Café Manolín

My favorite place in all of Old San Juan for breakfast. The latte is superb and the tostones are my favorite on the island here. The staff take great care of you. The bread they use is awesome. And the naturally squeezed OJ is awesome (and I’m not usually a fan of OJ so that’s saying something). Located in the heart of old San Juan you won’t want to pass this place up!

Flat out a delicious restaurant in the heart of San Juan. You can’t go wrong with a place that the coast guard is dining beside you. The mofongo is insane. This restaurant has been here for 80 years shelling out some great food. I absolutely loved the food and the service. Highly Recommended!

I enjoyed the carne asada, the beans were delicious, and the rice was cooked very well. My friends ordered a fried chicken meal which I thought was decent. In total, I bought two meals, a coffee, and a juice and didn’t pay more than $ 26. I mention it because many of the restaurants we went too in San Juan, were nearly twice the price for two people. If I am in Old San Juan I would probably stop by here for a quick delicious bite. Now the place was busy on a Monday afternoon, but there was enough space at the bar for me and my friend to sit.
As an aside, once you go in the likelihood of seeing the streets, any natural light, or tourists decreased dramatically.

Great food and atmosphere. I had the ground beef stuffed plantain (special). It was very delicious. Great location to get out of the heat and enjoy a nice meal).

The food was decent but here’s the 1 star! We ordered 4 bottles of water and they were all refilled with different water. How did I know, you ask? Well 1) there was no click for the safety top when I opened them (I checked them all) and 2) Three of the 4 bottles had water filled all the way to the rim. This makes me so mad

Excellent choice for inexpensive and delicious food. Whole family of four ordered quite the variety of food including the Grouper and drinks among other things. Walked out with a bill of $ 43. Service was great. Felt like a diner and looked like it as well. Highly recommended. Great Puerto Rican food.

This spot is great every time I come back to PR to visit family or travel I stop by here.

Food was greasy. We had the mofongo de camarones and the fish of the day. Service was ok. Coffee was delicious and best part of meal. We would not go back.

The absolute best place to eat in Old San Juan without question! Food is fantastic. Prices are extremely reasonable. Service is impeccable. I would eat there every day if I could

This was my favorite restaurant in San Juan that I tried. It was a fairly short trip and I wanted to get another taste of authentic Puerto Rican food, and Café Manolin delivered! We walked in and sat down at one of the counters near the entrance. But if you prefer a table, you can wait to be seated — options are always nice.
The person who served us was friendly and gave us a rundown of the specials. The menu has the items in both Spanish and English. We ultimately decided on the Filete de Mero (grouper fillet) and the Mofongo Relleno con Camarones (mashed green plantain with shrimp). They were delicious! I didn’t care much for the shrimp, which just sat at the bottom in the middle of the mofongo and wasn’t really dressed with any flavor, but the rest was great. The plantains they came with were also quite tasty. The server recommended some delicious condiments to try with our meals. Overall a great last meal in Puerto Rico!
Side note: we parked in the Dona Fela parking structure and walked over. Good place to park (for a fee of course) if you’re going to Old San Juan, unless it’s a crazy busy time of day in which case the streets around the area are super congested.

Food is great and the service is good and fast. it is cheap given the quality of good.
I had the breaded steak along with the sweet plantains and it was delicious!
For dessert, I would recommend the milk cake which is simple and amazing.
They have only 5 – 6 small tables so if you are a big group you might not able to find a table to fit everyone.

Shrimp Mofongo was great. I ordered this with salad and beans-Don’t for get to ask for their homemade spicy sauce; flavor was good and mild spicy taste. Everyone was pretty much friendly but the host was mean&angry:-p lol having a rough day I guess.
I heard chicken Mofongo is good as well.

Great place to dine at in Old San Juan! We Unilocaled a place for mofongo and Café Manolin popped up. Our hotel and taxi driver said it was a great option. Always great to hear that from locals.
When we walked in, you get the old-​school/​diner feel. Lots of bar seats and a few tables towards the back. We came for a somewhat late lunch and there were a good amount of people inside. We didn’t have to wait at all.
Service was attentive and quick. We all had the mofongo, either chicken or shrimp. Very tasty and paired well with the rice and beans. They had the best rice out of all the places we ate at during our stay in San Juan. It was chewy and cooked just right. There was also a light flavor to it as well. I could eat a whole bowl of it by itself.
My favorite thing about this meal was their hot sauce. Every restaurant wants to be known for their hot sauce and every review for every restaurant always says «BEST hot sauce». but I am telling you right now that you don’t have to search any further. Café Manolin has the BEST hot sauce and I would buy it by the bottle if I could. Way better than that vinegar and peppers stuff. You have got to try this yellow hot sauce!
The location is great. It stinks they close early around 4pm, so go for breakfast or lunch! Prices are wonderful.

