Namu Garden Hotel & Spa — Restaurant in Cahuita

PROS: |Very boutique hotel, with a very small footprint. Easily walkable, with lovely, well-maintained gardens and mostly nice facilities.|The staff is AMAZING! So kind, so pleasant and so warm. They made the trip worth it!||Food is OK from the one restaurant, but not spectacular or particularly special. Expected more flavor and spice and definitely a bit more heat. The two ceviche's I tried were amazing! But the crispy panko chicken was hard and dry; the pesto chicken sandwich had too little pesto, chicken and lettuce to be tasty; did not like the flavor of the octopus poke (and I love poke). The crepe pancakes for dessert are delicious!! Drinks are inventive, fun and quite good. Upon arrival, I got a cold washcloth and the best juice drink I've had in ages!||Puerto Viejo is right outside the gate, with tons of restaurants, grocery stores, shopping and "beaches." The locals are super friendly and many spoke English, but were also happy to help if you wanted to practice your Spanish.||You'll want to love animals, as they are present here. Saw my first agouti (like a small capybara) just walking by the pool; cats, dogs, horses outside the gate, and roosters that crow whenever they darn well please. All are safe and won't bother you, but be aware.||FRANCINE! Your contact with the hotel before you arrive. She will help you with ANY THING you need!||CONS (sort of):|Puerto Viejo is a long 4 - 5 hour drive from San Jose, and you'll be flying in and out of there. I made the HUGE mistake of not realizing this when I reserved. Two options: It costs $275 for a driver, that the lovely Francine with Namu will set up for you, to be paid in cash upon completion of the drive. Hated the added travel time, but loved that it was a great way to see Costa Rica. OR, you can pay $116 per person from a flight on Sansa Airlines into Limon, and then pay $60 cash for a driver to pick you up from there and take you to the hotel (~40 minutes). You will need to check-in with Sansa one hour before their flight, so allow at least 1 hour at passport control beforehand - better yet, 90 minutes - cuz they were s.l.o.w. I didn't know about this until days before my flight, so I wasn't happy about these late expenses.||Puerto Viego is in the country! The roads and sidewalks are not always paved or clean. You need to be easily mobile to walk around this quaint town, as the way will be rocky and uneven. This is not an easy place for wheelchairs or walkers.||You are two blocks from their black sand beach, but this is one of the ugliest beaches I've ever seen (and I live near Galveston, so I know ugly beaches). Rocky, trashy, unpleasant looking. There might be a prettier area further from the hotel, but I didn't look for it. ||While the rooms are nice (I had a bungalow with a pool), they are not the best for light sleepers. Tons of natural light floods the room due to the vaulted ceilings. Pretty, but it's never dark in the room. Maintenance is a little lax (my shower needed a nice bit of retiling), and construction allowed for a number of gaps where you could see daylight between the wall and ceiling or sliding door. No sound proofing, and I do not know what was behind my cabana (club? restaurant? party spot?), but there were trucks and machines coming and going all day, and very loud music into late hours of the night (3 outta 5 nights) that my ear plugs could not sufficiently mute. ||My final issue was the lack of hot water. I got warm water on one day, but all my other showers were very cool. Did NOT like that at all. Oh, and remember, you can't drink the water! Luckily, it looks like the manager here pays attention to reviews, and there are now bottles of water for sale in your mini-fridge, as well as free water in the restaurant. But remember, the grocery store is a short block or two away.||In essence, a lovely, quaint hotel with nice facilities in a small, haphazard...

IT RAINED TERMITE FECES ALL NIGHT LONG.

I would like to believe that I’m an experienced traveler and have experienced a wide range of traveling styles and experiences. I don’t normally write reviews but this experience had to be shared

Let’s start with the good: the grounds are beautiful, the pool is nice, the restaurant on site is delicious (although expensive), the complimentary breakfast was made to order and really good. Restaurant staff were the nicest of all the staff.

Now for the not so good: first, the mats next to the beds feel like stepping on a coral reef. Maybe it’s just personal preference but waking up first thing in the morning and stepping on what feels like sharp rocks is not how my fiance and I wanted to start our mornings. The first morning we were woken up at 8:30 (on vacation, at a spa that is supposed to be conducive to relaxation) by the cleaning staff aggressively dragging heavy wooden furniture across the cement floor of the room above us. Even with earplugs it was impossible to ignore. Most upsettingly, it rained termite poop on us ALL NIGHT LONG. When we got into bed the first night, there was poop in every single layer of the sheets. Since it was late, we wiped it off and went to sleep, only to find more feces in the bed when we awoke in the morning. Upon bringing it to the managers attention, he said they would look into it, but didn’t offer any compensation or support to us for having slept in literal feces all night. The manager let slip that they have had this issue before. When we asked, he offered 10% off our stay, barely enough to cover taxes. After we vacated the room for an hour and they supposedly fixed it, we returned to find more termite poop on the bed. When bringing it to the staffs attention AGAIN, they finally apologized for the first time in the whole ordeal and after much back and forth, they said the best they could do was refund us 50% of the previous nights dinner (about $60). We went to Namu to celebrate our engagement and nothing ruins the romance quite like animal feces in the bed. If you are assigned room M4, CHECK...

My partner and I had the privilege of staying at Hotel Namu, and from the moment we arrived, we knew we were about to experience something extraordinary. The true highlight of our stay was the exceptional service provided by Douglas, the operations manager. From the very first moment, his kindness, courtesy, and attention made us feel not just welcomed but truly valued as guests. It’s rare to find someone who cares so deeply about the details and shows a genuine interest in ensuring that every moment of our stay was perfect. His professionalism and warm-heartedness are truly admirable, elevating the experience at Namu to another level.

Equally remarkable was the service we received from Karim, our server at the hotel’s restaurant. Her friendly demeanor, combined with her attentive and professional service, made our dining experience something to look forward to each day. Karim went above and beyond to ensure that every meal was a delight, making us feel cared for in the best possible way.

The restaurant at Hotel Namu is a culinary gem. The food was simply outstanding, offering a perfect blend of local flavors and gourmet presentation. Each dish was prepared to perfection, and the atmosphere of the restaurant, surrounded by the stunning natural beauty, made each dining experience even more special.

In summary, our experience at Hotel Namu was absolutely epic, not only because of the breathtaking natural surroundings and the unforgettable sighting of sloths in their natural habitat but also because of the unparalleled service we received from Douglas, Karim, and the entire restaurant team. If you’re looking for a place where nature and first-class service come together in perfect harmony, look no further—Namu is the ideal...