La Jaquita Baya

I have been in Puerto Rico for four days now, and this is the best meal hands down so far. An amazing blend of puerto rican and other culinary styles, everything is flavorful, filling, and unique. Literally my friend and I had a sad, rainy cold day and were pretty down but coming here made everything better. Seriously, that good.
We ordered three appetizers and shared between us: the pork belly mofongo, goat cheese gnocchi and the salted cod calamari. They were all amazing: the mofongo here is 99 steps above any other crappy tourist trap location, and the pork belly could not be any more perfect. The gnocci was delicious, but the goat cheese is strong and liquidy, so make sure you like that. The calamari i would definitely recommend.
Above all, the servers are so hardworking and do their utmost to make your experience the best possible. The service was so fast, although it was a fancy place our meal took under an hour. He kept refilling our water, offered to get more artisanal bread for free for us and homemade hot sauce all wothout asking. Overall, if you are staying anywhere near miramar, do not miss this spot. Trust me, i have tried a bunch of others in the area like bartola and los pinos and they dont even come close.

Came here on a Monday night in March. This is one of the first restaurants that I felt Unilocal let me down! There were four of us for dinner and we ordered tuna tartar and cod calamari for appetizers-​both were decent. For dinners we ordered two swordfish specials, the short ribs, the skirt steak, and the vegetarian rice. The swordfish was tasteless and greasy, the steak was served so cold that I had to send it back to be heated. La Jaquita Baya is a decent place to go for dinner– def worthy of 3 stars, but 4.5 stars on Unilocal is usually spectacular and this just wasn’t there for us.

We loved everything we had at La Jaquita Baya. The service was really good, wanted us to love the food. My wife’s parents are vegetarian and there were several good things on this expectedly meat-​heavy menu. Desert and drinks were fantastic.

Excellent food and service! We went to this restaurant today as it’s basically next to our hotel. Based on the feedback we ordered the pork belly and beef tendorloin dishes and both we’re absolutely amazing. Had few drinks as well. Service was nice and we can recommend this place to everyone visiting San Juan. Best food and drinks we’ve got in San Juan so far! Try the pork belly!

Get the pork belly mofongo and thank me later! Everything here is delicious! We loved the Tacitus and even had a rabbit dish (wasn’t my cup of tea but still delicious)

Best mofongo I ever had! Awesome mojitos! The service was awesome ! Can’t wait to come back next visit to San Juan!!!

Outstanding ! Had the Rabbit Empanadas that were great. Also the whole friend fish wow! Everything wonderful

Excellent, well-​prepared food & drink. And don’t miss the housemade desserts!

Fantastic restaurant! The pork was sooo tender — knife not required! Delicious little crab tacos and the mojito were the best. Even better than the food is the service! My wife wasn’t feeling well (nothing at all to do with the food/​it was low blood pressure)…she had a dizzy spell and passed out. They sprung into action! Very helpful and I appreciate that tremendously!

Every item on their menu I tried was simply amazing! This is going to be my destination food stop every time I’m in PR.
P. S.–always start with a pitcher of their sangria.

We sat and ate and drank at the bar with some new friends we had met at our hotel. The whole experience was wonderful! Marta, the bartender, was so attentive and friendly. The red Sangria IMO was a little sweet to me, but prob not to others. The Mojito was one of the best I have had. She uses brown sugar which i think dials back the sweetness a bit.
For dinner we ordered the gnocchi which was absolutely amazing. We also ordered the Pork Belly Mofungo… to die for. Sooo good. Lastly we had the red snapper which between presentation and taste was absolutely perfect!
I highly recommend this place! Highly!

I love this place and the staff! The food and drinks are great! I always come here when I visit Puerto Rico!

One of the best meals I have had. We found this place on Unilocal and of course they pulled through.
We ordered the pork belly mufongo– you MUST try it.
The staff was more than happy to see us walk through the door and even called a cab for us when we left because we couldn’t speak any spanish! I cannot wait to come back on a layover!

I hate writing bad reviews, but this place was pretty disappointing — especially at the price point. We got the chicken rice which was underwhelming and had bones in it. The chicken breast was also decent but not that great, and at the price point it’s not worth it.
The vegetarian rice was actually really good (somewhat worth being a $ 20 dish I guess), and the spicy homemade salsa was awesome (although they ran out). They ran out of red snapper too which seemed to be the most popular and best dish… Good option if you can spend $ 30−50/pp, but not for any price sensitive travelers (and don’t get the chicken if you go!)

