La Mala Vida

I am extremely disappointed that this was where we had our first meal in Puerto Rico. Utter disappointment. We were especially hungry after our long flight from California. They didn’t have have the things that we ordered. The food tasted absolutely terrible, they charged us for one extra spoon of pico de gallo, the service was a disgrace and at the end of it all, they messed up our bill twice. Please don’t make this place part of your trip to PR, you will be disappointed!

My friend & I happened to stumble in here on cinco de mayo. We met Luis, the bartender & he was awesome! Very nice, attentive, quick & he made REALLY great drinks. You have to try the mojitos! The food here was pretty good as well. We both had the shrimp burrito bowl. I would definitely come here again & recommend it.

We got the unlimited mimosa brunch. I ordered the spinach eggs benedict with the french toast. The eggs bendict really isnt a traditional eggs benedict. It came in a sandwich fashion with a croissant. It tasted okay, but like something that I could have made myself. The french toast, again had no french toast taste. It just tasted like sweet soggy bread. The mimosas, while not lacking in champagne, had that sort of artificial sweetener aftertaste. And to top it off it took over 45 minutes to get our food. I wouldnt recommend this place, even though it has a good reputation, nor would I come here again.

$ 23.95 for the bottomless mimosa which includes any brunch item and a dessert. Sit at the bar. AMAZING. The place itself is stylishly. Food is a solid B. I got the salmon omelette which was packed with smoked salmon. GF got the huevos rancheros and was only OK. French toast was perfect. Nutella croissant was A+. Bar tenders were lovely. Go!

This restaurant was recommended by a local and we are so happy she sent us here for dinner! This restaurant doesn’t have a huge menu, but we loooved what we ordered. The chicken with mango salsa was terrific, as was the mahi mahi. We ordered mofongo de yuca (another suggestion by the local who recommended La Mala Vida) and mashed potatoes as our sides… perfect! And we enjoyed a few flavored mojitos along with our meal. They were very delicious as well! Wish we had tried this place at the beginning of our vacation so we could come back.

Great experience and service! We had a reservation for brunch and were seated promptly. The place is cozy and authentic looking. Food was amazjng and service even better. Our server Valeria is a beast! Girl was working the floor all by herself and didn’t miss a single table. She is simply great and very very attentive. The mimosas were great, specially the passion fruit one. Get the unlimited mimosas special, it’s so worth it. Great food!

I had big expectations, but…
25 mins to fried calamaris with standard sauce and no lime and the place was 20% full.
Worst flank steak I’ve ever had (and you really have to try hard to make a bad flank steak). I think they marinated it on heinz bbq sauce and then overcooked it.
Ribs were gross.
Service was ok.
Maybe they should hire a chef.

This venue has very nice quality food, yet service is lacking. At least six waiters/​bartenders yet very little attention to tables. We went to brunch somewhere around 3:30 and we almost had to seat ourselves, very little attention to the door. As we walked in we had to wave to to the battalion of staff accumulated at the bar, we were happily seated on the terrace by a friendly waitress yet we found ourselves having to flag her down to achieve any level of service.

Listen up everyone! I have a slight observation that I have made about many awesome restaurants on the island. A lot of these amazing places get bad reviews due to «slow» service which boggles my mind since when I got to said places, the wait isn’t that long.
So as a «gringa» (read: miami born Latina) I would like to explain some stuff that I have learned from my awesome Puerto Rican friends on the island.
This is an island, things go slower here. You’re expected to go to a restaurant in a group and talk for a while before food is served. It’s cultural and it’s one of the things that took some time for me to get used to and one of the things I now have come to love. Food is a slow affair because it supposed to be relaxing and an enjoyable group activity.
So, that being said, the service here is slow by state-​side standards but it’s normal for PR standards. The waiter was a little scatter-​brained but the place was packed with an hour wait just to be seated so it’s understandable for the server to be anxious.
I highly recommend the place for brunch. The mimosas are delicious. I had the fried eggs with French Toast (mimosa special) and I was in heaven. The bacon was crunchy and gooey in all the right places, the eggs were perfectly cooked. The French Toast was gooey and sweet, just like it’s supposed to be.
I give this place a 5 stars for its quaint atmosphere (they sat us in a balcony which over looked the arts festival that was going on that day), delicious brunch and overall good service.
If you’re in the area and want some relaxing, yummy food and don’t mind being patient, I highly recommend the place.

