9 Best Restaurants in Arenal, Monteverde, and the Northern Lowlands, Costa Rica

Orchid Coffee Shop

$$ Fodor's choice

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.

Café Caburé

This restaurant/bakery/chocolateria is one of only a few in Costa Rica that grinds its own cocoa beans. Start with a meal in the open-air restaurant serving savory empanadas, mole dishes, and chipotle wraps with a creamy secret sauce before getting to the sweet stuff, like ganache with blackberry sauce, chocolate-passion-fruit mousse, and exquisite chocolate truffles.

Chipotle's

Fresh bold flavors, local products, first-class service, and marvelous murals elevate this basic roadside restaurant to a delightful dining experience. The chef and owner trained in Mexico, so you can taste the authenticity in the tacos and the mezcal in the margaritas. They don't open until 12:30, so don't plan for an early lunch.

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La Choza de Laurel

The aroma of rotisserie chicken, porterhouse steak, and fresh fish bathed in garlic attracts passersby to this open-air restaurant a short walk from the center of town. Wooden picnic tables and a cigar shop storefront replicate an old Costa Rican village, adding a cultural touch to your meal. The menu is overwhelmingly large—as are portions—ranging from pastas and burgers to soups and salads.

Los Platillos Voladores

It might not look like much from the outside, but this Italian restaurant has homemade dishes like tortellini in sage butter, lasagna with bubbly, browned mozzarella, and crispy thin-crust pizza with folds of prosciutto. Start with a caprese salad and move on to one of the pasta dishes buried beneath a blanket of shaved Parmesan. The back patio is a quaint spot to enjoy a glass of red wine. If you stop by for dinner, make it an early one; the place closes at 7:30.

Monteverde Beer House

Middle Eastern food and craft beer are rarities in Monteverde, but this bold combination has filled a void in the local culinary scene. An open kitchen serves a simple menu of kebabs, falafel, hummus, feta salads, and pita sandwiches.

Morpho's

With its rain-forest murals, glass patios, and tree-stump tables, you’re never far from nature in this pleasant restaurant. Parsley potatoes, and creative sauces like pineapple curry, blue cheese, or bay-leaf-and-garlic sauce (a take on chimichurri) infuse the menu of flavorful chicken, pork, beef, or fish dishes.

Restaurante y Pizzería La Parada

This locals' favorite late-night eatery (open until midnight) does a brisk business serving pizza, pasta, nachos, burgers, and grilled fish. There's a buffet, if you'd rather just point and choose. The reasonable prices and convenience make this local cafeteria one of the more frenzied spots in town, so look elsewhere if you want some peace with your meal. This is a convenient place to stock up on snacks for long bus rides. ("La Parada" refers to the bus stop.)

Tramonti

This glass-walled restaurant is warm and inviting, with dangling fairy lights, hardwood floors, candles dripping onto old wine bottles, and chefs tossing dough high overhead beside a wood-fired oven. The pulpo (octopus) and beef carpaccio are ultrathin, a perfect accompaniment for the pizzas that come piled high with toppings like asparagus, mushrooms, ricotta, and Gorgonzola. Service is excellent; takeout is available.

Arenal, Monteverde, and the Northern Lowlands

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