Placita

I usually tend to stick to home cook gatherings when visiting my little island of Vieques. This time, like it has become a brother and sister yearly visit we opt to have at least a dinner gathering and choose “La Placita”… I had come into contact with Chef Alex you I have worked with in the past but famous “W Retreat & Spa” and he totally sold me on the menu while he described it with pride and passion as he has developed and perfected his culinary expertise. I must say no more than that I was blown away by his mastery of the kitchen and the flavors that he well balanced in every dish… from the croquettes to the Blok Steak, everything that came out was beyond perfection, it was an impressive culinary experience for me and my family. Chef Alex and team, thank you !! But also, let me say that our beloved waitress Belinda was always on point making sure everything was flowing, never did we have to wait on any detail… from the hostest that quickly sat us promptly to Katee the restaurant Manager who we observed orchestrating the flow of things and without hesitation visibly jumping in with her team in every aspect. And Lastly when you come visit here for dinner.. the rooftop is a must while you wait for your reserved time so come early enjoy the view the cocktails and live the life you love….

We dined here around 9 PM on Sunday and were blown away by the food—it was some of the best we had in Vieques! The burger was absolutely delicious, and the chocolate tres leches was unique and incredible. Unfortunately, our experience was dampened by the service. Our server seemed distant and somewhat hostile, showing signs of annoyance and impatience when we hesitated with our order or needed clarification. To be fair, she was maybe in a bad mood, it was also late at night near the end of service, we were a larger party of six and didn’t always know our order on the spot, which may have contributed to her frustration. Despite this, the food was outstanding, and we would still try it again.

Visited on a Monday evening at 7:00PM for dinner, having made reservations via the website prior to our trip. Compared to most other places we've visited during our week here, this place has one of the larger selections of bottled beer with a number of selections of beers brewed in Puerto Rico. For an appetizer, we enjoyed the croquettes (chorizo and truffle). For the entree, my wife had the grilled Dorado tacos and I had the Vieques waygu burger. The tacos were a bit on the spicy side and a tad messy to eat due to the sauce, but were good. The burger flavor combination with the egg, avocado, bacon compote, and caramelized onions was very good and the burger was prepared medium perfectly. For dessert, we shared the gooey brownie with ice cream, which was rich and chocolatey. We had visited the restaurant at El Blok on a previous trip to the island, but only for brunch. I would definitely visit for dinner again.

This is by far the best restaurant we ate at on the island. The food is pricey but good. People need to consider that everything comes from the main island, so it is costly to get food to Vieques. I agree with some of the reviews. El Blok is one of the best hotels, and they don’t even offer breakfast to the guests. Overall, the restaurant is great, and the bar is a nice place for an afternoon drink and a bite. Ensure you have a reservation, as they get booked quickly due to limited options on the island.

We have visited Vieques quite a few times, and got recommendations by locals to try out this restaurant, but to our surprise even to tough the restaurant has a nice appearance, their employees are just plain nasty, with attitudes, rude and hate tourists! The woman hostess, didn't even say hello, good evening, only thing she asked us if we had a reservation, mind you the place was almost empty, we said no, she said there was a 45 minute wait or we could sit at the bar and walked away. Even though we got treated like that we decided to sit down at the bar, and the bartender was not welcoming, seem upset that another patron came in. Ended up walking out. No one care anyways! Went down to the esperanza malecon, got better service and food!! Shame on this people!! You live of tourism!! Be nice!!

Best meal we've had on the island. Pricey but worth it. The shimp was excellent. The salad was great and the saute vegetables delicious. The strip steak was beautifully done and really good. My husband said the tuna was perfect.

A perfect meal! I loved this restaurant so much, and their gambas, that I returned a second time in one week. We actually drove past the day after the hurricane and they were not open and we were bummed out, and I think that they thought that it was very unusual of us to even think they would be open! But I was craving the gambas again! The atmosphere was lovely. A big open room, with an open kitchen. It was a little warm, even with the windows open, but that is to be expected. A couple of aggressive ceiling fans may be nice. Our server was very good. Polite and efficient. I’m happy that they had some items on the menu that my son would eat, because he’s a ridiculously picky eater, even at 19 years old. He actually got chicken wings and mac & cheese, which flabbergasted me, but that’s what he wanted. I had the orange cinnamon margarita, as did my daughter, and we both loved the flavor profile. Beautifully mixed! Just boozy enough. We also had Fish tacos Arepas House salad Cayo burger 2 paradox for dessert Without exception, everything was beautiful. The salad was refreshing! I can’t remember having a fresher salad in all of Puerto Rico. It tasted like it was just picked that morning. On our second visit, I was craving the gambas again. It was one of the best dished I had had in Puerto Rico, hands-down. I know I’m a huge shrimp fan, And I cooked them at home a few days a week, but these were just so beautifully done and so fresh and not too garlicky, but at the same time, just garlicy enough. And the bread underneath. Wow. So I even wrote in my reservation that I was returning for the gambas. It was a couple of days after the hurricane, and we were thrilled that they were open. My son, once again, had the mac & cheese and the chicken wings. (One day, his palate will expand!) My daughter once again had the fish tacos. Because she loved them the first time. This time she traded in her cinnamon margarita for her first old-fashioned. She really enjoyed it. The cinnamon stick frozen in the ice cube was pretty special. We traded out desserts as well. This time, opting for the churros, which were fabulous. We’ve had a lot of different iterations of churros, and these came with three different dipping sauces, including sweetened condensed milk. That was a revelation!! We were usually served caramel sauce, but the sweetened condensed milk was the way to go! I also tried the soup of the day, and my husband had the Ossso bucco. Both really well done. No mistakes on the entire meal. If we lived here, we would eat here weekly, and I would probably have the gambas every week. On the second visit, our server was exceptional. She let me practice my Spanish, and even brought me an extra flamingo swizzle stick that came in the drink. I requested it in Spanish, and was surprised to see the word for flamingo in Spanish was in fact, flamenco.

The experience was not good. It doesn’t seem like the staff want to be working there and they are hostile and inhuman towards guests. Food was the only good thing about it but probably not worth the extremely high prices in any case (check was $260 for dinner for 4). Very strange hours, closing early at 12 noon after breakfast, you can’t even order a coffee after that, and at 8pm the kitchen starts shutting down dinner. Overall I left angry about the experience with the staff. Some in my group pointed out that all the diners were all groups of white families and that they saw multiple brown people turned away, poor optics to say the least.