Los Almendros: 34 years of salsa, empanadillas and community in Guaynabo

Amilcar Cruz came to the metro area from Sabana Grande as a police officer, and when he retired he found in Guaynabo a place to share his love of salsa. In 1991 he built Los Almendros, a chinchorro (a casual roadside food and drink spot) with a cocolo soul that keeps the recipes of his hometown, including the traditional rabbit empanadilla.

In 2017, he passed the business and his love of timbales to his son Jonathan, 34. And in December 2025, Los Almendros was named the favorite chinchorro by the Platea community, as part of Los Top de la Comunidad.

"My dad is originally from Sabana Grande, my mom from Yauco, and they moved to the metro area to start a business. My mom works at a bank, my dad was a police officer, and they used to come to this place a lot. He always said that when he retired from the police he wanted to take over this business, and that's what happened. It started in '91 and the rest is history," says Jonathan Cruz.

"We don't have mountains here, but you're going to feel that same vibe you feel when you go, say, to Ciales or Barranquitas," Jonathan Cruz points out.

Los Almendros is a culinary proposition, but also a cultural one. Its menu brings together rabbit, chicken, pizza and corned beef empanadillas, alcapurrias and mojitos made with fresh-squeezed juices, and between dishes there are cultural activities that give Guaynabo the warm familiarity of the mountains.

The walls are decorated with murals of Celia Cruz, Ray Barreto and Tite Curet, which preside over a space where the cultural offerings change by the day, enough so that the place could already be said to have its own calendar. The spot operates Wednesday through Sunday.

📅 Agenda de Los Almendros

• Wednesday – Dominoes tournaments

• Thursday – Live music

• Friday – Karaoke

• Saturday and Sunday – Open dance floor

Mural of Tite Curet Alonso at Los Almendros.

Mural of Ray Barreto at Los Almendros.

Mural of Celia Cruz at Los Almendros.

"We have our instruments; you can come whether you know how to play or not, you can come and play our instruments, bongo, conga, güiro, maracas, timbales get set up," the owner shares, and he underlined the sense of community that fills the place: "Friendships are made here, relationships are made here, I'd say more than friendships, families. I'd say that if we sum up everything that Los Almendros is, it's magic."

Between clave and conga, Los Almendros has established itself as a gathering place for cocolos, but also for those who are simply looking for a plate of street food Puerto Rican style after work, or after the kids' baseball game.

The Los Almendros menu

At Los Almendros, all empanadillas include queso de bola except the shrimp and mushroom ones. They cost between $2.50 and $5.00 and can be ordered by the dozen. For the little ones, there are traditional piraguas (shaved ice).

Empanadillas

• Rabbit

• Shrimp

• Chicken

• Pizza

• Corned beef

• Mushroom

• Ground beef

• Queso de bola

More food

• Ground beef alcapurrias

• Shrimp cup

• Piraguas

🍹The Los Almendros mojito bar

Alongside the empanadillas, the mojito has become a signature of the place. "We turned the business into what is a mojito bar. All our mojitos are made with fresh-squeezed juices," Jonathan says. "You'll always find your acerola, passion fruit, tamarind, coconut water, orange, grapefruit, pink grapefruit juice, among others…"

It is a place people always come back to. They even have a customer who shows up every day of the week just to chat. "Here we're always going to greet you with a kiss and a hug. And I think that's something you rarely find at another business," says Jonathan Cruz.

Listening to the public, he says, is one of the keys to success. "We always like to make changes, obviously. It's our way of showing the public that we really care about what we're doing, we care about keeping the business clean, tidy, freshly painted, with our beer always nice and cold. I think that's also a sign of respect for the public that visits us, those details," he says.

"I would say Los Almendros has been around since 1991. We hope to God it lasts many more years, so we can keep bringing the joy we continue to bring and what keeps us being Los Almendros," the businessman concludes.

This content was translated with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI).