Restaurants and bars worth the trip, one by one. And before the list, what is worth knowing if this is your first meal here.
Rice, beans, salad, fried ripe plantain and a protein of your choice: chicken, beef, pork or fish. It is what the country eats at midday and what you will find in almost any kitchen outside the tourist areas. It is more than filling and it is almost always the cheapest thing on the menu.
By law the bill arrives with 10% service and 13% tax already added. So the number on the menu is not what you pay — add about 23%. And a tip is not expected, because service was already charged: leave one if you want and it is appreciated, but nobody waits for it the way they do in the United States.
Outside San José and the busier beach towns, many kitchens close between 8 and 9 p.m., and plenty of places do not open on Mondays. That is why every listing here carries day-by-day hours instead of a vague range: turning up at 8:40 somewhere that closed at 8 is the most common way to end up without dinner.
Almost everywhere takes dollars, but the exchange rate you get will be worse than the bank's. If you have colones, pay in colones. Cards work nearly everywhere except the smallest village places — and those are exactly where cash saves the meal.
Apart from a handful of restaurants in San José and the pricier beach towns, you turn up and sit down. When it is worth calling ahead — a big group, a long weekend, a place with few tables — the listing says so, and the owner's WhatsApp is right there.
A soda is the old neighbourhood diner, and in many of them you eat better and cheaper than in any restaurant. They are not here because this site is paid for by a monthly fee, and charging a soda that fee would make no sense. If you see one full of local people at midday, walk in.
