La Terraza (strangely only identified as 'The Terrace, Inc' on Google Maps, while Yelp has the…read morecorrect name...maybe because there is another, more expensive restaurant with the same name in Dorado, PR) was a solid choice for local Puerto Rican food for our group of five while visiting PR from the Icon of the Seas cruise ship, sailing out of Miami. Our private tour guide, Tania, brought our family of four (me, wife, her mom, and my brother) here, and we all enjoyed it.
The restaurant is located east of the airport (and Old San Juan), right next to El Caserio Beach. It is open air, and situated with other restaurants as well, all sharing the same dirt parking lot. We came late morning and it wasn't busy, with us probably being the first customers for lunch. Grilling over charcoal was happening just outside, and there was a stand selling various fried snacks, including cocos frios ($5) and carne alcapurrias ($3). My brother and I shared both, and it was good, tasting like freshly deep fried meat empanadas. Water comes only in bottles ($2 each), and a can of Coke was $2 as well. My wife tried their Sangria, which came from a CapriSun-like puch, a pretty good deal at a restaurant for $4.
The food is freshly prepared so it took a bit of time for it to come out. I took the opportunity to take a walk down to the nearby beach. Our guide ate with us, ordering Tostones Rellenos with ground beef ($15), which she shared. The deep fried green mashed plantains had been shaped as small shells, and filled with a ground beef mixture, topped with fresh salsa. It was good, a definite finger food snack that one could get filled on. Neither my wife nor her mom are adventurous eaters, so got the chicken nuggets with fries ($12) and a camarones plate ($18) that came with rice and beans. My brother wanted to share the fried chicken plate (pollo frito for $12): chicken thighs battered and deep fried with plantain chips and a cole slaw...it tasted fine, though probably a bit too dry for most folks. I was the only one to order the monfungo, coming as a side on the mixto plate ($22). I liked the monfungo, with the seafood mixture (standard stuff, nothing extra ordinary) and red sauce; it made a good meal. This is the second time trying a seafood monfungo in PR, and I think it goes well together for my taste. Unlike the U.S. Virgin Islands, sales tax on this U.S. territory does exist and is comparable to California tax, being at 11.5%. Gratuity is expected and appreciated, and credit cards are easily accepted (with no service fee that I could see). Service was fine throughout, with most folks (local patrons and employees speaking Spanish so the picture menu really helped both sides).
