Restaurant Spotlight: Monteverde Beer House

Published July 15, 2015

Monteverde Beer House, located just down the hill from Centro Comercial and the Herpetarium in Santa Elena. Open daily 11:00-22:00, phone 2645-6943.

While most people probably do not imagine eating Middle Eastern food in rural Costa Rica, the cuisine at the Monteverde Beer House, a new restaurant in Santa Elena that opened at the beginning of 2015, is a pleasant diversion from more traditional Latin American fare. The restaurant features an indoor and two outdoor spaces (a small front porch and a large side porch), with a rustic contemporary décor.

I went for dinner on a Sunday evening, and started with the Goat Cheese Labneh appetizer (₡3200), a tangy goat cheese the consistency of greek yogurt, drizzled with olive oil and topped with cucumbers. The accompanying beer bread was steaming hot on arrival. It was a generous portion of the cheese spread. I did ask for a tiny bit more bread and it was no problem getting more; the server/owner brought me an entire new plate of five slices.

My falafel entrée (₡4900) had a great texture, crunchy on the outside and moist on the inside. The garlic french fries were a delicious surprise, and the salad was fresh and crisp. The bowls of hummus and yogurt were deceptively smaller than they appeared at first glance (the dishes are flat and shallow) so there was less of those than expected, but both were tasty.

I managed to order the last Adamá Stout (₡2300), the beer that is brewed on site; all of the other beer selections were from a craft brewery in San Jose. The stout tasted of nuts and dark roasted coffee. It was not as rich as the beer I usually drink, but it was still flavorful.

Service was routine and amicable. The owner alternated between bringing out food and busing tables, and standing on the patio handing out flyers to passersby and inviting them to the restaurant. At the end of my meal, I enthusiastically asked the owner when more of their in-house beer would be available (I had hoped to include that information here), but he dismissively replied that he didn’t know, as if I’d asked him a strange question. It was the only odd part of my otherwise friendly interactions with him.

The appetizer, entrée, and beverage came to ₡12930 after the 13% tax and 16% service charge, which is about USD $24.25.