Restaurante Mar & Tierra — Restaurant in Monteverde

A group of seven of us went to Mar & Tierra in March 2024. The menu has quite a good food selection and the dishes they served us were OK in the main although we all agreed, they were nothing special. The wine selection wasn't so great; pretty limited and what we got we wouldn't order again.

We spent almost 4 weeks in Costa Rica and ate in many places that were better than Mar & Tierra; this isn't to say it was bad, simply not somewhere we could recommend very highly. It didn't help that the lady who served us seemed like she had no interest in doing her job. She never once cracked a smile and was more interested in watching the guys outside on their motorbikes than she was in taking our orders; trying to get a beer turned into a battle of us asking and her ignoring us. Finally I had to go up to the bar and ask for the manager; when he came I explained how poor the service was and this finally got us some drinks.

Be aware when the bill comes. Ours was a scrap of paper with what looked to be random dishes written on it (they certainly weren't what we had ordered and eaten) and at the bottom was a large total; worse still, the total was added up incorrectly so not only were the entries random, the maths was also random and the amount they were charging was wrong (in the restaurant's favour, not ours). Fortunately, we knew exactly what we had ordered (you know how tight we Brits are so we're always good at checking bills) so we convinced them of the errors of their ways, identified what we had ordered, taught the lady some basic arithmetic and then paid the correct bill. And yes, we did give a tip.

In the restaurants defence, they had a very large tourist party in and they seemed very demanding of the not vast number of serving staff. That said, if the place took such a large booking one might think they would ensure there were sufficient staff on duty to manage the numbers without leaving other customers with a poor level of service.

Anyone reading this review may wonder why it is not very glowing given the vast number of 5 star reviews that Mar & Tierra has on Google. If you believe all the reviews and decide to go to the restaurant you will see a card on the table that might be the answer - as has been mentioned by other reviewers, it offers people a free shot for writing a good review on Google (or Tripadvisor) which might just possibly skew the reviews - who knows? Anyway, if you go there and it isn't all you expected, you can always drown your sorrows with the free shot, provided you're willing to big the place up more than may be true of course. Sad thing is, anywhere that 'bribes' customers in this way undermines the whole basis of leaving reviews. If this is how it's done what is the point of looking at Google reviews when you cannot be certain they haven't simply been bought for the price of a shot.

Anyone reading this review might also be wondering why has this guy written so much - does he have verbal diarrhoea (UK spelling; diarrhea if you're American)? Well, yes, but also I want to be balanced about our experience and I want to ensure anyone reading this knows I didn't sell out for a free shot so you'll know, this is an honest record of our evening at Mar & Tierra.

If you go to Mar & Tierra try and enjoy the place if you can; if you don't, maybe learn not to trust the reviews too much (or read carefully into those that don't give 5 stars! Either way, hope you don't get the lady who served us and check your...

Edit after owner response: *my friend our plates were not clean! The burger was Raw! Ate 4 bites of the chicken wrap! The ceviche was good we did eat that! I will admit! I’m not here to be dishonest but appears you are! Good luck, and no she wasn’t in the bathroom “they” (a man we had not seen yet) pulled up in a truck when we could finally pay! Still most people can carry a conversation, don’t blame the Spanish language as an excuse. It was not the fact that she could not speak with us more so that she couldn’t check us out! You left that young lady there by herself with no training! We love Costa Rica and living Pura Vida!

The food was not what we expected with the reviews we saw, don’t be fooled. The service is terrible, we order drinks we never got, but must have been charged for cause our bill was higher than just our food. (We had to calculate our bill) The burger was raw but no one to get help to get it fixed, they all left one girl in charge who couldn’t do anything. The wait staff was so unhelpful, no communication, then the one person who you pay your bill to was no where to be found. So we were told to wait to pay and couldn’t leave til they returned. I do...

Terrible service. LADY WITH THE PURPLE HAIR VERY VERY EXTREMELY RUDE. Gave us a very uneven table and as soon as the the food got there, the oils from it leaked ALL OVER ME.

She had an attitude right away saying it was my fault that if I had seen it leaking I should’ve moved the plate? Said they could wash my pants for two dollars at the restaurant? And what sit there with no pants?

I got the personal seafood plate. Only two pieces of shrimp. Mussels were empty. Said it came with two sides of veggies and potatoes. BUT THEY ARE NOT SIDES. It’s a MIXED PLATE OF VEGGIES AND SOME SEAFOOD.

Argued with me at my table saying twice “do you want it for free?” I said whatever you can do works with me.

She argued to call the cops because “I wasn’t trying to pay” which is not true. Just would like an accommodation for the oil that was leaked within two seconds of being put down and it just a terrible experience all around.

Again lady with the purple hair was very very rude. Whole restaurant heard her arguing with me. Ridiculous. Really hope she’s not like that every time a slight inconvenience happens....