Gusto Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Bahía Ballena

I’m honestly not sure where to even start. I’ve never left a bad review for an establishment but the experience here was so unpleasant that I feel its entirely necessary to bring awareness to the situation. The ocean view & restaurant itself was beautiful. However the experience was strange from the moment my husband & I walked in. The restaurant was empty aside from one small group of people, so after several minutes of waiting to be greeted we attempted to seat ourself. Only then did the host aggressively tell us we “couldn’t sit there” & directed us to a different table. After an extended period of time he finally came over to take our order. We both ordered pasta, then it was another hour & a half before it was brought out. When it finally came my husband & I both requested spoons, only to be shooed away & told he “would bring it in a minute”. We both sat at the table & watched the host continue washing & drying cups & slowly moving things around behind the bar while we waited for spoons so we could eat. Again, the restaurant was basically empty aside from one other small group so there was not a high demand for cups or anything of the sort. Upon taking my first bite of pasta I discovered that it was severely undercooked & told my husband at that point I would rather just go somewhere else to eat. We brought this to the hosts attention & requested to pay for the smoothies we had so we could go elsewhere. He then brought the chef out, who refused to speak to me in English, then proceeded to insult my husband & I by telling him “nobody else has complained about the food, you just don’t know what pasta is supposed to taste like. Thats not my fault. We don’t use Costa Rican noodles, This is how they do it in italy. You just don’t have an appetite” etc etc etc. then demanded we still pay for the two dishes neither of us ate. Ive been to Italy several times & I can say for a fact their pasta isnt crunchy after it’s cooked. Not only was the service horrible & the food unsatisfactory, but the chefs comments were offensive & simply rude. Ultimately we paid for the two meals we didn’t eat to avoid a bigger problem but I wouldn’t recommend this restaurant to anyone. After this terrible experience it makes complete sense why this place was basically empty, & as locals we will be sure to never come here or recommend this place to anyone. Travelers beware. You’re better off having typical/traditional Costa Rican food literally anywhere else.

UPDATE - your response speaks volumes. You are incredibly rude & im surprised your restaurant has been in business as...

Fenomenal experience!

First things first: in order to eat at Gusto, you need to take two things into account: (i) it is advised to make a reservation. I’ve seen some rather negative reviews from people who didn’t get a table. This has nothing to do with the restaurant itself and could have easily been avoided by making a reservation. This is a very popular restaurant, so obviously better to reserve a table before going! You can reach out by Messenger or WhatsApp. (ii) the road to get there, is not the easiest, so you’ll probably need a proper car (suv or 4x4).

This being said, we enjoyed eating at Gusto so so much!

The restaurant has an absolutely stunning view over the Pacific Ocean (you might want to consider going early to catch the sunset view).

Francesca is an absolutely great host/owner of the restaurant. Passionate, caring, timely, advising and super friendly!

The food itself is just absolutely delicious. You can immediately tell they are working with only the finest of ingredients (mostly Italian). I could eat that food anytime again! We started with the antipasto charcuterie plate, which was mouthwatering. The asparagus souflé was by far the best we ever had and the pizzas gave you the feeling you were sitting and eating in Italy. As we already had a lot to eat at that moment, we took the remainders and finished it the other day!

They have a large variety of drinks, including the finest beers. As they have a large choice of Belgian beers, I asked why (thinking maybe there would have been some Belgian connection somehow), but the answer was as simple as great: they consider those (Belgian) beers to be the finest (which is undoubtedly true) and that’s the reason they put those on the drink menu. They only want to offer quality, not only the food, also the drinks.

The only regret was that we couldn't just come to eat again the next day because the restaurant had its weekly close on Tuesday and we already had to leave on Wednesday.

Thank you Francesca and the team for such a wonderful...

We actually encountered this restaurant in search of Rancho Cielo Alto, a restaurant that doesn’t exist! To get to this restaurant, you’ll also follow signs for “Rancho Remos”, I’m guessing this name is synonymous with “Gusto Italian” which can be confusing.

Nonetheless, even if you visit this restaurant for a simple drink or appetizer, make the trip!

You will need a car, ideally a 4x4 as it is steep and rough terrain to reach the restaurant but the view is absolutely stunning. Make a reservation for around sunset and be mesmerized by the sky changing colors, the toucans, monkeys, and other wildlife playing in the trees, and the absolutely exquisite, fresh, homemade food.

Each meal is made from scratch, and with such love takes time, so be sure to have patience!

We were the only ones at the restaurant and it took 45 minutes for us to receive: bruschetta (came in 20), margarita pizza and pasta with tuna. Each food item was bursting with flavor and richness and the staff was very kind.

Definitely recommend visiting! We paid $39 USD for our...