Garabatos Bar & Restaurant in San Juan

TOURISTS BEWARE, THIS PLACE IS A SCAM!!!!!! Stay away unless you want to be charged $80 for 1 drink

TOURISTS & EXPATS BEWARE!!!!!!!!! This is a predatory business that scams tourists out of money by charging them over 5x the original amount. All of the recent comments recommending this place are all by locals who haven’t experienced this kind of treatment and they’re trying to drown out the real reviews made by tourists who were victims of Garabatos scam. There are MANY places in Santurce that have much better food and cheaper drinks who will NOT scam you out of your money. STAY AWAY FROM GARABATOS unless you want to pay $30 for a tiny cocktail just for being a visitor. The food and drinks were absolute trash. If you fall victim to this scam, report it to DACO which is Puerto Rico’s consumer protection agency. I have reported them along with 10 other individuals.

Staff are amazing host! Great job looking out for women groups. 💗

Amazing place with a great vibe, music, drinks and people. Loooove this place!

Amazing prices and very nice vibe! Totally recommended!

Exelent service! Great vibe, music and drinks!

Amazing place, the music and the vibes are great! A+ if you’re a tourist.

I loved this place! Definitely going back ✨

Have gone here several times, place is nice and fun. The food is great. Worth every penny!!

The staff were nice, but their drink prices are a total SCAM. They leave off the price of their drinks ON PURPOSE so they can pick and choose what to charge each person. Tourists BEWARE!!!!!! The drink pictured in the review was $30

Great vibe friendly staff!

It was amazing! Chalimar was amazing! Pleas see her for drinks! Love her!

Great energy and great vibe!! Best server @angie Weill be back just for heR!!

Angelica is THEE BEST!! Please visit and ask for her!! She will take good care of you! Anytime I am ever visiting, I will always come back to see her!!

Omg I’m from Miami!!! I had such a GREAT TIMEEE , from the music the hookah the vibes !!! Highly recommend this place if you looking for a good time. Thank you Chalimar

Good vibes, drinks, and hookah .. Chalimar was a great server!

Awesome service food was delicious and great music. Went on a Wednesday!

This place was lit, ok?Music was up to date, diverse and they accommodated us for a birthday.Definitely a good time!!

Total tourist trap! They lure you in especially if you’re a bigger group, charge your whatever they want and then announce that the credit card system isn’t working and make you go to an ATM. Hope future people read reviews beforehand.

Most friendly people of any place we went to. Everyone there was cute & fun too. Great drinks great value, good music 🙃

All good vibes man I loved it people were great I had a ball all good music good food woah just woah

My experience was amazing for my birthday the music was on point. I would deff recommend!

If I could give this place one star, I would. Please don’t go, it’s a scam

Can’t wait to come back. BEST place, drinks MUSIC and staff in all La Placita!!!

Get you drunk and tell you they want to walk you to the ATM personally, I refused and they demanded I cash out the moment they decided before I was even done ordering everything for the night and completely killed the vibe by being so pushy and acting like scammers. Miraculously they took cards when I refused to get walked to the ATM.

Ill give this restaurant a 3 1/2 rating only because They yet a lot of young girls Young men going to this bar under 21 No identification check Overwrong I did enjoy myself

This place deserves zero stars but thats not an option. We Ubered to "La Placita" on a Tuesday night. Once we got out an old drunk guy told us we should go there, and they had good food drinks and music. It was jumping plus the music was to our standards so we went. The guy at the door says its $200 for a VIP table which was on the patio outside, absolutely not. There was a very small room with 3-4 tables. A lot of young locals were dancing in front of the bar. Heres why I wouldnt recommend this place, they charged $90 for 3 shots of Jose Cuervo and 3 margaritas. Im all for balling out when on vacation, but this was a complete scam. I do this, so I know we were being played. They knew we werent from there and took advantage of that. I paid with cash, and had to ask for my change. I guess she thought I was tipping her for scamming me. After drinking that $90 we left, then proceeded to read the reviews which all say the same except the ones from the "Local guide". Theyre trash basically, dont go.