This is a hidden gem where the locals and the savvy traveler go to eat Thee Best cafeteria style homemade Puerto Rican food. Not a tourist trap nor overpriced. This is a must stop when visiting Old San Juan. Open until 4

Opens early (6am), dirt cheap and true local joint.
Things don’t seem to open early in old San Juan. But this place opens at 6am! When you walk in, there are these old diner like bars and locals have their breakfast or take it to go. The service is good, fast, friendly and everyone seems to know each other. Great place to stop by for coffee and breakfast. The pepper sauce is phenomenal!

Soo good. We were wandering the streets of San Juan and needed a lunch. We went to another place and were ignored for a few minutes so we left. This place had more reviews and higher reviews and we loved it. If I went again I would get Mofongo but the plantains and chicken empanada I had were really good. My wife and son had fish (Grouper) and liked their meal very much.
If I am in San Juan again I will be here for a meal.

Great food, the price is just right, big portions and the guy who serves on the counter side of the place is funny and friendly and makes sure you have enough coffee while you seat there, great place I highly recommend it !

After a 45 minute walk, we were getting hungry, looking for a place to eat in the city and found this place on Unilocal.Of course when you’re in a new place you want to try the local food, and this definitely fits.
There was a line from when we got in to after we left. Note that the line is only for those that are looking to get seated at a table. The bar counters are first come first serve, so if you find an open seat, go grab it!
We ordered a grouper filet lunch special which comes with white/​yellow rice and maduros (fried plantains) and beans. I would recommend the fish, they are very fresh and seasoned nicely. The yellow rice was average. Also got a side of the mofongo, but wasn’t too impressed with that. We enjoyed the fish so much, we ordered a mahi mahi (if you just want the fish, it’s four dollars off the lunch combo price).
Make sure to use the green (parsley vinegar and oil based) and orange (ketchup mayo flavored) sauces though. They are fantastic on everything!

Not a bad spot if you’re in a hurry, on a budget and want to try some mfongo. It is definitely still a diner so it’s not the fanciest, but it’s definitely worth trying if you’re in a pinch. I had the chicken mfongo with beans and rice and my fiancée had a shrimp dish that we both enjoyed. I was also relieved to see a few locals hanging around. All in all, not sure exactly how this place got 4.5 stars. It’s good and all, but if you’re visiting, there are surely better places to check out.

This is NOT your typical tourist spot. I would classify it as a local diner. It’s loud, it’s crazy and it’s GREAT!!!
Prices are very reasonable. Service is fast, beer is ice cold.
This is the place to go for an authentic San Juan meal without spending a fortune.

No frills diner serving up basic breakfast that’s quick and affordable. Great café con leche and fresh squeezed orange juice. I had a cheese omelet with toast. Don’t forget to ask for piqué! They make a killer hot sauce.

Our favorite breakfast spot. We are here for breakfast 3 times because the omelettes weren’t greasy, perfect size and don’t even get us started on the pan criollo that comes with them! So good. Great coffee and fresh squeezed orange juice were excellent, too. I got carry out arroz y habichuelas and tostones to take the the airport as well. Great food and prices were totally reasonable.

Cute café with excellent counter service and very affordable prices. Especially enjoyed the plantains and the fish lunches. Portions are good for the price and the coffee was excellent.

Came for breakfast once then had to come back again! Terrific value for the overpriced old San Juan area, two can eat here for less than $ 10 and get delicious breakfast with speedy service .
Watch out for the crowd after 930am. We ordered eggs and bacon sandwich and grilled cheese sandwich which was beyond excellent. Tres leches cake was great as well.
Encourage all to come here for more authentic breakfast that locals enjoy and travelers can experience without getting price gouged.

