Bon Appetit! — Restaurant in Monteverde

We have been tempted by the aroma of the wood burning stove for weeks whenever we pass by Bon Appetit, and yesterday afternoon we finally made it in. Because we are a family of five, we try to eat early to avoid bringing our noise to folks’ romantic dining experiences, and we had the inside of the restaurant to ourselves for most of the time.

As a New Yorker, my expectations for pizza outside of the city are fairly low, but I was impressed. Finding legit mozzarella cheese in Monteverde has been a challenge, and the buffalo mozzarella Bon Appetit uses felt like coming home.

In total, we ordered five pizzas, two beers, four desserts, and a macchiato, which came to about CRC 48,000 (USD $97).

Something I am still getting used to is how slow in the best way the dining experience can be outside of the United States. We ended up staying for almost two hours, and never once felt ignored or like service was dragging. The kids’ food even came out quickly, which was a relief. Our server was very sweet and patient with us, kindly allowing us to practice our Spanish and encouraging us when we stumbled over words.

We left feeling full, happy, and already talking about which pizzas we will...

The personal is really polite and they try to be a good host. However, the food is not so good. We ordered the burchettes from the chef's special menu, a spaghetti bolognese and a steak with mushroom sauce. The chef was clearly not Italian and has never been to Italy. The bruchettes contained gorgonzola cheese which was too strong in taste. The spaghetti sauce was more water than a real sauce, let alone a ragout like a real bolognese should be. Never had such bad spaghetti. Only the pasta was well cooked but not fresh either. The steak was more like a fillet than a steak (very thin). Main course costs about 6500 CRC which is a fair price. The bruchettes had no prices listed in the menu but we expected more or less the same. It turned out that the burchettes cost 9000 CRC which is really ridiculous for 6x very small bread pieces with pesto, pieces tomatoes and some cheese. When I commented on the price they said this is normal for an aperitif. What a mockery and...

Please read 1-star review first! Because they are real reviews.

Atmosphere: ok Price: PLEASE ASK FOR AND CHECK RECEIPT BEFORE YOU PAY, they will charge extra water even if you only ordered one or not even ordered. Be warned. Food: edible, same as whatever you can get from supermarket. Definitely not freshly made. Special: stay away, whatever not on the menu, Don't order. Parking: easy Building: nice Service: nice (don't be a fool and pay without checking and double checking receipt)

We were hungry and went there and spent over $100 for two adults and even thanked our waiter when we left. We only realized the extra water charge on the receipt and $40+ charge on the "special" item after we arrived our hotel. That's when we checked other reviews and saw their sneaky water trick on others. Shame on the restaurant!

Again, please read 1-star...