Sean's quick and dirty Puerto Viejo and nearby area restaurant roundup.

El Dorado - The top spot on my list of favorite places for beers, cocktails and people watching. The nachos are good but defiantly not a low calorie meal (lots of cheese). Pizzas are good as well as the casados. Cocktails are decent and they have a happy hour every night where you can get 2x1 of a few select drinks.





Sunset Bar - We visited once. Seemed more like less tourist friendly, locals only bar.



PanPay - Yummy freshly baked pastries


De Paso - One of our favorites. We ate there about four times. Great, inexpensive place close to the beach with a sand floor. The best tacos we had in Puerto Viejo. The guacamole, chicken dishes, and steaks are also all good.




Dubliner Irish Bar - Nothing remotely Irish about this place as it is owned by a Rasta dude who is probably trying to lure British and Irish backpackers from Rockin' J's. I was foolishly looking forward to a black and tan but they were out of Guinness and never heard of Harp or Bass ale :(





Cafe Rico - The BEST coffee I've had anywhere! Yummy fruit salads and drinks. The huevos rancheros are also recommended. Rodger, the owner is very attentive to his customers. It also attracts some unusual people based on the sign out from that advertises "conspiracy consultations".






Restaurante Punta Uva (formally El Ranchito) - very limited menu with only 5-6 items but we were hungry so we ordered some chicken "fajitas" which in reality were deep fried chicken strips covered with thousand island dressing(!)



Stanford's - We were promptly brought our drinks along with our appetizer of guacamole and chips. The guacamole was good but the chips were pretty soggy with the oil used to fry them. We then waited for a really long time for our arroz con pollo. It was almost as if they had to wait for the rice to grow and the chicken to hatch and mature so they could make our meal. I don't know if the cook forgot or was taking a long break, getting high or what. We saw other dinners waiting quite some time as well. I guess when the tips are included in the bill there isn't much incentive for fast service. We won't be going back to Stanford's.


Bread and Chocolate - Fantastic sandwiches - jerk chicken = really good. grilled cheese and salad = wow! The chocolates are completely out of this world.




Lizard King - We ordered chips and guacamole, tacos, and enchiladas. The chips and guacamole took a loooong time to arrive (30 minutes) and then we didn't get our main courses for another 20 minutes after that. The food was all really good but I wouldn't recommend it based on the slow service.





@t E's Restaurant (Rockin' J's) - A fun place to hang out with some of the cheapest beers in town. The BEST margaritas in all of Puerto Viejo (be sure to order with a premium tequila). They also have a 50oz giant margarita for $16. The food is pretty good as well. I recommend the chicken skewers which come with a really good peanut dipping sauce. Pad Thai and the Thai peanut chicken (huge portions) were out of this world. The tacos al pastor were also good but needed some salsa or something as they were a bit dry. Quesadillas were good but smothered in a bit too much cheese.





Chili Rojo - Immensely popular spot which is packed every night. The curries are all really good but could have been more spicy. They offer a breakfast special ($4) which are good as well. They also do an all you can eat sushi ($12) on Thursday nights but I've heard from several people that the service is unusually slow and they only bring you one or two pieces of sushi at a time.





Salsa Brava - Romantic spot right on the beach. Food is decent but a bit on the expensive side. They also offer a 2x1 happy hour and live entertainment on some nights



Amimodo - THE place for Italian food. Pastas are good but a bit on the expensive side. Pizzas are delicious and reasonably priced. 2x1 select cocktails are available on some evenings.




Peace and Love - Italian pastries ($1 each) = WOW!!!!