Get FREE email communications from Fodor's Travel, covering must-see travel destinations, expert trip planning advice, and travel inspiration to fuel your passion.
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.
This snazzy farm-to-table eatery in an old Barrio Escalante house does double duty as a shop selling flowers and a designer clothing line. These folks keep long hours from early morning to late at night and do each meal service well using freshly sourced ingredients. The creamy risotto and salmon ravioli are winners, but if you can’t decide, the rotating five-item tasting menu lets you sample a variety of offerings here. The restaurant’s name is a mashup of the owners’ names.
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.
