Mother Earth Vegan Hotel is one of the first all vegan hotels in Costa Rica. This Costa Rican vegan hotel has the only plant-based restaurant in Tamarindo, Guanacaste, Costa Rica, and this vegan hotel in Costa Rica also excludes the use of all animal products. This Tamarindo vegan hotel provides you with complementary vegan toiletries, an animal free mattress, and animal free-furniture. And to add to the amazingness of this all, this vegan hotel in Costa Rica is a 20 minute walk from the beach.
Before I begin this review, I aim to be transparent regardless of my experiences. My experience should never deter you from visiting a place, nor should it make you feel forced to visit somewhere. You should make your own informed decision, and if there is an experience you want to indulge in, and if you have the ability to do it, go for it!
Although I stayed at this vegan hotel in Costa Rica in 2022, I have seen recent unanimous reviews arise from 2023 in a veg travel forum. It looks as if they are doing some chef training currently as of August 2023, so I hope some of the addressed issues are resolved (ultimately we all aren’t going to like the same thing but these concerns were brought up in the forum). This review will also reflect any changes made since my visit.
ROOM
My room for the summer of 2022 was $350 USD before taxes. Just for future reference, everything at this vegan hotel in Costa Rica runs in USD, from the pricing listed on the website, to the food and service menus in person at the restaurant.
The room at this vegan hotel in Costa Rica has a minimalistic design, and in my opinion, a little too minimalistic given the price of the room. I’m not opposed to minimalist interior design (I find it to be delightful), however, with the gray cement walls, it made the room appear dull and mundane. The only decorative piece was a painting from a local artist (each room has a different piece of artwork). And the mysterious egg looking object and the artificial bamboo plant on the desk shelving seemed misplaced for the design of the room.
There is also a balcony at this vegan hotel in Costa Rica, where you can choose between a non garden view, or a garden view for an additional $50. Being in a country known for its biodiversity, I opted for the garden view. However, I was severely disappointed to see it was just a few plants and then a concrete sidewalk, and then the concrete wall behind it. The non garden view balconies also had plants in front of them. Some were near the pool. For the “near the pool” rooms, you’d need to peep your head through the plants to see the pool (assuming you can see it), but at least there won’t be concrete. The pool is quiet and tranquil, besides live music on certain nights and music from the restaurant (although neither are loud). So being around a loud pool isn’t a concern I’d have in a future booking (this is coming from a noise sensitive person) and I’d go for the non garden view as the garden view simply wasn’t worth the extra $50 for me personally. I did enjoy the rocking chairs on the balcony though, and as of the summer of 2023, there are now hammocks on all of the balconies too! Here’s the non-garden view rooms below along with one of the walking paths filled with plants throughout the property (no views of the walking paths from the rooms though!).
The mattress is more on the softer side than on the firmer side, but not to the point where it will swallow you when lying down. It was comfortable, especially with the heavenly duvets provided. It’s personally one of the best duvets I’ve been provided at a hotel, ever. And it added to the cozy feeling during slumber time at this vegan hotel in Costa Rica.
The room also had a desk with some type of plastic woven looking design. Although intriguing looking, I didn’t find it comfortable to sit in for long periods of time as my butt eventually sank into the chair. Also on top of the desk is some complimentary coffee, and snacks available for purchase. And inside the desk was a mini fridge with drinks and beers. The cheapest beer was $8 (pre-inflation), which people told me was overpriced for the brands they were providing, even for an import (I don’t drink so I’ll take people’s word for it).
The bathroom is a tight fit, with just enough space for the toilet and the small shower. There is an ADA (American Disabilities Act) room if needed, which should have a larger bathroom if needed. The sink is outside the bathroom and is in the entryway of the room. As with vegan hotels, vegan toiletries are provided. Although for some reason when “vegan sunscreen” was advertised as an amenity, I took it as it was going to be free, but that’s $15 for a small bottle.
Other amenities at this vegan hotel in Costa Rica included $20 for a small bag of laundry, to $75 for a migraine pressure relief strip (I think it’s reusable at least!).
One highlight to note is the lightning fast wifi speeds at the property. In my room, I consistently got wifi speeds around 180 for both download and upload speeds, making this a great place to get some work done if needed.
