughter had the salmon Benedict, which was huge. It was two large English muffins with two large salmons and two eggs, etc. It was double the amount of food that you normally receive when you order a Benedict. I had the pork belly risotto, which was very good, and again, very large. Lots of pork. See photos. My son had the mac & cheese Ropa Vieja, it was good. But certainly not the best thing on the menu.

Our drinks were good as well. I had the unlimited mimosas for $25. The drink I wanted was champagne-based and was $15, so I figured even if I had two, I would be saving money on the unlimited mimosas. The flavors were good, but in many ways, the syrup and flavors were heavier than they should’ve been. I love tamarind or soursop, but the mimosas felt heavy on the flavors and not as much on the champagne.

My daughter’s sangria was excellent. I took a sip. My son‘s piñata was exquisite, and unusual, and my husband‘s blueberry Mule was also really well balanced.

My only other complaint is that they did not provide water, except bottled water. I’m fine paying for bottled water, but I really do not like Panna; I’ve always thought it tasted a little off. And that was what was available for a “still” option. It’s a pet peeve of mine when restaurants don’t just offer tapwater. Some restaurants will try to upsell you to the bottles of water, but when you refuse, they still bring you the tapwater, but, in this case, tapwater was not an option in this restaurant. You had to buy their bottles of water if you wanted water. I really don’t like that. And again, I’m not crazy about Panna. I get it that some restaurants really want to sell that water and count on that for part of the profit, but to absolutely refuse to provide tapwater? No.

So, overall, the experience is a three, because the food was a five, but the exceedingly long wait was a one, and they really should be providing tapwater to patrons upon request. They had ice. I know that they have water that is...

Excellent service- great ambience and lighting with a few pieces of art for sale that my husband really wants to buy. The chef was even brought out to meet us which is always such a nice welcoming gesture!

They had a 4th of July fixed menu option of 1 appetizer and 2 entrees for $30- quite the deal!- and we appreciated the nod to Americas birthday as most places in PR don't really celebrate the holiday...

Their featured drinks were quite lovely- I had the El Patio - a fresh & yummy vodka mixed with guanoabana and lemon, while Broc had a scotch with ginger and something lemon/sour. His was okay- I had two. 🤗

We started with an appetizer, "alcapurria de pato" which is a fried duck fritter with Asian barbecue sauce and avocado on the side. So different and delicate- a refined twist on your everyday Puerto Rican fried street food!

For the main course I had the MUSA Mac & cheese- a house favorite and for good reason. The homemade gooey goodness with shredded meat and some sort of fried fritter balls was rich and filling - very good but not something I could eat every day- or even every month! The calories had to be crazy but it was worth every cheesy bite.

My husband had the NY Steak which was thin slices of a NY strip over French fries and a sunny side egg on top. It sounded interesting but unfortunately he asked for his steak "blackened" which made it way too salty and the meat was a little fatty. The chef came back to check on us and when we admitted it wasn't the best he offered us a round of drinks on the house the next time we came in. For that kind of service & attention we will definitely be back!

MUSA is a welcome and much needed addition to the up & coming neighborhood between Miramar & Santurce. We really liked the variety of food & drinks and again, the service was top notch! We can't wait to try their lunch and Sunday brunch on the new patio soon. Great job to an excellent chef...

There perhaps isn’t a place more deserving of a 5 stars than this place. If anyone has ever watched How I Met Your Mother, there is an episode where Marshall speaks of the greatest burger he’s ever had and how no other burger has lived up to it’s expectation of that burger. I always thought of it as a comedic piece, nothing could be that good until I experienced the chicken waffle at this restaurant. This dish will haunt me for the rest of my days, until my fateful visit back to Puerto Rico. The dish was perfect in every way. The chicken was juicy, fresh, it was perfectly fried to perfection. It wasn’t oily. The fried chicken itself was on par with the best fried chicken I’ve ever had. The waffle, was soft and fluffy while being soaked in the syrup. The cheese on top was quite simply the cherry on top. Each part of this dish was flawless but it was so much more than the sum of its parts. The crisp of the outside of the chicken with the soft waffle and juicy chicken and the melted cheese, I had to process what I was dealing with. Look at the dish, it’s beautiful, and somehow it manages to taste significantly better than its aesthetics. The purest form of love I have ever been able to give was allow my girlfriend to taste this dish while I tried her dish, which was also absolutely amazing. Sure, it wasn’t cheap, and I’m always a stickler when it comes to this stuff but, if they gave half the amount of chicken waffle than they did, it would still be worth the price I paid (don’t do that tho MUSA). For the love of God, go here and try the...