Arenal & Heredia restaurants
 

We are traveling in July to Peace Lodge (2 nights), Lost Iguana Lodge (3 nights) and Bosque del Cabo (4 nights).
Does anyone have restaurant suggestions for the first two hotels? Nothing too fancy, just good local food. We are two families traveling with teenagers.
Thanks in advance, these boards have helped us plan our entire trip!

There is not a lot around the Peace Lodge. So I have always just stuck with the onsite restaurant. It is quite good. I seem to recall something about a French owned place nearby. Maybe some of the other members can help with this?

The restaurant at Lost Iguana is good too.

This is cattle country, and they are proud of their beef. The beef here has a different flavor, and is much leaner. It is a different breed, and free range. They don't age their beef either. So it is fresh. I have come to enjoy it over the years. But it is a different flavor.

The el Novillo "steakhouse" is not far away from Lost Iguana. Great spot. It is really more a steak "carport." The original palapa style restaurant burned down several years ago. When they rebuilt, I guess they were determined that it would never burn down again. So it is built of aluminum, cinder block and hardy board.

You sit in cheap white plastic chairs at folding tables. This is all out in the open air, under a big flat roof.

But there is a great volcano view, the service is friendly, and the huge steaks are extremely good. We ate there during Easter week last year. For two couples, the bill was around $70.00. This included a bottle of wine, and a decent tip!

We are going to be in Arenal twice in the next couple of months. We will stop here each time!

I hope this helps! Let me know if I can offer more advice.

Warm Regards,
Pat Hewitt
(Travel Professional)

Hi hazelnut,

Yes, the Fodors forum is really invaluable. It's always the first resource I utilize these days for any trip I'm planning.

Regarding restaurant suggestions, Peace Lodge is a little bit isolated. There is a sit down restaurant at the hotel and also an outdoor bar area that serves food (Trout Bar). The main restaurant can get a bit pricey. I've heard some good things about the food and prices at the bar, so that may be one option for you.

Will you have a car? There's a restaurant called Colberts that's probably about 20 minutes away from the Peace Lodge. I have not eaten there, but shillmac (Resident Fodors Forum Costa Rica Enthusiast and Expert :-) ) swears by it, and she's a great source for information.

In the Arenal area, we've eaten at La Chosa de Laurel (yummy rotisserie chicken) and El Novillo (emphasis on tasty steaks). Both places were terrific and very reasonable. There are lots of dining choices in La Fortuna.

At BdC, be sure to try the tuna melt sandwich and the banana pancakes. The food there was delicious!

At the Peace Lodge, we just ate at the outdoor Trout Bar to save $ - very good, casual food. We had casados, and fresh chips and guacamole, and a couple of Imperials - all very reasonably priced, and nice to sit out by the water and enjoy the fireflies; they close early though, so check the time before you go. PL also has room service and the full-service restaurant. We liked the same restaurants in Arenal that everyone else does - La Choza de Laurel and El Novillo - both open air and affordable. We had a funny experience at LCdL - they have a big rotisserie out front that was full of chickens, so we ordered that, and she said, "No chicken" - no idea why, so we ended up with casados which were also good! We had dinner at the Lost Iguana and didn't enjoy it too much, plus we thought it was expensive compared to what we could get in town, but we enjoyed their breakfast and casual food at lunch and thought it was a wonderful property.

Just back from CR. In Arenal, we also enjoyed El Novillo, which was quite good and inexpensive if you like beef. Definitely not a lot of atmosphere -- you're under a giant metal roof with no walls. The owner didn't speak English, but was very hospitable and really made the dinner special.
If you feel like a little bit of a drive (20 mins past the dam/ Lost Iguana) on the West side of the lake, we had a great lunch at Toad Hall. It's a tiny but very cute place overlooking the lake, with a bit of California style. Sandwiches for lunch were OUTSTANDING and the fruit drinks were great. Very nice guy originally from Colorado owns it. Also a souvenir/ art shop on site. It's a pretty drive on a just-repaved road. There's also a Swiss-chalet place just before there that looks like a hoot.

Thanks for posting this question Hazelnut. We'll also be at Peace Lodge and Lost Iguana in July, so this information is useful for me.

When will you be where? We are at Peace Lodge July 15th, and Lost Iguana right after that. If you see a group of 11 with several teenage girls, that's us.

Thanks for the great suggestions. By the way, what are casados?

I highly recommend you eat ate the sodas, which are local resstaraunts. This is where you can get a casado (cah-sa-dough), which is kind of like the old blue plate special. It is a full meal, rice and beans, vegetables, fruit and often your choice of meat (carne- car ney) chicken (pollo-poy oh)or fish (pescado- pess cah dough) It is simple fresh food, and I found often the best tasting. I enjoyed our simple meals at the sodas more than many of the fancier places.

Batidos are an excellent drink, they are like a fresh fruit smoothie. You can get it made with water (agua) or milk (leche- lay-chey) I preferred the ones made with water.


Look for a soda where many locals eat. I think the soda we ate at on the main street in La Fortuna was called Soda La Parada. Many of the hotel employees were eating there.

I think casados literally means "married" - like a joining of the meat plus all the good sides that kencolian mentioned. Kind of like comfort food. We totally loved batidos too; the ones with milk are like a milkshake - good stuff. You will most likely see rice and beans at every meal, including breakfast, and you will miss it when you get home!