These New Rooftop Restaurants Are the Coolest Way to Enjoy San Juan, Puerto Rico’s Dining Scene

San Juan, Puerto Rico’s Caribbean local climate happily lends alone to outside activities—miles of seashores, the open up-air museum that is Aged San Juan, and the street art of Santurce, to identify but a couple. Nonetheless, pandemic moments and diminished potential inside of dining establishments exposed the dearth of al fresco dining alternatives across the capital’s metro space. And since zoning regulations discourage street sheds and beachfront tables, some savvy restaurateurs sought innovative means to embrace the outdoor.

Their intelligent remedy: why not delight in food items, consume, and San Juan’s sights from a bird’s-eye watch? These just lately-opened rooftops, each and every overlooking some of the best scenes of San Juan, are now some of the capital’s most coveted reservations in general. Right here are the ideal rooftop eating places in Sunlight Juan, Puerto Rico, which have turn into incredibly hot places for savvy visitors and locals alike.

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Kumo

Awesome rooftops are the signature of the O:dwell Selection of motels. Cascading waters, breathtaking design and style, and lagoon views are the draw of Condado’s O:reside Boutique Lodge and O:LV Fifty 5. But their latest house, Isla Verde’s Aire de O:are living, stands apart for two causes: gorgeous beach front views and high-quality Japanese-motivated delicacies from chef José Miguel Meléndez of local beloved Yoko. Kumo, which suggests “cloud” in Japanese, was the to start with piece of the resort to open up in December 2021. 

Overlooking a large swath of sand, the cafe offers a person of the island’s most picturesque perches to appreciate dishes this kind of as crispy sushi rice wrapped with tuna, brushed with eel sauce and topped with foie gras. Cocktails, these kinds of as the origami—aged rum, mezcal, allspice, falernum and orange bitters—are similarly intricate and alluring. It is a ideal partnership, as perfectly as a total-circle second for O:dwell founders (and spouses) Loisse Herger and Fernando Davila, who coincidentally went on their initially date on the very exact same rooftop throughout its preceding incarnation 15 several years back. About 20 of the 80 lodge rooms will be refurbished and completely ready for occupancy by summer season 2022, whilst the remainder of the lodge will open up in 2023 Kumo, in the meantime, can be liked seven times a week. 

Cuarto 16

Telling the host at Casita Miramar that you have a reservation at Cuarto 16 feels like uttering a magic formula password. They will mumble into a headset, then lead you up a stairwell wherever the regular trappings of the hacienda-like restaurant give way to a clandestine warren of rooms, open kitchens, bars, and eventually a tranquil back garden terrace earlier mentioned a single of San Juan’s busiest enclaves. Planters of herbs, pots complete of flowers, cascading vines and swaying palms induce diners to come to feel significantly taken out from the metropolis. And even though the speakeasy addition could possibly welcome visitors in the identical way as its downstairs sibling—with a complimentary root vegetable soup and big discs of bacalao fritters—the relaxation of the menu diverges from the classic Puerto Rican choices of Casita Miramar.