Also when I checked in, I received a welcome treat: bread with hummus, mushrooms, and pico de gallo; along with a hibiscus drink.
RESTAURANT
This vegan hotel in Costa Rica also has the only vegan restaurant in Tamarindo called The Grid. Meant to be a more “upscale” dining experience, you’ll find white tablecloths, ambient jazz music to tunes you most likely know (anyone down to hear “Love Me Like You Do” with a bomb violin and saxophone cover anyone?!). And you can either dine next to the pool or farther away under lighted seating (all seating is outdoors).
The breakfast is complimentary at the vegan hotel, with three options to choose from, However there are additional breakfast items to choose from at an additional cost. Non guests can also dine at the restaurant and pay for the complimentary breakfast, or for the other breakfast menu items.
Complimentary breakfast options:
-Tico Breakfast: a traditional Costa Rican plate of beans, rice, fried plantains, avocado, pico de gallo, and tortillas
-American Breakfast: fluffy vegan pancakes drizzled in agave, strawberries, and vegan butter
-Healthy Breakfast: fruit bowl with homemade vegan banana ice cream (nice cream)
All of the complimentary breakfast options come with either a smoothie or a juice, and also come with a fruit plate.
I opted for the two first options during my stay in Costa Rica at this vegan hotel, and paid for a chickpea omelet on my last day.
I found both complimentary breakfast options I ordered to be tasty!
The pancakes were indeed fluffy, and soft. I also enjoyed the agave twist as I’m used to maple. And the fresh strawberries added a lovely tangy yet sweet twist to the dish.
And the tico which included beans, rice, potatoes, plantain, pickled onion, pico de gallo, and tortillas had a variety of flavors occurring on the plate. Not as strong as other casados, but I enjoyed the dish and would easily eat it again in a heartbeat. I also had a mango smoothie, but found it to be icy.
Taste wise, the omelet wasn’t bad. It was stuffed with mushrooms, yellow and red bell peppers, and onion. It didn’t taste like egg (nor did it claim it did, I just have a horrible habit of associating “egg” with the word “omelet”). I’d describe it more so as a thick veggie and mushroom pancake. Texture wise, it was dense and very chewy. Ignoring the texture, I did enjoy the omelet. Also I only was offered a juice and fruit on the day I purchased my omelet, as opposed to the other two days where I also got complimentary tasty Costa Rican coffee and a delicious, soft, chocolate croissant.
Several nights a week, this vegan hotel in Costa Rica also hosts themed cuisine nights such as Asian night where they’ll serve up sushi; Italian night; and the night I decided to visit: it was Paella night. I wasn’t checked in as a guest (I stayed in Tamarindo elsewhere for several nights), so I needed to RSVP for this event, which involved emailing the hotel (I’ll discuss the communication issues further down in the post – but if you’re already in Tamarindo, you may just want to walk to the restaurant to RSVP as a precaution; I also discuss the location further down).
I love the open concept where the food is cooked in front of you, and also the live music show that occurs during Paella (Saturday) nights.
I also had to wait an hour and a half for my paella while guests were being served. I informed the waiters I made a reservation for Paella night and waited, and waited, and waited, while guests from an on-site yoga retreat got served. Eventually the owner of the vegan hotel in Costa Rica saw me waiting and told me I needed to inform the waiters that I wanted paella (but that was the reason I was already seated, I also would find it suspicious for a non guest at a small hotel to be sitting at a hotel for 1.5 hours, and would be concerned if someone is sitting that long without food, but whatever). She apologized, and gave me another drink of the original drink I ordered, the 2nd on the house.
Once I was checked into the vegan hotel, customer service became wayyyyyyyyy better – to the point where it became a pro of the hotel .
The paella included mushrooms and veggies such as red and yellow bell peppers, artichokes, green and yellow squash, onion, and also included garbanzo beans (chickpeas) – and obviously rice. The dish also came with house gluten free bread. The hour and a half wait unfortunately wasn’t worth the paella, nor was it worth the 15 minute walk I did up the hill to get the (personal opinion) overhyped dish. To put it kindly, it was bland. The bread also had an odd consistency I couldn’t get past. I also ordered a mango mule mocktail, and the ginger was overpowering to the point where I couldn’t enjoy the beverage (and I had two 😅).
