One of the things our family loves most about traveling is trying the local food and experiencing the changes from what we are used to at home. Puerto Rico was a little different in this regard! They have a ton of places to eat - but they are not organized like they are here and so we were pretty confused about where to go. We did ask around and got some great references from some locals - I'll share all of those below and then let you know some tried and true options, (especially for those of you with kids!) that was easy to do. So while we didn't get to experience tons of local food - here is what & where we ate:
Our first stop was at a restaurant called Carabali Bar and Grill. I choose it because it had great reviews and was close and had local food. This is a picture of their pan fried cheese with guava sauce. It was delicious.
Puerto Rico is known for it's local dish called "Mofango". It is made of mashed green plantains with garlic, oil and pork rinds or bacon. I got it topped with chicken & onions. They give you a side of fry sauce to dip in. I would say it tasted like a deconstructed chicken pot pie.
My husband got mofango topped with shrimp in a caper sauce. I would rate this version for both the chicken and shrimp a 7/10. It was ok.
My daughter got ribs and said they were really good - we even asked what the BBQ sauce was, (hoping for a local recipe - nope! It was good old Original Kraft BBQ sauce - ha!).
My son got their chicken alfredo and he said it was really good. My other daughter really likes fries and said their fries were really good.
For dessert we tried their flourless chocolate cake which was great and their tres leches cake, (which was VERY good - didn't even snag a photo of that!).
If you are looking for a safe, local fare with food very much like what you would find in America - try Carabali.
We quickly learned that our kids were not loving the local fare, (no one wanted to try the mofango) so if you are traveling with kids - we did find some staples:
* McDonald's (pretty much all over with all of the same items - however, ask for more salt as we found most items were under salted)
*KFC - in every single city. I wasn't a fan of how the chicken tasted but my kids thought everything was good.
*Pizza Hut - they had a sit down restaurant like they used to have when I was a kid, (it did feel like we were living in the 80's with the fast food choices in PR). We tried it out and it was great. 10/10.
*Sizzler - my kids had never been to one as our closest one has gone out of business. We brought them in and they thought it was great. An added bonus was that they did have a few local dishes so that was a fun way to try some local fare without having to have a big portion.
*Amigo - this was the local grocery store. I loved it! It had anything you needed and carried specialty items. We grabbed some local things to try out. If we headed to PR again, I would definitely look up a local Amigo and go grocery shopping here. We did get some things from a
*Walmart - They had the most beautiful produce section I have ever seen. They use boxed milk in the PR. They only have a little amount of fresh milk. Amigo carried some fresh but Walmart was out. We were able to get some basic breakfast items and snacks.
*Papa Johns - was in a local mall. The lady working spoke no English, so I had another local help me place my order. They also had seating so we sat in their location and had dinner. It tasted just like back home and was great.
*Gustos Cafe - a great stop at the San Juan airport while you are waiting for your plane for good sandwiches and some cold drinks. They also have a location downtown San Juan.
A great tip from a local was the Luquillo Kiosks. These are about 60 family-owner kiosks selling food, drinks and souvenirs. Everyone said that we had to try the Edelweiss Bar & Grill and that it was the best. We went there and the food was really good!
We got more of the fried cheese with the guava sauce. This is actually so delicious!
My husband and I tried the salmon with the guava sauce - it was super good!
