La Oveja Surf House — Restaurant in Tamarindo

Really great place to stay in town. Right next to the cleanest grocery store in town, as well as the best areas for nightlife. 5-minute walk to the beach, which is fine if you're not planning to surf all day every day. Best part is all the kind people working there, and the really pleasant atmosphere. It's friendly and homey, but still clean and running in a professional way. Random observations:

If you can spring for the rooms with private bath, they really are quite nice. Poolside, clean, with all the advantages of a hotel, plus the advantages of a hostel, at a fair price. Can't recommend them enough. Receptionists Shana (night) and Shanina (day) are incredibly sweet and helpful. At check-in/check-out time, there's sometimes a wait, but you can always get something from the bar in the meantime. Food & service at the restaurant/bar are great, and the included breakfast for private rooms is generous. Melly at the bar is probably the kindest person you'll meet in Tamarindo, which is really saying something. The surfing instructors, led by Monica from California, are a total joy. Great lessons, even if you suck at surfing like me. Fair warning, there's a 5-minute walk to/from the beach while carrying the boards, as opposed to being right on the beach or having boards stored on the beach. Nice craft beer, from Numu, is on draft. Often you'll find the owners of the place behind the bar serving drinks and giving advice. Great AC in every room I stayed in. Tons of common space, you can always find a place to sit either among others or by yourself. The shared hostel bathroom, at least the men's, was the only weak point. A little raggedy, soap/paper towels were only present about half the time, and the showers only ever had cold water. Cold water is fine in the hot weather honestly, but I also stayed with a private bathroom and it had consistent hot water. Not a big deal, but just a heads up.

Overall, really glad this is where I stayed in Tamarindo. You can get a place that's more secluded at a smaller beach, but if you're looking to meet other people and enjoy the town of Tamarindo along with the beach, this really is the best...

Eat here. Don’t sleep here! Great location in the middle of town. Hotel resto has lovely food and attentive service. Hotel is mediocre but safe and clean enough. Eat the Costa Rican breakfast, fish tacos, and fish wrap. Yummy! I stayed one week, but this is not a four-star hotel. It’s situated in a vortex of noise thanks mostly to a neighbouring disco that’s open 9pm – 3am. every. single. day. Earplugs barely muffle the noise. The music is stupid loud, and the hotel’s walls are paper thin. And, there’s even more noise to contend with: live music in the restaurant some evenings; construction noise early in the morning because Tamarindo is booming; loud street noise from cars, all-terrain vehicles, and delivery trucks; scraping noises transmitted from the hotel’s metal roof (tree branches? monkeys?). Hotel staff is great except for one who asked me what I do for a living. Don’t ask your guests that. It’s none of your beeswax! Even rocket scientists take vacation, okay? The hotel maintains vestiges of its hostel past. The rooms are long rectangles with 11-foot ceiling. Rooms are in surprising disrepair, or perhaps this is the result of bad renovations. Water in the shower is tepid but plentiful. Got a towel change halfway through the week, but I could not get staff to sweep my floor even after two promises that it would be done (it’s a beach town!). The hotel’s pool is small and sad, but the beach is close. Loved the room’s metal door and deadbolt for safety. Wifi worked reliably and so did cable TV, but I could barely hear the TV over the music...

This is a review only for the restaurant. My family ate here for dinner while on vacation and were blown away.

Our vegetarian 11 year old daughter loved the chips and pico de gallo, with the mild house salsa. She asked us to bring house salsa home to the US. To give perspective, this niña is the same one who requests buttered noodles 90% of the time eating out.

She also shared the nachos for two which was served in a Pyrex dish. I understand our family may eat lighter than others, but these nachos could have been a meal for the four of us, and that was still with no meat, to respect our vegetarian.

The 13 year old carnivore daughter got chicken fajitas, and could only finish 3/4 of the dish due to its size. She loved the flavor and also generously poured on the mild salsa.

My wife had chicken skewers and enjoyed them. I had the Tamarindo burrito, which was delicious! I liked the touch of the tzatziki sauce and the mixed fresh veggies in the burrito. And I topped it with the hot version of the house salsa.

I asked the waitress if the house salsa was available to ship in large barrels. Sadly, not yet. We got two small jars (mild and hot) to bring to the US instead.

At the end, my wife observed that was the first meal we had in Tamarindo, on our fourth vacation night, where we all loved what we ate and still had leftovers. Great food and great value.

Cheers to La...