To make the food review as simple as possible, I’ll present it in the order I ate the food at this vegan hotel in Costa Rica.
For my first day’s lunch in Costa Rica at the vegan hotel, I had vegan crab cakes and a tropical smoothie. And as a mid-afternoon snack I had a strawberry shortcake.
The crab cakes alone weren’t bad, and thankfully the tarter sauce really brought out the flavor of the dish. However, there was this pesto-like sauce I wasn’t fond of. Otherwise, I did enjoy the crab cake with the sauces. I also appreciated how it held up and didn’t crumble.
Also the tropical smoothie was refreshing and wasn’t icy like the previous smoothies, and the strawberry shortcake was amazing. I’m cautious when I use the word amazing, but the frosting was fluffy and wasn’t overly sweet, and the cake was moist and had a lovely strawberry flavor. Wow. That was a redemption to the paella night fiasco that occurred.
For dinner I had a mushroom and squash dish topped with a “sauce”. Oh no… we took one step forward and two steps backwards! 😩 It was extremely chewy, and the sauce just ended up being a chunky tomato based sauce, and the dish was topped with a few arugula leaves. I also ordered some buffalo cauliflower wings. The wings weren’t breaded, so it was just the cauliflower coated in the sauce. The taste of the sauce had a nice spice to it, but the consistency of the sauce didn’t pair well with the cauliflower. It seemed near slimy. I also ordered this chocolate smoothie, which was too icy for me to enjoy the taste of (the chocolate taste was very mild from what I could taste anyway). Oh well, another day, another set of better dishes at this vegan hotel in Costa Rica (one can hope at least).
For the second day in Costa Rica at this vegan hotel, I decided to have lunch elsewhere given the hit and miss with the dishes along with the hefty price tags (I’ll spill that tea later like I spilled my dollars 😬👀☕). However due to the physical activity I did earlier that day, I needed some linner.
As pasta was calling my name, the pesto pasta was the perfect option on the menu! It included fettuccine noodles coated in pesto sauce, and topped with small pieces of veggies such as zucchini and bell peppers. And it came with cashew parmesan.
Unfortunately my disappointment continued with the food as the pesto sauce was oily, making the noodles slippery, and to make matters worse, there was no pesto flavor. 😩
For dinner, I decided to go with the Philly cheese steak, which uses mushrooms as the meat base. The dish was unfortunately so heavy on the mushrooms to the point where it literally tasted like a mushroom sandwich, and the mushroom taste dominated over the cheese and onions the sandwich was topped with.
As I had a lovely experience with the last dessert, I decided to order another dessert: tiramisu. It was lovely plated and came with a strawberry on the side. I hate to continue being the bearer of bad news and feel like I should stop my fingers from typing at this point, but for the review’s sake, the tiramisu, didn’t taste like tiramisu. There wasn’t a coffee taste, which surprised me considering we were in Costa Rica. It tasted more so like a lightly sweetened vanilla cake. Now it did taste delicious with the strawberry, BUT, it was not tiramisu.
I was hesitant to have my third and final day’s lunch in Costa Rica at the vegan hotel but decided to go for it anyway as I was already lounging by the tranquil pool with a tasty mocktail (side note: this is the best bathrobe I’ve ever worn, so comfortable 😍; the hotel sure didn’t cut corners with the amenities).
I ordered the veggie pizza. I was surprised it didn’t come with cheese as every vegan restaurant I’ve been to has cheese (yes I’m aware marinara pizza in Italy traditionally comes without cheese, but the menu seemed very “Western International” here). Not that it was an issue, just an observation.
I’m glad I ordered my lunch at the hotel, it was the best meal I had at the restaurant! The dough was so soft, and the tomato sauce was flavored with a variety of herbs, and the veggies and mushrooms added an additional punch of flavor. Sometimes, simplicity is the best.
For dessert I had a lime tart with banana ice cream. For starters, the banana ice cream was in reality frozen nice cream (where you take frozen bananas, and pulse them to make a healthier version of an ice cream, typically people add cocoa powder or other fruits to hide the banana flavor). The ice cream did deliver on the banana flavor as it was powerful. The ice cream wasn’t too sweet, and it was refreshing. But it wasn’t creamy like ice cream, it definitely was a nice cream. Anyway, the lime tart was delicious! It had a great balance of a citrus taste and the lime filling was gooey inside the tart. And the crust of the tart was crunchy, which I enjoyed.
