Old San Juan Restaurant

This restaurant is a gem in New Jersey! The wonderful Caribbean aroma hits you when you walk through the doors. A small restaurant, very casual environment. The customer service is outstanding and our orders were served within 10 minutes of placing it. I had the mofongo con camarones (fried and mashed plantains with toasty bacon and garlic bits) topped with fresh shrimp in a creole sauce. Amazing! It’s served with homemade chicken soup just like my mom made it! We also tried the octopus salad which was also amazing. Of course no Puerto Rican meal is complete without sweet plantains. Yummy! Highly recommend this place!

The food here was great as well as the service. I live in Md and there are not many Puerto Rican restaurants around so when I get a chance I go. I ordered the bistec encebollado with rice and beans. My wife ordered the carne con pimento with arroz con gandules. the order comes with soup or salad. We chose soup which our 6 month old son loved because he ate half of it. He just started to eat other food. All in all the waitress was great the food was great and when passing through Camden I will stop by again. Also to go we got empanadas andt they were huge and only for $ 1.50. I wish I got more than 6 because they were delicious. A little taste of home Puerto Rico.

With much better places around for Puerto Rican food like Jeritza’s and Freddy’s I don’t make it here often and it would never be my first choice. Conveniently located across the street from Cousin’s Supermarket it gets high traffic but I find the food to be bland and overly greasy (to the point that it makes my stomach upset). The rice is bland and dry. I had a pastellio that while limp and dry was dripping with oil that tasted old and the chicken was dry. Their meats especially the pernil (pork) is greasy and bland. At this point, I dont think I would ever return.
I am a little harsh having many people in my life who are able to cook authentic Puerto Rican food. Therefore, i know what it is suppose to taste like.

Just went to Old San Juan last night with the Camden Supper Club, and I’m glad we finally got there. I’d been wanting to go here ever since they came to the Camden Night Gardens a few years back. Putting the event together was a little difficult on the phone; there’s a bit of a language barrier, which complicated ordering in person a bit, too, but eventually we got it organized and (almost) everyone got what they wanted.
Overall they hosted about 20 of us in the restaurant, which itself was an impressive feat. They were extremely welcoming and, giving us a large dish of what seems to be garlic bread and some empanadas (which were delicious). And afterward, they gave everyone a slice of flan (also delicious, possibly the best I’ve ever had). They were obviously very happy to have us, and that was really nice.
For myself, I got the roast pork/​pernil asado, and it was great. The meat was juicy and tender, and the yellow rice and beans was good too. The side salad was a more for show than taste, but that’s not really why you’re there. Everyone else’s food looked great too, from mofongo to plaintains, shrimp to kingfish (which I’d never even heard of before).
Camden has no lack of great Puerto Rican food, and Old San Juan is solidly in the top tier of restaurants in the city. I can’t wait to get back here to try more things on their menu.

So delicious… the mofongo and bistec was delicious. I usually order out so I can’t comment on the restaurant portion but it does always look busy.

El servicio al cliente a bajado mucho. y la comidad que dan es la mitad de lo que ofrecian antes …

I think somebody messed up by making the ratings at #3, they shud be in the #1 spot with Freddie’s in my opinion. But the food is always great, I love this place the best time to go is everyday lol but Sunday is a great day also. I been eatin here since they open up. I usually get the rice & beans with steak or chicken. The service is always great the woman back there put in work all day. Great place to take ur family or get take out!!!

I went here around 7:30pm. When I walked in they were cleaning as of they were about to close. I ordered for my husband the largest platter as the lady filled it up I realized I should of paid for a small. The platter was so empty, I almost left it there but she grabbed my credit card so fast! Not only was the quantity for the price I paid not worth it, but the worst was the service. This lady acted like she hated her job. Or as if I was bothering her with ordering my food and giving her money for it. I don’t know about what type of boss they have. But people don’t stay there long. And the girl that is still there from a while ago who used to be pleasant, smiling and friendly is no longer happy. This must not be a unpleasant place to work and it shows in their employee’s faces. Please get a manager in their ASAP who treats them right. So that we all don’t have to suffer with bad customer service.

The monfongo was delicious and the best I ever had. The beef and broccoli was ok it tasted like canned gravy. The services was unfortunately awful. Part of our orders was forgotten we didn’t get out drink until we were have finished with our dish. The waitress was friendly but unfortunately could not keep up with other customers as they waited long period of time to be served. The rest of my party enjoyed there food. The experience would have been more positive if we had better services.

