One of the things that happen when you live in a beautiful and popular place like Monteverde, is that everyone wants to come to visit and stay for a few days.
Hence I receive visitors quite often. And I’m quite happy about it!
But then, questions come of course! They depend on the interest of my guest: hikers ask for the best trails, birders for where to see the Resplendent Quetzal or the Bellbird, romantics ask for the best spot to see the sunset. And! The one question everyone makes: Where are the best places to eat?
And that is a tough question! There are many restaurants in Monteverde and they are varied, in price, quality, and environment. And they are good! Natural ingredients are grown right here and everything is fresh!
I am going to list my favorite ten places in Monteverde. It is an extremely hard decision, as all of them are so good! But I am listing here the places that in some way bring the essence of Monteverde, and Costa Rica into their menus and food.
These are all places with great service and fantastic tastes.
Now, in order to know where to go, it’s better to know where everything is.
So, I am dividing my favorite places into the areas of Monteverde.
If you have ever been in Monteverde long enough, you know that downtown Santa Elena is a bit messy. It is a three or four blocks town that receives 250,000 people a year. Big buses, microbuses, taxis, and the usual personal vehicles of visitors and locals fill the place.
However, in this sort of chaos, you may find three calmed oasis with good food and environment:
This is one of the most traditional cafeterias in town. A great place to have good coffee, great pastries, and very good internet.
Café de Monteverde is right next to Vitosi, in front of Super Compro Supermarket. With contemporary decor, Café Monteverde is our local Starbucks. Excellent coffee (Try the different cappuccinos).
As a side note, there are also two Cafeterías de Monteverde that I’ll put in as honorable mentions. Cafetería Santa Elena opens every day from 8 am to 7 pm, and Cafetería Monteverde opens every day from 8 am to 7 pm.
The Tree House Restaurant in Monteverde is one of the most popular places in the region since its inauguration in 2004. Firstly and mostly because it was built around a tree, and up until today the tree gives a natural and sort of surreal touch to the place.
It is right in front of the Catholic church and it is on a second floor with some tables looking out, but mostly around the tree.
It’s open from 11 am to 10 pm, every day of the week.
A favorite dish here is the Tablita Premium, a great variety of meats with grilled vegetables and fried cassava (yuca). This is big! Excellent for two or three people, and maybe even four!
That is a great tradition for the Monteverde people and for repeating visitors! It is the official “cantina” of Monteverde, and the place where everyone goes for a couple of beers, to enjoy the “bocas” (affordable snacks that accompany the beers or drinks), and to see friends and workmates.
It is quite big and the best place to watch a soccer game if you are into that. Costa Ricans are boisterous about it and the place gets noisy and chaotic when Costa Rica plays somewhere. It is always a lot of fun!
It’s located at an entrance in front of the Catholic Church. And they are open every day from 11:45 am to 02:00 am.
This is a window restaurant. Well! It has some stools on the inside, but it is mainly a great burger stop to pick up and enjoy on your balcony at the hotel or in the square.
Their burgers are really good. Tasty and quite thick. And they make them with all sorts of different ingredients.
For me, the best is the Villa Burguer, however, the Angus Burger is also pretty good. The French fries are pretty regular.
It is located right next to Super Compro.
La Cocina de Doña Mayra is a great typical food restaurant. It is downtown Santa Elena on the way to the shopping center.
Doña Mayra is the actual owner and she and her son are the cooks of this restaurant and they offer great food.
Casado is, as you may already know, the typical dish of Costa Rica, which consists basically of the same sort of ingredients in different combinations: Rice, beans, plantains, salad, chopped vegetables (It can be potatoes, squash, zucchini, or arracache to name some options) and some sort of meat, either pork, beef, or fish. And when it comes to casados, it’s hard to beat Doña Mayra!
About three blocks from Santa Elena downtown and on the way to the Selvatura Park you will find the delicious Bon Appetit Pizzeria e Ristorante. The flavors and the way they cook everything goes beyond compare and right now it’s one of Monteverde’s favorite.
This area is called Los Llanos. One of the best pizza and pasta places of Monteverde is in this area: Wine and Grill, which is delicious gourmet food from the same family of Bon Appetit Pizzeria e Ristorante.
In the area of Los Llanos, you will also find a small place on the left-hand side (if you are getting out of Monteverde). It has some tables outside and there are more inside, but ultimately you’re looking right next to the road.
Manolos is seafood in Monteverde. Despite the fact that we’re up in the mountains, we are quite close to the ocean in Monteverde, and fish is brought fresh almost every day from Puntarenas.
