I have been to Costa Rica just three times, though Scott has a few more trips under his belt.
There are enough restaurants within walking distance in Tamarindo that we could have eaten at a different place each day of our visit. Within driving distance, there are many more to try. However, I find that I have frequented the same places multiple times.
Even though we are relatively new to Tamarindo, I already have my favorites:
Breakfast, already my favorite meal, made even better
Since we’re not yet empty nesters, we make relatively short stays in Tamarindo, often under a week, which makes breakfast a very tough choice among several go-to favorites.
Luckily, all of these are in easy walking distance of Condo Boom, so when we can stay longer, we have all our breakfasts covered.
Café Nordico
Green juice, ice tea and a view at Nordico
My favorite is Café Nordico, in part because I like sitting in their outdoor balcony space people-watching, and in part because the food is so good.
Scott always gets the acai bowl. While I normally don’t like cold breakfasts and get bored with parfait-like bowls after a few spoonfuls, even I could finish even the large acai bowl. It’s definitely the must-order meal if you have only one breakfast to spare.
Acai bowl and cookie at Nordico
I’ve also tried their green juice, pancakes, and what they call an Avocado Eggsplosion, which is an open faced sandwich with poached egg, avocado, and salsa!
Avocado Eggsplosion at Nordico
Café Tico
We heard good reviews about Café Tico, and we have never been disappointed. I always get the Tico breakfast – eggs and pico de gallo (rice and beans). Scott usually gets the breakfast burrito.
The outdoor seating is charming, and it’s right next to an independent bookstore, which is like dining next to a unicorn given the fate of booksellers in the US.
La Bodega
We stumbled onto La Bodega because it was near the first hotel we stayed at in Tamarindo. I like having hot breakfasts, and La Bodega makes it easy to mix and match different items – avocado instead of a breakfast meat, or skipping the eggs altogether for another protein.
Their pastries are always good, and there is a store with different take-out, grocery and small souvenir items. Definitely try the homemade peanut butter.
Nogui’s
Nogui’s serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, and I love their dessert pies so I suppose I could have put this in the comfort food section. But I love having breakfast there because they have low tables and chairs right on the sand, so it feels like a picnic on the beach without having to drag all your own stuff!
Beach View at Nogui’s
While I prefer the first 3 breakfast choices above, you can’t beat the location and view here.
Just make sure that if you pay by credit card, you ask them to charge you in colons (Costa Rican currency). This way, you get your credit card’s exchange rate, which is probably going to be better than Nogui’s.
Breakfast Grinds
View of the street and beach at Breakfast Grinds
Scott and I love to start our day with a walk on the beach – just under a mile. Our condo is almost at the end of one side of the beach, and if we get to the other side too famished to walk back before eating, I wouldn’t mind a stop at Breakfast Grinds.
Like Café Nordico, it’s one level above the street so it’s good for people-watching, and for a bonus has a view of the water. The food is very fresh.
My big breakfast at Breakfast Grinds
Crazy good Italian food
Tamarindo attracts expats from around the world, and I’m not sure if there is an inordinate amount of Italian expats, but there definitely seems like an above-average representation of great Italian food.
Enea’s
Enea’s opened middle of 2017, so we caught its early days during my second trip in October 2017. The waiter is one of two co-founders; the other one is the chef, so we’ve never seen him.
The food is amazing. I won’t need to venture past my favorite gnocchi and spaghetti Bolognese, but they have all the usual favorites, including pizza.
La Baula
If you want pizza, definitely go to La Baula. I’ve been there multiple times in the same trip! All they serve is pizza (plus a full drink menu and a few desserts). However, you could have a different pizza every day of the year, and every variety I’ve tried is good.
The seating area with full view of the wood-fired oven makes it spacious but cozy. There is also a playset for the kids, and a picnic table area, which is great for families.
La Esquina
If you want good pizza but more choices like pastas and party appetizers, then opt for La Esquina. Scott prefers the doughier La Esquina pizza, but I’m Team La Baula myself. Regardless, I have not had a bad meal at La Esquina, and it too has a play area for kids.
We had the Hawaiian Pizza, which was really good with pineapple chunks and slices of ham baked in – see photo of the last slice at top of the page!
Homestyle comfort food
I love pico de gallo, plantains, and the fruit juices like guanabana that I think of Tico-style comfort food. But I’m still primarily a meat and potatoes, comfort food eater. Luckily, Tamarindo has those types of places too:
Pasta Casera
No, I didn’t forget to include this take out Italian place in the Italian food section because we actually never had their pastas. We get empanadas here.
They’re generously stuffed, so it is more of a calzone-like filling within an empanada shell, even more so when you order one of the empanadas that contain cheese. They even have a Nutella empanada, which we had for dessert.
Surf Shack
For burgers, fries and milkshakes, Surf Shack hits the spot. The surfboards aligning the walls are very fitting as it’s steps from the beach, and their giant old dog looking for scraps while going from table to table is like having a restaurant mascot.
Longboards
Another surf-décor comfort food spot which focuses on barbecue items, this place has a wider variety than Surf Shack. Scott and I shared a platter, and it was still too much. The fish was amazing.
Our BBQ platter at Longboards
I didn’t have room to order my own entrée, but when I saw the friend chicken come to the table next to us, I regretted being too full. Next time!
The Yucca chips at Longboards were also fantastic
Asian Fusion
This outdoor food stand serves Filipino food and sushi – you really can get everything in tiny Tamarindo. The owners are Filipino, and the food is very authentic. It’s a tiny menu – just pancit, lumpia and various sushi rolls – but everything we tried was delicious.
Asian Fusion was previously located in the old food court on the main street near Sharkey’s, but has moved to the brand new El Mercadito food court, which is very spacious and pleasant.
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I’m getting hungry for my next trip. I want to go back to all these places, but I also want to add new reviews to the list.
We also have to check out the food options in Langosta, since our Casa Salita is there!
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UPDATE: After spending a month in Tamarindo in September 2019, we added another 12 favorite restaurants to our list. Check it out!
We are Scott and Caroline, 50-somethings who spent the first 20+ years of our adult lives in New York City, working traditional careers and raising 2 kids. We left full-time work in our mid-40’s for location-independent, part-time consulting projects and real estate investing, in order to create a more flexible and travel-centric lifestyle. 
Financial independence and early retirement is not something we originally focused on, but over time realized it was possible. Our free report, 
We went to Tamarindo in December of 2015 and really enjoyed the food there. We didn’t hit up any of the places you listed, so we will just have to go back!
Yes definitely sounds like you need to go back!