TRIO — Local services in Tamarindo

First time visit to Costa Rica and We heard this place is excellent from the local resident. A huge place as all of previous reviews. The vibe is super mellow. People all gathered up in restaurant next door but as I always I prefer less touristy places, we decided to give this place a try. The place is wide open space with bar when you walk in and sports activity set up in the back. How interesting and unique setup I thought! I don’t normally drink wine though I used to but for some reason, I asked about wine. Our waiter Dennis who actually told us he is sommelier and asked me what kind of wine I like. One thing let to another, we ended up at their wine cellar upstairs. Another surprise! He was so passionate about wine and told us all kinds of stories behind the winery and different notes. Oh wow, I loved it already. We decided to go with white wine blend from Argentina which he said it is very mysterious wine (I was very intrigued by it). Since we don’t know about this mysterious wine, we asked for his suggestions for food pairing. We are not a red meat eaters so he suggested Mahi Mahi entry with Mushroom risotto. Oh wow, they are both excellent and the wine made even better. What an amazing suggestion!! He served us the whole time top notch and we had the best night since we stayed at Tamarindo. All were good but this place is next level. Super friendly environment with professional staffs. I have been to many amazing places but don’t let the casual atmosphere fool you. And price is another surprise!! Compare to how superb food are with bottle of wine, it is very reasonable. I am so happy for this recommendation and can’t say enough about this restaurant. We devoured our food so no pictures lol but if you are visiting Tamarindo, you must try this place. I never write a review but this one, i wanted to. Oh i am adding just one photo of wine...

I ordered the tuna steak with an old fashion and a burger with a virgin pina colada for my son. Then I ordered a corona after dinner. The bill was $115 USD or nearly 60,000 CRC. I asked why dinner was so much higher than the menu price and it ended up being because I paid for the water for the party. They charged us $35 USD or nearly 20,000 CRC for 4 x 1.75 liter bottles of water at the table. If you do the math that’s approximately 60 4 oz glasses of water for a party of 9, meaning each of us should have had 6+ refills and I don’t remember getting a single refill. I feel like they were running up the bill on us because we are tourists and when given the opportunity to fix the “mistake”, they didn’t…

Don’t dine here.

Tamarindo has changed. It feels like the town has lost touch of its once great atmosphere and welcoming attitude towards travelers. It’s turning into a Hawaii where everyone has their hand in your pocket and they will take advantage of you given the...

Superbowl Sunday was a colossal FAIL!!!! So...from Tamarindo patron feedback, we switched our reservation from Sharkey's to Trio as it was recommended for the big game hands down. What an experiential disaster! Matt, the owner, really dropped the ball on staffing! It is a massive event space with so few servers it was a bad joke and got worse as the night went on. Even Matt's family members, sitting next to us, didn't get service with Matt just floating around with no regard and a laissez fair attitude. Food was OK, video screen was perfect but audio was lacking big time. We should not have to hunt around for serving staff (at times, there were none anywhere) ... or wait over an hour and a half for dinner after ordering. Bad service means we won't be back....and 1 star is generous. We are truly shocked, having received amazing service from most every other...