Business Directory

Galería Artesanal is a Puerto Rican craft shop located at Plaza Río Hondo in Bayamón. Founded in 2014, it brings together products made by local artisans, including traditional woodwork, pottery, handmade jewelry, home decorations, and gifts inspired by Puerto Rican culture. Some of the items sold include mahogany pilones, wooden plantain presses, hand-painted ceramics, calabash earrings, coconut jewelry, and decorative figurines. The store also carries plena drums, traditional wooden toys, books by Puerto Rican authors, local sweets, hot sauces, and coffee from different parts of the island. Galería Artesanal gives local makers a place to sell their work and reach more customers. You can shop at the physical store or order through its website, which offers shipping to Puerto Rico and the United States. The business has also organized workshops related to traditional arts and crafts.

Café Berlín is a restaurant across from Plaza Colón in Old San Juan that has been serving customers since 1991. Its menu combines Puerto Rican dishes with international food, including a good number of vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options. There's also an outdoor terrace where you can sit and watch people walking through the plaza. For breakfast or brunch, the restaurant serves pancakes with strawberries, brioche French toast with guava sauce, mallorcas filled with eggs, ham, and Swiss cheese, and traditional egg breakfasts with potatoes and pan sobao toast. The rest of the menu includes mofongo, with vegan versions available, empanadas, tofu dishes, salads, and other house specialties. Coffee, juices, lemonades, and other drinks are available throughout the day. Customers can eat inside or choose a table on the terrace. Café Berlín is particularly useful for groups with different dietary preferences, since someone looking for a plant-based meal can find more than the usual side salad while everyone else orders from the regular menu.

Spicy Caribbee is a specialty shop on Cristo Street in Old San Juan that's been selling Caribbean spices, sauces, and food products since 1988. It was started by Nereida and Mark Williams after years of traveling around the Caribbean and exploring the different seasonings used across the islands. The shop carries hot sauces with different levels of heat, including Fuego, Green Heat, Yellow Hot Sauce, and traditional Puerto Rican pique. There are also seasoning blends such as herbed sea salt adobo, steak seasoning, jerk sauce, and sofrito. For sweeter options, customers can find guava jam, spicy guava preserves, and other tropical spreads. The store also sells teas, Puerto Rican coffee, vanilla, local crafts, and gift boxes containing several of its products. One thing visitors can do at Spicy Caribbee is sample some of the sauces and jams before choosing what to buy. The business has an online store as well, with shipping and local pickup available. It's a useful stop for home cooks looking for Caribbean ingredients or anyone interested in bringing home something made for the kitchen rather than a typical souvenir.

Galería Botello is an art gallery on Cristo Street in Old San Juan, housed inside a centuries-old Spanish colonial building. It was founded in 1953 by artist Ángel Botello and his wife, Christiane Auguste, and has remained part of Puerto Rico's art community for generations. Much of the gallery is dedicated to Ángel Botello's work, including oil paintings, bronze sculptures, lithographs, and linocuts. Some of his sculptures include Mother and Child, Girl Reading, La Coiffure, and Gato Feo. The collection also includes paintings, works on paper, ceramics, pieces by other Puerto Rican artists, and traditional hand-carved wooden santos. The artwork is displayed throughout several rooms of the historic house, which still has its old floors, wooden ceilings, and colonial archways. Besides selling original artwork, the gallery provides art appraisals, authentication certificates, and consignment services for collectors. Visitors can explore the collection in person or contact the gallery about a particular piece.

Puerto Rican Art & Crafts is an art and craft shop on Fortaleza Street in Old San Juan. It opened in 1981 and carries work by artists and artisans from different parts of Puerto Rico. The store is housed in a restored colonial building, with displays of traditional crafts alongside contemporary artwork. Some of the items you'll find include vejigante masks from Ponce and Loíza, hand-carved santos, wooden figurines, pottery, original paintings, silkscreen prints, and handmade jewelry. The shop also carries hammocks, sculptures, decorative pieces, and accessories made from materials such as clay, wood, glass, and metal. There's also a selection of Puerto Rican products, including coffee from Alto Grande, Yaucono, Yauco Selecto, and Café Lareño. You can stop in for a small handmade gift, look for artwork to bring home, or browse pieces made by local artisans. Many items include information about the person who created them.

