El Fogón de Lola — Restaurant in Guápiles

Have come to El fogón for years by now. Either after crossing the Braulio Carrillo National Park or before entering. Use to be a great place to seat and eat. They try to “improve and sophisticate “ the place and the service and quality went down considerably. $9-$10 for breakfast with small portions? There are plenty of small family “ sodas “ and restaurants along the way where you can taste food more authentic and regional. No plain and simple piece of chicken as per request??? Looks more like they don’t give a damn to customers simple requests. Note: they don’t have signs for small or big dogs allowing in the restaurant…. In this case, I was sit all the way back in the restaurant ( almost out of it ) because of my huge and humongous yorkie teacup!! 😂😂😂 Thanks El fogón de Lola for the good times( when it was a good...

Convenient right off of the highway, plenty of parking, varied menu with also a small bakery/sweet store on the side to buy snacks. The waitstaff are super nice. I asked about something I’ve never had before, “Aqua Dulce”, and the waiter said it’s sugarcane juice, which I like, but HOT, which I’ve never had. They have two versions of the drink: con leche (with milk) or con aqua (just water) and being cautious, I order the hot drink steamed in just water. They ended up giving me both versions to try and I LOVE the Leche version. I ended up asking for this Aqua Dulce con Leche everywhere I went in Costa Rica, thanks to...

Costa Rica breakfast is quite basic. Gallo pinto (rice and beans), eggs and some garnish food (tortilla, maduro). Elevating this food to make it taste good is an art, and I've found out smaller places do a better job preparing a good gallo pinto than large ones, like this. And... if you can't prepare a good Pinto, the rest of the food is just as tasteless. Some locations in Costa Rica ride in their brand, while losing quality, and I'm afraid this is the case with this place: in the past it was a good location, but now it's just a large place where you get bland, average food, for a high price. I'd rather have my...