They have delicious ceviches and I love their rice and shrimp. However, their fish filets are also very good. They also offer the typical Casados with beef or pork meat just in case someone doesn’t like seafood.
Another interesting difference in Manolos is that mostly all dishes come in sizes: Small, medium, and big.
Manolos are open every day from 11 am to 9 pm.
In the “shopping mall” of Monteverde you will find a second floor with a sort of Foodmart. It has some excellent restaurants that I love!
This is the one in the corner. Typical Costa Rican food. Very well cooked, great flavors. Sometimes it can be a bit crowded and it is a bit more expensive than the restaurants I’ve mentioned up till now.
However, it has the best “Caribbean Rice and Beans” that I’ve tried outside of the Caribbean coast (Caribbean rice and beans are cooked in coconut milk) and I love it, thus I always ask for it. Whenever I go to eat at Tico y Rico, I don’t even look at the menu. I just ask for Caribbean Rice and Beans.
Though that doesn’t mean that’s all they have! Before I knew their magnificent Caribbean Rice & Beans, I used to ask for the “casado with meat in sauce,” which is absolutely delicious.
This area of Monteverde starts almost officially at the gas station of Cerro Plano. As you pass the gas station you will see the change. Everything is a forest on this side of town. This is the original Monteverde town founded by the Quakers. And you can feel their values in everything around this area.
It is on the way to the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve and where you can also find Curicancha preserve and the Children’s Eternal Forest, so these restaurants are great if you want to stop by after a good hike.
In this part of Monteverde you can find:
Tramonti is one of the traditions of Monteverde. They opened in 1993 and since then they are known to have one of the best pizzas.
They used to be very close to Stellas’, however now they moved to a marvelous property up on a hill. And it has one of the best sunset views also. A great way to have an early pizza dinner and enjoy the view of the ocean from the mountains.
They also have great lasagna and pasta. From the small round bread at the start of the meal to great Italian desserts, everything about Tramonti is good!
It’s a good idea to make a reservation before you go. It is open from 11:30 am to 09:30 p.m.
This is a place I love! Their breakfasts are great — tasty and big portions! Their atmosphere is also very nice, with open areas where birds and sometimes coatimundis and monkeys like to pass through.
It is a family-owned restaurant, and it’s also a fantastic spot to enjoy a light lunch or a good coffee with great pastries.
They are open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Bonus: Very close to Stella’s you can also find Restaurante Cabure that has a great chocolatier and a great menu for lunch and dinner. Ask for hot chocolate! It 's the best!
In this area of Monteverde, and also close to Stella’s, you can find the CASEM Co-op store. CASEM is a cooperative of ladies in Monteverde that are dedicated to making crafts as souvenirs. They have some very original beautiful things in their store, and at the very end of the store, you will find a small and quaint restaurant with great Costa Rican food made with a traditional wood stove. The taste is delicious and the service is great — a local classic! La Cuchara de La Abuela
They are open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
As I said at the top, there are many options that are delicious in Monteverde, but these are just some of the most local tasting experiences in Monteverde.
They are not considered gourmet, a foodies adventure, or luxurious in any sense. But they are fantastic, local family businesses that have thrived to be some of the most popular among locals and visitors that get to know about them. I think they’re all great places to get immersed in the culture, the flavors, and the people of Monteverde.
They are also quite close to Ocotea Boutique Hotel and mostly all offer Express service in case you want to order to your room.
So! Take your pick and come and enjoy my favorite ten places and let us know how it went!
References:
N.a. "Café Monteverde | Facebook." Facebook.com. n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2021. <https://www.facebook.com/cafemonteverdeneira>
N.a. "(2) Treehouse Restaurante and Cafe, Monteverde, Costa Rica | Facebook." Facebook.com. n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2021. <https://www.facebook.com/pages/Treehouse-Restaurante-and-Cafe-Monteverde-Costa-Rica/205836819795777>
N.a. "(1) Bon Appetit | Facebook." Facebook.com. n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2021. <https://www.facebook.com/mtv.bonappetit/>
N.a. "(1) Pizzeria e Ristorante Tramonti | Facebook." Facebook.com. n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2021. <https://www.facebook.com/Pizzeria-e-Ristorante-Tramonti-378271562242846>
N.a. "." Stellasmonteverde.com. n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2021. <https://stellasmonteverde.com/en/?fbclid=IwAR0ipEYPyY--GYaG-I3UKH3hizWwuy2n_T9tiGN5TJrYNElIez1Gjf4dtek>
N.a. "(3) Casemcoop RL | Facebook." Facebook.com. n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2021. <https://www.facebook.com/CASEMcoop/photos/?ref=page_internal>