Costa Rican food is not the reason people come here, and locals will tell you so before you have finished asking. It is mild, rice and bean based, and it does not have the depth of Mexican or Peruvian cooking.
What it does have is sodas: small family-run canteens serving a full plate of fresh food for six or seven dollars, in a country where a tourist restaurant will charge four times that for something worse. Understanding that gap is the single most useful piece of food knowledge for a Costa Rica trip, and it is worth several hundred dollars over two weeks.
The quick answer
Eat at: sodas, the local canteens. A casado costs 3,000 to 5,000 colones, roughly 6 to 9 dollars.
Order: casado, gallo pinto, olla de carne, ceviche, and a batido.
Drink: the coffee, which is genuinely world class, and Imperial or a local craft beer.
Caribbean coast: a completely different cuisine built on coconut milk. Do not miss it.
Tipping: a 10 percent service charge is added by law, so extra tipping is optional.
Sodas, and why they matter
A soda is a small, usually family-run restaurant serving traditional Costa Rican food. They are everywhere: in towns, at roadsides, beside markets, often with a handful of plastic tables and a handwritten menu.
The food is fresh, cooked to order, generous and cheap. A casado with a drink runs 3,000 to 5,000 colones. The same meal in a restaurant on the main tourist strip in Manuel Antonio or La Fortuna is 20 to 35 dollars.
They are not hidden and they are not a secret local scene. They are simply what Costa Ricans eat, and visitors walk past them to reach places with English menus and sea views.
Eating one meal a day at a soda is the easiest saving available on a Costa Rica trip.
The dishes
Casado
The national plate, and the thing you will eat most. Rice, black beans, fried sweet plantain, a shredded cabbage or vegetable salad, sometimes a small portion of pasta or picadillo, and a protein: chicken, beef, pork or fish.
The name means married man, referring to the complete home-style meal a wife would traditionally prepare. It is balanced, filling and rarely bad.
Gallo pinto
Rice and black beans cooked together with onion, sweet pepper, coriander and Salsa Lizano, a mildly sweet and tangy vegetable sauce that is on every Costa Rican table and is the closest thing the country has to a signature flavour.
It is the standard breakfast, served with eggs, fried cheese, plantain and tortillas, and it is genuinely good. On the Caribbean coast, the version made with coconut milk is better again.
Nicaragua also claims gallo pinto and the argument is longstanding and unresolved.
Soups and stews
Olla de carne is a beef and root vegetable soup with yuca, chayote, plantain, corn and potato, usually a weekend lunch dish and often enormous.
Sopa negra is black bean soup with a poached egg in it.
Chifrijo is a bar snack of rice, beans, fried pork, pico de gallo and tortilla chips in a bowl, and it is the best thing to order with a beer.
Seafood
Ceviche here is typically corvina, sea bass, cured in lime with finely diced onion, coriander and sweet pepper, served with soda crackers or tortilla chips. Milder and simpler than the Peruvian version.
Whole fried fish at a coastal soda, usually red snapper, with patacones and salad, is one of the best meals in the country.
Patacones are twice-fried green plantain slices, flattened and salted, served as a side or with bean dip.
The Caribbean coast
This is a distinct cuisine and the most interesting food in Costa Rica.
Rice and beans, named in English, is cooked in coconut milk with thyme and a whole scotch bonnet pepper left in for aroma rather than heat. It is not the same as gallo pinto and locals are firm about the distinction.
Rondon is a coconut milk stew of fish, root vegetables and plantain, named from run down, the process of simmering until everything breaks down. It is often made to order and takes hours, so ask ahead.
Patí is a spiced meat turnover, pan bon a sweet dark bread, and jerk-style seasoning appears widely.
Snacks and sweet
Empanadas, arreglados, which are small filled bread rolls, and tamales wrapped in banana leaf, particularly at Christmas.
Tres leches cake, soaked in three milks. Cajeta, a milk fudge. Pan de maiz, a dense corn cake.
Batidos are fruit smoothies made with water or milk, using fruit you may not have met: cas, guanabana, maracuya, mora, tamarindo. Order one at every soda. They cost around 2,000 colones and they are the best thing on the menu.
Coffee
Costa Rica produces genuinely excellent arabica, grown at altitude in Tarrazu, the Central Valley, Naranjo and the West Valley. Since 1989 the country has banned the cultivation of lower-quality robusta outright, which is unusual and says something about the seriousness of the industry.
