Where to Eat in Los Sueños, Herradura & Jacó: The Complete Central Pacific Dining Guide

You’re standing on your villa terrace at 6 PM wondering where to eat tonight. Good question. The Central Pacific coast packs more dining variety into 10 miles than most beach towns see across an entire country, from Marina Village’s polished waterfront restaurants to beachfront sodas where you eat whole fried snapper with your feet in the sand.

This isn’t a comprehensive list of every restaurant (there are 50+ in Jacó alone). This is the list of places worth your time and money, with the kind of specific intel you’d get from a friend who lives here: which ones are actually good, what to order, what to skip, and where the locals eat.

The Hierarchy: Where to Spend Your Dining Budget

Let’s be clear about what you’re choosing between.

Los Sueños Marina Village is polished, convenient, and expensive. You’re paying for the location: walkable from most Los Sueños properties, marina views, resort-level service. The food ranges from very good to fine. It’s the right choice when you don’t want to leave the resort or when you need reservations for a group.

Herradura beachfront is where Costa Ricans eat seafood on Sundays. Unpretentious, affordable, and legitimately fresh. You’re 30 feet from the bay where the fish was caught this morning. This is the real thing.

Jacó operates at a different frequency. Dense, walkable, and packed with 50+ restaurants crammed into half a mile. You’ll find everything here: wood-fired pizza, Argentine steaks, sushi, Thai curry, kosher Middle Eastern food, yoga-cafe smoothie bowls, and traditional sodas serving gallo pinto at dawn. The variety exists because Jacó draws surfers, digital nomads, expats, and tourists from a dozen countries, and they all want to eat the food they miss from home.

Los Sueños Marina Village: When Convenience Wins

Five restaurants, all within a five-minute walk of each other, all with marina views and resort service. You’ll pay for the location, but sometimes that’s exactly what you need.

Lanterna Italian Steakhouse. The Best Dinner in Marina Village

This is where you go for a proper sit-down dinner. Upscale Italian steakhouse with an open wood-fire grill and pizza oven: you can watch your ribeye char over live flames from the terrace. The garden seating overlooks the marina, and boats return from the Pacific just as the sun sets behind Herradura Bay.

The steaks are imported Angus, the pasta is made in-house, and the wood-fired pizzas have thin, blistered crusts with enough char to taste like something that came out of a real oven. This is the most reliable upscale option in Marina Village: consistent, polished, and worth the premium if you’re celebrating something or just want a nice dinner without getting in a car.

Price range: $18-45 (steaks $28-45, pasta $15-22, pizza $14-18)
Reservations: Recommended for dinner, especially weekends and high season (Dec-Apr)
Pro tip: If you want something lighter, the wood-fired pizza and Caesar salad are excellent and won’t leave you overstuffed before bed.

The Hook Up. When You Just Want a Burger

Sports bar meets casual American grill. Giant video wall showing whatever game matters that day, 20+ beers on tap, and burgers that have a legitimate reputation: thick patties, good char, and the locals agree this is the best burger in Los Sueños.

This is the place you go when the kids won’t sit still for fine dining, when you’re watching a tournament, or when you’ve been on the water all day and just need something familiar and satisfying. The fish tacos work, the nachos are massive, and nobody’s pretending this is anything other than exactly what it is: a good sports bar with solid food.

Price range: $12-22
Hours: 11:30 AM - 10 PM daily

Bambú Sushi & Asian Cuisine. For the View

Asian fusion with a sushi focus and panoramic marina views from the open-air terrace. The draw here is the setting: request a table on the terrace at sunset and you’ll watch boats return from the Pacific as the light goes golden over Herradura Bay.

The sushi is fresh (you’re eating at a sportfishing marina), the specialty rolls are creative, and the menu spans Japanese, Thai, and Chinese influences to keep groups with varied tastes happy. It’s not the most authentic Asian food you’ll eat in Costa Rica, but the fish is legitimate and the view does half the work.

Price range: $14-32
Hours: 11:30 AM - 10 PM daily

Dolce Vita & Al Fresco. The Supporting Cast

Dolce Vita is the European-style cafe serving morning coffee, pastries, paninis, and gelato that rivals what you’d get in Italy. Come here for breakfast before golf or fishing (they open at 6 AM and the coffee is strong), or stop by late afternoon for gelato and people-watching as the marina fills up.

Al Fresco is the Beach Club’s poolside restaurant: wood-fired pizza, ceviche, burgers, swim-up bar. Exclusively for Los Sueños homeowners and guests. If you’re renting in Los Sueños, this is your best option for a low-key pool day with food on hand. The beach club pool is quieter than the Marriott, and the pizza oven does serious work.

