Rare 125 — Restaurant in San Juan

Edited review.... A year ago I gave this 5 stars... No More. We used to go there twice a week and there were certain dishes that we could count on. Now there's a new menu, so tiny you can barely read it. Many of the best dishes are gone, and the new dishes that replaced it are not great. Tonight we ordered the Duck Confit Ravioli. The pasta was ALL WRONG! Under cooked, and splitting open. Some of the Ravioli were cold to make it worse. We ordered two orders of this dish, and it's like they screwed up one order and mixed it with the other order.

Now lets talk about the service. This place used to have great service, but the new wait staff are not trained as well and it shows. We ordered a bottle of Besserat Champagne. As usual they put the bottle on ice, and hide it behind the divider. They also put two bottles into the same bucket, and I noticed that the table opposite us was drinking the same thing because they also had to get up and pour themselves. By my calculations we should have had a half bottle still left, but the bottle was nearly empty. Turns out the other table was grabbing our bottle which was far superior to the inexpensive Cava they were drinking. The other table agreed to pay for our bottle, and we insisted that they get another ice bucket and place it by our table. We drink Champagne all the time, but I've never had something like this happen before.

To make matters worse, the other couple sitting opposite were smokers, and the restaurant supplied them with an ashtray. Yes it's outdoors but the smoke was all over the patio.

At any rate, if the owner of this restaurant reads this, there is a serious problem. The food was bad, and the service was even worse. The new proposed menu is not being executed well. It's too bad, it was one of...

It has the potential to be someting grand- however key components during the meal make it stay where it is- sub par. Staff is amazing, knew the menú, didn't wait too long for service, drinks came out quickly.... the problem lies in execution of plates - A Filet and a ribeye price a la carte is already near 100.00, you cannot forget the sides..... the truffle fries went directly from the fryer to the bowl, not even one second to drain the excess grease- although you can taste the truffle oil used is expensive, the added grease left a lot to be desired...... take the 45 seconds to get that extra fryer oil off, please... The mashed potatoes were so bland my son asked me who has diabetes in the kitchen, since there wasnt any salt, pepper or fresh garlic to be found ....Lastly, although I heard wonderful things of the truffle Mac and cheese, it never arrived to our table- even after flagging 2 servers down and they tried to make it right.- still never made it to the table... the worse thing was my son went to use the restroom and overheard the expeditor speak horribly to the staff. Where is the management? No one came by except the servers to check see how was everything, and when the sides failed to appear, I waited for some form of management to appear to correct it. Be better, Rare. Many steakhouses offer far superior taste, and you have the potential to be in the running- howeverthe lack of flavor and execution is what will continue to hold you back...

Croquettes: 1/5 Risotto: 0/5 The worst risotto I've ever had in my life. I asked for my food extra hot and they couldn't even do that (it says one price on the menu and they charged me a different price, or they charged me extra for the mushrooms and it doesn't say that on the menu). I ordered a medium New York steak, I asked for it whole, uncut. When they brought it to me, it was a different waiter, and from the start he had an arrogant attitude. He threw the plate at me, saying that he knew the steak was whole and that they had made a mistake. I told him that I had asked for it whole, and with an even more arrogant attitude, almost shouting, he told me he would change it. He even had a defiant attitude. After almost 15 minutes, he brought me the plate, almost threw it on the table, and didn't even say “enjoy your meal.” The parking lot is a mess. The waitress could have been more efficient; she didn't come by as often as she should have. With this bad experience, I shouldn't have left a tip. Because of things like this, the owner is the one who loses out. I've been here other times and the service was wonderful. This time I invited some friends who were visiting, and at least they liked it. They didn't say it was the best, but at least they weren't the ones who had a bad experience. Mac & Cheese: 5/5 It was the only thing I liked about all the sides. The dish was just right,...