The chorreador is the traditional brewing method: a cloth sock suspended in a wooden stand, with hot water poured through. It makes very good coffee and you will see it in sodas and at home.
Café con leche is the standard order. Espresso-based drinks are widely available in towns.
Buy coffee to take home from a roaster or a supermarket rather than a souvenir shop. Look for whole beans marked puro, meaning no added sugar, because some cheaper domestic blends contain it. Coffee tours in the Central Valley and Monteverde are widespread and the better ones are genuinely informative about processing rather than being gift shop funnels.
Drinks
Imperial is the national lager, with Pilsen and Bavaria alongside it. Craft brewing has grown substantially, with Costa Rica’s Craft Brewing Company and Treintaycinco widely available.
Guaro is the local sugarcane spirit, sold as Cacique, drunk in shots or in a guaro sour.
Agua dulce is hot water with tapa dulce, unrefined cane sugar, and it is a rural staple.
Fresco natural is fresh fruit juice with water or milk, offered at every soda and usually included in the casado price.
What it costs
Soda casado: 3,000 to 5,000 colones, roughly 6 to 9 dollars.
Batido: 1,500 to 2,500 colones.
Tourist restaurant main: 20 to 35 dollars.
Beer in a bar: 2,000 to 3,500 colones.
Supermarket beer: around a third of that.
Coffee in a café: 1,500 to 3,000 colones.
Prices in tourist areas are frequently quoted in US dollars, which are accepted alongside colones. Pay in colones where you can, because dollar prices are rounded in the vendor’s favour and the exchange rate applied is rarely generous.
Practical notes
Service charge. Restaurants add 10 percent service by law plus 13 percent VAT, and both may appear only on the final bill. Additional tipping is optional. Guides and drivers are tipped separately.
Tap water is safe in most of the country including San José and the main tourist areas. Remote Caribbean and Osa locations are the exceptions.
Spice. Costa Rican food is not spicy. Hot sauce, chilero, is on the table if you want it. Salsa Lizano is not hot.
Vegetarians do well. The casado works without meat, gallo pinto is naturally vegetarian, and rice, beans and plantain are the backbone of everything.
Fruit. Buy from roadside stands and markets. Mango, papaya, pineapple, guanabana and mamon chino, which is rambutan, are all cheap and far better than what is exported.
Sodas close early, often by 7 or 8pm, because they are lunch-focused.
Our Costa Rica travel guide covers overall trip costs, and the regional guide covers where the Caribbean cuisine is found.
Frequently asked questions
What is a soda in Costa Rica?
A small family-run canteen serving traditional food very cheaply. A casado with a drink costs 3,000 to 5,000 colones, roughly 6 to 9 dollars, against 20 to 35 dollars for a comparable plate in a tourist restaurant.
What is a casado?
The national plate: rice, black beans, fried sweet plantain, a shredded salad and a protein such as chicken, beef, pork or fish. The name means married man, referring to a complete home-style meal.
What is gallo pinto?
Rice and black beans cooked together with onion, sweet pepper, coriander and Salsa Lizano, eaten at breakfast with eggs, fried cheese and plantain. The Caribbean version made with coconut milk is a different and arguably better dish.
Is Costa Rican food spicy?
No. The cuisine is mild, and Salsa Lizano, the sauce on every table, is tangy rather than hot. A chilli sauce called chilero is usually available if you want heat.
Is Costa Rican coffee good?
Yes, genuinely world class. The country banned cultivation of lower-quality robusta in 1989, and Tarrazu, the Central Valley and Naranjo produce excellent arabica. Buy whole beans marked puro, meaning no added sugar.
Do you tip in Costa Rica?
Restaurants add a 10 percent service charge by law plus 13 percent VAT, often shown only on the final bill, so additional tipping is optional. Guides and drivers are tipped separately and it is appreciated.
Should I pay in dollars or colones?
Colones where you can. US dollars are widely accepted in tourist areas, but prices quoted in dollars are usually rounded in the vendor’s favour and the exchange rate applied is rarely good.
Is it easy to be vegetarian in Costa Rica?
Yes. Rice, black beans and plantain are the backbone of the cuisine, gallo pinto is naturally vegetarian, and a casado can be ordered without meat at any soda. Fresh fruit and batidos are everywhere and cheap.
