El Sabor de Reina Restaurant

Too crowded and a little too pricey for 2 chicken and salad plates. Still good if you want good drinks with good food but since it’s just too crowded I’d rather not.

My chicken empanadas were delicious. I also tried my cousins steak mofongo wow talk about salty. I needed about a cup of water to offset the bite of saltiness, but even with that super salty bite I could tell that it had really good flavor.

Was walking a walking around and saw this place and thought, why not. Service was good and food was great.

The price, the food, the warmth of the service — perfect. We knew that, in general, we couldn’t go wrong with any of the restaurants in the mercado area. What caught our eyes were some of the specials, especially the cabrito. It was sublime: authentic and genuine flavors, a generous portion. We like mofongo — which we also got, not leaden, not over seasoned — as much as the next guy, but this was real criollo food. We also got a sopa de mariscos. Eight hours later and we’re still talking about it. The atmosphere was classy-​homey, a very cute space, with no tackiness. Clean, tasteful, not fancy. Okay, so it took a while to get the food, but it sure wasn’t because a microwave was busy. Highly recommended.

I really love to have dinner here before going out for some music and adult beverages at La Placita de Santurce. Remember, we are on «island time» so if you’re in a rush I’d suggest another spot. However, if you are ready to relax and enjoy a good meal, then Reina’s is a good place!

Came here for dinner before going to the plaza. I order a grouper with Shrimp, it was delicious. However my husband order the fish fillet and it was okay, not great but not bad. The reason I gave them a 3 stars was due to the service. We waited one hour for our food and another 20 minutes for our check.

On a Saturday night we «discovered» Plaza de Mercado de Santurce. Crowds packed the streets eating, drinking, hanging out, salsa-​zing. We found the ‘real’ San Juan!
Located on a side street of the plaza, we decided to gamble dinner on El Sabor de Reina since it looked small and casual, but popular.
While the downstairs was turning into a packed bar with live music, we got the last table in the balcony overlooking the musicians. The jazzy latin music really created warm, neighborhood ambience.
John, our waiter, was super nice, and although we already had way too much fun at happy hour, convinced us to try their red sangria. Excelente!
The menu had a variety of local and international selections. I chose a chalkboard special, Rabo Encendido. It was so good! This was my only chance to get oxtails stew on this trip and it was full of spices and flavor. This was one of the most memorable dining experiences of my trip.
We were probably the only tourists in the restaurant and bar. We didn’t mind that as it was easily the most local place we ate at, the music really got us in a relaxed Latin mood, and it had delicious food any Reina would be proud to serve. With the friendly top-​notch service, I’d definitely come back here on my next visit.

Excellent — good solid Puertorican soul food.
Service is super friendly. Great local environment.
Plaza De Santurce is really fun, Reina is an amazing host.

One of the highlights of a fantastic trip to Puerto Rico was Sabor De Reina!
The language barrier made this little gem even more of a pleasant surprise and adventure
At first, I was not sure if it was a restaurant or simply a bar so when my wife and I walked in we asked a server «tiene la comida» she immediately nodded her head but grimaced which made me think that it was really more of a bar, in retrospect, it may have been because it was late on Christmas Eve they were very busy and my Español was so obviously weak.
Never the less she was very attentive and made some great recommendations as well as steering us away from some things on the menu with a vigorous head shake and grimace.
The food here was as good as anything I have ever had and reasonably priced.
We started with Sangria and I have to say it was delicious! Followed up with the absolute best empanada I have ever had «Empandilla de Pescado»! Obviously made fresh on the premises and served with a mystery sauce that I can only describe as Sabrosa!
The fish was obviously very fresh and the empanada was very flavorful and well seasoned.
I didn’t think it could get any better, but then our entrée arrived Pechuga Rell, prochutto y arroz y Habichuella.
I’m not really sure what it was, but it seemed to be chicken stuffed with prochutto, bacon and cheese with rice and beans.
Well worth the price of admission. My wife and I split both portions and a pitcher of Sangria and got out the door for $ 45 plus 3% because Chase Bank considers Puerto Rico a foreign country, just sayin. Had I realized I would have brought a lot more cash.
Don’t miss this place if you are in San Juan! I would give them 7 stars if that was an option.

This was my first experience with Mufongo. It was very good! The mojitos were reasonably priced. The service was really really slow but I reminded myself this was a place for locals and from what I gather folks in San Juan are not in a hurry when they eat out. It was located Santurce market area. The restaurant had very positive vibes. Recommended if you want to try a place with fewer tourists.

HORRIBLE service. The waitress looked like she didn’t care about our order. She rushed me through my words, never made eye contact. It took 30 minutes to bring out my appetizer. I ordered a churrasco and she never asked what temperature I wanted it. Later on while still waiting for my food I asked her what temperature will she be bringing my steak and she sarcastically replied, «hot». Seriously?! I had to explain to her that there is medium, medium well, etc. She was completely oblivious. My husband and I were so fed up that we just left without ever touching our appetizer. I never got her name because she never introduced herself but she has braces is all I can say.

Food was fine, for the most part, though nothing we had was outstanding. The filet mignon was pounded quite thin, so it really wasn’t what one would expect. The coconut flan was tasty, but the mixed berry crêpe was pretty horrible. It was dried fruit microwaved in a sugary sweet caramel sauce then dumped into/​onto a crêpe.

Fabulous traditional food and great ambiance! The food came reasonably quick to our table with friendly service from the wait staff. Around our table was fish, steak, eggplant parmigana and pasta… we were all super satisfied with our dishes! The owner is a lovely local lady who even took the time to come to our table and welcome us and chat for a moment. The bar inside seemed to be very popular so be sure to either make a booking or arrive early. I recommend a table outside so you can enjoy people watching in the very trendy and hip placita!

Churassco with Tostones, chorizo en vino with piña, Croquetas de Bacalao is amazing, pair it up with a cold Presidente beer or a Bacardi mojito!!! This is a cozy Dominican restaurant in the Plaza Del Mercado. Friendly service, the owner made it feel like I was at home. It gets very busy Thursday and Friday night!

A+
Todo es Rico!