Olive Boutique Hotel

The saffron risotto which combines buttery Italian richness with a savoury Spanish seafood zarzuela, is a must try from the hotel restaurant. Evoking flavours of your surroundings and cooked using all locally sourced ingredients. 

El Condado, Puerto Rico’s urbane seaside metropolis, is a vibrantly energetic neighborhood blending Caribbean warmth with effervescent glamour. Walk down one of its small, oft-overlooked side streets, however, and you will find Olive Boutique Hotel nestled quietly among its neighbors overlooking the beautiful Laguna del Condado.

With its sun-dappled terrace and interiors of reclaimed, sea-kissed wood, Olive has positioned itself as a premiere location for couples looking for a peaceful romantic sanctuary. One need not travel far from the island’s nightlife or beaches, however: La Ventana al Mar, Condado’s eponymous window to the sea, is a two-minute walk away.

While Hostería del Mar, the site of Louisse and Fernando’s first foray as hoteliers, graced visitors with the Caribbean warmth and splendor so demonstrative of Puerto Rico’s finest guest houses, Olive was envisioned as a pastiche of Mediterranean influences. Each of the hotel’s hallways is decorated in a different style, with photos and heirlooms from Louisse and Fernando’s adventures: one is accented in the Provencal style, another demonstrates its Moroccan influences; one recalling the rugged beauty of the Spanish countryside, and one the tones and colors of Mediterranean Italy. The restaurant, however, evokes the sights and aromas of the Iberian Peninsula.

The menu features fusions of Mediterranean flavors with locally sourced ingredients, like the saffron risotto, which combines buttery Italian richness with a savory Spanish seafood zarzuela. The rooftop, ruggedly resplendent in wrought iron and restoration hardwood (some of it a century old), grants an unparalleled vista of the azure, windswept Laguna del Condado.