Ajili Mojili
- Price Range:
-
$$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street, Private Lot, Valet
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Good For:
- Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
43 reviews for Ajili Mojili
Review Highlights
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"but my mofongo dish was really fun." In 12 reviews -
"Loved the arroz con pollo and chuletas." In 2 reviews -
"Great place to go experience Puerto-Rican cuisine." In 2 reviews
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43 reviews in English
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Review from Ed H.
San Diego, CA
12/28/2011
This is a great place to come for dinner. The food is great and the service is AMAZING.
The last time I came here, I proposed to my wife. The staff was extremely helpful in helping me make the perfect night. Even though I was calling from the US, they were able to reserve me a great table off in a corner for more privacy, set up a rose and candles on the table before we arrived and the best part was helping me arrange for a guitarist to come in that night and come to our table to sing my girlfriend (now wife) a Spanish love song.
The food was great and I highly recommend this place -
Review from Toy L.
7/8/2009 1 photo
I cannot even begin to tell you how delicious the food was here, eventhough it was a little on the expensive side. I don't think my friends and I said a word the entire time while our food was on the table. The food was very authentic. I ordered the pastelillos de bacalao, which were fabulous and the pastelillos de carne which were good, but the pork could have been a bit more tender. I also orderd a Mojito, which was good, but I've had better. My friend raved about the mofongo.
The breakfast buffet was average, but I would definitely recommend Ajili Mojili for dinner if you are in the area. -
Review from Gustavo A. L.
Orlando, FL
11/14/2009
Anyone that can take the local flavor cuisine and experiment it to take it to the next level without losing its originality deserves 5 stars in the culinary world.
In addition the service is fantastic and the ambiance and feel is totally Puerto Rico !
Because we are in a caribbean Island, I totally favored the seafood and fish dishes, but my friends had some of the "local" fare and boy it was outstanding.
This is not a resort type restaurant, make sure to make reservations and sport a more elegantly casual attire.
Enjoy !!!Listed in: Colonialism = Madre Patria
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Review from Leopoldo P.
Trabuco Canyon, CA
2/11/2010
Very well intentioned, the Ajili Mojili tries to give a nouvelle cuisine spin to Puerto Rican food.
In an island with plenty undelivered promises when it comes to good food, the Ajili Mojili presents itself as a safe alternative to other disappointing choices in the island.
The ambiance is great and first class and the attention is excellent.
Worthy of three stars and not five as rating should be absolute and not relative to the failure of others. -
Review from Jocy C.
10/25/2009 3 photos
I was on vacation in PR and stopped by this place for dinner as our hotel was near Ajili Mojili. Was I glad that we came here! The restaurant has a nice atmosphere.. definitely a bit on the dressy side for clothing.
My friend and I ordered a steak on skewer appetizer, mofongo, and a steak entree. I don't fully remember all of the names of the dishes... but my mofongo dish was really fun! The plate was called "It Takes Two to Mofongo". It was some sort of plantain with beef (see attached picture) with shrimp on the side. My friend had ordered the steak entree - medium rare. YUM! Her steak entree also had some shrimps on the side.
All I can say is that when I'm back in PR... I'm definitely stopping by again.
Btw, their mojitos are great!!Listed in: Puerto Rico
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Review from Will L.
San Antonio, TX
1/2/2008
We had the Camarones al Ajillo and the Lobster/Camarones Mofongo. They were both fantastic. The rice and beans were perfect. I'd recommend the Mofongo to anyone looking for something local and different. The wait staff was attentive, knowledgeable, and friendly.
I'm giving it 5 stars because of the high quality nature of local cuisine. The only downside is the price. -
Review from Andrew D.
Warwick, RI
12/30/2008
While I agree with the other reviews that the place was overhyped, I still thought the food was good, the mixed drinks were great, and the prices were on par with most restaurants in Old San Juan ($15-20 for lunch entrees, $8-10 for drinks).
We got a plate of mixed appetizers/fritters, all of which were delicious. I got the beef bowl for the meal, which was really salty but still very good overall. -
Review from mallory p.
