Restaurante Mar Azul — Restaurant in Sardinal

Hands down our dinner at Mar Azul was the best dinner of our entire month-long trip to various parts of Costa Rica. And it happened to be our last meal in Coco before flying home.

We both had the catch of the day, which included yellowfin tuna or mahi mahi. We chose the yellowfin prepared grilled medium-rare with the mango sauce. They were ₡7800 each, a great value. Our other sides were broth marinara rice (rice marinated in seafood broth, not a tomato sauce), and potatoes (scalloped and mashed.)

The other two people in our party ordered the special (stuffed mahi-mahi ₡18mil) and coconut shrimp (₡8mil) & spring roll (₡8mil). I think our dinners were of better value. The stuffed mahi mahi special is actually a filet of fish with 4 jumbo shrimp on the side - not stuffed inside the filet.

The guys had Imperials at ₡2mil each, and other drinks included babitos maracuya (₡2mil) and a $10usd Ferocius Barracuda. One had a virgin coconut clollada and it costs the same as the alcoholic version ($10usd). All very good.

I am subtracting one star (I think subtracting two stars would be fair as well) because of at least four problems. I used WhatsApp to set our reservation, and even change it from two people to four, and yet when we arrived the concierge did not have our reservation on his list. They did seat us, but it is frustrating to get a written confirmation of our reservation on WhatApp, and not have it communicated down the line. You should make a reservation if you want to eat here. Another issue was the mahi mahi special of the day was stated as ₡18mil by our waiter and when the bill came it was ₡24mil. We did not notice the overcharge at the time because another problem was the receipt was not legible due to poor print quality and contrast on the bill paper. We found the error back at our condo too late to fix. Finally the virgin drink should clearly be communicated that it will cost the same as the alcoholic version of the drink.

I would definitely return here and wish we would have tried them earlier in our time in Coco so we could have gone again. But I would be vigilant about the previously...

This place is a nice departure from the many traditional surf shacks and Soda's in town. There is a sense of upscale but still common with a twist of modern. The staff are hurried and do their best to greet and seat most but a reservation is your best bet unless you arrive early. The food is amazing and this extends to the grilled fresh catch lobster and the tuna carpaccios. They do catch of the day so it's a moving target on what you are able to order in the fresh fish section but always seems to be 4 options including lobster. They do not do whole fish or at least at the time of this post and fillets are the option listed. The portions are human sized so you will be well fed or have a bit to share. This was on par with some of the best seafood I have experienced in CR, New York and California. Only topped by fine dining on fresh water lobster in Jamaica. The vibe is casual and classy with soft classical music with light hints of island vibes. The butternut and seafood broth soup was savory and a great opener for the evening, it was also a house offering so thanks so much for that experience. The price point is just right for a nice night out, date, family or friends gathering. Looks to spend about $45 USD PP.

So not all of it was perfect and that would lead me to the drink selection. I rated this overall experience five stars due to the skillful craft of the mixologist behind the bar. He was absolutely on point with the presentation. The beverage selection was creative and offered a unique CR take on many classics. The issue here is the beverage was gorgeous to look at but tasted like a subpar sugary beverage. This may have been a fluke as they were pumping out other drinks for tables with little complaints but I rate this as a fail for the adult beverages score. Overall this place was recommended by a local as there favorite spot and I will recommend it for all of my internation vacation coherents and expats just keep in mind the drink can look good and should taste...

We ate at this restaurant last night after reading the reviews and we were greatly disappointed. The only good part of the meal was the pumpkin cream soup, the daiquiris and our server. Now for the bad. We ordered the Tuna carpaccio which was bland and was served at room temperature ( never eaten it like that before and hopefully never will again). We also ordered the shrimp ceviche (worst ceviche we've had in Costa Rica) which tasted like someone had poured orange juice over it and we couldn't get past the after taste. The lobster spring rolls were again bland and I could not tell that there was any lobster in them. My wife and I both ordered the surf and turf as mains. I got the rib eye which would have been great had the fat been rendered but unfortunately it wasn't so I had to cut it all off and eat the meat, the mashed potato side was really good. My wife ordered the tenderloin which came out raw we sent it back to be cooked a little longer and it came back raw again. I'll eat tartar or blue rare no problem when I know where my meat is coming from but this steak still had a heartbeat no joke. Yes they did take it off our bill and give us 10% off and it would have been totally overlooked had the rest of the meal been as good as the soup, but you could have given me the meal for free and the next one (or 10) on the house and I still wouldn't go back. I understand that we could have complained about the entire meal while we were there but that's not what we do. We decided to eat there so we will eat pay our bill and know...