When you visit Costa Rica and you want good local food, you have to eat at a soda. Trust me. You haven’t experienced real Costa Rica if you don’t eat at a soda. Oh and no I don’t mean eat next to a pop can.
Sodas are what Costa Ricans call restaurants that are usually open space, smaller and serve typical food. Every town you visit in Costa Rica has a soda, guaranteed. Most of them hang a Pepsi or Imperial sign outside and you’ll see something like “Soda Tipica” and that is where you want to go if you want to eat where the locals eat.
Sometimes they may be kind of dingy looking, with that hole in the wall feel but that’s what makes it even more of an enjoyable experience.
Usually when Yeison and I are on the road and are hungry, that’s what we’ll look for. They’re normally cheaper than a standard restaurant and there’s nothing better than cheap delicious food!
Eating at a Soda in Costa Rica
Eating in a soda in Costa Rica is best and only way to get a taste of true Costa Rican food and a glimpse into the life of a Tico.
Sodas are usually set up two ways: buffet or menu. We personally like buffet style because they typically have a bunch of different choices so it’s easy to find something you like.
This way also gives more options to vegetarians than plain ole casados which can get boring after awhile. Buffets usually serve more food too or they have dedicated days for certain dishes like olla de carne or other things.
A typical menu for a soda in Costa Rica goes like this: entradas (appetizers), platos tradicionales (traditional food) casados, pasta, arrozes (arroz con pollo/mariscos/camarones/calamares) and platos fuertes. Platos fuertes are usually a whole fish, steak, the special of the day or something like that.
For drinks, they usually have sodas and natural juices like cas, mora and strawberry.
And another thing sodas usually have are chileras which are pickled spicy vegetables. If you like spicy food, you have to try this! Great addition to any traditional Costa Rican dish.
Eating at a Costa Rican soda is probably one of the best ways to get to know the locals and meet people. It’s easy to spot sodas and you can find them everywhere, even if you’re driving on what seems to be a road into the middle of nowhere, you’ll find a soda.
Check out what this soda in Costa Rica is like! This is a 360 video so move your cursor around in the video.
Want to learn how to cook like a Costa Rican? Check out these recipes!
Or find out what dishes you should eat in Costa Rica!
Don’t forget to pin this post “What is a soda in Costa Rica” to Pinterest!
Hi Sammi,
Thanks for the informative article. My family and I are going to Costa Rica, (the pacific side) along with my 70 year old dad. No one in my family speaks Spanish. I spoke enough to get by in restaurants, etc, when I was younger, but haven’t practice it much in 20 years. I’m well travelled and as such I assume that most areas in the country that get a lot of tourists will likely speak at least some English. How important is it that I brush up on my Spanish before getting there? I know better than to just expect the locals to speak English to me just to accommodate my lack of Spanish ability, and I know that in many countries, attempting their language is seen as polite and humble. Is this a big deal?
Thanks again!
Justin L.
Hi Justin! Costa Rica is a very touristic country, especially the Pacific side so you will find most of the locals speak English (and many of them excellent English) since they work in the tourism industry. You can get by without knowing any Spanish but it is always helpful to know some phrases as a courtesy and for fun since the locals love to joke and teach people some COsta Rican sayings. I wrote a guide to basic but important words and phrases in Spanish, particularly Costa Rican Spanish that it helpful: https://mytanfeet.com/travel-tips/learn-speak-spanish-fast-online/ We also made our own pocket guide you can download and print out 🙂
Sammi, thank you so much for the very rapid response and also the educational link! I will definitely check it out and use it! I appreciate your site and again I am very impressed that you keep up with the user questions/comments so quickly! Have a great day!
Hi Justin, you are very welcome! We’re glad the blog is useful and we try to do our best to help everyone have an awesome time in Costa Rica. If there is any Spanish phrases to learn before you visit, it’s pura vida! The ultimate saying of Costa Rica, you’ll hear it everywhere and all the locals will say it to you. It directly means pure life but the connotation is like thanks, hi, or anything with good vibes 🙂
Hi Allen, yes! There are plenty of taxis in Coco and you can take tours from Coco that include transportation so they will pick you up at your hotel. Let us know if you’d like recommendations for tour companies, here is a list of our favorite things to do around Coco: day trips from Playas del Coco
If I stay in coco without a car is there tours and cabs
We will be in La Fortuna in just a few days! Will keep an eye out for the Bus Stop Soda and Tico Soda…thanks for the info!
You’re welcome, hope you like it!
I am going this spring for our honeymoon. I am VERY allergic to all seafood…we are planning on eating things we fix ourselves in the condo but I would love to try some traditional food. Any tips to make sure food isn’t cooked in same pan/with same utensils/ in same oil as seafood dishes?
Hey Jill! I recommend not visiting sodas (the traditional restaurants), they usually fry everything in the same pan, use the same oil and use the same utensils even if you tell them. I would recommend going to a higher end restaurant and the waiter should speak English and you can ask them if the seafood is cooked in the same pan so you can try dishes like rice with chicken or casados. Yeison is very allergic to shrimp and most of the time he is OK, but there have been times when he got a reaction at the local restaurants because they use the same pan for everything so to be safe, avoid those and go to a restaurant in touristic towns as many of them are owned by foreigners and speak English.
i couldnt agree more
How do you say “Orders to go” in Spanish?
If you want to take your food to go, you say “para llevar”
Do these places accept the American Dollar or do we have to pay in Colones?
Hi !
Most of them take USD, the exchange rate might be a little low. If you are in a rural area I would recommend you to ask first but definitely you can use USD in tourist or the main city.
Came back to California from Costa Rica and Panama. First time visit to Central America and had sodas a lot. For example in downtown La Fortuna, we kept on going to one that’s named tico soda. Beef, pork chop, and chicken are all priced the same for 2600 colones each plate. The pork chop with onions cooked fresh. Of course you get choices of many in your plate. Includes passion fruit drink, coffee, or tea. I call it a body building meal! Now I’m looking everywhere for sodas.
Ooh we have been to that one before. My favorite sodas are the ones in La Fortuna and then one in Santa Elena. The bus stop soda in La Fortuna is super good too and cheap! You should try that one next time you go back and then the one across the street and another one around the corner from the supermarket (Super Christian #4). Soo good!
That soda looks fantasticI been to CR many and have never seen one like that. Not caring what kind of food I eat I usually look for a decent place and I don’t think I have ever seen a soda that looks as nice as Los Pelones.
You have to try Sodas and the best ones are the ones where the bus drivers go. Los pelones is great you eat like a king 🙂
Los pelones is pretty nice for a buffet style soda and it’s super good! Sometimes you’ll find sodas that don’t look as good…(we’ve experienced those) and others that are super nice.
We hear Costa Rica is wonderful – but we haven’t yet visited (though we’d luv to). And when we do, we’ll be sure to check out a soda or two!
It really is an amazing country. Hope you guys make it over here soon!