2 Best Restaurants in Guanacaste and the Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica

As soon as you cross the bamboo bridge, you’ll be instantly transported from a strip mall to an ocean-side Zen garden where the fish is bought fresh from the boats. Try a frozen mojito and start with a seaweed salad and steamed dumplings, then dive into the sashimi and sushi.

North of Santa Teresa, this trendy sushi place off a dusty dirt road is one of the most popular restaurants in the area. Fabulous sushi, sashimi, and tempura are carefully crafted, and there's a daily blackboard menu featuring hand rolls and wraps. About 30 wood tables are scattered around a gravel-bottomed, Zenlike garden, with palm trees and a stand of bamboo. The decor is mainly votive candles, flaming torches, and tin-can hanging lamps. There's also tempura shrimp, beef tenderloin, and ginger-pork main dishes. Vegetarians can order spring rolls and steamed vegetables with quinoa, but it hardly seems worth it to make the trip here unless you are going to chow down on fish and seafood. To wash it down, there are coconut-milk fruit shakes, sake, Costa Rican craft beer, and notably expensive wine.