In love with the place and love the house’s special pork roasted with rice. Highly recommend! Authentic PR dishes!!! (:

Wonderful food! Authentic Puerto Rican food! You know it’s good when it’s full of locals. Great location too right in the middle of the shopping district next to the Cruise Ports. Friendly staff too. Enjoy!

Ate here twice with my wife while vacationing in Puerto Rico. The food is good, but the service is definitely on island time! It’s friendly enough, filled with locals (so you know it’s good), just don’t be in a hurry when you go there! Try the green hot sauce, it’s delicious!

They have probably the best hot sauce I have ever had. It looked to be house made and it tasted like nothing else I’ve had. Nice amount of heat while still adding an awesome flavor. I got the shrimp mofungo and while it wasn’t as good as at Punto de Vista, it was pretty close. The mofungo was a little bit more dry than I like, but the shrimp juice and hot sauce ended up evening it out. And I struggled to finish my plate because there was just SO much food (not that much shrimp, but a ton of mofungo and rice). Very enjoyable. Also our server was awesome, super nice and helpful with his recommendations.

We stopped in San Juan on a cruise and I wanted to go to Ajili Mojili. My lady believes in Hole In the Wall Theory (the best food is undiscovered and made by people who can’t afford décor) and wanted to go to a small place. When I learned that Ajili Mojili was closed, I wept. Then I turned to the Unilocal App. We found Café Manolin, reviewed to be a hit with locals and tourists, so off we went.
This place is lovely. It has a large lunch counter café feel, because that’s what it is. The soup we had was amazing. The pork mofongo was to die for. If I lived in San Juan, I would be there every day. Service is friendly, and English is spoken if your Spanish is muy mal like mine.

El lugar es simpático y la atención bastante rápida. La comida estuvo exquisita, particularmente el pastel de tres leches. Altamente recomendable.

On the quest for some authentic Mofongo, our cab driver suggested we check out Café Manolin, so we did. And it was good. Very good. I learned that Mofongo is a dish made out of mashed plantains and encases your choice of meat. I went with shrimp, and it was delicious. Paired with some tangy hot sauce and I was golden.

Muy buena comida criolla muy buena la atención el jugo dé china natural muy bueno y el bizcocho dé tres leche muy bueno. Lo recomiendo

For an authentic taste of Puerto Rican food, you need to avoid the glitzy restaurants and the flashy tourists traps. You’re better served visiting a humble establishment where those around you know the cuisine.
In other words, if top notch and affordable Puerto Rican food is what you seek, you need to visit Café Manolin.
Connoisseurs come here for mofongo, one of the many crowning achievements of Puerto Rican food. It’s not remotely healthy, but it’s absolutely worth it. (For the uninitiated, mofongo generally consists of fried savory plantains mashed together with garlic, pork rinds, and cilantro. A few places – including Manolin – also make theirs with yucca, which is also worth checking out).
A side of mofongo here is enough to fill your appetite and will run you about $ 3.50. The flavors melt in your mouth, and the texture is smooth inside, crispy outside.
Be sure to get chimichurri and hot sauce with your food. Puerto Rican food is generally not spicy at all, but authentic restaurants pride themselves on offering homemade hot sauce. I lived in the island for 18 years; Café Manolin’s sauce is among my favorites.
Service here is prompt, and your food arrives quickly.
Leave the tourist traps for the spendthrifts, and go seek out great food here!

One of my fav in Old San Juan! The cute little gem is kind of like a diner. Myself and 7 friends came here.
The food was amazing. Service was super fast and friendly. I loved the tres leches! It was one of the best I ever had.
Coming back in August, can’t wait to eat here! I would def give them an A+
They could give a little more sweet plantains but I can deal.

It’s just alright, not sure why everyone is raving about this place?
It’s a diner located in old San Juan. They have some local dishes for breakfast and lunch. We came in at lunch. I got the fried chicken, it was very dry and didn’t have enough flavor in the batter. The hot sauce and other sauces were pretty good. The rice and beans were pretty good. Did try the mofongo, basically that is mashed plantains with meat inside, that’s was a little better.
It’s good served up no frills, they have the local dishes here so if you want to try something new then you can here for a decent price.

One of our favorite meals in PR.
You cant go wrong… this is a diner… with cheap, and amazing food.
I had the chicken stuffed mofongo. I could barely finish it because it was so heavy. But was it amazing. My fiancé was practically drinking the bottles of sauces they put on the table. One sauce in particular (I can never remember the name of it) is green with garlic, oil, and other herbs. We put it on everything. The waiter was almost laughing at us for how much we were enjoying it.
We highly recommend stopping here while visiting old san juan.

