St. Germain Bistro Bar — Restaurant in San Juan

I visited Puerto Rico for the first time twenty-five years ago. I thought back then that this a sunny Caribbean island, populated with wonderful people, endless beaches, and exotic flora would had it all. So what if all I could find to eat was land crab at La 8 de Sylvia or meals made by inexperienced chefs using inferior ingredients. The culinary problem persisted for a long time. Just a few years later when I was ordering “fresh fish” at a well-known restaurant in San Juan, I asked the waiter how it was prepared. His reply, “after we thaw it out in the microwave, we can prepare it any way you want.” While still not a culinary destination, San Juan has come a long way since then. During a recent visit, my wife Rena and I stumbled into a recently opened restaurant called St. Germain. From the outside its design and ambiance stood out from the many tourist enterprises in the area. It was quaint yet open. It was the kind of place where, after a brief conversation at the door with a waiter about the menu, I was confident I would have a decent meal in a welcoming atmosphere. I was right about the atmosphere, but I was wrong about the meal. It wasn’t just decent, it was to my way of seeing things, revolutionary by local standards. In it I saw a ground-breaking interest in local sourcing of both common and rare indigenous foods. Yet the meal was neither over the top fancy nor mundane. It was solid culinary fare, well prepared with a clear appreciation of the complex relationship between the various ingredients, their preparation, spices, and sauces. After the meal I chatted briefly with the owner, a gifted young female chef. Fabiola acts as executive chef and also serves as the restaurant’s pastry chef. After working for others and attending culinary school, Fabiola set out on her own. Passionate and capable, she is still early in her career. The fact that she made the gutsy move of opening a new restaurant in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis says a lot about both her moxie and her commitment to her art. I expect her to get better and better at what she already does so well. Given that she is still new enough to the scene that getting a reservation is no problem, I recommend giving it a try. In the meantime, I predict that is going to change. I’ll be pleased to say “I told you so,” and that I dined there back when even people like me could get...

My wife and I have been eating at St Germain since it opened and have only been disappointed once before–when they took the Joel Pizza off the menu. However, today’s experience will make us not eat there again. We were just handed the menu and told to go sit over there, and that’s how it started. The food was disappointing. VERY disappointing! The carrot and lentil dip came with cold, store bought, right out of the bag pita bread. The fried eggplant pasta tasted good but was served in a tiny metal bowl that made it hard to eat without spilling food all over the table (bowl was so small the presentation was not very appealing or appetizing). We also ordered a side of tomatoes and avocado that we couldn’t enjoy because the avocado had seen better days and was at the point where it should have been chucked in the garbage. The place looks nice but the ceiling was leaking and my wife walked out with the back of her blouse covered in drops of water. The servers should be retrained. They delivered someone else’s food to us and we had to call them over to fix the problem because they never really stopped by to ask how everything was. The biggest problem was that servers were walking around with their hair loose and all over the place while serving the food. This is a health code violation for a reason. No one wants to eat food with hair in it. I hate to say anything bad about St Germain because we’ve always loved it but this is too many things in one visit. (I’m an old grumpy guy that’s been in the hospitality business for over 34 yrs. Details matter to me.) The only time the server smiled was when I tipped her. (Perhaps I don’t look like I tip?!?) We did love the fried eggplant. The basil lemonades were the best thing about this...

I've been here twice now. First back in the September of 2020 and then on Valentine's Day 2021. The main reason I went back was for their Mallorca (local sweet bread like pastry usually topped with powdered sugar) sandwich which consists of peameal bacon, which is is a wet-cured, unsmoked back bacon made from trimmed lean boneless pork loin rolled in cornmeal (sorta like Canadian bacon), a lightly fried thick slice of fresh local cheese, fried egg (your choice) and to top it all off a sweet guava sauce. Needless to say it's so good! I like that they cater to both vegans and non vegans with their offerings. I have to mention that the second time I went on Valentine's day I got their 30 minutes before they closed and even though the kitchen had closed they still let me order and dine inside. The servers where really friendly and attentive, always making sure everything was good but not overdoing it. Keep in mind restaurants are currently at 30% capacity and masks are required and can only be taken off while eating. The first time I went I also bought coffee which was good but not great. To be fair coffee is not their specialty like the other local coffee shops but again the coffee was still good and they do use local gourmet coffee, Gustos if I'm not mistaken, which is a plus. The first time I also bought a vegan carrot cake which was really great and the second time my partner had a special for Valentine's day which was vegan chocolate pancakes with strawberry sauce and the was also really good. In the end I would highly recommend eating here and personally I can't wait to go back and have...