I will start with the positive. So lets start by saying that this pplace has very delicious Puerto Rican/​Dominican food. We live about 2 hours away but when we visit Philly we will come back.
Now the MOFONGO was super delicious and brought back memories. Even my hubby that is from another country said it tasted boricua. Shrimp was delucious, rice was good, the tostones where awesome and the garlic sauce was crazy good.
Now you might say why 4 stars, because the beans DON’T taste like home, they need ham or calabaza, sofrito, basically more flavor (I can go and teach you all) and the service was SLOWWWWWWWW
We were in a hurry as we were pasing by from the beach but the girl was super slow. We asked about the to go food amd she assured us it would be quick but it was not. She forgot things we ordered and also forgot to get our sodas and we were choking… but at the end we had good food.

Why 3 stars and not 4? Well, the portions are big, like the reviews say it feeds up to a small army and the variety of dishes to take out is great! Aside from being pricier than the other Spanish restaurants in the area, the food always falls short of expectation. On display all the dishes look amazing, but when you taste it you are almost slightly disappointed. It is not their fault that spanish food always looks delicious, but for some reason the food here is not great, just okay. Unlike Tierra Colombiana (Philly) or Latin American Restaurant (Camden), the moro lacks seasoning, the meats lack salt, and the patelito’s are empty. Not to mention the take out service seems overwhelmed with the crowd and as a result barely take time to listen to your order. I would return here only for my love of spanish food, but only if I am in Camden and Latin American Restaurant is closed at that time.

Delicious authentic Puerto Rican food with a large buffet of options. Well priced and great portions.
1÷22÷16 We went recently to pick up dinner takeout and had to order from here, Jeritzos and Freddy’s. This restaurant doesn’t have the best fresh plantains and now they measure and weigh all the food which I understand the concept of it (money) but doesn’t make the customer feel great. I wish everything was good so I didn’t have to go to other restaurants to get a complete meal

I had dinner at this place and it was super! Am born and raised in the Island and a super critic of my traditional food… This place hit the spot. Service was great and affordable… You are welcome with a great soup to start your meal. In front of the restaurant there is a Super Market that you can get all latin products … Recaito, Sofrito, Malta India, Salchichas Calmelas, etc … I enjoyed a great meal while listening to Marc Anthony and a cold beer … Like I was back in Puerto Rico !

Back in the day when acrylics were «in», my friends and I frequented Camden biweekly for fills. Whenever we did, we would get take out at this dive. The food was always great, cheap and enough to feed a small army.
Years later, I still love me some Puerto Rican food… but not from here anymore. The last few times I’ve come here, the food has been ok. I’ve broadened my horizons and found two other places with better food and much better service. However, last night on my ride back to Merchantville from Rutgers I figured I’d make a quick pit stop there to pick up dinner. Bad move!
The «server» in the take out area was a miserable, nasty, rude woman. Her face was in a constant grimace as she asked what I wanted, threw my food into take-​out containers, and stared at me with an attitude I would have liked to knock off her face. :) They didn’t have steak in red sauce (our fave) and the rice didn’t look so hot. After writing a humongous 0 in the tip area on my credit receipt and smiling as I handed it back to sweetie pie, we left for the last time.
When we got home, the plantanos were amazing, as was the pork, but the rice was just ok and the chicken was dry. Either way, next time I’ll be heading to Freddy’s and suggest you do as well for service with a smile and food out the wazoo.

I stop in this restaurant from time to time… If you like Puerto Rican food, this is one of the best places in the area… I mainly just go into the takeout side… They have plenty of your favorite dishes to choose from. roast pork, stew chicken and beef, tripe, chicarrones, ribs, epanadillas, stew goat, puplo salad. the selections are great. They also serve fresh fruit drinks, and have decent desserts… I stopped in today with my son, had a meal and he left with coconut cake…
The appearance looks more like a corner store, you’ll see people from all walks of life coming through to buy meals, and parking there is a challenge. But the food is well worth it.
Friendly service and they do serve drinks in the restaurant… I’ll go as far as calling this place a local gem since you can’t find any Puerto Rican food outside of the Camden/​Philly city limits…

Don’t ask me why this is listed as a Chinese place. It is not — it is an amazingly delicious Puerto Rican restaurant. It is completely authentic, the portions could feed three people, and they offer both sit down and takeout. If you are in Camden for whatever reason, go here.