37 Best Restaurants in Costa Rica

This hip beach café has exactly the kind of ambience one comes to Costa Rica for, with tables scattered along the beach amid palm and almond trees, hammocks swinging in the wind, palm fronds rustling, and surfers riding the glistening waves in front. Seating, or more precisely, lolling, is on reclining, African-style hardwood chairs, or at shaded tables. Along with fresh fruit smoothies, ultrathin vegetarian pizzas, and veggie soy burgers, the menu includes organic chicken and "responsible fish" (caught in nets that don't also trap turtles). Seared ahi tuna with sun-dried tomatoes and olive tapenade served on ciabatta bread is a winner, as are the ceviche, fish-and-chips, pesto pasta, and assorted salads. Mahi tacos are the latest addition to the menu, served with rice and beans. 

Pull up a counter stool or sit at a table on the popular riverside terrace at this friendly café with creative vegetarian and gluten-free dishes, organic juices, kombuchas, and herbal teas. For breakfast, try a hearty tico plate chock-full of brown rice and pinto beans, topped by a veggie-stuffed mini-omelet, or, post-surf, opt for the Brie-and-apple butter burger or any one of their wraps, bowls, salads, or paninis. A lighter option is avocado toast with goat cheese sprinkled with pink salt. Desserts are not only gluten-free, they are addictive: the chocolate papaya pie combines dark chocolate with papaya to make a rich mousse filling for a date, almond, and coconut crust. It's open 6:30 am to 9 pm daily.

An astonishing level of culinary perfection comes out of this A-frame shack serving breakfast, lunch, and early dinner. The menu is enormous, with crepes, pancakes, granola, and French toast alongside tomato soup, veggie panini, 25 types of coffee, and fresh smoothies made with homemade yogurt and local ingredients like pineapple, cucumber, carrot, and basil. With free Wi-Fi, ambient music, and local artwork, the cheerful setting in the center of town is the ideal place to take a break.

Fashionable Franco serves gourmet beverages made from the country’s premium coffees, all to the tune of a European-style espresso bar. Your inner amateur barista may want to check into the slate of coffee workshops offered here.

A romantic setting, ocean breezes, and a creative Italian menu make this one of the most popular restaurants in Sámara. By day, rustic wooden tables are shaded by white sails strung between palms; by night, diners bask in the glow of white globe lamps and light-festooned trees. You can sit under a covered area or out on the sand. The soundtrack is trendy, and the food is good, too. Gusto starts the morning at 8 with great espresso and croissants; the rest of the day, there are salads, burgers, Italian fries sprinkled with Parmesan and pepper, and, of course, pizzas. Menu prices do not include the obligatory 25% tax and service.

Picture a dream location: a high headland jutting out into the sea with vistas up and down the coast. Throw in a breeze-swept terrace, polished service, a boat-shaped bar, and some fine seaside cuisine, and you are at La Parcela. The turquoise-and-white decor is reminiscent of Greece, the sunsets are spectacular, and shrimp and lobster dishes are pricey but excellent. A perfect, but less expensive, light lunch is the breaded or grilled fish with fresh veggies and mashed potatoes. Reasonably priced appetizers include ceviche, fried calamari, and clams in white wine sauce. Desserts here are rich and substantial enough to share. If you're just passing through Dominical, this is a good place for a cold beer and an appetizer, or a naturale, a tall glass of freshly whipped fruit juice.

As if the breathtaking view high in the hills above Playas del Coco weren't enough (you may recognize it from its feature on the television series Restaurants on the Edge), the innovative menu at one of the few oyster bars in Costa Rica takes it a step further. Try the oysters raw or grilled or order the tuna nachos alongside a spicy ginger margarita or watermelon mojito. More creative dishes include avocado fries with chipotle dip, lobster grilled cheese, Korean beef tacos, and the ahi tuna sticky rice bowl. Come for happy hour from 1 to 3 and stay until the sun goes down. Reservations are recommended for sunset dining.

