The Emerald House — Restaurant in Sámara

A basic hotel with excellent staff and great location. ||||Check in was simple and quick. Whilst they are running a business the owners/management are genuinely interested in looking after their guests and not just taking your money. ||||The room was basic but comfortable. The private bathroom was adequate but could do with a slight refurb. It was great to have reliable hot water on demand. An apparent rarity in a lot of accommodation in Samara. ||||There was very little lighting in the room. Only one ceiling bulb for the bedroom. ||||The ceiling fan in the room was noisy. But the air conditioning unit was modern and effective. ||||WiFi was available but frustratingly unreliable. With constant dropping of connection. ||||Whilst I was not concerned about security as my room was on the ground floor in sight of reception and restaurant staff. The single key lock on the door meant there is no way to prevent access to the room from the inside. A bolt on the door would be nice.||||The breakfast provided is delicious and filling. You get a choice from the in house restaurant menu. They make tasty fresh smoothies. ||||Case Esmeralda offers good value for money and I’d definitely...

April 2025 update: Even though beachfront dining is a treat for my wife and me, when we visit Samara, Casa Esmeralda has become one of our favorite restaurants here. Our food and beverages every visit (beer, cocktails, rice with shrimp, and tuna filet, during two visits early last month) have excellent, ample, and priced moderately; the staff has been friendly and helpful. Also: we have perceived during each of our visits that many of our fellow diners have been local people - not tourists only - which we judge to be a commendation.

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December 2024: My wife and I had a very pleasant dinner here last month. Our food and beverages were delicious and priced very moderately. The staff members were friendly and attentive. We enjoyed watching members of a large group, who appeared to us to be locals, arrive for some kind of celebration and be welcomed and served. We watched one staff member prepare to offer live music from the open front of the restaurant; although we departed before he started his performance, we enjoyed listening to him test his instrument and equipment by playing...

I’m not big on leaving reviews but this place deserves it. So happy we chose this hotel for my first trip to Samara. Great room for a great price, and awesome breakfast included. I’ve honestly never had a better complimentary breakfast. Most the rooms are above the restaurant, which was also great. Fish and ceviche was amazing. The staff was great, friendly and kept our room tidy daily. We had issues without our air conditioning and a repairman was out immediately to fix it. We went one night with A/C so they brought a fan and it was fixed the next day. Things are pretty laid back in Costa Rica so we were pleasantly surprised with how quickly the staff took care of the issue. I wish I knew the woman’s name who ran the hotel because I would give a shout out. She was amazing, working the reception, the kitchen and everything in between. I can’t imagine how hard it is for her and the rest of the staff to try to communicate with and please patrons from all over the world but she was great. Thanks for a...