My boyfriend and I are going to Arenal on May 11-15 and May 13th is his 38th birthday. I'd like to take him to a very nice dinner for his birthday celebration. We're staying at the Arenal Nayara so a place close by and with a view would be great. Any suggestions?

Unless you are going out for lunch, the sun most likely will have set (before 6:00pm) by the time you get to a restaurant for dinner, so a view might not matter.

(Great screen name, by the way. Does that mean we will hear lots more of you?)

Thanks Kinkazote! I was on these posts quite a bit a few years ago planning my first and second Europe trip. I was quickly pounced on when I posted my itinerary that included trying to see four cities in 8 days. Haha. I was enlightened by all of the replies I got and downgraded to 2 cities. After getting there I realized how right everyone was!! The advice I got was priceless and both trips were perfect!

This is my first time to Costa Rica so thanks for the susnset tip! A view isn't that important, mostly want to make sure it is a nice place, good food, good service, etc.

Don Rufino is a very cute restaurant with good food. Here's the link:

http://www.donrufino.com/en/

Another idea would be to spend the evening at Eco Termales hot springs and enjoy their chicken dinner there.

Choza de LAurel- its not a a very fancy resturant, but we loved the outdoor rustic look and the food. Just when you enter LAFortuna.

We had a funny experience at la Choza de Laurel; they're known for their rotisserie chicken and had all these chickens turning on a spit out front when we went there. I asked for "pollo por favor" and pointed to the spits, and they wouldn't give us any, just kept saying "no" - and we have no idea why. Did you get to try it travel? We ended up having casados, and they were good.