Restaurants and Bars in the Costa Ballena

International dining and typical Costa Rican meals
From fine international dining to typical Costa Rican meals, your palate will be pleased. Fusion cuisine is very much “in vogue.” It includes preparing traditional or exotic recipes with all the fresh fruits and crispy vegetables that our area offers. Fresh fish is available at many restaurants in Costa Ballena and the South Pacific; ask for the special of the day!
Typical Costa Rican meals are generally wholesome and reasonably priced. Gallo Pinto, the national fried rice and black beans dish, is served as a breakfast. At lunch, the Gallo Pinto becomes a Casado: rice and beans supplemented with cabbage and tomato salad, fried plantains, and meat, fish, or chicken. Beware of black beans and chicharrones (crackling in fried lard), which might be too much for delicate stomachs.
The Olla de Carne is a good alternative if you are hungry for a substantial soup. It is cooked with root vegetables, meat, plantains, and coriander. Ceviche is a refreshing, healthy snack in the afternoon. Our last recommendation is to try a Sopa de Mariscos (seafood soup) in a fish restaurant. Delicious!
Nonalcoholic beverages like smoothies and juices are outstanding for their taste; ask which fruits are available. They will ask you if you want it “en agua” or “en leche”, prepared “with water” or “with milk”. Imported drinks may be expensive, so you might be better off trying the local Costa Rican drinks. "Cerveza" (beer) is a very popular drink, and the most widely available brands are Bavaria, Imperial, and Pilsen. Wines are usually imported from Chile or Argentina. Don´t forget to enjoy a “cafecito”. At some of the typical places, you can have it “chorreado”, manually filtered.
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Ballena Tales is an essential free digital magazine in Costa Rica, valid for travelers, residents, and investors covering Costa Ballena in the Canton of Osa in the South Pacific of Costa Rica. It is a fully bilingual, bi-monthly, and full-color digital magazine.
The magazine introduces the reader to the life of the local community, with interviews of pioneers, writers, and artists, as well as extensive information on restaurants, hotels, experiences, natural attractions, and wildlife of the South Pacific of Costa Rica.
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Bar & Restaurant Jolly Roger
The Jolly Roger Bar recently underwent a comprehensive reform: They added a 40m2 terrace and built a new bar of wood, metal and stainless steel.
There are more TV screens to watch sports events and more benches around the deck overlooking the forest and ocean. In Jolly Roger, where intentionally there is no WiFi, you can enjoy the conversations between friends and the stunning sunsets.
Apart from the list of delicious crunchy wings, the specialty of the place, they expanded the offer with draft beer and an exclusive line of Chilean wine.
Las Rocas de Amancio
By Dagmar Reinhard Photos Isidro Obando Vargas Don Amancio Vargas Obando was born in Guápiles (Limón) and raised in Quepos. He worked with the Banana company, where he also met his future wife, Zaida. He was 26 […]
The Sounds of Nature…
Our workshop for women is enhancing. WE are going to sing together to heal, enjoy, and harmonize our life with nature.
We will learn to listen to the earth, look at nature with new eyes, and discover how Mother Earth creates health and well-being through her sounds.
The Alma de Ojochal Hotel and the Bamboo Room, Ojochal Hotels
The Alma de Ojochal Hotel: One Amazing Venue, Two Kinds of Fun! The mantra at The Alma de Ojochal Hotel and the new Bamboo Room is ‘Ama la Vida’ or ‘Love Life’, in sync with […]
Sibu Good Coffee and Kifli Bread Shop
As lovers of good coffee they saw the need for a cozy place in the area and when the fortunate opportunity of buying and renovating the Sibu coffee shop arose, they made their dream come true. Now in the heart of Uvita, Sibu & Kifli Pan Artesanal offers their specialties-organic coffees, teas and more.
Surfing with the Big Fish
by Trevor Brown In Costa Rica, animals surround us during almost every activity we do. Sometimes they are obvious and sometimes they’re hidden. Surfing is not different. You may not see them, but I assure […]
Mind The Gap!
By Perry Gladstone As the Costa Ballena grows, it attracts people from all walks of life, each of us with his or her own ideas and beliefs of how things work. This is both an opportunity […]
Glass Frogs in Costa Ballena
By César Barrio Amorós A type of frog not very well known is the glass frog. Glass frogs are small and very beautiful; they are an important addition to my night tours, mainly because they […]
Beautiful Products
Simple Tools By Susie Atkinson Basic, crude, primitive – these are all words that may come to mind when one thinks of the humble backstrap loom – a description that obscures the fact that some […]

The Dominical Farmers’ Market
By Trevor Brown The availability of fresh fruits and vegetables is an important aspect of healthy living in Costa Ballena where we are very lucky to have such a wide variety of fresh food. Although […]
Remembering Roger Watson
Roger Watson rode up to Escaleras on horseback 12 years ago, long before the Costanera highway existed, and landed his opportunistic eye on a plot of land. Shortly after, Watson became one of the first […]
Pioneer of the jungle
In 1971, Don Walter Odio returns to Uvita after having studied Animal Science at Louisiana State University, and becomes part of the family enterprise of El Rancho La Merced. Due to his newly acquired know-how, […]
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Email: carlos@ballenatales.com
Phone: +(506) 8946 7134