Olé Puerto Rico is a small hat shop on Fortaleza Street in Old San Juan that has been in business since 1977. The store specializes in Panama hats, which are traditionally woven in Ecuador using toquilla straw. There are several styles to choose from, including short- and long-brim fedoras, Borsalino hats, Paso Fino, Boater or Pra-prá, and the wide-brimmed Pamela. What makes the shop different from a typical souvenir store is the fitting process. Customers can try on different styles, get help finding the right size, and choose colorful bands and other details to personalize their hats. Olé originally sold artwork and antiques before shifting its focus to hats. The shop still has an old-fashioned look, with shelves full of hats and accessories. It also sells selected styles online for customers who can't visit Old San Juan.

El Hamburguer is a longtime burger restaurant in Puerta de Tierra, San Juan, just outside Old San Juan and across from the ocean. It first opened in 1963 and has spent more than six decades serving burgers cooked over a charcoal grill. You can order a beef burger with different cheeses, including American, Swiss, or blue cheese, and add toppings such as bacon, pickles, onions, and vegetables. The sides include French fries, onion rings, and sweet potato fries. Hot dogs and other simple fast-food options are also available. The restaurant has kept much of its original character, with a visible grilling area, casual tables, and walls covered in old photographs and memorabilia. It's the kind of place where several generations of Puerto Rican families have stopped for a burger. Its location near the waterfront also makes it a convenient place to eat before or after exploring Old San Juan.

Galería Petrus is an art gallery on Hoare Street in Miramar, San Juan. Founded in 1997 by Sylvia Villafañe, it focuses on exhibiting and supporting Puerto Rican artists, from well-known names to people who are just getting started in the art world. Visitors can find paintings, sculptures, photography, prints, and other forms of contemporary art. The gallery has featured artists such as Antonio Martorell, Carlos Dávila Rinaldi, Bobby Cruz, Luis Hernández Cruz, and Naimar Ramírez. It also runs Generación Reactiva, a project that gives emerging artists opportunities to exhibit their work. Petrus holds solo and group exhibitions throughout the year, sells original artwork, and works on sculpture projects for indoor, outdoor, and public spaces. The gallery also organizes cultural activities where visitors can learn more about the artists and their work. Whether someone is interested in buying art or just wants to see what's being created in Puerto Rico, the gallery offers a chance to explore the local art scene.

Café Cuatro Sombras is a Puerto Rican coffeehouse on Recinto Sur Street in Old San Juan. It opened in 2011 and specializes in coffee grown at Hacienda Santa Clara, a family farm in the mountains of Yauco. The beans are grown and processed in Puerto Rico, then roasted at the coffeehouse. The drink menu includes espresso, cappuccino, lattes, Americanos, and cold brew. Customers can also buy whole-bean or ground coffee to take home. There are breakfast options, sandwiches, and pastries as well. The Yauco panini comes with turkey, cheddar cheese, and sweet plantain mayo, while the Cuatro Sombras panini has Black Forest ham, vegetables, and a recao-cilantro mayo. Another option is the hummus and roasted pepper sandwich. For something sweet, the menu includes quesitos, croissants, cinnamon rolls, brownies, and guava toast. The café has indoor seating and a patio, making it a convenient stop for breakfast, a cup of Puerto Rican coffee, or a break from walking around Old San Juan.

La Ceiba is a bakery and restaurant on Roosevelt Avenue in San Juan that's been around since 1962. It's best known for its quesitos, Cuban sandwiches, breads, and pastries. You can stop by for coffee and something from the bakery counter or sit down for breakfast or lunch. The sandwich menu includes a classic Cuban with roast pork, ham, and Swiss cheese, along with medianoche sandwiches and a tripleta made with pastrami. They also sell pan de agua, pan sobao, mallorcas, French toast, pancakes, and egg breakfasts. Spanish dishes are another part of the menu, including caldo gallego, Asturian bean stew, Galician-style octopus, and croquettes filled with Serrano ham, codfish, or chorizo. For dessert, there are quesitos, coconut flan, Santiago almond cake, and apple tart. La Ceiba also offers pickup orders and delivery for customers who prefer to eat at home.

Amor y Sal is a restaurant on José de Diego Avenue in Santurce, San Juan. It serves breakfast, brunch, lunch, and dinner, with a menu that mixes Puerto Rican favorites and dishes from other cuisines. Some of its brunch options include French toast, pancakes, chicken and waffles, and Puerto Rican-style eggs Benedict. There's also a dish called Santurcinos, made with skirt steak, mamposteao rice, sweet plantains, and a fried egg. For something more filling, the restaurant serves mofongo stuffed with chicken, shrimp, or skirt steak, along with Can Can pork chops, fish, and other main dishes. Smaller bites include Gouda cheese fritters with guava sauce, and the drink menu has coffee, cocktails, and specialty lemonades. It's a place to stop for a weekend brunch, have lunch with friends, or sit down for dinner.