Not a bad place if your in ol San Juan. .
Very diner like atmosphere if you stop in have the MEDIUM fresh squeezed Orange juice.
That was well worth the money

Absolutely loved this place. The atmosphere was nice and homey feeling, the service was great, and the food was the best part. The orange juice was fresh squeezed right in front of you.
We got the grouper with yellow rice with corn in it and we also got this plantain lasagna like dish which was phenomenal. It was sweet but not too sweet, included beef and egg. Don’t miss this place, it’s great.

A local recommended Café Manolin as a breakfast/​lunch spot, so we tried it. Inside, it looks like a 1960’s-style cafeteria with seating around several curved counters. We had to wait in a line to be seated but the process moved quickly and we found ourselves ready to order within about 10 minutes.
I had mofongo with chicken; my husband had fish. We agreed that all of the food was good. It was simple, straightforward Puerto Rican food done well. The sides of beans and plantains were excellent with just enough seasoning (no salt shaker needed), and the sauces served on the side of the main dishes helped bring out their flavors.
To drink we had coffee, which was delicious and strong. One thing that is common in Puerto Rico is that they add the milk for you if you take your coffee with dairy; that was the case here, and while it looked almost latte-​light, it tasted great.
My only complaint about Café Manolin was that the service was slow, and inconsistently so. Some things were done quickly, but it took a very long time to get our coffee and to get refills later on.
You pay your bill with the cashier up front; let him or her know how much tip to add before your credit card is processed.

Just finished stuffing my face and I wanted to write a review as quickly as possible. I had this Puerto Rican dish called Mofongo and it is absolutely delicious! There are 2 options of chicken Mofongo or shrimp Mofongo. I went with the Mofongo Relleno con Pollo (chicken) and I was quite pleased. The dish comes with plantains and an option of salad of rice and beans. Go for the rice and beans you won’t be disappointed. Mofongo Relleno con Pollo ($ 9.25) is mashed green plantain stuffed with chicken. Also they’ll give you a chipotle type sauce and another sauce that is yellowish orange in color it is spicy and comes in a bottle with a cork top. Now let me give you a forewarning that this sauce is straight crack! It was so good I put it on everything.
The restaurant is average size but is normally always busy, especially when cruise ships come into dock. There is seating at the two bars as a first come first serve basis but if you want a table in the back you must place your name down and wait patiently.
Now just because the restaurant is busy with fast turn overs and tons of people eating here doesn’t mean their customer service is lacking. Everyone working here was equally nice and attentive.

If you have limited time in San Juan and can only eat in one place, Café Manolin is that place. Okay, so that was a little biased as I only had time to eat at one place and I’m sure there’s other awesome places out there, but you get my point.
So my family of four got there around 1:30/1:45 and had to wait about 20 minutes for a table. Some counter space opened up but the server all but laughed at us when we said we were a group of four. This place draws a crowd. Not fun to wait, but good signs of good things to come.
Totally worth the wait. My mom and I went with the chicken mofongo and my husband had the special of the day– mofongo with churrasco. We each got the special brown rice and beans with pieces of pork. My dad went with the fried chicken.
Mofongo 101 according to Wikipedia:
«Mofongo is a fried plantain-​based dish from Puerto Rico. It is typically made with fried green plantains mashed together in a pilón (which consists of a wooden mortar and pestle), with broth, garlic, olive oil, and pork cracklings (Chicharrón) or bits of bacon. It can be filled with vegetables, chicken, crab, shrimp, or beef and is often served with fried meat and chicken broth soup.»
I’m sure the locals reading my review will laugh at my 101, but I found that useful when waiting to be seated. Speaking of locals, the place was full of them.
Back to the food, it was excellent! I’m clearly not a mofongo expert but I enjoyed every last bite. The yellow hot sauce and green pesto added to the already great flavor.
Despite the crowds, it didn’t take much time to place our order and get our food. Tip to the always chilly, the restaurant was freezing. Bring a sweater!
If I’m in Old San Juan with limited time, I wouldn’t hesitate to go back to Café Manolin.

Lo mejor de comida criolla en el Viejo San Juan. Servicio bueno y rapido. Donde los locales van a comer.