Cafe Americain

Incredible drink specials! Four local beers and four house made shots for 12 bucks! The perfect cap to our day in Old San Juan. Thomas and Efrain were knowledgeable and accommodating! Highly recommend! Ps – inside the Casablanca hotel. Don’t miss it.

Unilocal led us astray. This was a sad, awkward brunch.
Service was very nice but didn’t know the menu. The menu is very limited. The Boricua eggs sounded interesting on paper… But the eggs were so overcooked that it made the dish so dry. With a runny poached egg, I could see this being a bit better. Blue cheese took over the entire dish, and nothing was there to balance it. The rest of my party was pretty disappointed with the bland food. I will say, the chorizos had a great flavor. But that was it. After waiting almost an hour for food in an empty restaraunt, the chorizo couldn’t save the day.
Cocktails were bland and the bubbly drinks were flat. So sad we wasted a meal here.
If you had limited time in OSJ, don’t waste it here.

Stopped in for drinks. Cool eclectic spot. Casablanca playing on the back wall. Cool funky décor. Owner a very friendly guy. Well worth a stop in for drinks.

El major restaurant the best restaurant for your money not to mention the awesome delicious food and the BEST bartender in old San Juan Elbin Gonzalez!!! Gracias Elbin!!! Mucho gusto en conocerte, Yolie y chago de Maryland!!!

Great chef, nice guy. The employees were awesome. The ambiance was beautiful inside. They hooked us up with some great drinks. The chef gave us a nice presentation. This place was awesome!

Walked in after reading a sign claiming the best brunch… At first I was amazed at the decoration and sure I found a gem. However, the prices are exorbant ($ 6 for an orange juice, $ 13 for a simple omelette) and no actual Puertorican food. Very disappointed that this restaurant charges so much without providing quality food — tourist trap — !!

What a gem of a restaurant in central Old San Juan! My husband and I used Café Americain located within Cabablanca Hotel as our destination wedding caterer and I’m so glad we did. The restaurant is absolutely lovely, lots of thought and consideration has gone into the decoration and the service is FIRST RATE.
A VERY special and massive thanks to goes out to Tomas Franco, the manager and head chef at Café Americain. Tomas was accommodating, friendly and professional from the moment we met him at the bar. We had a wine tasting and planned the menu once we arrive and was so flexible. He gave us the whole bottle — what a nice arrival treat! Honestly, his aim was to make us happy! We held our Welcome Cocktail Party on the rooftop of the of the hotel, which was catered by Café Americain. And WOW, he did not disappoint!!!
The food, a Puerto Rican smattering of «picadera» consisted of simply mouthwatering coconut shrimp with caramel sauce, traditional pinchos (meat & veggie), Sorrullitos, churrasco, chicken and veggie stuffed Tostones, succulent piononos and more! Everything was spectacular, perfectly cooked, and all of our guests couldn’t get enough of the food or the cocktails. He even loaned us his sound system to play music during our party, and decorated the rooftop with paper decorations I lugged with me from the UK! He really went above and beyond in every possible way! We could not of asked for more.
So, if you’re looking for a 5 star catering service at very reasonable prices, style and a FAB restaurant, THIS IS IT! Look no further. Thanks again to everyone who helped our wedding an absolute dram!!!

Hidden gem in Old San Juan. This restaurant is more like a mom & pop place with an elegant flare where you taste true Latin cuisine. Go with the chef’s recommendations for the day as every time I eat here I love it much more. If You want something different or in particular don’t hesitate to ask. Very attentive, good for regulars like me.

Pretty chill place. Had an espresso at the bar with my lady.
Quiet spot for a chill break

I was strolling around old San Juan, looking for a restaurant where I could get a decent lunch without either paying a fortune or stooping to eat at some fast food chain, when, by happenstance, I walked past the Casablanca Hotel and noticed a sign advertising a café inside. (I actually thought the café was called Café 19, but I can’t seem to find any reference to that; this is the only café that I can see located in the hotel, so perhaps I am mis-​remembering the name). I wandered inside to see what they were serving, decided on impulse to have lunch there, and am awfully glad I did: I had the cheapest, and also the best, meal I had in my week in Puerto Rico.
The menu is fairly small but there were a number of specials that were not listed on it, which the waitress described. I liked the sound of steak and onions, but being from Iowa I can pretty much get that any time I want, so I went with another thing that sounded good, and more interesting: plantain pie with ground beef. I asked the waitress if it was like a mofungo, and she said no, it was more like lasagna, but with mashed plantains taking the place of the pasta. This was an accurate description: the pie was a decent-​sized square layered with mashed plantains and ground beef, and was unbelievably tasty. It came with a choice of two sides: I ordered sweet plantains and fried plantains (tostados); unfortunately the waitress came by soon after and informed me that they had run out of sweet plantains, so I ordered a salad as a replacement side dish. Then, when she brought out my food, she said they had found some sweet plantains after all, and so she had just decided to give me all three side dishes at no extra charge. That was, of course, nice of her, but even nicer was the way the plantains tasted: they were perfectly cooked, with the tostados being crunchy and the amarillos (sweet plantains) being moist and flavorful. This whole meal cost a mere $ 6.99 plus tax.
The hotel itself is kind of interesting. It is Casablanca-​themed, with the lobby looking vaguely North African, and the famous Humphrey Bogart movie plays continuously throughout, including the restaurant, where it is projected onto a wall (with subtitles rather than sound, so as not to hinder conversation). So I got to eat my luscious lunch while watching Humphrey Bogart send Ingrid Bergman off on an airplane at the end of the movie.
If you’re in old San Juan at lunchtime, make it a point to stop by here. Here’s looking at you, kid.