Duck into the Teatro Nacional's sumptuous café, off the theater lobby, to sit at a marble table and sip a hazelnut mocha beneath frescoed ceilings. The frescoes are part of an allegory celebrating the 1897 opening of the theater. Coffee runs from $5 to $7, depending on how much alcohol or ice cream is added. Sandwiches and cakes are $6 to $9.

Fortify yourself for a day of sightseeing with a vegan breakfast, perhaps banana pancakes or crepes, at this semi-open-air spot. For lunch, dig into a variety of vegan burgers and salads (mango is a favorite) with fruit cheesecakes for dessert, and accompany it all with a selection of gourmet coffees, milkshakes, or smoothies—the banana-coffee smoothie is one of the innovative flavors these folks have concocted. Decorated in lots of red, the space may be small, but they'll squeeze you in.

The hammocks, palapas, pool, and beach here are open to the public, so take a dip, grab some beach food, and take in a sunset, all the while trying to spot some red macaws. Showers, toilets, tables, chairs, towels, and more are available for use with a $70 minimum food and beverage purchase. 

The chocolate brownies made with their own processed cacao are known around town, and their delectable selection of fresh baked goods and homemade Costa Rican and American-style breakfasts have made this the go-to brunch joint in town for the past 20 years. The menu includes homemade specialities like cinnamon-oatmeal pancakes, biscuits and gravy, and creamy scrambled eggs, best enjoyed with a cup of French-press coffee.

Fortunately for food lovers, the "Good Luck Café" serves truly astonishing vegetarian food, along with intriguing exotic juices and thick fruit smoothies. The homemade yogurt is a revelation: light, almost fluffy, and full of flavor, served over a cornucopia of fruits, sprinkled with the café's own granola, and mixed into refreshing fruit-flavored lassis. Healthful sandwiches include excellent hummus, and hot daily specials might include curried hearts of palm or juicy veggie burgers. Their espresso machine makes a mean cup of joe and the cappuccino pairs perfectly with the fudgy brownie or brown-sugar oatmeal square for the road. Bring your laptop and use the Wi-Fi. It's open 8 to 5. Sometimes open for dinner in high season, April to July. Budget travelers might want to stay the night at their simple rooms.

Vestiges of the original Swiss-French owners linger on at this bakery and alfresco eatery, open for breakfast and lunch. In addition to hearty sandwiches, the café serves burritos, bowls, and salads. It's a good place to cool off, and perk up, with a café frappé (espresso blended with bananas and ice cream). The adjoining bakery is great for take-out beach picnics, with French-style bread and an array of pastries and tarts, including chocolate mousse. Regardless of what you order, you'll be sure to find a menu promising free range, gluten-free, organic, and biodynamic farms. There's free Wi-Fi.

In a wonderful example of repurposing the old, this friendly café serves great coffees in the skylight-covered courtyard of a one-time department store. Modern art decorates the walls of the building that dates from 1907. The place can be hard to spot since you don't immediately see it from the street.

Just a few tables and a small counter are the only seating in this tiny converted garage. But the coffee, harvested from its own plantation in Tarrazú in the Los Santos region, is robust and flavorful, as are the cakes and ice creams. The main branch here in Barrio Otoya has very limited seating. A more spacious outlet operates in Heredia, out in the Central Valley.

The upstairs café at this corner restaurant serves meals on a porch, on a garden patio, or in two dining rooms. Try the soup of the day and fresh-baked bread to start; main courses include shrimp in a vegetable cream sauce or lomito en salsa de vino tinto (tenderloin in a red-wine sauce). Save room for the best chocolate cake in town, drizzled with homemade blackberry sauce. Café Mundo is a popular, low-key gay hangout that draws a mixed gay-straight clientele. This is one of the few center-city restaurants with its own parking lot, and it's a large one to boot.

This café blends and roasts its own coffee on-site which pairs well with the cakes and pies on offer. All coffees served here are also for sale in the shop, including samplers of eight different varieties from around the country in individual single-cup sachets.

