Hir Fine Dining - Pinilla

What an exceptional meal in a unique setting. Noam is clearly gifted. Everyone in our group of four was beyond satisfied. I would be considered a foodie, and there were ingredients I’d never heard of before, like crispy fish scales and shredded avocado pit. Do yourself a favor and go.

It took me a few months to put our opinion on but here it goes finally. If you are looking for a different dining experience, in the woods and following the cooking process with a great explanation of each plate as well as getting to know a little your host during the evening and his house, this is a great experience. In our case, maybe because our expectations were high (it was new year's eve and we wanted it to be perfect), but I would say it disappointed us a little. The food was great even if Noam is not a professional cooker, the dishes were interesting and tasty (but not compared to a Michelin star restaurant as some said on their reviews). Noam and Nadia were very kind and welcoming as well. However, we felt cheated with the wine. We got the white one and the red one to share with another couple, in our opinion none of both worth it at all and the cost of each bottle was around 60$ for the red and around 35-40$ for the white. So the next day, we decided to check the real cost of the wine and saw that it cost in the store was less than 10$. Of course in any restaurant, the cost may be around 30-50% higher than in the store and it is normal, but an 80% it's too much in our opinion. Also he didn't have any other drinks like beer for example. We are food lovers and wine lovers. Maybe we got used to the Spanish good wines (quality and price) and this is something more common in the US or Central America, but as said we felt cheated because of this. So my recommendation, bring your own wine. We didn't do it because we understood from Noam that he also had a wine menu of medium level (he said) and if we wanted something really good we could bring ours. Anyway, without this incident we could value it as a good experience but little expensive for the value.

I have booked some weeks before reading Rave reviews that this was once in a lifetime unforgettable experience. it was certain that, but perhaps not the same wise. noam lives away from the beaten, so when they drive themselves, be sure they have the right car. we were welcomed by noam and the other two people we were fed with. noam is very welcoming, but if they are with only a few people dining room and they are terrible, good, they are stuck with terrible business for two plus hours. that is completely outside of noam's control, so simple just warning. we immediately started the 7-course meal and for me there were some hits and mises. as expected. it was not expected that the size of the portions. Yeah, that's a good food. but the portion sizes were essentially useless portions, and it did not help that noam explained how he used to calculate $75 per person, but after he heard how “sweet” was that of his guests, he doubled it. I was shocked. at the end of the meal I thought: “Of course, not the greatest experience, but it is a meal that we will never forget, so best to go on.” and then noam brought our bill. He charged us $25 for corkage because we brought our own champagne, after he told me on the phone that we could bring our own alcohol. I was down. with such an intimate, personal experience it felt like a pure money. this is not an actual culinary experience in a restaurant. they eat on a self-proclaimed “not a cook” veranda. that made such a bad taste in my mouth, I paid him $30 (he said he could change me) only as soon as possible to leave. oh, and if you want to buy noams wein, he has $10 bottles he has them $30 for. So they're better off buying his wine.

That was an absolutely amazing experience. in the did it was the highlight of our trip to costa rica. not only is noam a joy, but he really enjoys being part of the experience. not only did he entertain us all the time, but his eating was absolutely extraordinary. if they love to eat fine, but do not love the pomp that comes in the regular with these stuffed restaurants, they will love eating in the open air at hir.

This is a true dining experience of a life time. You MUST do this. You won't be sorry. The food was amazing the host/chef was to die for. I will tell everyone I know to travel to CR just for this.