Rustica y Lola's — Restaurant in San Juan

I went to PR after years of not going on vacation, years of dealing with the constant daily struggle of getting overworked and underpaid by a toxic employer, so you could imagine the relief I felt when I first put my feet in the sand and looked up at the blue sky. All that came crashing down when I got the Mahi Mahi at Rústica.

The Mahi Mahi at Rústica reminded me of everything I ran away from in NY. That hopeless anxiety you get when faced with countless options because you know deep down it’s fruitless to stress. You’ll never know if it was the right choice until it’s too late. And then the eventual pain that comes along with realizing that you did make the wrong decision, you ordered the Mahi Mahi at Rústica.

When you first bite into those wet vegetables, you realize all that hope, all that desperation, it was for nothing. The cold demands of the capitalist machine don’t waste time on seasoning. You might’ve thought life was finally a fair playing field, that you escaped the deprecation that comes with assigning a dollar value to everything in your life, but that menu was always going to trick you into thinking that paying more for the Mahi Mahi would be better than just getting the Mofongo. The sauce that was advertised was never guaranteed to be anything more than the boiled water at Rústica.

In the end, the most important lesson is that when all else fails, when you can’t even trust your own senses, you can trust the inmutables. That plátanos are better than vegetables, pork is better than fish, and most things, indeed even a classic fish fillet from the Golden Arches, are tastier than the Mahi...

As we entered the restaurant, the hostess was very unapproachable. We asked her to seat us in a corner away from others. She seemed irritated. She had us sit down and we waited for 10 minutes ir more for anybody to come take our order, give us water or anything but nothing. We got up to leave and told the hostess that we weren’t happy with the lack of service and she said nothing. We did end up going back and talking to the manager and she ended up waiting on us. She said that the waitress was supposed to tell the waiter that we were ready to order, but she never did her job. Not even sure why she works here. obviously doesn’t like her job. And they definitely were not that busy so no excuses! We decided to come in and give them a second chance. The food was very good. And good portions. The manager really needs to retrain her staff. They’re not very attentive to the customer. The left-hand apparently dos not know what the right hand is doing. . The man who brought us our meal did not bring us any shredded Parmesan so I asked him to bring us some. We looked over at the bar. He was there making drinks. My husband got up to tell him that we were waiting for the Parmesan and he said the waitress was supposed to bring it, however . He was the one that brought us...

I have nothing but WONDERFUL things to say about Rustica and its staff. Every single dish, drink, dessert was absolutely amazing. Every waitstaff we met was nothing but kind and courteous (Jeff and Josue particularly). We even had the chance to met the owner Jean Carlo Hernandez. He was extremely friendly, showed us his "catch of the day" that was being served at the restaurant (absolutely beautiful fish and lobster caught off the Puerto Rican shores).

As majority of the island was shut down due to COVID and believe it or not was still recovering from the 2017 hurricane this place was a savior for tourists. No exaggeration, every drink and dish we had was so well prepared and delicious. The portions were HUGE and the catch of the day the TWO times I had it was perfect.

In the end, I would come back to Rustica over and over, not just for the food but the such gracious staff. Even if I didn't stay in the hotel I would stop by just to say hi.

THANK YOU Jean Carlo and crew for making our week vacation one to remember.

From the "Two...