Hello readers! I know I’ve been MIA for months and this post is long overdue. It’s been a couple of busy months! How are you? If you. Follow me on Youtube, you might have seen this video already. However, I’m here to write about my experience and the food (I was rushing to do the voiceover so I feel like I didn’t do too great of a job describing the taste). I also only mention 5 places in the video because I’m dumb and forgot to film in the other places.
- El Pirata, Cabo Rojo
- Violeta’s Restaurant, La Parguera
- Crab Island Rum Distillery, Vieques
- Rancho Choly, Vieques
- Broadway Gastro Bar, Ceiba
- El Karacol, La Parguera
- Tabla Salá Rest & Mojitos Bar, Isabela
El Pirata, Cabo Rojo
El Pirata is on the corner where el 101 and Clle Cofresi. From the street, it looks like a small place but looks can be deceiving (Pic 1). When you go inside, there’s a bunch of decor lining the walls and ceiling, giving the place a casual atmosphere. The menu is on the walls of the corner diagonal from the entrance, where they have marked what’s available for the day (Pic 2). Much like a daily menu. Everyone was super friendly to us as soon as we entered the building. We walked over to the menu and ordered our food before ordering our drinks and heading out back to the patio (Pic 3). I ordered Costillas en BBQ (BBQ Ribs) with Amarillos (Ripe Plantain) and Ensalada Verde (Green Salad). The ribs were very tasty and well seasoned. I was too busy eating and stuffing my face to take any pictures of the food itself, but you can catch a glimpse of my food in the video above. For dessert, we ordered Flan de Almendra (Almond Custard) and Flan de Queso (Cheese Custard). The flans were just the right amount of sweetness and flavor. You could taste the flavors that they added to the flan but it didn’t overpower the original taste.
Violeta’s Restaurant, La Parguera
Violeta’s Restaurant is a sort of open-air/cafeteria concept with an arcade and gift shop attached (Pic 1). You go up to the window where the menu is and order what you want (Pic 2). Since we were a moderate-sized group, my dad took all of our orders and took them to the front. I ate an Empanada de Cangrajo (Crab empanada), an Empanada de Langosta (Lobster empanada, Pic 3), and part of my mom’s Mofongo Relleno de Pulpo (Octopus stuffed fried plantain, Pic 4). I love crab and lobster, so the empanadas were my favorite. The meat tasted fresh and was delicious. For the drink, we all had Maví (Mauby, Pic 5), a popular Caribbean beverage made from the bark of the Mauby tree. This was my first time having Maví and I really enjoyed it. It took me a while to get used to the flavor because I had no clue what to expect, but after the first sips, I was wanting more.
Crab Island Rum Distillery, Vieques
Crab Island Rum Distillery is exactly what it sounds like (Pic 1). It’s small and happens to be the first handcrafted rum distillery on Vieques. It started with a crowdfunding campaign in 2016 and was finally able to open its doors to the public in late 2019. So far (as of late 2021), they have an orange-infused rum, a coffee-infused rum, and their 2-year-aged rum. On the property, they have an empanada truck with fantastic empanadas (Pic 2). I enjoyed yet another Empanada de Langosta (Lobster empanada, Pic 3) while my dad enjoyed an Empanada de Conejo (Rabbit empanada). With my empanada, I also enjoyed a Piña Colada made with their own rum. I honestly can’t wait to go back and see what’s new.
Rancho Choly, Vieques
Rancho Choly doesn’t look like much when looking from the outside. In fact, it’s a pretty simple mom-and-pop kind of place. You go to the front window where you can talk directly with the chefs and order from their daily menu. I don’t know how often the menu item rotation is, but everything that we ordered was amazing. We ate there twice in the span of 3 days. The food I ordered on the 3rd day was my favorite. I ordered Arepas, Lechón Asada (Roasted Pork), Arroz con Guandules (Rice with pigeon peas), and Jugo de Parcha (Passion fruit juice). I ate like a woman starved for a month. If you aren’t one to eat much, you can definitely split a plate or take it to go. I highly recommend you go.
Broadway Gastro Bar, Ceiba
Broadway Gastro Bar is another one of my highly recommended places to eat. We also ate here twice, once before and once after our weekend in Vieques. This place doubles as a hotel but we were only there for the food (Pic 1). What do I recommend? Anything (and I mean anything) with Spicy Crab. We ordered the Spicy Crab with tostones and we were enamored (Pic 2). The Chicken Wings (Pic 3) and Shrimp Tacos (there were originally 3 tacos but I ate one, Pic 4) were also to die for.
El Karacol, La Parguera
El Karacol is a great spot for drinks and tapas. They have a variety of mojito flavors. We actually ordered one of their sampler platters to snack on with some friends. I believe that when you order the Sangria, you get to keep the cup, but I’m not 100% on that.
Tabla Salá Rest & Mojitos Bar, Isabela
Tabla Salá Rest & Mojitos Bar is a great hangout spot with good music, good food, good drinks, and a great view (Pic 1). To drink, we ordered the Margarita Sunshine (Pic 2) and the Margarita Paradise (Pic 3). To eat, we had the Spicy Crab Shrimp Tacos (Pic 4) and they were the bomb.
(Google wasn’t allowing me to put the mini-map here, so I give you this link instead)
These are the 7 places that we ate. Most of the time we just ate at my Grandma’s house (she’s an amazing cook), so we didn’t eat out much. I know that, at the time this post is being written/posted, it is the end of 2022. I’ll probably have a new list next year, but I thought I’d put some of my thoughts into words. If you want a single list/map of all of these restaurants, you can find it below.
This is Mari, signing off!
JustMari's Adventures 