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Costa Rica's capital beckons with the country's most varied and cosmopolitan restaurant scene. Italian, Spanish, Asian, French, Middle Eastern, Peruvian—they're all here, along with upscale Costa Rican cuisine.Wherever you eat in San José, be it a small soda or a sophisticated restaurant, dress is casual. Meals tend to be taken
Costa Rica's capital beckons with the country's most varied and cosmopolitan restaurant scene. Italian, Spanish, Asian, French, Middle Eastern, Peruvian—they're all here, along with upscale Costa Rican cuisine.Wherever you eat in San José, be it a small soda or a sophis
Costa Rica's capital beckons with the country's most varied and cosmopolitan restaurant scene. Italian, Spanish, Asian,
Costa Rica's capital beckons with the country's most varied and cosmopolitan restaurant scene. Italian, Spanish, Asian, French, Middle Eastern, Peruvian—they're all here, along with upscale Costa Rican cuisine.
Wherever you eat in San José, be it a small soda or a sophisticated restaurant, dress is casual. Meals tend to be taken earlier than in other Latin American countries; few restaurants serve past 9 or 10 pm. Local cafés usually open for breakfast at 7 am and remain open until 7 or 8 in the evening. Restaurants serving international cuisine are usually open from 11 am to 9 pm. Some cafés that serve mainly San José office workers limit evening hours and close entirely on Sunday. Restaurants that do open on Sunday do a brisk business: it's the traditional family day out (and the maid's day off). Watch your things, no matter where you dine. Even at the best restaurants, thieves occasionally target purses slung over chair arms or placed under chairs.
The Hotel Grano de Oro houses one of San José's premier dining destinations: a splendid restaurant wrapped around a lovely indoor patio and bromeliad-filled garden. The garden area is a perfect spot for lunch on a warm day—choose from among a variety of light sandwiches and salads, or opt for dinner in the elegant indoor dining area for dishes like breaded sea bass with orange sauce and macadamia nuts or cerdo en salsa tamarindo (roasted pork in tamarind sauce). An impressive selection of 100-plus wines and a decadent dessert menu—the coffee-cream “Pie Grano de Oro” is the must-try option here—round out the offerings. Although elegance is the word in this grand coffee-plantation-house-turned-hotel, you’ll see everything from diners in business attire to guests in casual garb just back from the hinterlands.
C. 30, Avdas. 2–4, San José, San José, 10102, Costa Rica
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.
C. 15, Avdas. 9–11, San José, San José, 10102, Costa Rica
The homemade gelato served at Dolce Gelato 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.
Avda. 3, C. 25--29, San José, San José, 10101, Costa Rica
It’s the crepes—salty or sweet—that draw the crowds here. It’s a bright, cheery place with a covered terrace to stop for dessert after an evening out in Barrio Escalante. There are also heavier, main-course items, such as burgers or panini, on the menu if the hunger pangs get to you. The folks here also operate branches in Alajuela and Heredia out in the Central Valley and in Liberia in Guanacaste.
Avda. 7, Cs. 29–31, San José, San José, Costa Rica
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