Varita

Was surprised to see it closed… the concierge said it closed in September 2011.

You must go there! My husband and I ate dinner there 3 nights in a row ordering different things and everything we ordered was amazing. The atmosphere in the restaurant is also very modern and artsy. We have zero complaints… we have some really great memories of Varitas and wish this restaurant was in Washington, DC so we could go eat there every weekend :)

A pleasant surprise for a last-​minute dinner in our hotel. The food was good and reasonable.
Have the coconut gelatin dessert!

Back from Puerto; one of the local restaurants we liked for dinner was Varita. This is one of Wilo Benet’s restaurants. He is very gracious and Rena had great conversation about his passion for cooking and Puerto Rico’s culinary style

Nice semi casual restaurant attached to the Condado. They accommodated our party of 12 as a walk in fairly quickly which made us all fans.
Our server, Yaxel was excellent and kindly split up our bills four ways.
The food seemed to take forever, but we were hungry like the wolf so the time seemed like an eternity, but I guess the wait time was ok for our size.
I ordered the carne Frita de mofongo with yuca. Excellent! J had the chicken and yuca, also excellent. Several ordered the lettuce wraps which looked very fresh and lived up to the presentation. Others ordered the sliders which were noted to be quite tasty.
Presentation wise, the food looked and tasted great.
Ordered a Bloody Mary which I would gladly pass on next time. Nothing to write home about at all. Didn’t even come with a celery stick. Boring.
Prices were a bit steep for some of the items. Dessert menu, kind of a snoozer especially for $ 8 for some mini versions of everything.
Décor is nice. Enjoyed the subtle light house music playing while we dined.

The slowly cooked pork ribs were really very good. So soft and the meat just falls of the bone without much force from my fork or knife. Its a must try dish. I was disappointed with the pulled pork with crispy skin. The meat was dry but the skin was crunchy and the taste was good. As expected, the service was excellent.

Good food, good service. The food was done well and the prices were on the upper part of reasonable. We liked that the food had a very homey taste and texture and on top of that had a flare both in the presentation and the taste. We believed that the execution of the food in a very puertorican way instead of the faux «caribbean» flavor (ridiculous amounts of mango, passion, cilantro, etc…) made our experience a very pleasant one. Our servings were just right, we left very satisfied. We liked the ambiance very much, it was modern and warm. For us the experience was a very welcome one where you find good food and good service as part of a good restaurant, rather than having to choose one over the other as part of the classic debate of «where do you want to go to eat?».

I went here for New Years Eve. I loved this place! The atmosphere is casual/​fun. Our waiter was soo nice and great too! This place is probably more of a lunch/​small bites place. I am not super roasted whole pork person so this probably wasn’t the best choice. But I did have the root vegetable soup which was exceptional and the pigeon pea rice is delish. I would also recommend getting the green plantains instead of mash potatoes of a Puerto Rican spin.

Surprisingly empty when we came over Christmas break. The décor and service were fine. Drinks are poured with a free hand, which we appreciated. Food however left much to be desired.
We started with the queso frito, which came in 9 measly cubes, and a side of what looked like Russian dressing. The fact that each cube cost about a dollar was a little outrageous.
My companion ordered the Berkshire slow roasted pork belly. It came undressed, a plate of 4 hunks of semi dry pork belly, with a side of mac and cheese. I ordered the pulled pork sandwich, which was unfortunately oversalted, though the sandwich portion was sizeable. The side of shoestring fries were good also.
The experience was fine, but at these prices, you expect a little more.

One of the few places in San Juan where you can get lechon or roast pork served to you in a restaurant. There are several pork dishes to choose from, but you probably get a better take on this dish at a lechonera in the countryside. This restaurant will be a good fix for those who don’t have time to drive outside San Juan to try roast pork. Reasonably priced for a hotel restaurant, but it feels casual. I wouldn’t consider it a special occasion restaurant. The pork belly dish is extremely rich and fatty. So good, but a little much for 1 person. Service was very good and friendly.