Café Berlin

My partner and I are vegetarian and we did extensive research on where we would eat in San Juan for our vacation. Cafe Berlin seemed like our most promising bet, so we were very excited to go there. What a disappointment! I ordered one of the soy steak options for $15 and what came was, I swear, two veggies patties that were exactly the same as the ones used on the veggiemax at Subway, with mushrooms and onions on top and plain lettuce on the side. I also ordered a side of mixed vegetables to get some more vitamins in my dinner and they arrived barely cooked and totally unseasoned, in a pile on a small plate. My partner ordered one of the curry tofu dishes and what came were long slabs of uncooked tofu slathered with some kind of sauce. We had both read so many positive reviews that we were astonished at what we were experiencing. We ordered dessert b/c we figured chocolate fudge cake was pretty hard to screw up but it tasted a week old. All in all, a huge bummer for our trip.

Oh my gosh, where do I start?? It was the most perfect dining experience. The servers (3 nites) treated us like family, very very extending, kind, friendly, efficient, fast, creative, flexible. Very willing to do modifications on food, very helpful. Large menu, alot of vegetarian choices. Fabulous drinks, like unbelievable!! Try the frozen fruity drinks, omg! Can't wait to go back. Really added to an already perfect vaca.

In my first visit to Puerto Rico I stay in Old San Juan at "Da'House" Hotel and it was great, also I find this beautiful and delicious restaurant, first I thought it was only a vegetarian place but I stay and grab a menu to discover the extensive options(non-vegetarians), my pick was some awesome puertorican plate with rice, beans, sweet plantains and garlic chicken. The staff and the Lady manager was very smily and helpful. I went twice. Highly recommend -Cuisine freak!

The waiter had no clue what was available, and it took a long time to tell us that they did not have my first pick, then the second pick, from the wine by the glass list. The house red I finally received was not too good, and we left.

I'm from the states but I currently live in Puerto Rico for graduate school. I've eaten alot of local restaurants from high ends to low ended pricing. I would have to say that after reading the ratings on line for this restaurant I was quite disappointed walking out of there. Between two people, we had 6 different dishes. I'll start with the best going to the worst. (1) - CAPRESE - You can't mess up on this. The pesto addition to it was actually a good addition to this simple salad. (2) - CALAMARI - Nice salty taste to it with a good crunch. There was too much breading on it though. Meatier pieces of actual calamari would improve it drastically. (3) PRican Sampler - Pretty basic. Sauce could be a more creative sauce than ketchup. (4) Papaya Scallops - This was our main dish and the papaya was substituted with mango because it was "out of season" and it was "hard to get". First of all, you lied to me. Papaya doesn't go out of season in Puerto Rico. I buy it at the farmer's market all the. Second, the waiter should have asked before bringing it out already substituted. I hope the chef reads this because he should be disappointed with his scallops recipe. The scallops were overcooked and you could NOT taste the sweetness from the scallops because it was overridden by the strength of the "cinnamon" that was powdered on all over the dish. For a main course it was overly sweetened and poorly prepared. Not worth $20. Go to AguaViva across the place if you want scallops. (5) Crabtini appetizer - lacked the sweetness of the crab and had too much of a sauce that belonged on a sponge cake. Yes the location and set up is nice for this Cafe, but I expected way more from the food.

Great food and service. Lovely terrace in front of plaza colon. If you go there try the manjito it's like the famous mojito but with mango, ohhhhhh my....!!! For my family(10)and I it was a great day in Cafe Berlin.