Herradura Beachfront: Where Locals Eat Seafood

Drive five minutes from Los Sueños Marina toward Playa Herradura and the vibe changes completely. The beachfront restaurant row here is unpretentious, affordable, and packed with Costa Rican families on weekends. You’re sitting under palapas in plastic chairs, feet in the sand, ordering whole fried fish straight from the bay.

El Pelícano. The One You Don’t Skip

Family-run since 1983. El Pelícano is the anchor of Herradura’s beachfront dining scene, and for good reason. It’s been serving fresh-caught seafood on this beach for over 40 years with the kind of consistency that only comes from doing one thing well for a very long time.

Order the mixed ceviche and a whole fried snapper to share. Ask what came in that morning, the menu is somewhat flexible based on what the fishermen brought in, and that’s exactly how beachfront seafood should work. The octopus comes off the grill almost black, with a char that crisps the edges and a chew that’s firm but not tough. Squeeze lime over it and that’s dinner.

The ocean is 30 feet away. The beer comes in sweating bottles. This is the most authentic beachfront dining experience within 10 minutes of Los Sueños, and it costs half what you’d pay at Marina Village.

Price range: $8-18 per plate
Pro tip: Come on a weekday if you want a quieter table. Sundays are packed with Costa Rican families, which is a good sign but means you’ll wait for a table.

The Other Beachfront Spots

Scattered along Herradura Beach you’ll find several smaller sodas: traditional Costa Rican restaurants serving casados (rice, beans, salad, plantains, and your choice of meat or fish). Expect to pay $6-10 for a full meal, served fast, with zero pretense. Look for any spot with locals lined up at lunch: that’s your signal.

Jacó: The Short List

Jacó has 50+ restaurants. Here are the ones worth your time, ranked by how strongly I’d recommend them.

The Top Tier: Don’t Leave Without Eating Here

Graffiti Restro Cafe and Wine Bar. The best upscale dinner in Jacó. Seafood-focused menu, excellent wine list, consistent execution, and the kind of attentive service that’s rare in a surf town. This is where you go when you want a proper nice dinner but you’re not at the resort. Ask about daily specials, the kitchen does better work when they’re improvising.
Price range: $22-38 per entrée
Reservations: Recommended for dinner

El Novillo Alegre: Argentine steakhouse. Serious cuts of beef, wood-fired grill, and the most reliable high-end option in Jacó if you’re committed to eating steak. The skirt steak with chimichurri is what you order, and the Argentines in the room will approve.
Price range: $20-40
Reservations: Weekends get busy

Breakfast (Where to Start the Day

Green Room) Healthy breakfast bowls, benedicts, burritos, fresh juice, outdoor seating, and live music in the evenings. This is the place locals actually go for breakfast, which is the highest endorsement a breakfast spot can get in a beach town. Open all day.
Price range: $8-14

Soda Jaco Rustico: Traditional Costa Rican breakfast: gallo pinto (rice and beans), eggs, fried plantains, fresh fruit, tortillas. Packed with locals, which means it’s good and it’s cheap. Under $8.

El Cafecito. The best coffee in Jacó. Pour-over, espresso, blended drinks, pastries, paninis. If coffee matters to you, this is the only place you need to know.
Price range: $3-10

The Middle (Good Options When the Top Tier Is Full

Taco Joint) Build-your-own tacos and burritos, good craft beer selection, chill atmosphere. Nothing revolutionary, but it’s reliable and affordable when you just want something simple and satisfying.
Price range: $8-14

Sabres Kosher: Kosher Middle Eastern food. Falafel, shakshuka, dolmas, hummus. Everything is excellent, and it’s the only kosher option on the coast if that matters to you. Light lunch or full dinner.
Price range: $9-18

SER Restaurant: Fully plant-based, but even meat-eaters rave about it. Fresh, inventive, and the kind of place that makes you forget you’re not eating meat. Good atmosphere, reasonable prices.
Price range: $12-20

Budget Wins

The Pizza Shop: Jacó’s go-to for affordable, quality pizza. Many people order it and bring it to the beach for sunset, which tells you everything you need to know about the quality-to-price ratio.
Price range: $8-14

Soda Jaco Rustico: Same soda mentioned under breakfast. Also serves traditional casados (rice, beans, meat, salad, plantains) for lunch and dinner. Buffet-style, you pick what looks good. $6-10.

The One Experience: Adventure Dining

This isn’t a restaurant, it’s a full experience. A driver picks you up, takes you to a hilltop property with manicured gardens and Pacific views. Welcome drinks, open bar, appetizers, three-course dinner, coffee, dessert. Reservations required. This is a once-per-trip splurge, and it costs around $85 per person all-in.

It’s not for everyone, the format is fixed, you can’t just pop in, and it’s expensive. But if you want a special occasion dinner where someone else handles every detail, this is the best option in the Central Pacific.

