La Hola Beto's — Restaurant in San Salvador

Extreme seafood poisoning...

Sufrí una intoxicación alimentaria extrema por los cangrejos azules.

Unfortunately I have to rate this a 1 star because of the extremely serious seafood poisoning I sustained from my meal. I have a picture of the menu showing the meal I ordered. I got the blue crabs stuffed with shrimp.

There's two La Hola Beto's restaurants in San Salvador. And this review is for the one that's one this street: Blvr. Sergio Viera De Mello. It's to the south west of the city. Whereas the other one is in the centre/centre north of the city.

I had a flight to Guatemala 10 hours later. I started vomiting on the plane. When I arrived at Aurora Airport I was in the bathroom screaming at the top of my lungs every time I vomited. And had the nastiest diarrhea in the world. It would kill someone if they smelled it. I was in there for hours. My girlfriend had to contact airport staff to help me. I was delirious, speaking nonsense, off-balance, light headed and felt like I could die. Airport staff gave me injections and tablets to fight the infection. They put me on a wheelchair while they escorted me through boarder control to Guatemala. I had diarrhea for around 36 hours. It was the most dire experience I've ever felt in my life, no joke. All from their crab dish.

It's sad because I enjoyed the flavour of the dish. I liked the restaurant, and the waiters. They told me La Hola Beto's is a family chain of restaurants that no longer work together at all. Each place has their own different menus and management. Their family had a separation.

When I tried to suck the meat from the blue crabs, sometimes I would get this extremely salty taste that was a disgusting taste. The shrimp filling also had a suspicious crackle/crunch/super hard bites to it sometimes which was weird. Maybe parts of carapace, or sand. The sauce was delicious, rice seemed fine. Something in the crabs gave me a serious novovirus.

BOTH tripadvisor's two listings of La Hola Beto's share the same street address of only one of the restaurants. This means both restaurants are sharing reviews from customers at either restaurant at random. It's overlapped. The one I was sick at does not have it's address listed/specified. So check Google's reviews for more specific reviews.

How do I know it was this meal that made me sick?

Because I got the novovirus from this meal, and that's caused by shellfish like crabs. I know it was the novovirus because it is highly contagious causing other people near you to ALSO start to become sick with vomitting and diarrhea. (Though not as insane as me but still very bad) My girlfriend then became very sick after being exposed to me, and her mother (who we hadn't seen in 4 months) also became very sick exactly the same way/symptoms the next day after I met her while I was still sick with the novovirus. (Probably occurred from sharing water bottles or similar)

The only thing I ate the whole day was some pache in the morning. (Some potato with chicken) (Yes I didn't eat 10 hours during the time I ate the meal and I started to become sick)

It's a shame because it seems like a great restaurant. I'd give them a second chance maybe, but of boy they owe me a lot for what happened to me. Their staff better be aware of this and clean those blue crabs properly and ensure that dish is prepared safely, and the crabs & shrimp are fresh.

Happened September 2024. See my pictures...

The beach itself is the highlight—absolutely beautiful and feels almost private, which is a rare treat. Entrance is $25 per adult and free for kids, which is a nice bonus.

Unfortunately, the experience was soured by our server, Pedro. He’s an older gentleman who, despite working there, gave off a very unsettling vibe. He told my wife the entrance fee was $45 per person, even though the host had clearly stated it was $25. That kind of dishonesty is unacceptable. He was also oddly fixated on our belongings, constantly glancing at what we had with a passive-aggressive attitude that made us uncomfortable.

As for the food—disappointing. We ordered the mariscada and parrillada, and both came in surprisingly small portions, especially considering the high prices. The quality didn’t match the cost at all. You can definitely find better value and...

We weren’t sure whether to come here after reading the reviews, some of which had negative comments, but we were happy that we did. After having a little chuckle at the unassuming blue-and-white decor—reminiscent of a spot in Santorini—with plastic chairs and classic disco music blaring in the background, we placed our order: a seafood salad and a combo meat-and-prawns plate. The service was great, and our meals arrived in less than 20 minutes. Both dishes were delicious and tasted fresh. The salad portion was huge! The meat was very tender, and the prawns were served with the shell on, so expect messy fingers afterward. Prices are reasonable, especially for...