Jamaica, NY
5/6/2009
Fortunately I had a good experience while dining here, unlike those who reviewed before me. I'm not too knowledgeable about Puerto Rican food but I was told to try the "mofongo" and I must say...I loved it! It was very exotic (of course since it's relatively new to me) but I thought it was good.
The waitstaff was very good too. They were very courteous and they made sure that we were satisfied.
So I give it 3 stars because I've only been here once and I probably won't be back anytime soon...but my first visit was a positive one so no complaints here =) -
Review from karen p.
6/15/2009
Great place - wines were very reasonable (a lot of selections from Spain and Argentina) and food was great.
My boyfriend and I started with a glass of wine at the bar and the bartender could not have been more helpful. It was our first evening in PR and we weren't sure about the wine selections as we were unfamiliar with the wineries. He let us try a couple of them and we both found something that we liked.
At dinner, I chose the chicken mofongo - yum. I can't say that I'm a fan of the mofongo-stuff - the plantains but the rice that accompanied it was delicious. My boyfriend's dish was not as good - so immemorable that I can't remember what it was! -
Review from mark and ets d.
Richmond, CA
5/3/2009
Since Mark and I are avid Yelpers-- we relied on reviews, heavily in our trip to Puerto Rico. A/J seemed to be a bit overpriced and almost a lil' cliche at first glance. Nevertheless we went and we were excited about what we found:
First time around we got:
* bacalaoditos (small cod fritters)
* Mark: Seafood Mofongo
* Me: something I can't remember, but it came with arroz mamposteado
Second time around, we brought Mark's co-worker:
* Shared the fritter app (good, but not the best)
* Mark: Paella (yum!)
* Co-worker: Shrimp and Chicken Mofongo
* Me: Arroz con Pollo with Green Plantains (yum!)
Again, ambiance is so so... it's a bit of a trendy place in the upscale area, but good food. -
Review from Bridget N.
Brooklyn, NY
1/1/2011
Good, not great. 2.5 Stars.
I wanted a mojito, they were out of mint. I wanted pumpkin fritters, no pumpkin.
We wound up with a sampler of appetizers that were very very tasty. Great empanadas.
I had "Puerto Rican paella" (all meat, no sea food) that was too salty and also extremely similar to the (rice and pork dish) someone else had, but for some reason, it was $8 more.
Server was very nice and helpful, if a little neglectful. The atmosphere was pleasant, but far more casual than I was expecting based on reviews I'd read.
Overall OK, not sure I'd rush back next time I'm in San Juan. I had a better meal across the street at Ropa Vieja. -
Review from Greshka P.
Boca Raton, FL
1/22/2009
This restaurant has won the "Tenedor de Oro" a few times and well deserved. Food was really good, full bar, great service.
Great place to go experience Puerto-Rican cuisine. -
Review from Young R.
1/31/2010
I really loved the decor and ambiance of this place. It's a big, open restaurant with high ceilings and lots of sunlight. There was a live string quartet out in the front playing lovely music. You actually do feel like you're in the Caribbean which is a refreshing difference from the generic hotel restaurants.
As for the food, I came here for lunch on a Sunday. The regular menu looked delicious with lots of local flavor, but there was also $12 all-you-can-eat buffet. Most of the buffet dishes were merely okay although the rice and turkey were good enough to go back for seconds on. It was a nice way of trying a lot of dishes for an amazing price. -
Review from Tara M.
New York, NY
7/10/2010
Touristy, VERY touristy. But I must admit I had a delicious meal. (The three stars are based more on the touristy atmosphere than the quality of food).
The guava pork wrap I had was actually great (my favorite thing from that night), really flavorful (maybe a tad too chewy though), and I couldn't stop eating it. I liked our appetizer of fritters as well, and my tres leches cake was a solid dessert.
Aside from the fact that it's really crowded and loud (even when I was just starting my meal around 10pm), and attracts everyone from the nearby hotels, I am not opposed to returning. Also, The service was great (our waiter was a really cute little old man), which made us smile. -
Review from Jessica Y.
Chicago, IL
4/20/2010 1 Check-in Here
We visited Ajili Mojili on a recent vacation and were extremely disappointed! One of their "specialties" wasn't even on the menu (some sort of soup) and our waitress was horribly awkward and inconsiderate. When we asked about specials she said they had none but did not offer any item recommendations and when we asked why our appetizer STILL hadn't arrived an hour after ordering it, she said she had no idea. Apparently it had been waiting on her as it was cold when it arrived... The only redeeming quality of the night was the live musician on the front patio. However, the patio is awkwardly placed facing the parking lot. Way over priced for the level of service and quality of food
you receive! -
Review from Kim M.
New York, NY
6/1/2008
I was pretty excited to eat here, but with all of the hype of this place, I knew I would end up just a little disappointed, which of course I did.
I ended up ordering the Surf/Turf Mofongo and it was good, but a little too light on the steak and the rice and beans it was served with was a little dry. I was with a large party and we ordered a few appetizers and I wasn't that impressed with them either. Some of the fried fritters were good, but it's fried food - which usually always tastes good, so that really isn't saying much.
I can say that the coconut custard we ordered for dessert was VERY good, so good I am drooling just thinking about it. -
Review from Aubrey G.
Chicago, IL
8/28/2009
What we liked -
My mixed mango drink with rum. The mango was fresh, it was really refreshing to have on a warm night.
Mahi - mahi with crabmeat on top is what I ordered, it was very good. The crabmeat made a good crust on top of the fish. It was very flavorful.
Cod fritters - we ordered this for our appetizer. Pretty good. It's fried so it's kind of heavy, but it took awhile for our dinners to come out, so I guess it evened out.
Server was very nice and attentive.
What we didn't like -
My boyfriend ordered the special, a $35 red snapper. He enjoyed it, it was good, but as he was finishing up, he noticed that they hadn't gutted the fish. You could see the insides. We complained to the manager and he said that it's clean and wasn't sure what that was. So the server came and showed the cook. The cook told us it was gills. Come on, my boyfriend saw the heart and some things hanging. Gross. So that kind of ruined everything. It was annoying that the manager didn't make any apologies for this.
Since the manager didn't do anything, the server felt bad and gave us flan to make up for it. For $35 dinner, we would expect the fish to be cleaned. It ruined what would have been a really nice dinner... -
Review from Patrick C.
Atlanta, GA
1/2/2009
Sorry, folks, but this restaurant is in serious need of a management overhaul.
There were some severe breakdowns in the kitchen - the official word was that some equipment broke. What I noticed was that guests were starving, but the restaurant continued to take walk-ins.
If something's wrong in the kitchen and a restaurant is unable to serve its current customers, then two things should happen immediately: 1) Continue to honor reservations, but turn down all walk-in business; 2) Make certain that your guests have something to eat. Complimentary cold appetizers work fine if there's something wrong with one of the ovens. Under no circumstances should there be more than an hour wait between courses (with no explanation.)
I would give this restaurant 1 star, but the food deserves 3. Given the utter disdain that management showed for its clients, thought, I'd never return.
No recommended. -
Review from Hannah C.
12/26/2009
Top notch service in a relaxed but elegant setting. We had a fantastic brunch here and filled up on beautifully presented local cuisine. Perhaps we were here off season, because we wandered in without reservations and were seated immediately. I'd easily come back next time I'm in town.
Listed in: The Old Country, Puerto Rico!
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Review from Desiree P.
Aurora, CO
10/16/2010 3 photos
Loved the arroz con pollo and chuletas. Reminded me of my grandma's. The atmosphere was very nice too. I wasn't expecting this place to be as good as it was because it's in a very touristy area. I left completely satisified.
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Review from Jalane K.
