Monthly Archives: September 2012

Barca del oro is a restaurant and hotel located on Las penitas bay. You can see Isla Juan Venado from your dining table. It is offers great views of the bay from a cozy well planted garden. It is one of the best restaurants in las penitas and offer a good selection of food. The prices are average for the area and the service is usually good although it can be a bit slow at times.

Map to Barca Del Oro

Barca Del Oro Menu

The menu at Barca del oro is based around meat and fish but also offer other types of sea food, pasta and sandwiches. The food is well made and taste good. The food here contains more herbs and spices than most other restaurants. It is not spicy but flavorful.

They have a good selection of wines for the area.

Prices

Barca del oro offer food at prices in line with most other restaurants in the area. They are not cheap but not expensive either.

Overall

Barca del oro is a popular restaurant and a popular hotel. When you are there it easy to see why. It is one of the most inviting restaurants in the area and the view of the bay and Isla Juan Venado is stunning. The food is well prepared according to your preferences and tastes well. The service is usually good but can be slow. This is especially true on very busy or very slow days.

In the end it is the wonderful inviting tropical atmosphere that makes this restaurant as good as it is.

We Recommended Barca Del Oro to:

This restaurant can be recommended to anyone but it is particularly suited to those who wants to spend a day swimming in the bay (which is safer than the beach). You can be in the water 5 seconds after you finish your meal or drink.

 

Suyapa is a restaurant and hotel located on the beach in Las Penitas. It is located very close to Playa Roca. This is the most upscale restaurant in Las Penitas and as such it is also the most expensive restaurant. This does however not mean that you can not go here to eat a cheap meal. Ironically it can be the cheapest restaurant on the beach to eat at if you order the right items from the menu. You can read more about that further down in the article.

The restaurant is large and located right on the waters edge. The restaurant offer 3 different seating alternatives. In the main dinning area, right on the beach under palm roofs and on a second floor with stunning views.

Suyapa is visited by a lot of wealthy Nicaraguans and host a lot of weddings and conferences.

Map to Suyapa

Suyapa Menu

Suyapa has a large menu and offer a more international and upscale menu than the other restaurants in the area. The menu do as you might expect contain a lot of meat and fish. The menu contains some items that offer very good value for money and that makes this restaurant worth a visit even if you are on a tight budget. The key is to look on the menu under appetizers. The item here are cheap and are far from small appetizers. They are in fact very big servings that makes them a great main course and you are likely to find that you will struggle to finish one appetizer. A chicken appetizer with french fries cost about USD5 making it one of the cheapest option on the beach.

They have a decent drink menu and the drinks are well mixed without too much or too little alcohol.

Prices

The prices for most items are in the 10-20 USD range making Suyapa an expensive option (for the area). They do however as described above offer cheap alternatives.

Overall

This is a very nice restaurant that offers good surroundings, nice food and good service.

We Recommended Suyapa to:

We recommend Suyapa to anyone who wants a good meal. It is a good option to anyone who wants an alternative to the food you find in most other restaurants in the area.

Playa Roca is a hotel and restaurant located in the middle of the beach. It is a popular hang out for local expats and Nicaraguans. If you visit Playa Roca on a weekend it is not unusual to see the place full of people enjoying a good meal or a drink among friends. It is beautifully located right on the beach near a natural rock formation that goes out into the water and that has given the place its name.

You can enjoy your meal right on the beach or on the second floor in their rancho giving you an elevated view of the beach. Playa Roca has a Solar back up system in case of power failures and can be a good choice if the area is without power.

Map to Playa Roca

Playa Roca Menu

Playa roca has a diverse menu with a lot of the dishes you expect to find in a typical Nicaraguan restaurant. The menu include a lot of fish, chicken and meat but do have other alternatives as well. They also offer a wide selection of different drinking options. We recommend the meat at Playa Roca.

Prices

The prices as Playa Roca is a little bit higher than the average for Las Penitas and Poneloya. The prices is however still lower than those you expect to pay in the US. Expect to pay around USD 10-12 for a meal with something to drink.

Overall

Our overall opinion of Playa Roca is good. They offer a wide variety of food in a beautiful location on the beach. The service is in line with what you can expect in Nicaragua. Which means good but sometimes a bit slow. Its busy nature do however mean that the noise level can be a bit high at times.

We Recommended Playa Roca to:

Playa Roca is a good choice for people that are looking for a bar more than a restaurant and enjoys when a place is full of people. If you arrive when the place isn’t very busy it can be good for a calm meal but during peak hours you are usually better of going to another restaurant if you want a calm dinner with intimate conversations. If you looking for a fun night with your friends it can be the perfect option. They have the best drink selection on the beach and is a good options if you are heading to drink.

Playa roca has a Solar back up system in case of power failures and can be a good choice if the area is without power

Comedor Bertha is a cheap restaurant located just after you get into Las penitas. It is located close to the beach and you can see the ocean through the garden. If you want to walk down to the beach after you meal you will be there in less than a minute. This restaurant in largely overlooked by the tourist visiting the areas as well as the local expats. You will therefore mainly see Nicaraguans in this restaurant. It does however have a small loyal expat following that enjoy the good cheap food and cheap beer. This restaurant deserves more attention than it gets and is a very good option if you are on a budget, enjoy a good lobster meal or both.

Map to Comedor Bertha

Comedor Bertha Menu

Comedor Bertha offers a good menu with fish, lobster, shellfish, shrimp, meat and chicken. It is unfortunately not unusual that items on the menu cant be served due to them being out of ingredients. This is the price to pay for visiting a small cheap restaurant. You can however usually find something else on the menu that you would like so this is not a problem. Bertha serves good cheap lobster and sea food cocktails. It is rare that they run out of lobster and it is a good choice if you are in the mood for lobster.

The drink menu at berthas is limited.

Prices

The prices at Bertha are very good and below that you will pay in most other restaurants on the beach. Expect to pay around USD 8 for a meal.

Overall

Our opinion of this restaurant is overall good and we think it deserves more attention than it gets despite the fact that they are sometimes unable to serve certain items on the menu and despite the fact that the service is sometimes very slow. The saving grace is that the food is very good , especially the fish and sea food. They also get a plus for being very accommodating if you want to order something not on the menu. We recommend that you ask for their fish finger. They are no longer on the menu but are very good and made from fresh fish caught that morning.

We Recommended Comedor Bertha to:

Bertha is one of the best alternatives for anyone one who wants good food without spending too much. It is also a good option for anyone who wants a more genuine Nicaraguan dinning experience rather than hotel restaurant filled with other tourists. We recommend this restaurant to anyone who wants good food and to all lobster lovers.