Good party chose for middle of the weekend. Dont know about a food but heard is great.

LISTEN TO THE COMMENTS WHEN THEY SAY THIS PLACE IS A SCAM!!! IF YOU INSIST ON GOING, DOUBLE CHECK YOUR RECEIPT. THEY AUTOMATICALLY ADD TIP WITHOUT TELLING U!!

Like the other reviews, the music and the vibe drew us to this establishment. What I expected to be less than a $50 dollar tab turned out to be almost 3x the amount. My husband and I ordered fish taco each (which werent that greatfor 10 bucks ($20). He ordered a side of plantains and rice (which was delicious). The meal totaled $29. Our drinks.. nothing fancy... 1 mojito-$15, 2 incredible hulks $50... who in their right mind would agree to pay $25 for this type of drink?!... our bill came up to $123. When I saw the bill, I knew we were scammed. Never again.

In June 4th I Sat at table and was asked to move by some woman who told me her name was Chelymar (with really bad breathbecause I didn’t buy a bottle. I asked about another table with only two guys drinking beers. She said they are here friends and they don’t have to buy a bottle to sit at the table. SMH.

Drinks are over poured . Nasty .. service sucked will not be returning .Very expensive for no reason !Cash only !They add 20% for a tip .Spent 10 mins there and the bill was like 115$ for 2 drinks and an appetizer

DO NOT COME HERE!!!! They overcharge for shots and drinks!! 15 dollars for EACH shot!!! They charged based on what they think you can afford!!!! DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME!!! BARTENDERS ARE TRASH TOO!!! NOT WORTH IT. GO SOMEWHERE ELSE!

SCAM, STAY AWAY. They scam tourists, we got a beer and a jack and coke and the total was 21, after asking how much each item was they said the beer was $6 and the drink 15, fine, but when she hands us the receipt the subtotal was 18+ around $2 tax totaling $21, but if the beer is actually 6 and the drink 15 then it should be more with tax. The prices just don’t add up and the bartender is very sus, they use tablets to take card payments and they are supposed to show you the tip percentages before you submit the payment and she didn’t , she printed a nonitemized receipt. They play around with prices and I’m pretty sure the bartenders auto add the gratuity and hand you a nonitemized receipt to lure you into leaving more. So many other clubs at la placita with better service and prices , I would skip the club

USE APPLE PAY!!!!!!!!!!!!*Will not tell you it’s ‘cash only’ until you are ready to settle the bill.*I asked several patrons who were also visibly upset that they got the bait & switch.One kind young man told me HE USED APPLE PAY AT THE BAR, and I proceeded to tell the waitress that’s how I’d like to pay. She didn’t look happy that I found that out, and begrudgingly walked me to the bar to process the payment.So, if the tap feature to use Apple Pay works, so does the tap feature to use a credit/debit card. 🙄In addition, waitress added on 20% gratuity, and the service was actually very slow.To sum it up:1the credit card machine DOES work, they say it doesn’t2they don’t want to pay the 2-3% per transaction charged by cc companies SO THEY LIE3THEY LIE (Why!? Just be upfront, I actually prefer to tip in cash)4Drinks grossly overpriced5Automatic 20% gratuity even if service sucks6Empanadas are actually good7Bar across the street played better music, and better sound system

BRING CASH!!!!! There is a sign that says they take cards, but they DO NOT!!! Heed my warning!! Other than that this is a good spot to go to. They have pitchers of margaritas, pina coladas & more. And the drinks are not light on the alcohol so they are worth every penny. Plus hookah and hip hop music. I tried the sliders and they were pretty good. If I was ever back in San Juan, I would definitely go back here

Way way way wayyy too overpriced. Consider going to Dennys while music is blaring in your ears, plus smoke from hookahs all over your face. Definitely, skip this bar, theres way cheaper better places in San Juan

Went on a Tuesday and there was no disclaimer that their card machine was down and they only take cash. It seems like a running scam they have. They charged $70 per pitcher for watery/overly iced drinks, included 20% tip, and try to pander to young crowds with their music choices.They had a security guard come to “close the tab” and walk us over to the atm to get cash to pay the bill. It’s sad that your own people in PR are willing to scam you.

