bajo el arbol — Restaurant in Cóbano

Wow. From the stay to the food, we would highly recommend Bajo el Árbol to anyone visiting Santa Teresa and Malpaís! My girlfriend and I spent 3 nights here and were immensely satisfied with Mauro and Julio's accommodations.

We planned on having a nice meal out one night on our vacation... We are so glad we saved it for our final night at Bajo el Árbol. We tried three tapas, the octopus & sweet potato plato principal, and the cava sangria. We LOVED the eggplant, honey and goat cheese tapa. It was delicately sliced and sweet -- you might mistake the eggplant for a fruit. The octopus special was amazing as well -- the presentation was beautiful. As guests we got 10% off!

The wonderful cooking from Julio was a feature every morning -- free breakfast, with coffee and wonderful toast, fresh fruit salad, and a breakfast tapa (it changed daily -- e.g. one day was avocado toast). But the cooking was equally matched by Mauro's fantastic hospitality as our go-to contact for our stay.

We enjoyed the romantic and rustic feel of the B&B, that offered community and privacy at our leisure (only four rooms are for rent). The yard has wonderful hammocks and comfortable seating, and it is just across the street from the beach. We used a mosquito net, but the bugs were never a big issue. We heard some noise late one night, but it didn't affect our experience overall.

From the food to the accommodations, we would highly recommend Mauro and Julio's Bajo el Árbol. Definitely consider staying or eating...

This review is for the restaurant, not the hotel. There are a lot of better places to eat in Santa Teresa, the food here is average at best, the prices are high, and the service from the manager was rude. The waiter provided 2 thin slices of bread and tiny dishes of aioli and tomato dip with some olives at the beginning of the meal, which although a nice gesture was a very small portion. When we asked if we could have some more bread the waitress also offered us some more dips and olives which we accepted. When the bill came all of the ‘extra’ items were listed out, bread, allioli, olivas, tomate. Over 6,000 colones for some extra dips and bread?! No thank you. When we questioned it with the manager he was immediately defensive, and said the first portion was free but everything else he had to charge extra for (not communicated) and why do we expect the bread to be free, (despite him offering the first portion for free) and that we’re not in Europe! There was no attempt to try and resolve the confusion with us and instead he was defensive. A cheap trick, and if you only get 3 customers in an evening probably don’t try and take...

We cannot say enough amazing things about this restaurant!! Seeing the 5 star reviews, my family of four had to have dinner here. Wow!!! We tried almost every Tapa, all of them were exquisite!! Always get the specials! My twin 8 year olds (whom I must add are big time foodies!) also loved every one of them. The host/waiter/owner was truly amazing!! He was kind, friendly, warm, welcoming, and helpful. We also met the other owner who was the chef. Again, very kind, friendly and welcoming.thank you both so much!! They honestly could open this restaurant in any major city and blow them away! To find this in a smal town in Costa Rica is crazy and amazing! Every bit of food was worth every penny and more!! Do not miss out on this truly amazing restaurant!! We did not stay the night here. Due to top notch hospitality, I could only imagine it would...