Bayside, NY
1/19/2011
My husband and I were on vacation and we were trying to find a great place to eat. Unfortunately, most of the places there aren't really sticking to the authentic dishes because of all the tourist. The food was good but, not great. I can say that out of all of the restaurants we did try in that part of town it was the best. If we were in the area again that would be our choice. When we go to Puerto Rico we usually go to the West side of the island because it's more of a vacation feel for us. Nicer beaches, tons of locals, and more authentic culture!
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Review from Anita J.
Hoboken, NJ
12/26/2007
This was recommended by our concierge desk during our stay and it was delicious! They serve local PR and Latin American food. We had the Ropa Vieja, mofongo, and some other dishes. We got the Sangria as well, it was great but quite strong. It was a rather romantic restaurant but at the same we saw a lot of locals their with their whole family. For dessert I tried the tres leches and I was amazed, it is nothing like the ones I had tried in the mainland US--- it was a dream come true. The service was great considering they had a couple large groups sitting nearby.
Listed in: Puerto Rico
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Review from Emily P.
Minneapolis, MN
7/8/2007
This restaurant looked great from the outside, had some good reviews and advertising, but we had a very mediocre meal and lame service. Because it was pretty expensive, we left feeling ripped off.
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Review from Megan L.
Renton, WA
9/3/2008 4 photos
Excellent food! I ordered rice with chicken cut up. It was dee-licious.
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Review from AJ C.
Long Beach, CA
9/11/2010 1 Check-in Here
Nice decor, quick walk from Condado plaza hotel. Had great appetizers and drinks. Shrimp mofongo was great!! Service was great. Drinks were a little watery in the beginning, but got more potent later in the evening..
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Review from Cheryl L.
4/30/2008
Ajili Mojili was recommended by every travel guide and hotel concierge and we decided to go there to celebrate a 60th birthday party. Turns out this was a huge mistake. They were short staffed, our server was rude most of the time, it took us about half an hour for them to take our orders and then another half an hour or so before they even brought the starters and they forget my order. When it came to entrees, they forgot another dish for our table and even though we notified the server, it took them another half an hour or so to bring the missing dish and by then, the rest of us were done. We told them 3 times we were celebrating a 60th bday and when I asked them to put a candle in his dessert, they gave me a hard time because that seemed like too much hassle. The seafood and desserts were good but certainly not worth the horrific service that accompanies them.
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Review from Jeff F.
5/10/2009
Recommend this place both for the lunch buffet and the dinner... checked it out twice about a month ago when I was in PR - hands down some of the best Puerto Rican food I had while I was there (of course expect slow inattentive service - standard in PR)
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Review from Catherine W.
Fort Wayne, IN
8/17/2009
Traditional PR food recommended to me by my friend who grew up in PR. It was okay, but we had better during the trip. A little pricier than we expected for the food and service. We wished that we had gone to Ropa Vieja across the street, which has a more extensive menu and seems to have nicer ambiance.
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Review from Mimi D.
2/19/2010
This was another mediocre restaurant that came highly recommended by several travel magazines. Located in the Condado area in a very cute colonial style building next to the bay, AM sells fancy Puerto Rican food at fancy prices. The food is nicely presented but not that great, especially at these prices. We got a steak covered in mushroom sauce accompanied by rice and beans. The steak was decent but the mushroom sauce was greasy and too salty. The rice and beans were bland. We also got these little mashed and fried plantains cups filled with shrimp that was salty and totally worthless. The last thing we tried were little mashed plantain cakes with little pieces of fish on top. Again, the cake parts were bland and the fish really salty. On a more positive note, the mojitos are strong and the service friendly.
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Review from katie k.
Boston, MA
10/10/2010
Came here for dinner and were expecting great things; however, we left fairly disappointed.
I should point out that the service is excellent, but that was the only great part of the dinner.
Here is what we had:
-calamari for appetizer - which were pretty good but nothing spectacular
-I got the Maji Maji - let's just say I've definitely had better Maji Maji before
-my friend ordered steak, which I actually liked more than my fish, but it was fairly dry and tough to eat.