What I Cut (And Why)

This guide originally listed 25+ restaurants. I cut it down to the 15-20 that are actually worth recommending because a long list isn’t helpful. It’s paralyzing. Here’s what didn’t make the cut and why:

Generic breakfast cafes: Jacó has a dozen places serving acai bowls and smoothies. They’re all fine. Gaia, Mary’s Diner, and several others work if the places listed above are full, but they’re not different enough to warrant their own sections.

Unverified restaurants: Several restaurants listed in early drafts (Ti-Ko, Ohana Sushi, Amara, Karma Cafe, others) either couldn’t be verified as currently operating or had inconsistent information. When you’re publishing a dining guide, one wrong restaurant kills your credibility. Better to omit than guess.

Bars that are just bars: The Beer House, Puddlefish Brewery, and others are fine for drinks, but if you’re reading a dining guide, you’re looking for where to eat dinner, not where to drink until 2:30 AM.

If you want the full universe of Jacó restaurants, TripAdvisor has 100+ listings. This guide is for people who want someone to make the call and say: eat here first, here second, skip the rest unless you’re staying for a month.

Practical Information You Actually Need

Price Ranges Decoded

Budget ($6-12 per person): Sodas, local spots, casados. You’re eating where Costa Ricans eat, and you’re getting full for the cost of a latte back home.

Mid-Range ($12-25 per person): Most restaurants in Jacó and Marina Village. Fresh seafood, pasta, burgers, sushi, international cuisine. Good ingredients, solid service, comfortable settings.

Upscale ($25-45+ per person): Steakhouses, fine dining, resort restaurants. Imported beef, wine lists, tablecloths.

Critical detail: All restaurant bills in Costa Rica automatically include a 10% service charge and 13% sales tax: that’s 23% added to your subtotal before the bill hits the table. The 10% service charge goes to the staff, so you don’t need to tip extra unless service was exceptional. An additional 5-10% is increasingly common in tourist areas and always appreciated, but it’s optional.

Reservations: When You Need Them

Most casual and mid-range spots in Jacó don’t take reservations: you just show up. But for these places, call ahead:

• Lanterna Italian Steakhouse (Los Sueños) (Weekends and high season
• Adventure Dining (Jacó)) Required, limited seating
• Graffiti Restro Cafe (Jacó) (Recommended for dinner
• El Novillo Alegre (Jacó)) Recommended for weekends

High season (December through April) sees the most demand. If you’re visiting during Christmas, New Year’s, or Easter week, book a few days in advance for any upscale restaurant.

Hours & Timing

Many restaurants close earlier than you’d expect: even in Jacó, some kitchens shut down by 9 or 10 PM. Plan dinner before 8 PM if you want full menu access. Sodas often close by 7 or 8 PM. The Marina Village restaurants stay open until 10 PM consistently.

Cash vs Card

Most established restaurants accept credit cards, but beachfront sodas and smaller spots often prefer cash (colones or USD). Carry small bills. ATMs are plentiful in Jacó, less so in Herradura.

The Thursday Farmers Market

Los Sueños Marina Village hosts a weekly farmers market Thursday afternoons (3-7 PM). Fresh produce, prepared foods, local artisans, and better prices than resort restaurants. Bring cash.

What About [Restaurant X]?

If a restaurant isn’t on this list, it’s because either:

1. I couldn’t verify it’s currently operating
2. It’s fine but not different enough to warrant space
3. I haven’t eaten there enough times to recommend it confidently

A dining guide should have opinions. This is mine: eat at these places first, in roughly this order, and you’ll have excellent meals. If you stay long enough to exhaust this list, you’re either living here or you should be.

The Bottom Line

You’re not going to go hungry in the Central Pacific. Between Los Sueños’ polished resort dining, Herradura’s unpretentious beachfront seafood, and Jacó’s dense restaurant grid, you’ll find meals that range from $6 casados to $85 tasting-menu experiences.

But here’s what matters: Lanterna and El Pelícano are the two restaurants you absolutely don’t skip. Lanterna for a nice dinner when you want resort convenience and consistent execution. El Pelícano for the most authentic beachfront seafood experience within 10 minutes of Los Sueños. Everything else is context-dependent: what you’re craving, who you’re with, how much you want to spend.

Save this guide. Screenshot the restaurant names. And when you’re standing on your villa terrace at 6 PM wondering where to eat. You’ll already know.

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Staying in Los Sueños, Herradura, or Jacó? Nest Stays manages luxury vacation rentals across the Central Pacific coast, with full concierge service to help you book reservations, arrange private chefs, or find that perfect beachfront lunch spot. Browse our Los Sueños vacation rentals or explore the Jacó area guide for more on the town. See our Herradura area guide for the full beachfront dining scene in context.