Vaca Brava

TERRIBLE! ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING! DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY!
My cousin lives right around the corner from this place. After looking at the menu we were reeled in thinking we had found a good steak place. This was the WORSE meal we had in San Juan. Our waiter was terrible. I ordered a NY Strip and was brought a ribeye instead. Then the waiter continued to argue with me about the cut of meat.
I had to get management involved and the chef only to be proven right it was in fact a ribeye and that I was brought the wrong steak. Clearly after having to argue, I completely lost my appetite.
Additionally, I ordered dirty martinis which were soon small!
My friends did get their right order, but they also weren’t satisfied with the quality or taste. This is a very low-​scale steak house that will fool you by the décor. KEEP WALKING and try something else. Unless you want to overpay for a bad meal and small, weak drinks.

Attended here with 2 other people during my visit in Puerto Rico. Upon entering this location the staff was friendly and very attentive, but then again the place wasn’t so crowded. Simply we were seated where we ordered all ordered mojito’s.The 1^st round was awesome. But when ordering the 2^nd round, it appeared that something drastically changed… The drink tasted mainly like syrup and lots of sugar… The waiter accommodated, by understanding the bartender that served us prior had recently ended his shirt and left which explained the awful change. The waiter actually mixed a better mojito then the bartender, where he took it upon himself to fix that sugar rush (great job by the waiter I must say)…Now to the food, we ordered a trio which consist of white rice, beans, tostones, and bbq ribs that basically serves 3 guest. Everything was good with the exception of the ribs. The quality of the meat is somewhat questionable where it was rubbery and oddly rough. This place received 3 stars from me based on the waiter and his corrective measures to our experience there. Without the waiter working extra hard and being attentive I would have easily rated this place a 1.5 — 2 stars, sad but true…

Food was speculation! We ordered the Trio Vaca, which had chicken, pork ribs and beef. The chicken and ribs were extremely tender – fall off the bone tender! Beef was a little tough, but was very tasty. It came with fries, which were great! Lots of meat left over! The dish could have fed 3 – 4 people easily. Fresh lemonade was delightful. I highly recommend this place.

The building is very beautiful. The architecture is rustic and impressive. Apparently, the pork moves fast around here because everything I was hoping to order… They happened to be fresh out. There’s a lot going today, so I cannot hold it against them.
I’m a total carnivore and there was plenty of meat galore aside from the pork. The presentation of the dishes are just as amazing as how the food tastes. My friends and I wanted a little culture… A little history …
So I did the old school Unilocaling technique circa 1995. We didn’t know,… so I asked somebody! It’s a local favorite and if a local yocal highly recommends the place, then it’s definitely worth checking out all the fuss! It’s great authentic food and charm that enhances the essence of Old San Juan!
Not to mention its conveniently located within walking distances to the Old San Juan tour trolley that takes you through to the old fort. Good meals good sights you can’t go wrong. Highly recommended — the pork moves quickly! So it’s safe to say it’s delectable!

Just ate here. Disappointing.
1. They should warn you about the time it takes to make certain dishes. Food takes an hour!!!
2. Service is slow even on a non-​busy evening. Waiter will tell you: «food is coming» three times (5min between each time) the food actually gets to your table. We were not the only table waiting that long. Another table actually got up and left.
3. Food is overpriced.
…some pieces of meat were good. After all of that. NOT WORTH THE WAIT.

Horrible horrible, I used to go here in the past but recently they’ve gotten horrible with their service and food portions and everything. We waited an hour for our mofongos, then when it came out it had like 3 pieces of meat in it. Last time we were there around a year ago and they had three times the amount of meat we got today. I couldn’t believe it. Then when we asked the waiter to bring over the manager the manager pretended like she couldn’t speak English, which was a huge lie because my Puerto Rican friend who took us there told us that all the managers have to be able to speak English, she was pretending to not speak Spanish just so she didn’t have to deal with us. The waiter also did absolutely nothing to help or apologize, in fact he told the manager that we had one Spanish speaking person so that she could pretend to not speak English and just have to speak to our friend. We also saw several other tables complaining, probably about the same thing. She only took off 10% for the bill even tho we only had like 3 pieces of steak in our steak mofongos which each cost like $ 17 but only really had a few pieces of meat, normal amount of plantain, and undercooked veggies.
Horrible service, horrible food, nothing as how it used to be and I will NEVER EVER return here again.

