Restaurante el Establo — Restaurant in San Rafael

We drove by El Establo about 1pm on our way through San Ramon. The parking lot lot was packed and we commented that it must be a good place to eat. When we were heading back to our town, Nuevo Arenal, I looked for restaurants on Google Maps. This place looked good and had some good reviews. I didn't realize it was the same place until we arrived!

The restaurant is western themed and is in fact an indoor restaurant. Our server spoke English and we spoke English and Spanish. We were seated near the bar and watched the bartender make a batch of Sangria that looked and tasted delicious. Both the server and bartender were very friendly. The kitchen staff accommodated our requests as we are just starting the keto diet.

We shared the "El Establo" plate and it was delicious. We had each had a portion of steak, (cooked to our different preferences) and it was tender, juicy and flavorful. In fact, we really did cut the meat with our forks. I think it was skirt steak.We each had a portion of chicken, a super delicious sausage each, a skewer of grilled shrimp with a Cajun type seasoning (yum) to share, and a block of pork ribs with bbq sauce. The sauce was very tasty but the ribs were a bit dry. We were served grilled veggies:. Zucchini, onions, corn on the cob, and grilled tomatoes (tasted like stewed). They left off the potatoes at our request and also served bread which we declined. Sometimes this diet stinks! The corn also wasn't on our diet but i tried one bite to see if I was missing anything. Nope. Like all the corn I've had in CR, it was tough and chewy. Oh, how I miss sweet, tender Silver Queen corn from Zellwood, FL. We left full, fat, and happy with a box of food to eat today. We will definitely eat there the next...

This place is hit-or-miss. To get a hamburger that is not raw you must request it well-done (bien cocinado). And even when two of us ordered well-done, the waiter brought the two hamburgers and asked which of us wanted it well-done. Both were completely different. Mine was burnt on the outside. My friends' was raw on the inside. I've been here at least half a dozen...

Terrible food, terrible service, terrible price quality.

The French fries were basically hyper greasy out of a package, the hamburger was also super greasy, terrible bread, the burger was disgusting, service was ok yet not attentive.

What can I say? Everytime I show up at this place the food quality is just worst.

Don't recommend this...