Restaurante Silvestre — Restaurant in Carmen

[I give Silvestre a 5-star review not to indicate it's among the best in the world, but it is a truly remarkable experience.]

Wonderfully composed dishes that illustrate worldly techniques with local flavors.

The service at Silvestre was wonderfully accommodating. We showed up early for our reservation, and after just a few minutes to prepare, they sat us. We speak very little Spanish, so our server explained everything in detail to us in English. He was very patient, kind, and happy.

The atmosphere was cozy and quaint. It felt like a large home that had been converted into different rooms for diners. We felt like we were dining in a special place. My wife and I were dressed "business casual," with my boys in their casual schoolwear, and we didn't feel under-dressed.

If we weren't with the kids, it would have been awesome to do the tasting menu, giving control to the chef for your dining experience. However, we needed some choice, so went off the A La Carte menu. I have to say, that menu isn't organized in a terribly helpful manner -- instead of organized by course or size, it was segmented into Fish, Vegetable, and Meat. Our server, however, guided us to which things might be good for a first course, and which might be good for a main course.

The mean starts with a potato croquette concealed by pisuicas -- the Costa Rican devil or boogeyman. The little bite was delightful.

For our first course, we chose to share the chicken pate and pork filled brioche. In hindsight, our selections were overly bread-heavy. The course comes with bread, with tasty lardo and honey butter. The pate comes with bread to spread onto it. And, of course, the brioche buns -- which reminded me Chinese steamed pork buns -- were bread. I recommend watching out for that when making your selection.

For our mains, my wife got the beef loin, my elder son got the snook, and my younger son and I got lamb loin. We all enjoyed our dishes. Each of us appreciated how well-seasoned our dishes were. Each bite of lamb I got was succulent and perfectly salted.

We were stuffed. However, the boys still wanted something sweet. For dessert, my sons really enjoyed the fried tres leches cake and the mochi. My wife and I both went with the "Fiesta del maíz." I have to say, that aptly-named dish was perhaps the best thing on the menu. Not overly sweet, the flavors and textures were varied, and yet an incredible celebration of corn.

Restaurant Silvestre was a wonderful discovery -- unpretentiously upscale, refined and casual, elegant and relaxed, and most definitely...

Shockingly bad service, communication, and coordination from the staff. This was my first experience ever with feeling offended and disrespected at a dining establishment in any country. To summarize I was provided contradicting information from 2 separate servers over whether or not a dish I had already partially consumed, contained gluten/wheat, which I’m allergic to. This information was already disclosed to the restaurant prior to arriving for my partners birthday. None of it was actually relayed to the staff. I made sure to reiterate this to each and every server as soon as we sat down. The first “complimentary” dish that was served after communicating this contained wheat. Luckily I made sure to ask…again. During our main course meal I was told by a waitress to stop eating the dish I had as it contained wheat, after she was sent over to better describe what we were eating. She went to speak to the original server and when she returned her whole demeanor had changed as well as the information about the dish. Apparently it now was gluten free. Obviously this might instill some doubt in an individual as to what the truth is or what the previous dishes might have contained. I asked for clarification regarding the previous dishes, if they were indeed safe to eat as well, adding that I had felt hot/flushed. The waitress replied with “maybe it’s just psychological” and quickly walked away from us without saying anything else. To some people this could be a life threatening situation, luckily for me it’s just discomfort and facial swelling. I pulled her aside asking why she would think it was appropriate to speak to a customer in this manner, so dismissively, as if I was someone who she had known for a lifetime, not 30 seconds. She went on to provide her own story about “food allergies” instead of simply apologizing and acknowledging that she was out of line. This only made the situation worse and I asked her to leave our table, feeling disbelief and anger at the situation. At this point they attempted to make good of the situation by offering us dessert, since it was my partner’s birthday. This experience had already ruined the whole visit and it was too late to feel good about anything that had occurred. Once again this could be a life threatening situation for some people and totally unacceptable behavior from a person who is employed at a “fine dining” establishment and who is expected to put their guests at ease and explain menu items clearly. I would not recommend visiting this restaurant while...

As an OpenTable VIP member for over 13 years, I’ve dined at many high-end restaurants. I’ve always appreciated how those establishments take the time to recognize both my loyalty and the special occasion noted in the reservation. Unfortunately, that was not the case here.

I booked this reservation to celebrate my third anniversary, expecting a memorable evening. Instead, we were seated at a generic table with no welcome, no acknowledgment of the occasion, and absolutely no effort to make the night feel special. It felt like just another reservation in their system—no thought, no care.

While I will say the cocktails were excellent and the appetizers were solid, the rest of the experience was incredibly disappointing. The service was inattentive and slow, despite the restaurant not being particularly busy. Our server forgot part of our order and barely checked in on us. The main courses arrived lukewarm, lacked flavor, and were nowhere near worth the price tag.

To make matters worse, it was hard to converse with the waiter; he seemed to lack interest and did not care much about knowing about my wife and me. Not even to care about asking where we are from or what the special occasions are.

When dining at this level—especially for a meaningful occasion—you expect thoughtful service, attention to detail, and a sense that your presence matters. Sadly, this restaurant missed the mark on all fronts. I won’t be returning and wouldn’t recommend it to others looking for an exceptional dining experience. The quality of service isn't worth the price you pay. The restaurant is overpriced but poor in food quality...