Treat yourself to a latte, mocha, or coconut cappuccino, all made from organic, fair-trade coffee from the Turrialba region in the far-eastern Central Valley, and roasted here. After coffee or a hearty breakfast, join the daily 2 pm guided chocolate tour that winds through a cacao farm and up to a mountaintop view of the sea, learning about (and tasting) some fine chocolate along the way.

Follow your nose to this bakery where loaves of bread, cakes, and pastries lure customers from the point of "just a bite" to breakfast on repeat—it’s hard to resist the huevos rancheros, French toast, and pancakes. Swing by later in the day for a sandwich or a smoothie. If you plan to grab a coffee and go, avoid the glass display case tempting chocolate croissants dusted in powdered sugar.

The homemade gelato served here gives Costa Rica’s ubiquitous Pop’s ice cream chain a run for its money. These folks get adventurous with their flavors: maracuyá (passion fruit) and mango are two popular ones. Eat inside or in the pleasant garden with your gelato on a crepe or get it to go in a waffle cone.

This cozy café is the only place in town that serves its own fresh-roasted coffee, with an eclectic menu serving inventive dishes like calamari with chorizo, kale with quinoa, and roasted pork with guava glaze. Top sellers include Caribbean chicken, fish tacos, and spice-encrusted tuna with avocado salsa. The breakfast burritos, baked goods, and variety of sandwiches make this a top breakfast and lunch spot. Tables in the front showcase the lively terrace and bar, and there's more seating in the back garden. They have craft beers on tap, and there's live music Monday through Saturday from 7 pm to 9 pm. The attached store and their small coffee roaster in Quepos sell bags of their award-winning coffee to take home.

Montezuma’s first natural-food restaurant is named after the chewy dried bananas made by the owners, who also own the upscale Ylang Ylang resort on the beach. This popular eatery serves the best vegetarian fare in town, including scrambled tofu for breakfast and excellent wraps, salads, fajitas, and spring rolls, with plenty of vegan and gluten-free options. You can enjoy a delicious Mocha Chiller, made with frozen yogurt, or a fruit smoothie made with local coconut milk. The homemade cakes and pies are scrumptious. The standout is the Chocolate Volcano, a mountain of ice cream atop cake, with a lava of chocolate sauce. For vegans, there's a nondairy chocolate mousse. A shaded garden terrace behind the restaurant is cool and pleasant, but bring mosquito repellent. A battalion of ceiling fans keeps the air moving in the spacious dining room decorated with murals of tropical beach scenes.

We have to admit that Costa Rican baked goods tend toward the dry-as-dust end of the spectrum, but Italian-style bakery Giacomín is an exception—a touch of liqueur added to the batter makes all the difference. Stand European-style at the downstairs espresso bar or take your goodies to the tables and chairs on the upstairs balcony. You'll also find branches in suburban Moravia, as well as Escazú, Alajuela, and Heredia out in the Central Valley.

Literally, the coolest place in town is this blissfully air-conditioned ice-cream parlor with an array of refreshing Italian gelato flavors, cool fruit smoothies, and milk shakes. It's airy and bright, with large windows looking onto the main street and an outdoor terrace. Lavazza coffee is served, along with homemade Italian savories, including toasted panini and bruschetta. Portions are small but refreshing, and you can grab bites as well like empanadas. 

This sleek, modern west-side coffee shop and store is an island of all-Colombian products, both beverage and souvenirs, in Costa Rica. They serve cakes, pastries, and delicious coffee milkshakes. We won’t tell anyone if you go here.

A giant, colorful chorreador, a traditional wooden stand for making coffee with a socklike filter, marks the spot for this tiny but sophisticated café, a showplace for the award-winning, high-altitude coffee from the nearby Tarrazú coffee region. Watch barristas expertly concoct flavorful espresso and cappuccino, complete with artistic swirls in the milk foam.