Ernestina's Seafood Restaurant

Absolutely loved Ernestina's! It is a beautiful little family owned restaurant that me and my partner visited twice on our trip to PR. The lady treated us like family, and told us about the amazing history of the restaurant. For it's price point Ernestina's is one of the best spots we ate at. Really good fresh seafood for very affordable prices. Highly recommend checking this spot out.

Excellent restaurant, beer meal we had in Luquillo! The lady took care of us like we were family. Highly recommend. No liquor license at our visit but she told us to bring in our own wine!

We’ve traveled/ dined all over the world - the lobster mofongo was amazing! The dish could easily be at the top of my list for the best meal I’ve ever had. The service is exceptional and sweet. You’ll feel like you’re right at home. We went with 2 kids under 5 and they were very accommodating! Would highly recommend!

Amazing food. Stellar service. Their Morongo with half sweet plantains is amazing, as was the stuffed chicken. We liked it soo much that we changed our itinerary in order to visit again

This place is amazing. We stopped one day for lunch and went back the next two days because the food and the service were both the best. The owner was so kind and friendly, offering suggestions for what to order. It is a must visit place if you are anywhere close. You have to have the papaya for dessert.

Could be an episode of Diners, Drive ins and dives. I loved this place. Good food, reasonable prices, interesting decor. I think they might live in the back and the front two rooms are the restaurant.

What a GEM! This little family run restaurant was a delight! We were so happy with the food and service, that we returned 3 times during our stay in Luquillo. Melia, the owner was hands on with all clients at lunch ! All the meals were traditional and delicious! In the evening on the weekend, granddaughter, Victoria also gave us awesome service for dinner! We will return!

Excellent food and very cozy place! I highly recommend this place!

We loved this place, which was a very short drive from where we were staying. We were quickly seated in the very basic dining area, surrounded by photos and memorabilia of PR and also New York. Service was great and friendly, and the food quite good at a reasonable price. Very nice, authentic local food. While they don't serve alcohol, they're right around the corner from a bar which is happy to oblige, so you can just carry it into the restaurant. IMPORTANT NOTE: if their payment system isn't working, as it was not when we went, it will be cash only!

This was one of the biggest positive surprises over our travels. After eating in the heart of San Juan for a couple days (mixed experience), we found ourselves at Ernestina's today for lunch and we could not have asked for anything more. From the homely atmosphere and the eclectic and colorful decor & mementos adorning the wall to the cheerful and graceful attention of Millie, our host, it was an amazing experience. The food was absolutely delicious and it not only sated the hunger but kept us pining for more. Ernestina's (we want to the one in Luquillo) is surely a place to go if one is in San Juan or in Puerto Rico for that matter God bless you all who cook and serve at Ernestina's and god bless Ernestina herself (RIP)

Excellent food and service. Really tasty, fresh fish and vegetables. Very friendly service.

This place was amazing! If you're looking for local food for lunch and don't want to break the bank, this is a great choice. My husband would eat here every day if I let him.

Excellent mofongo with chicharrón, great fish plates, and amazing service, very friendly!!

We ate at Ernestina's on 3/23/22 for lunch and each ordered the fresh grouper filet in garlic sauce. We all thought it was delicious and of a generous portion. It came with a small salad side, a second side (my sweet potato fries were excellent) and soda/bottled water, all for $9.00 + tax (we were told the printed lunch menu prices were out of date and have increased by $1). Seeing how pleased we were with our meal, our waitress (who seemed to be an owner of the restaurant?) comped us a cheese flan dessert which she bakes for the restaurant (we insisted on paying for it anyway $3) and it was the most delicious flan we had in Puerto Rico, maybe one of the best I've ever had (and I have had quite a few flans in the U.S. in my day) - very flavorful with a creamy texture and rich enough for the 3 of us to share (much better than the ones I ordered from the Puerto Rican bakeries during my trip). She said her son is the cook. This was definitely one of the top 2 or 3 "local" meals we had during our 9 days in Puerto Rico (we don't go to fancy restaurants but seek out comida tipical) and the price is so reasonable for being in a more tourist-y area (though not as cheap as the $6/7 plate of salmon and veggies we got in a truly "locals-only" restaurant near Mar Chiquita beach!). Be aware though that they only accepted cash when we went. I don't know when they'll get their credit card functions working again.

Delicious small local restaurant. Excellent service with fresh food. LOVED IT!! Will definitely be back!

Great home-cooked food at a great price. The fried plantains, rice and bean sides are awesome.

I absolutely love this place. Sea food isn't my favorite but Ernestinas always gets me. The Dorado al ajillo is my favorite. It has more of a local vibe to it but don't hesitate to go in but, I will say that the restaurant is a little hard to locate if you have not been there before. Also, cash only! The restaurant is really worth it.

You know how every time you go on vacation you prepare yourself for that one or two meals where everyone raves about that just turned into a disaster for you? Well, Ernestina's was the one so far on our Puerto Rican vacation this April. In my 5-some years of Yelping, I haven't given many places a 1-star because I realize that most places are at least trying to be good and there are always people that enjoy different things. What led me to give Ernestina's this horrible rating was not only that the food suffered from what I was expecting after reading all the reviews on Yelp and Tripadvisor, it was mostly because of the service and the dishonesty that took place during our dining experience. The boy and I stopped in for dinner one night after having tried all the other local places in town (couldn't leave town that night because of massive festival traffic). The boy ordered rounds of grouper in creole sauce. I ordered octopus in vinegar and oil after learning that fish "in stew" meant it was the tomato-based creole sauce, which I had at another place the night before. The boy wanted a beer but Ernestina's doesn't serve alcohol, so we asked for two glasses of tap water. For the sides, we each got the mofongo. Puerto Ricans sure love their mofongos!! After we made our order and was waiting for the drinks and food, the boy noticed a very small sign on the wall that said "cash only." Hmm, okay, it would've been helpful had they put that on the front door or at least on the menu. Fortunately we had enough cash, but I noticed another table in the back room awkwardly counting all the cash they had. Yeah, talk about awkward. Strike 1. 5 minutes later, the server brought two bottles of water. Uh...I said two tap waters. Maybe he didn't hear us? Fine, whatever, water can't be that expensive. However, that's strike 2. 15 minutes after that, we got our food. The grouper was doused with what was like Campbell's tomato soup with some onions and green peppers thrown in. Instead of mofongo, the boy got plantain fritters. My octopus salad was over-salted and the octopus over-cooked. We ate our food, disappointed that our last meal in Luquillo was so un-delicious. Trying to cheer up, we decided that we were going to stop by Cutie's for some ice cream to make us feel better. When the bill came, we were shocked to find that not only did they blatantly overcharge us for the dishes we ordered, as in just making up prices that were different from what they were on the menu, AND they charged us extra for the mofongo that was presented to us at the time of ordering included with the entrees! Who does that?! We were outraged! We couldn't be bothered to argue with such low people so we left what charged without a tip. We'll be going back to Luquillo, but we'll never return to Ernestina's and will tell all of our friends not to go to get ripped off.

Cash only and large portions! Bacon wrapped shrimp were great. I wish I knew the portion size, I could have split the bacon wrapped lobster tail with my friend, but it was all good. Sangria was tasty and the waitress was super nice.

Delightful small local seafood restaurant! Such friendly service. Tried several delicious appetizers and fresh fish of the day. Definitely recommend.

Great food and casual. You can bring your own booze. No alcoholic beverages. Great service.

Party of four for a late lunch last week. Fantastic local food with obviously fresh ingredients. Would return in a heartbeat (in fact, we strongly considered going back for dinner that night).