Restaurante Nene's — Restaurant in La Fortuna

First, let me start by saying that we are frequent travelers and have NEVER had to leave a negative review for a restaurant. It’s unfortunate, but I do feel like I need to leave an honest review.

My wife and I (along with my best friend and his wife) travelled to Costa Rica in early February. We had an absolutely amazing time in La Fortuna.

We decided to go to Nenes one night since we had read reviews about how good the food was and it had been posted about in a facebook travel group.

I should note that both myself and my best friend are Hispanic and speak Spanish fluently. Our wives do not speak Spanish so we did most of the translating and ordering. There was not a language barrier and everything was ordered without an issue.

The waiter let us know the specials for the night which was surf and turf. The surf and turf was not listed on the menu so we asked the price of the dish. The waiter told us the prices varied depending on the cut of steak. We asked him what the prices were for the cuts we wanted and honestly, that should have been our sign to leave (hind sight is 20/20). The waiter told us varying increasing prices as if he was making them up on the spot ‘uhhh $35, oh no $40, actually it’s $50.’ We confirmed the prices with him and proceeded to order. My wife is vegetarian and ordered a pasta dish and my friends wife ordered a shrimp dish.

We also ordered 2 glasses of sangria, a large bottle of water and a large bottle of Pellegrino.

When the dishes came out, we were unfortunately less than enthused. The sides that came with our steaks were inedible. The vegetables were cold and we were given 2 finger link potatoes with some rice and beans. The dishes came out on fire to wow the guests but in our personal opinion they should have focused more on the actual food than the presentation.

The steaks were extremely fatty and severely undercooked. I don’t send dishes back ever, but it was actually bleeding on the plate so I had no choice. For the shrimp dish we had asked the waiter if they could remove the shell from the shrimp which he said was possible but when the dish came out it had all the shells attached and did not have any flavor. My wife’s pasta dish was probably the best of the 4 dishes and that isn’t saying much since the dish was also not good.

We were surprised since all of our dinners up to that point and the recommendations we had received were phenomenal. We could live with a bad meal and thought maybe it was just an off night. We decided to call it a night and asked the waiter for the check.

Unfortunately, this was the cherry that topped our subpar experience. The bill was astronomical (it ended up being our most expensive meal in our ENTIRE trip).

The steaks that we ordered were WELL above the prices that the waiter had quoted us and much higher than the prices in Costa Rica in general. The bottle of pellegrino and water were also expensive (the prices for the same items at other restaurants was less than half of what we were charged). Lastly, there was a 23% tax that was added to our check that we had NEVER seen at the other restaurants we had been to. This was on top of gratuity that was already included on the check. When we asked the waiter what the charge was for, he said it was a local tax in Costa Rica. Again, something we hadn’t encountered in any of our meals before or even after Nenes. We are not the kind of people to start any issues with any establishment so we paid and left.

We truly feel we were taken complete advantage of because we were not locals. It was absolute highway robbery and the establishment should be ashamed of themselves.

After our lackluster dinner, we were still hungry and decided to go back to a restaurant we had been to earlier on our trip (The Green Spoon if you’re interested!). We told the waiter about our experience and he told us that unfortunately he wasn’t surprised about Nenes and stated that they used to be great but their reputation is the only thing keeping them open. It was an unfortunate experience and would definitely...

Food here is sooo good!!! We asked about 4 different locals for food recommendations and all of them included this restaurant among their listings. It's a little more expensive compared to some of the other restaurants but definitely worth it.

Service: My only potential complaint would be slowish service when it came time to pay, but service otherwise was pretty good! The waiters won't necessarily come by and check on you but if you raise your hand or make eye contact and gesture, they are really responsive and really nice. Honestly, even the slow service when we were ready to pay wasn't bad at all. My wife and I had a lovely time talking while waiting. Like it said it waa my only potential complaint.

Food: Really really good. To start off we ordered Ceviche (pictured) which was absolutely delightful. Served with chips. Size was good for me and my wife. We maybe could have shared it with one more person that didn't eat much. But it's a perfect size for 2 people.

I then ordered the peppered steak (pictured) - served with a delicious brown sauce and some vegetables & toasted bread on the side. It is a tad on the salty side. Lots a flavor and incredibly juicy.

My wife ordered the chicken with the mushroom sauce (pictured). Served with the same sides as above. Chicken was incredibly moist and masterfully seared. Less salty than the steak entree, but just as flavorful!

Lasly, we asked the waiter for a dessert recommendation, and he said the tres leches (pictured). We decided to try it, and let me tell you, it was hands down the BEST tres leches I've ever had. This is saying something since I've had some excellent tres leches through my experiences as a latino.

If nothing else, definitely give this tres leches a try. It will change your world for the better.

Overall I'd give this place 4.5/5 stars, but would rather round up than down.

Will definitely be returning here next time I find myself...

Came here after a year which previous experience was great! But man did it change! First we showed a picture of the meal we had the year we came and the waiter was dismissive about it (even though this is why we came back). Did not give us an answer just kept telling us they have New York and some other cut of steak. We did not know the cut we got before because the time before the waiter told us it was a local type of cut. Anyway we decided to order the surf and turf special thinking maybe it was the skirt steak cut. Also wanted to share the plate since we were not super hungry and the waiter instantly had a disappointed face when we ordered that. The food itself wasn’t bad a chewy cut of steak, 4 average pieces shrimp and a small potion of veggies. Got the check and to our SURPRISE it was 36,500 colones ($73.74 dollars). Looking at the menu the average steak plate was 9,000-16,000 colones even with the 4 pieces of shrimp we thought this was outrageous!! So overall we walked out feeling ripped off for a mediocre meal and poor service! Will not be returning which is disappointing after having such a wonderful...