The food was definitely 4 stars. The waitress was so nice and helpful when we were ordering. But the service was so slow that it ruined the experience. At one point we were sitting there with no food, water or cocktails for about 45 minutes. No bueno.
If I was rating only our experience I would give the restaurant one or two stars, but the food was so good that I would definitely give it another shot.

The Unilocal photos made this place sound grungy. I almost didn’t go there despite the great reviews. Glad we gave it a shot because it was awesome! My absolute favorite place in San Juan. Place is hip and clean. Service is friendly and fun! The food is amazing! We had the pork belly (which I normally don’t like and could have licked the bowl), gnocchi (rivals my #1 fav gnocchi as a close 2^nd), fresh fish special, and the meat rice (full of meat and very flavorful). Don’t let the photos and reviews about this being a dive scare you — it’s not. It’s absolutely awesome and I will be back again — I hope soon!!!

+ service
+ cocktails
+ food
Friendly staff the chicken breast on guava sauce wast superb. The whatever rice it’s out of this world

While in San Juan two weeks ago we decided we want to have dinner some place where the locals went. After searching online we came across La Jaquita Baya. The reviews were pretty impressive so we figured we see for ourselves.
It was about a mile from our hotel, the Caribe Hilton, and a beautiful evening so we decided to walk.
It’s located in a non-​tourist area surrounded by apartments and condos. We’d made reservations earlier that evening so we walked in and were quickly seated. We both ordered mojitos and started with a tasty smoked pork appetizer (not the pork belly mofongo) that was amazing. I ordered the Mamposteao rice for my entrée. That dish was huge! It literally could have served 4 starving people. It was basically a family-​sized Puerto Rican paella dish, loaded with pork, sausage, and chicken topped with more sausage and a drizzle of delicious cream sauce.
Although it was tasty, between my entrée and appetizer, I was so full there was no room for dessert but we had another fruity mojito (we had so many that weekend, I can’t remember which flavors).
Definitely a great place to go if you want to avoid the crowded tourist traps and see where the locals go for a good meal.
Tip: If you drive they have a small parking lot with parking for $ 3.

I found this somewhat hidden gem by browsing PR «foodie» websites and decreed this our «go-​to» dinner of a relaxed PR beach weekend. I wasn’t in the mood for some kinda-​fancy tasting at a hotel (or an american chain in a hotel), or the Dragon Fly etc. scene, I just wanted some god damned good but somewhat «fancy» food in PR! Ahhhh, finally a nice glass of red wine – which they keep chilled so it’s super awesome in the heat. The crowd was mostly native PR-​a few couples asked us how we found the place. Well I’m a master of food and the internet! If I have one thing to say, it’s get the pork belly mofongo. Don’t even think twice about it, just order it. I also had delish langoustines/​carribbean lobster in a garlic spicy something delish what my mouth is watering. Just go, and drink all the wine and chat with your neighbors.
I overlapped in PR with a friend of mine, and shot her a quick FB message to try this place out. She did and raved that it was the best meal EVAH.

Excelente para almorzar o comer por la tarde. Comida criolla con un toque gourmet. Porciones grandes a muy buen precio. Atento servicio. Uno de mis frecuentes favoritos.

Delicious Dinner (5 stars)
Driving here was a little problem getting used to the roads in San Juan. But once we got there, we put our name on the list for a 30 minute wait.
At the bar we got beer and Tamarindo mojito. It was a nice bar and our Lady bartender was gracious with the rum. There were others at the bar, and it was nice to see what they were drinking and eating.
We got a nice table along the wall and I could see the chefs in the kitchen.
Here’re our orders:
–pork belly mofongo
–Conch salad
–empenadillas with crab meat
–gnocchi with goat cheese
–pistachio cake
–Tamarindo mojito
–Guava Mojito
Everything was Super Delicious!
It was a great experience to eat local food with locals.
We will definitely be back to this place.

Excelente servicio, entremeses, comida, postre y café riquisimos, precio accesible. No dejen de visitarlo.