El Burén

Great tasting drinks (especially the Mojitos) and drink specials!

I am pretty sure this restaurant is closed. We were in San Juan last week and it looked like it had gone out of business.

OMG! The BEST seaweed-​on-​tostones (fried plantain) canapé you’ll ever have! And their gnocchi is great. The stuffed plantain mofongo (mashed plantain) is quite good, but if you’re not into saucy plates, ask for the sauce on the side. And if you order any plate with a side, try their yucca mofongo! Their passion-​fruit martini is INSANE! Ok I’m hopping on a plane now. :-)
As with most restaurants in Old San Juan, the dress code is casual during the day and casual/​elegant at night (jeans with a nice shirt for men/​jeans and a nice blouse + casual heels for ladies). The place is small and cozy, and right in the middle of lovely Old San Juan, with the Spanish architecture and «adoquines» or cobblestone streets. It’s a 5 minute walking distance to The fort of El Morro. Street parking can be tough, so if you give up, try the Doña Fela parking lot (covered, and you have to pay) towards the cruise ship pier terminal.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — En Puertorro, ahora — — — — — — — — - — — — –
Recomendaciones:
1) ¡El canapé de algas! Tostones con algas dulces encima. ¡Suena raro, pero es decadentemente exquisito!
2) El mofongo es bueno, de plátano o de yuca. Si es relleno, yo prefiero pedirlo con la salsa aparte.
3) Los gnocchi en salsa blanca son buenos también.
4) ¡El martini de parcha es el mejor!
5) ¡Las chuletas de cordero son muy buenas!
La vestimenta es Boricua-​style: blusa linda con mahones y taquitas, para las féminas. Los varones, mahón con camisa de botones o hasta una polo. Es pequeño y relax, pero lindo.
Personalmente siempre me estaciono en el estacionamiento multipiso de Doña Fela, hacia los muelles, si no veo estacionamiento disponible en la calle.

Was looking forward to El Buren and more importantly, pizza. The only good part of the evening was the mojito de parcha. The mojitos that we all had were great. Other than that, wow.
I have no idea what was going on that evening… short on staff, bartender was waiting tables instead? Not really sure (and there were about three tables of people). All I know is that I am suuuuper laid back and know how Puerto Rican service is, slow. I know this. I’m Puerto Rican. But holy crap. Waiter was horrible. Never asked if we wanted more drinks after we long finished our first ones. In fact, I rarely saw him. Pizza was sub par. Mine was brought to the table about a half hour after everyone else’s.
Total bummer. Two stars for the mojitos though, so there’s thaaaat.

The lamb chops with mofongo is one of the most delicious meals I’ve ever eaten! Drinks and seafood were also awesome!

Ok, so various friends told me if I was coming home to visit I had to try this place so on my last night in Puerto Rico, we decided to check it out. Since we hadn’t had lunch and with meeting friends later in the night we headed in for a very early dinner around 4:30 — 5:00pm. We were the only people in the restaurant and the waiter was very quick to serve us. The menu is small but very exciting, which usually hints to a place specializing on a few dishes instead of trying to do it all. Here’s what we ordered
— Passion fruit sangria (secret house recipe)
— Canapé de Platano (fried, green plantains topped with crab and seaweed salad)
— Lamb Chops with Guava Sauce and Mampostea Rice
— Cassava Gnocchi with a four cheese sauce
— Gianduia (Hazelnut and dark chocolate mousse on a sculpted burnt sugar with almonds bowl)
Everything, and I truly do mean everything was just incredibly delicious. The sangria was the best I’ve ever had (good enough to drink a full pitcher between two people). The canapes were just the perfect combination of crunchy and chewy, salty and sweet, just pure yum. The lamb chops were cooked perfectly and the sauce wasn’t overpowering the flavor of the meat, even the small serving of vegetables on this dish was seasoned perfectly.
I am a big gnocchi fan, and the dumplings and sauce usually fall short of my expectations and I end up preferring to make them myself, not this time. There wasn’t a single bite that didn’t make me smile and purr happily afterwards. Luckily enough, the dishes were so perfectly portioned that we had enough space left to share dessert. Enter the gianduia. It was pure heaven! After we were done, we just sat down and enjoyed digesting for a little while longer before heading out to meet with our friends.
The only thing which was a little disappointing (which on their defense could have been due to our early arrival or the day of the week) was the fact that the cassava/​potato mash that originally comes with the lamb wasn’t available that night and that the ossobuco wasn’t available either. Regardless, next time I am home this is certainly a place I plan to visit at least once during my stay.