Overall, the food was just okay at best, but EXTREMELY overpriced. The drinks were very watery and the whole atmosphere felt VERY TOURISTY. Also, it was freezing in the restaurant - so if you decide to go even after reading this review, bring a sweater.
Wouldn't go back. Wouldn't recommend. -
Review from Elly G.
Walnut Creek, CA
9/15/2010
The restaurant itself has a nice decor. Not too noisy and has a good service. However, the food is not as good as what we expected. We came here because of some good yelp reviews.The chicken skewers were dry and didn't taste good. The sampler appetizer were mostly fried food. I liked the halibut appetizer. That wasn't bad. We also had the ala chicken paella style dish--can't remember the name. That was OK.
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Review from Daryl M.
Chicago, IL
11/12/2010
The food was just average, the menu was the most poorly organized I have ever seen, English translations seemed to be optional. They think al fresco means a la carte. I do have to mention that the service was good and our waiter was exceptionally nice.
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Review from Shauna W.
San Francisco, CA
6/8/2007
This restaurant has exceptional service, I cannot express how kind the server was to me and my boyfriend. She was very careful to speak spanish to him (he's Puerto Rican) and english to me, even though we understood both-so cute and considerate. The food was impressive, it is authentic PR cuisine (I take my bf"s word on this), but a little on the pricey side. I had seafood mofongo and when I go back, I will have it again!
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Review from Regi P.
New York, NY
6/5/2010 2 Check-ins Here
I've never been years away from home, so I've never known what it feels like to be greeted by the familiar and warm pleasures of good home cooking - until now. Ajili Mójili felt like momma callin' me back. The tastes on my pallet were both new and strangely familiar. It's what food should taste like, especially when the belly is empty. Yet I've only gone for the lunch buffet, so I can't speak of the menued service.
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Review from globe t.
Washington, DC
2/22/2010
The attractive, spacious environment and engaging maitre de didn't make up for the mediocre food. Granted, the place operates on island time, but we waited 45 minutes for our entree and it arrived cold and a bit bland. I give this place points for the twists on Puerto Rican food, however not quite worth the price.
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Review from Jessica L.
New York, NY
6/4/2009
I went to this restaurant on Sunday, and had a great experience. The mofongo was delicious and made in a very different way, and the sangria was a hit. The waitstaff were very nice, and made for a pleasant dining experience! Yum :)
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Review from Francisco F.
Fort Lee, NJ
7/10/2009
I dined here twice but the first time I came here was something to remember. The waitstaff was so nice as to give my son free rice and beans as we waited for our food. I tasted his white rice and knew to expect something special because, who knew white rice could taste so good. The food had my wife grinning from ear to ear. I was actually comparing it to Abuela's(Grandma's)food. The greatest part was I got ten percent off with my AAA card. The second time did not live up to my first visit but was OK. I still give it a four star because of that first visit. I missed the lunch buffet which is from 12-3pm, which goes for $12.95.
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Review from Kevin D.
New York, NY
8/24/2009
We came here for lunch because they had a buffet and they were close to our hotel. The buffet consists of 3 types of rice (white, yellow spanish rice with churresco, and yellow spanish rice with fish), 2 types of pork (fried pork chunks with onions, and fried pork on skewers with coconut sauce), fish skewers, spaghetti and this layered dish with taro. they also had this bean "soup" that you put on rice.
My favorite dish was the spanish rice with churresco, it was even better if you put the bean soup on top of the rice (i guess this is their version of rice and beans). the fried pork came in second, it was well flavored. third was the fish skewers; it was well flavored and actual fish. everything else was just averge except i did not really like the coconut sauce on the pork.
Lunch buffet was only $12 a person, and was pretty good at a nice restaurant. -
Review from Claire Z.
West Lafayette, IN
3/15/2011
It already shut down!!! Don't go!!!
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Review from E S.
San Francisco, CA
6/12/2007
my PR coworker took me & some other americans to this restaurant for an authentic PR food experience. i'm not a big fan of PR food as it is generally heavy. but i actually enjoyed the food i got- mofongo. great service as well.