We were told to get in you had to either buy a pitcher or bottle. We opted for the pitcher but didn’t taste any alcohol so we got 2 shots. Ordered an entree as well. Once the bill came with the highest gratuity already added! I saw the pitcher was $70! Total bill $184. Hubby gave me $200. I counted it to be sure and handed the cash to the waitress. She never brought back change and when I asked her for it she said I didn’t give her enough and she paid the rest of our tab out her pocket. Ma’am you are a lie!! We were still in the club with other friends, so why wouldn’t she come tell me that I didn’t give her enough?? The sad thing about it I was having such a good vibe there (up until that pointI was gone give her the extra $15 anyway. It totally ruined the night. I wish I had read reviews beforehand

Honestly would rate it less, they kept changing the prices of the drinks after we already paid almost $900 for 2 tabs that night! They added in their own tip but then treated us like we didnt exist... very rude and wont be returning!

charged us $15 per drink and automatically added 20% gratuity AND said they “didn’t accept card” right before we were going to pay (AFTER we received our drinks, also not posted anywhere while other people were paying with card. Ruined my mood for the night :( felt very scammy/shady.

Worst experience ever. Such a scam! Charged us $175 for 4 drinks and 4 shots. You do the math. And the refused to let us pay with card and made a security guard follow us across the street to the ATM to pull cash out and come back. There’s a problem with that and it’s called money laundering. Not to mention they automatically include a 20% gratuity and we had horrible service…Wish I would’ve read reviews before coming here being that everyone else seems to have the same experience.Sucks places like this exist and can ruin a vacation for visitors!

We were charged $92 for pitcher , they told us only cash but other reviews we see that card was possible.. tip was included of 20% ( they didn’t even say that tip was included)but they had other option to leave another tip… complete rip off...

The atmosphere was great, but my group and I did not appreciate the waitress adding on the highest tip percentage automatically without checking with us when there were 2 other tip options available. I think they thought that we were drunk or something and was not paying attention since we were dancing and enjoying ourselves. So, be sure to pay attention to your tip options on your receipt!

So shocked how they attempted to con us. Wow. They told us drinks were one price and charged us double. THEN they tried to Tell us they were cash only. But I saw other people paying with cc so I went to the bar and paid with cc. That when we ask for a copy of the receipt they refuse to give it to us. Luckily I had already taken a photo of it. They also include a 20% tip but only “ tip” was in Spanish. And then at the bottom of the receipt they write “tips” in English insinuating that tip has not already been included.

This place is really sus. They cover up prices and act like their card machine is down and ask for cash. It’s really a tourist trap. Drinks are overpriced and very shady business. 2 star cause I like the music lmao

The music was popping. Great atmosphere. Good food, good drinks.

The atmosphere was great, however our chicken wasnt cooked all the way through😥 This was disappointing because we had such a great time!

This was My Favorite Bar in La Placita. They had the Hip-Hop jumping mixed with some Latin Hip Hop too. It was an open environment but the inside had a Air conditioning unit in the main dance room that really helped out a lot. They also sold food that was a plus because drinking with no food on your stomach is asking for it. They attracted a huge crowd all night because the DJ was amazing.

Garabato Bar and Grill is a great place to hang out while making your rounds in La Placita. They have a bar, DJ, dancing, drinks and hookahs for your pleasure. Theres a great view of the busy corner full of partiers at and across from this location. If youre a people watcher youll enjoy the scene...