Victoria's Gourmet Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Quepos

Probably the Worst Service for Tourists in Costa Rica – Stay Away!!

We had one of the most disappointing dining experiences of our trip at this restaurant on the night of Mar 24, around 7pm. Our family of three was met with what can only be described as the worst service we encountered in Costa Rica. The waitress offered us only two seating options: one outside facing the street (dark, no view, and constantly disrupted by car headlights), and the other inside, placed right next to the blazing pizza oven — arguably the hottest and most uncomfortable spot in the entire restaurant. On a hot night with no air conditioning inside, this felt more like a punishment than hospitality. And why? Because we didn’t have a reservation. Ironically, the restaurant was largely empty, with plenty of open tables throughout the space. It seemed like we were deliberately being treated poorly — as if being walk-ins gave them the right to shove us into the worst possible spot. (See attached photo — you can clearly see how empty it was.) The food? Just average — nothing memorable, and certainly not worth the price. Our bill for three regular dinner meals was ~$120, and for the same price in the U.S., you'd get far better food and service. To anyone visiting this area: don’t waste your evening here. They clearly don’t care about customer experience — especially if you’re a tourist. In fact, the whole vibe felt like they were just trying to get your money because they assume you’ll never come back. Luckily, every other restaurant we visited in the following days was so much better — in food, service, and atmosphere.

Save your night — go...

Review on their desserts. Very disappointed!! We didn’t eat dinner there but wanted some desserts to take home and so we ordered the tiramisu and NY cheesecake. Not only was it expensive, the portions were tiny!! And I mean, really tiny.. so 1 star for price/quantity. But that wasn’t all, I hoped the taste would make up for it… unfortunately, no :(. Again, very disappointed. I am pretty critical when it comes to desserts as I am a dessert maker myself, but for that price point I feel like quality is in order. Both desserts tasted mainly like.. sugar. Not really any depth in flavor. We had had desserts from Cafe Emilio’s the day before which were at least 10x better and also good portions for the price. Before we brought them home (and so we hadn’t tasted it yet) I had to say something about the portion size vs price and the only reaction was: ok…I will tell my boss. that was literally the full response. All in all, even though I cannot speak about the rest of their menu, we definitely are not going back there after this experience. Seen it is an Italian restaurant, I expected at least the Tiramisu to be outstanding. Our local tico bakery (we live in Costa Rica) has way better tiramisu (I am serious). I usually don’t like leaving bad reviews, but this was downright ridiculous in my eyes. Ofcourse, just my opinion. For those of you who love a good dessert.. do yourself a favor and...

Words can’t express how incredible this place is. We spent almost 2 weeks in Manual Antonio and we had dinner here 4 times. The food was absolutely amazing! Each time I had pizza and it’s hands down the best pizza in the city. My wife who has a gluten allergy also had options which was a huge win and rare for an Italian restaurant and she says it was the best pasta she has ever had! My 2 year old who is the worlds pickiest eater would literally jump out of his seat every time his dinner was served - that alone is an award itself! What made this place extra special for us was the staff. Everyone was so incredible to me and my family every time we came in. I have to give an extra special shout out to our friend Elliot. He served us every night and words can’t explain how incredible he was. It’s like we were eating at his own home and he wanted to make sure every thing was perfect for us. My kid absolutely loved him and jumped at the opportunity to give him high fives every chance he got. He made sure my wife’s gluten allergy was always on top of mind and always made sure she was taken care of and we loved all the conversations we had during our time. Thank you Elliot and thank you for everyone at Victorias for making so many special memories that we will never forget. Pura Vida and we hope to be...