After spending the morning swimming and playing at Playa Herradura, we walked along the beach that runs parallel to the coastal town of Jaco and decided to sit down for lunch at El Pelicano. It is an open air restaurant serving local Costa Rican style surf and turf. It had great reviews on Yelp, and was particularly inviting from the street with a beautiful tiled floor in the main area and small white rocks covering the floor of the patio with huge umbrella leaf canopies.

Ranking: #cleandiaper

El Pelicano
Puntarenas Province, Playa Herradura, Costa Rica
+506 2637 8910
Hours: Noon – Midnight

El Pelicano, Restaurant, Costa Rica, Playa Herradura, Beaches, Seafood, Diapers On A Plane, diapersonaplane, traveling with kids, family travel

One of the coolest things about El Pelicano is that it is full of wild iguanas! They skitter across the floors and in the plants, defy gravity running up and down the walls and above us on the ceiling. Our children went absolutely crazy trying to chase them and had so much fun trying to spot them hiding all over the restaurant during our meal.

El Pelicano, Restaurant, Costa Rica, Playa Herradura, Beaches, Seafood, Diapers On A Plane, diapersonaplane, traveling with kids, family travel
Shrimp Tacos

Our meal was fabulous, and accommodating for all palettes. All meals come with an open invite to the salad bar. In addition, we ordered the shrimp tacos sauteed with onions and peppers, and the Costa Rican traditional platter with fish. For our twins we ordered the grilled fish of the day, and the cook was more than happy to oblige with our specific requests in regards to grilling it whole, unbreaded and without a lot of spice. For dessert we shared an orange caramel flan that was smooth, creamy and exquisite.

El Pelicano, Restaurant, Costa Rica, Playa Herradura, Beaches, Seafood, Diapers On A Plane, diapersonaplane, traveling with kids, family travel
Caramel Orange Flan
For Kids: El Pelicano not only offers great food, but it has a lively atmosphere. Kids will love watching the iguanas ricochet from one side of the restaurant to the other and play in the rocks that the floor is comprised of.

Everyone left full, and satisfied.  

Nap-Time Version: Great restaurant with ocean views, local food, and iguanas galore.

Check out some of our other favorite places to eat in Costa Rica and the awesome airbnb summer treehouse we lived in for 4 days!