Before setting off on our girls’ trip to the San Juan Marriott in Puerto Rico, I grilled some of my local friends who’d lived in San Juan for two years before having kids (about 9 years ago). They’d also been back a couple of times since moving to Colorado.
They told me I had to check out the swanky lobby at the El San Juan Hotel & Casino in Isla Verde, about a 15-minute cab ride ($20) from the San Juan Marriott. Better yet, they said, go late-night to enjoy the live music, salsa dancing and bar scene. Their other tip: don’t miss the tableside, made-in-front-of-your-eyes guacamole at the hotel’s rooftop restaurant.
On our last night in San Juan, we weren’t sure we’d be up for dancing at midnight (due to early wake-up call to get to airport by 7 a.m.), so I highly encouraged (okay, made) my friends to hop in a cab to head east to the El San Juan before backtracking and heading west to Old San Juan, where we had dinner reservations. “Pretty view at sunset!” I told them. “Homemade guacamole made tableside!”
After all, after Googling “el san juan guacamole” and clicking on a link to Travelocity.com, I read about this nifty open-air, 10th-floor Mexican restaurant offering guacamole “created to your taste.” I’d scanned the El San Juan website and didn’t see anything about it, but figured out we’d be directed to the restaurant once we arrived.
Ha!
The concierge looked at me funny when I asked where the rooftop Mexican restaurant was. I said, “Tableside guacamole!” a couple times, like it was some code word for passage to the secret place. Finally, another front-desk employee chimed in, “Oh, that restaurant is now Brother Jimmy’s a barbecue joint.”
Wha?
Like a ding-a-ling, I asked desperately, “But do they still have the tableside guacamole with a view?” Indeed, the front-desk gal called upstairs and confirmed, yes, we could get our homemade guacamole.”
Success!
But as soon as we walked into Brother Jimmy’s we couldn’t help but crack up. It was a true sports bar and grill, themed to the gills with references from the South (Gators pennants) and vintage Georgia license plates, complete with a mechanical bull. And the menu? Hush puppies, fried okra and wings.
After getting settled in a booth with a great view of Isla Verde’s beach, the ocean and the neighboring city skyline, we asked our server for the famous guacamole.
“We’re out of avocados,” she said.
This is where the scene really got funny. We spent $20 on a cab ride to get our tableside guacamole at a Mexican restaurant turned BBQ joint… and there are no avocados.
Our waitress somehow managed to secure three avocados (we think she traded some other ingredients with another hotel restaurant), so we could enjoy our tableside guacamole. Which we devoured in a matter of minutes (and it was good, albeit a little bland; we weren’t asked how spicy we wanted it).
A $40 pitcher of sangria later (served in mason jars with fresh fruit on ice), we set off for our next adventures at Barrachina’s in Old San Juan, which offered us a more authentic experience, with Puerto Rican mofongo on the menu, and a bona fide flamenco show.
Moral of the story: Always check the official website carefully to make sure your intended restaurant is still open or any other service is still offered. Better yet, call ahead and get someone on site to give you the scoop. Don’t rely on third-party websites for up-to-the-minute, accurate travel information.
And most important of all, travel with fun folks who can see the humor in situations like this. Travel is an adventure, and most likely there will be missteps along the way. No vacation is ever perfect, so try to take minor snafus in stride. After all, travel tales are so much more fun to tell when things go just a little bit wrong!