The restaurant is beautiful. Definitely sticking to the theme. The menu is very vast, the service is great and very friendly and helpful. Downside is the actual food. While the taste was good, the food was so heavy on the condiments that I left burping the food. Early stages of acid reflux here we come!

Great place to visit while here, they are very acomadating. We got there around 640 pm we advised them we were in a rush to get back to the ship by 8 they were amazing and the food was on point, I love visiting this place every time I go to PR

When you come to Vaca Brava, you will remember this place by one word, HUGE! The venue inside is quite large, two floors and many tables all around for large groups or just for two. Now comes the food itself, huge! Monster portions of the plates that are meant to be shared. Now comes the time when everyone in your life told you to be nice and share your food, they were preparing you for this moment! You have to share your plate, it feeds more than one person for sure! We got the plate with 2 steaks and a pool of french fries. We felt like we could share it with 4 more people, it was a lot of food! The location is also a plus because it is on a main street in Old San Juan. Que brava!

This place must have been good years ago because my friend, a Puerto Rico native, recommended it.
It is awful.
The waitress recommended the steak and it came out in two minutes. I took one bite and couldn’t even swallow it. Rubbery, rancid, defrosted, disgusting. The sides of veggies and plantains also seemed like they’d been sitting around since 1986.
Stay away.

We were walking around trying to find a place that was a bit more lively, walked by this place & we decide to give it a try since u could hear the music playing.
We were nicely greeted at the door had to sit & wait for a few minutes to see where they would sit us, downstairs looked like it was packed once they came to get us they sat us upstairs all the way in by the corner practically hidden … A bit annoyed since we wanted to hear the music below & upstairs u couldn’t hear it very well.
While seated we got familiar with the menu, it took some time for someone to come to us & check if even someone had taken our order we said no & asked if we could be moved below, after a few minutes we did but they sat us in the back by the large swinging door not a great view I was staring At the wall & staff going in & out since it took them what seemed like forever to come again we changed tables again to one of the two people tables in the middle which were empty not sure why they just didn’t sit us is one of those in the first place.
Once finally seated we order some Mojitos, Passion Fruit ahh this was not very good tasted like lemonade.
On the food I went with the Shrimp All AJillo w yellow rice, this was ok pretty bland really lacked flavor the shrimp was not even in garlic sauce more like garlic coating, rice was also tasteless.
My company had the Grilled Chicken w veggies & Tostones, this was much better the chicken was thick & juicy & had a good taste to it. The Tostones were nice & hot & great with the dipping sauce.
The place itself seems better than it is, service is pretty slow not sure why it’s so dam hot downstairs & freezing upstairs someone needs to figure out how to work the AC properly.
Bathroom was pretty messy, kinda gross they should take the time to whip it down.
The place itself is pretty big two floors, plenty of seating below & upstairs plus a small bar below.
We were on our way out & noticed they had a guy singing & they were playing drums kinda cool we stuck around to see it people were dancing & singing along nice to see.
Service was slow, the place is crazy hot & prices are in between I guess really depends on what u eat & drink food overall lacked flavor not sure I would return.

Imagine soaking a manilla folder in water and then broiling it. Felicitaciones; you’ve just discovered this joint’s nachos.
Further options were not ventured.

Went here for dinner Thursday night and wish I would have gone to Burger King instead.
This place was HORRIBLE. The service horrendous.
The ribs were covered in fat and the Churrasco steak I had, appeared to have been sitting under a warming lamp for some time. It was not edible.
After the waiter saw that I only had two bites and asked what had happened, he still left it on the bill. When I told him that I was not going to pay for it because it tasted like dried up shoe leather, he went and spoke with the «manager». After about 20 minutes, he came back with the revised bill. The manager, never came to ask what had happened.
The management team needs to get its act together.