Ramphas the server/​bar tender was great, the food was delicious, one of the most memorable experiences in Puerto Rico.

In the heat of San Juan
This brunch place is a must
Mimosa are 5 $, and mostly champagne
For entrée I had the salmon eggs Benedict and it was absolutely delicious !!!
I was a little iffy about it coming on a croissant, however it was delicious !!

This was the best experience I had in Puerto Rico the food was awesome and the hospitality was great the bar tender Ramphis was the best …

I posted a tip but I should rate this place; went there at dinner time and the food was not good we ordered drinks-​nachos-​ribs-​none of it was good. It was Friday and it was empty no wonder why, I hear very good reviews about brunch maybe it’s worth a try the mojitos were too sweet, probably mimosas were better. Hopefully it’ll improve at dinner. It’s a great location at Old San Juan

Amazing! Great food, great ambiance, great service! The unlimited mimosas brunch is to die for! Fresh ingredients, natural juice mimosas, a great variety of dishes… you gotta try the eggs bennedict with smoked salmon and the nutella stuffed croissant. So good! Dinner is great too! You must try the tuna ceviche (appetizer)! The yuca mofongo (side dish) is the best I have ever had. Soft and creamy in the inside and crispy on the outside. Great flavor! Goes perfectly with the churrasco (skirt steak). Ohh and the mojitos! The best in town, made with natural juices and Don Q rum. And if you feel like dancing, you could stay after dinner and enjoy great music in the weekend. It’s my go to place! You gotta try it.

Delicious! The brunch was completed. Mimosas are really good. Prices are fair and th service is really complete. Great customer experience!!!

I’m a little torn on the rating for this place. The food was delicious, but the service was so bad that I can’t possible rate it any higher than this.
The salmon eggs Benedict are one of the best I’ve had. It took us about 45 mins to receive our food, and we had to track down our waitress just to have her bring us water.
If you decide to try this place, your stomach will thank you, but your patience will be tested.

The food is quite delicious, but the service needs improvement.

La Mala Vida is a great spot to enjoy Sunday brunch with the family before or after a walk in the old city. It can get busy so make sure you are ready to wait when you arrive. Not sure if they accept reservations.
The food was amazing and the presentation was well done. The best way to go is by doing the Sunday brunch special. You really can’t go wrong with $ 20 brunch that includes two dishes and bottomless mimosas. You can pick any dish with eggs and a sweet dish. They had three different kinds of eggs benedict and huevos rancheros amongst other offerings. For my sweet dish I picked french toast but they also had croissant with nutella and bananas and pancakes. It was all delicious. The mimosas were fun because they offered local fruit juices instead of just orange juice. They probably poured more juice than champagne so don’t be surprised if you drink 5 and come out sober. So drink as many as you can.
The only issue I had with them was that we were in a huge party of about 30 people. I was in the bunch that first arrived and first placed the order and somehow I was the last one to get fed which was really annoying since I was starving at that point. They should have fired the order as it was placed as some people in the party showed up late and ate first.
Definitely would come back, not with a group of 30 people though.

Today for the first time a group of around 36 people went for Sunday brunch around $ 24 pp including unlimited Mimosas. Where to start… they had so many Mimosa flavors and the food… Oh my God, incredible, delicious. Everything so fresh.
They manage really good such a large group. The menu includes a lot of options and the portions are big. Money well spent. Definitely returning.

La comida es muy buena solo que perdí tres horas de mi domingo para disfrutar de un plato de 15 minutos de preparación. La calidad de la comida es buena pero el tiempo de espera le resta el sabor.

Came here with my husband for drinks while on vacation. Be sure you ask for the drink special of the night! They always have different deals. We went on a Thursday and the special was 2 for 1 mojitos! The next night they had margaritas! The bartender from Thursday was there with his girlfriend on Friday and he remembered us and even took the time to talk to us and give us pointers and told us what to do around the island while on vacay. When you check in via Unilocal you get 10% off your check!
I would definitely recommend coming here for a drink!