Wanting some restaurant recommendations for the Quepos/Manuel Antonio area.

El Gran Escape in Quepos is great for seafood.

In MA Bambu Jam is buzzy, good food!
Marlin on the beach for breakfast.
El Avion for sunset cocktails.
Salsapuedes is a great seafood tapas/ sushi restaurant.

http://costa.rica.typepad.com/manuel...nio/index.html

I second many of guanacaste's recommendations.
Also - in Quepos, Escalo Frio for good Italian and home made gelati.
Cafe Milagro in both Quepos and the MA road - for fancy coffees and desserts.
Gato Negro in casitas Eclipse more for the Monday night entertainment - but good enough Italian.
Agua Azul in Villas el Parque
Gran Escape is also actually good for breakfast.
Pura vida
raquel

La Lanterna in Quepos for Italian and great pizza. Lots of varieties.

Cafe Milagro is great but can't remember if they have food. They have great coffee and a terrific cold drink that is like an expresso milkshake.

After trying a variety of restaurants and cafes in Quepos and Manuel Antonio during our 3 days in the area, our favorite for both food quality and good prices was the more casual restaurant at the Hotel Si Como No...Rico Tico Bar 'N Grill. Don't get that confused with their more expensive restaurant. (There are 2 restaurants at Hotel Si Como No.) We had a family of 5 to feed and everyone enjoyed their food at the Rico Tico Bar & Grill, and my husband enjoyed the prices. This was summer 2005 so I remember there was something about their prices that we appreciated...the prices on the menu already included taxes possibly...it was something like that...whereas other restaurants hadn't added that in, so it came as a surprise at other places sometimes...

There is an Italian place in Quepos that is better and cheaper than the Italian restaurant in Manuel Antonio. Sorry can't remember the name...maybe someone else does. It had table service, good Italian food including pizza, and also a gelato counter.

Melissa5,
The Italian restaurant in Quepos you mentioned is the Escalo Frio which I already mentioned above.
Its around the corner from Dos Locos which has OK food - some Tex Mex but is more popular as a bar and has live entertainment at least 2 nights a week.
raquel

If we are staying in Manuel Antonio will we need a car in order to access these restaurants? I"m trying to decide if we should rent a car or not for the various areas we will be visiting.
thanks

lutherkins
In my opinion and from my personal experience (we never rent a car) you can get along fine in MA without a car. Between the public bus and taxis which are plentiful and not that expensive you can get to all the restaurants and in general get around. Also, depending where you are actually staying, you may be able to walk to some. However, some people do of course prefer the conveninece of a car, especially if you want to do exploring in the area on your own.

raquel

we've opted to not have a car in MA and use the taxis/buses. I hear they are plentiful and we don't need to the headache of a car