Minus one star because ordering took 3 different waiters and one entrée took 45 minutes to arrive!
Amazing food. Amazing host out front. Thursday night at 8 there was no wait to be seated for two.
A man in a black shirt was very prompt in greeting us and explaining to us he will not be our waiter but he’d be happy to take our drink orders. The waiter would be a few more minutes (which was nerve wracking because of the other reviews).
The passion fruit smoothie w added alcohol was very good with very little alcohol though… Ordering our full meal took 3 different people! We had to call one to us each time we had a question or order to make. We ordered mofongo balls & sausages as appetizers. Fresh and filling I recommend both.
We ordered the stack of ribs and Mahi Mahi fillet with sides of fried plantains and sweet plantains. Highly recommend both. Most of the food came fairly quickly — despite the ordering debacle. However the Mahi Mahi took about 45 minutes !! (With only 7 tables full) Ended up just getting the entire entrée to go. :/​
Overall highly recommend when you’re not on a tight schedule. We only saw our waiter twice but the host and bartender/​manager (not sure) made sure to keep us in the loop.

If you want to eat enough meat that is ozzes out of your pores, this is the place for you. The Barney Rubble was a very well prepared rack of ribs that filled me and my wife up to the brim. They were juicy and full of meat. The sides however, were not as good. Good French fries in Puerto Rico in general are soggy and floppy, not crisp. The mofongo was dry and not very flavorful.
The staff was slow and distracted as well.
Overall it was ok.

I was here over Christmas ¹²⁄₂₀₁₄ and we waited 1.5 just to be seated and over 2 hours for food. The service was just awful on top of it all.
The mofongo was dry and not tasty. Meats were pretty good but at that point we were so annoyed that I don’t think anyone left overly impressed by the cuisine.
NEVER AGAIN. Do not go here.

Was very disappointed. Their menu was appetizing but they were out of sirloin and refused to substitute skirt steak. Would not recommend there are several better options in the area.

TERRIBLE SERVICE!!! Go elsewhere!
We came here in May and found the food delicious and the service fine but returned now and it was much different.
A cup of water took 15 minutes to be brought out, and the food took an hour! Everything was slow, except the check that took 30 seconds.
They barely had anything, we tried ordering Juices and sides and they were out! I get that it happens but it was just ridiculous.
We had been there before during the week and now we went on a Friday maybe that explains the disparity in service. But they should address that as the weekend is the time for a restaurant to shine.
The food is good, I can’t take that away from them but the service was terrible. For a restaurant of that price range they definitely need major improvement.
I wouldn’t go back because the island has so many options so there’s no need to waste 2 hours being stressed In this place.

I’m not sure how we found this place (I wasn’t driving the Unilocal app today), but it turned out to be a good choice for lunch. It felt like PR’s equivalent of a mainland steak joint, with the same bright and glossy menu, waiters singing an «off» version of the birthday song and even a silly paper hat.
The language barrier was there somewhat but we got past it. I ordered the skirt steak with red peppers. It arrived on a sizzling metal platter, like what you might get with fajitas at a Mexican restaurant. I asked for it medium and it arrived closer to rare but as it continued to cook on the platter, it turned out great. The steak had a very good flavor and the sauteed peppers worked out well too.
There are probably better restaurants in the Old Town, but when you’re dealing with five people who really don’t want to be walking around on uneven sidewalks and tripping over cobblestones, it was ideal. If you’re nearby, go here. If you’re further away, I wouldn’t say it’s worth a long trip.

After passing the creepy mannequins near the entrance, get ready to embark on a meatventure.
The table next to ours ordered the clothes line of random meats for $ 75. It was a sight to see!
Per my friend’s recommendation, I ordered the Can Can. It was a HUGE piece of pork chop attached to bacon, with the look of a dinosaur spine. It came with a flavorful side of mofongo. For $ 15.99 I received single largest piece of meat that I have ever seen.
My food arrived after the rest of my table was done eating. It was a little awkward tearing apart my foot high piece of meat while trying to hold a conversation.
In the end, our table had an awesome meal for our last night in Puerto Rico. I would recommend this place to all meat lovers!