Review of La Vieja Guardia Restaurant in Cartagena

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I recently grabbed lunch at La Vieja Guardia Restaurant in Cartagena during our most recent visit to Cartagena.

It’s located in a little unassuming corner, tucked away just inside the Walled City on the edge of San Diego. There used to be a sort of old school, unpretentious bar here that wasn’t a bad place to enjoy a beer, but I always felt like this little corner with a nice shade tree had better potential.

And, I think I can say it might just be living up to it with La Vieja Guardia!

I enjoyed my meal and found the place to still feel pretty unpretentious. The food was tasty and well presented. Prices weren’t super cheap, but they were not unreasonable either. I think I’ll be back before we leave again.

Read on for a full review of La Vieja Guardia Restaurant in Cartagena, Colombia.

Photo of the front of La Vieja Guadia restaurant in Cartagena with tables on the stoop sidewalk under a tree and one person sitting at a table eating.
Read on to learn about the tasty seafood at the unpretentious La Vieja Guadia Restaurant in Cartagena.

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La Vieja Guardia Fish & Beer Review

I guess I should say, the full name of the restaurant is La Vieja Guardia Fish & Beer. While that name almost sounds more like an English pub, I don’t think I saw fish and chips on the menu, but the place clearly specializes in a variety of seafood dishes.

As I mentioned before, I long thought this little corner could be a nice spot.

To be clear, La Vieja Guardia Cartagena is located on the left side of the Éxito San Diego, near the entrance to the Walled City and the Serrezuela Mall and sort of diagonal from Donde Magola, a hidden gem for the best arepas de huevo in town in its own right.

This little nook of a corner has a nice old tree for shade and enough space for several outdoor tables.

Photo of a drink on a table at Vieja Guardia Restaurant in Cartagena with a pail with napkins and a tree and cars parked on the street in the background.
While the view itself is nothing spectacular, the old tree here gives this little nook in a corner some nice shade for sitting outside. This is my Maramimosa with basil and strawberry plus a cute little flower.

I can’t remember exactly, but I feel like there was nothing here for a long time, maybe it was even storage for Éxito or something. There definitely did used to be a hot dog stand near here, but I feel like that was a bit further up.

Then at some point they opened a solid little bar named Portobello that drew more locals than tourists that I remember occasionally having beers at with my buddy Brian.

I want to say I had seen La Vieja Guardia had opened sometime not too long before we moved to the states in 2022. I had been kind of intrigued to try it, but never went for one reason or another.

On our most recent visit, I wanted to try some new places, and I saw it had pretty rave reviews on Google maps, so decided it was definitely on my list.

Funny enough, we tried going here for my first Father’s Day, but it was closed. Actually, we zig zagged across Centro and Getsemaní walking to 3 different places that were closed before we finally settled on an old favorite of La Cevichería, but I digress.

A few days later, I saw it was opened. Turned out they had been temporarily closed due to a license issue but were now reopen. So, I decided to give it a try.

I was not disappointed!

Photo of two plates, a drink, and napkins on a blue wooden table at La Vieja Guardia Fish & Beer in Cartagena.
The two dishes I ordered, which were honestly bigger portions than I expected. I left very full!

What I Ordered at La Vieja Guardia Restaurant in Cartagena

First off, I was pretty impressed with their menu.

They have quite a bit of stuff, including some non-seafood dishes, and most of it sounds really good. You can see the full menu here.

I had the octopus Pulpo Vieja Guardia and the Ceviche Vieja Guardia.

I had been craving a tasty pulpo for a while, and I debated the Vieja Guardia or another that came with langostinos that also sounded good.

However, I was happy with my decision, because it absolutely hit the spot!

Photo of a plate up close with a grilled octopus on top of vegetables with hummus around it.
Close up of the pulpo. I loved the hummus and generous portion of sautéed vegetables.

I was especially surprised at the portion.

The octopus itself was more or less the size you’d expect, but it came with a ton of sautéed vegetables, with some little potatoes and pieces chorizo thrown in, and a ring of really tasty hummus.

Overall, it was a great mix of flavors.

The ceviche was also quite good.

It was just a fish ceviche with onion and bell pepper but came with some tasty avocado slices and crunchy corn. Not anything out of this world, but all around solid, good ceviche.

They did have several other tasty sounding ceviches on the menu too.

Photo of a plate with ceviche with fish, bell peppers, onions and plantain chips and avocado on either side.
Ceviche was also very good.

For drinks, I had a Maramimosa, which was a unique take on the mimosa with basil and strawberries in place of the orange juice. It was pretty darn refreshing after walking around in the midday heat of Cartagena. The little flower on top was cute too and a nice touch.

I also had a mojito, which was just ok.

It was well presented, with a toasted lime and little flower of its own, but I was a bit disappointed it had a mint flavored syrup instead of actual mint leaves.

I have a feeling this might be because they had been closed and didn’t have fresh mint on hand. As someone who spent some time in Cuba, I did find this bordering on sacrilege, but it was tasty enough I guess.

The mojito had a cute little flower of its own, but I was a bit disappointed it was made with a mint flavored syrup instead of fresh mint leaves.

I may have to go back to make sure this was just a temporary substitute.

La Vieja Guardia Cartagena Restaurant Review Final Verdict

And, honestly, I probably will be back because I did enjoy the food a lot and I thought the prices were reasonable enough for tasty, well presented, seafood.

Honestly, after being back for a few days after 2 years away, I’ve had a bit of sticker shock at prices in Cartagena. I kind of felt like that here too, but it was much more reasonably priced than some other places we’ve been to since being back.

So, I’d definitely recommend checking it out if you want some tasty seafood that’s well presented with some unique dishes and flavors alongside plenty classic traditional options at prices that won’t totally break the banco.

Once again you can see the menu here, and you can also check out their Instagram and their Facebook page. Please do also consider checking out my list of restaurants to try in Cartagena and my picks for the best traditional dishes to try in Cartagena too.

I hope you found this review of La Vieja Guardia Restaurant in Cartagena helpful.

More importantly, if you do go to La Vieja Guardia, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Perhaps most importantly of all though, if you order a mojito, I hope it has fresh mint in it!

If you do visit, feel free to share your experience and what you thought in the comments below, and definitely let me know if your mojito had fresh mint leaves in it!

Cheers and Happy Exploring! Eating!

Planning a trip to Cartagena?

Be sure to check out the rest of the site to help you plan!

In particular, you might want to check out my complete guide to planning a trip to Cartagena, my guide to the best areas to stay, my list of over 75 things to do, my picks for the best Cartagena tours, the best day trips from Cartagena, my suggested packing list, my guide to the Rosario Islands, and my guide to all the beaches of Cartagena.

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