El Chiringuito — Restaurant in Tamarindo

The food was good and the atmosohere with the beach was excellent. There are a lot of street vendors walking thru the dining area trying to sell you things, so that gets a bit annoying.

Family of 5, we ordered our drinks and fries as an appetizer. Server aggressively said the fries will not feed 5 people. We said we know and it was juat an appetizer (Upsell flag #1). Our daughter ordered water and server quickly said the water is not safe to drink so we ordered bottled water for a charge (Upsell#2 flag).

Side note - We had the water at La Boca across the street a few days earlier and when we asked if the water was safe the bartender acted a little offended and said of course it is safe. We drank the water at our villa up the street as well and in fact I think the Costa Rican water is some of the best I have had - better than many cities in the US.

So I questioned her but let it go. Then she had the audacity to bring out a cup of ice for the bottled water (Upsell #3 flag). So how do you make ice? My wife and I both had mixed drinks, but I guess that ice also comes from another water source.

The server's shift was over, so a bartender covered - he was great and very attentive. I am rating the service based on our first server.

I would eat here again but didn't appreciate being mislead...

Many people that eat here get food poisoning, as seen by other reviews, and so did my family. Although the food poisoning was not from their food, it was from their ice. This restaurant was not clean, neither was the water clearly, as we expected it to be so we ordered a bottled water. My family of 8 decided to eat here and 5 ordered drinks that contained ice (2 canned sprites that we poured over ice, one mojito which has ice, a frozen watermelon juice drink with blended ice, and another drink over ice) the other three family members had drinks as well which were two beers (with no ice in it) and the last person had a bottled water with no ice. The five people that had drinks with ice all had terrible diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting constantly for about three days after, whereas all of the three that did not get iced drinks were not sick like the rest. No one even drank tap water because we knew it would be unsafe, all of the food poisoning was from the ice. Also, the food was very ok nothing special, if you decide to eat here DO NOT get...

Where to begin…

As tourist who were guided by someone to wash their hands in a certain restroom, it would come as a surprise to feel attacked the way we were.

One guy, the one in the photo throwing his thumbs up, came running into the back area to ask if we needed any help.

You may think he did it in a polite way or out of concern. But no, he meant it like “yo did ya buy something? Or are you guys lost?

It’s understandable that bathrooms are for customers. It’s 100% understandable. But the way he came out and attacked us verbally is unacceptable.

We even told him it’s no problem to buy something. We were hungry as is already. But he was disrespectful and even after we told him “there is a way to talk to people,” he cared less.

Is the food good? We’ll never know. I read the reviews and they speak highly of it. Maybe it’s because it’s the first option from getting off the boat.

Would I recommend it? I’m no one to judge as I haven’t had the food. Just try to not wash your hands before you put your hands...