Tostado* calle Loiza — Restaurant in San Juan

As I walk in to this lovely establishment I get greeted by a very nice waitress who seems very knowledgeable about food. Let’s start off the place looks fantastic from the exterior to the interior very modern and hip which I truly do enjoy all aspects of a good quality restaurant which interior and design is was one of the most important aspects that will keep me to return even if the food is subpar unfortunately I won’t be returning to this one because of one nasty employee. First we order coffee to be quite frank I’m not even a coffee person and it was the most one of the best coffees I ever had even my wife who is obsessed with coffee puts this on top of her list and the person who made them is very talented at making them but he is also the reason why I won’t be coming back to eat here again.I will get back to him soon.Our waitress suggests us some very popular items on the menu which included the sour dough bread toast with salmon and cream cheese and there vegan pumpkins pancakes that were very delicious and cooked perfect. We decided that we were still hungry and order a burger. I order a medium rare burger and my wife order medium. As we were eating our burgers we had discovered uncooked pieces in the middle. As a Michelin star chef in nyc I don’t mind the taste of raw beef tarte but so I ate the whole burger since I didn’t want to complain but honestly I did enjoy the quality of the beef it was very unique little bit gamy and very well seasoned but my wife didn’t enjoy it because she was in fear of it not being safe to eat. So we were done I ate my whole burger and barley ate half, service was getting slow towards the end my instant wave downs got the attention of the gentleman who made our drinks I asked him about the raw meet that I discarded from both our burgers and he says “you order medium rare it’s going to be raw” he insists that I’m wrong and starts a whole argument in the whole restaurant with me. This made me very mad because I know I’m right and he was wrong and told me to google it. I don’t get why he had a attitude he wasn’t even our server he was just a barista/busboy, with that attitude he will never be promoted to be a server. it’s quite plain and simple burgers weren’t piping hot they were room temp good sear in both sides but still to manage to have raw pieces here’s a couple tips cook the burger more on each side so the the internal tempIs around 115to 140f, let the meat rest for a little bit so I don’t just bite into the burger and have all the juices spilling out. Tip two use a thermometer very simple and self explanatory. Tip three down size your burgers that patties were to big and not shaped properly not even so that means they are not gonna cook even! In ways just come here for breakfast only and don’t let any armature tell you that medium rare is raw sorry waitresses I had to give you 0$ tip he ruined it for you I always give 30% but this time this was first that someone argued about my knowledge. Will never...

I wish that my experience matched that of other reviewers but it sadly was not the case.

The wait.

My wife and I took an Uber here on a rainy Saturday based on the recommendation of our hotel and after reading a few positive reviews. After being dropped off we entered the fray for a table by making our way to the locked front entrance. An employee came out to take names, numbers and inform everyone that their would be a 30-45 minute wait for a table. With the rain at our backs and nowhere to go we decided to stick around and wait it out, all the while looking at several open tables inside the restaurant. Time passes and a few guests are seated, everyone that was in line before us is making there way to a table. An hour passes and we are seated at the empty table we have been admiring for the entire hour we waiting.

The service.

The coffee was very good and sadly that is where the good experience ended. After looking over the menu we noticed that eggs Benedict was offered on the weekend and we each went with an order. Time passed and another round of coffee was ordered. Our waitress went out for her break and I think this is where things went off the rails. Our coffees arrived in to go cups and we repeats of our first order which wasn’t correct. We brought it up and we’re told they would “go check” but 10 minutes passed and nobody returned. We ended up just drinking the coffees as delivered. Now I look at my watch and realize we have been seated for just over an hour and we still didn’t have our food as other customers around us that arrived after we’re being served. We asked a server who was helping another table to check on it and she never came back. About an hour and a half passes when our original waitress returns with a confused look on her face, she was planning on asking how our food but realized it hadn’t arrived yet. 10 minutes later our food is delivered as if it had been sitting under a heat lamp for too long, salad was hot and the egg was over cooked. This meal was definitely it worth the effort or patience required to get it.

We will not be back and cannot...

we have eaten at this establishment on numerous occasions. the food and service prior to the pandemic was good. now? the host/hostess and "reservation" processes are BROKEN.

this is the second time within a 30-day period where the person responsible for taking names to put on the waiting list has FAILED. how difficult is it to write down a name, # of people, and a phone number in order to call the patron(s) when a table becomes available? again - taking a name and two numbers renders you incapable? THAT GETS YOU FLUSTERED?!??

obviously there wouldn't be a wait, which is the standard at this restaurant, if the food wasn't halfway decent. where tostado continually fails is the host/hostess part. he/they today who acknowledged us but failed to take our info, then walked away only to have another staffer take our name to put us on the list but then you overrode her/their acknowledgement of us, then indicated it would take even longer for us to be seated after we had been waiting for ~45 minutes? YOU are the reason why restaurant owners lose $$$ paying customers. and his/their snarky comments when we opted to eat elsewhere? i bet they weren't really part of the type of service the management/owners of this location expect you to provide. we were the third party to walk away from tostado today. i wonder how...