For my last linner in Costa Rica at the vegan hotel (give me a break – I did an intense swim (aka run out of breath after a few laps)), I had the Beyond sausage skewers. They were grilled, and were tasty, but weren’t unique. The Beyond sausage was mildly dry, and I think a sauce would’ve taken these up a notch. It was just Beyond sausage, and veggies grilled, with a couple of typical seasonings.
And for dinner, I decided to eat elsewhere given the mixed food experiences at the on site restaurant.
POOL
The pool area is a highlight of the vegan hotel in Costa Rica. With its waterfall feature adding aquatic sounds, along with the ambient jazz music, it’s a wonderful environment to destress at. You can also place your orders at the pool; just flag a waiter down. They also will bring you a cup of water when you’re at the pool and keep it filled, which I thought was a lovely touch customer service wise. The only downside is the pool itself isn’t leveled the same depth throughout, it’s at a slant. Some of the pool is too shallow for swimming, so you can’t do as long of a lap as it seems. And you’ll need to be careful with your knees when doing the laps because it’s easy to scrape them against the pool ground with this design when swimming from the deep end (with the wall to push yourself) to the lighter end.
COST
Let’s discuss the price of food at this vegan hotel in Costa Rica! The average cost of an entree is $25-30. You then pay VAT on the price of the entree, and then a 10% service fee on the entree price too. This suddenly makes the range go from $29-$35. Add a non-alcoholic beverage and your meal could be nearly $50. I estimated to spend about $100 a day on food before fees, assuming I’d order lunch and dinner each day, and that each meal would have an appetizer or dessert. While I’m aware the dining experience is different at Mother Earth Vegan Hotel/The Grid, for a price comparison, the most I paid outside the vegan hotel for vegan food in Tamarindo, Costa Rica was $10, and the restaurant was on the beach.
Besides the mildly upscale ambience, I don’t understand the wide pricing gaps of local restaurants versus the hotel. This isn’t a complaint, just an observation (and a question). I think if the food delivered in taste, I wouldn’t be emphasizing the price as much. Taste vs the cost of food has been one of the primary issues I’ve seen people address.
LOCATION
While the vegan hotel is a 20 minute walk from one of the most popular beaches in Costa Rica, it’s not without its challenge. There’s a few steep slopes you’ll have to trek to get to and from the hotel, and the road near the hotel is not well lit. If accessibility is an issue, or if walking alone is a concern, I recommend having a taxi on dial prepared.
COMMUNICATION (OR LACK OF)
The other issue that has been pointed out by several people (with some travellers not going all together because of this unfortunately), and where I had issues myself was attempting to reach this vegan hotel in Costa Rica via email. It took me two months to get a response to one email and one month for another. I also tried Instagram which took two months and I ultimately had to comment publicly on an Instagram post of theirs to get their attention.
Also, I scheduled a taxi with them which was confirmed. But the taxi driver never showed up the day of to my other hotel in Tamarindo. They attempted to contact the taxi driver but they never answered. I also asked my other hotel to call a taxi and they weren’t able to get their taxi person (wonder if it was the same person). The taxi driver isn’t their employee and this isn’t their fault, but it is frustrating to ultimately have to do a trek to the hotel with luggage (which also involved some steep hills).
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
The hotel outside of the shortly lasting high season in the town mainly has guests from yoga retreats that are being held at the hotel (and then those are sold as packages by the organizer). So those focusing on well-being may not pay much attention to the room, and view the food as being open to new cuisine (85% of guests are non-vegan). Additionally the hotel has the only vegan restaurant in town, which to many locals may be seen as a luxury. But for those of us that are travelling and are seeking for a vegan hotel in Costa Rica to relax at and indulge in some flavorful treats, I can see how this can potentially fall short.
Most of the reviews on Google Maps are positive, so don’t let my (severely) mixed review deter you from experiencing the first vegan hotel in Costa Rica. Despite my review, I’m still willing to visit again if the hotel prices drop (at one point, my same room was $200 during the high season), and if the breakfast stays included (I’d eat lunch and dinner elsewhere). The tranquility of the hotel, and the kind and attentive staff (as a checked-in guest) is something I’d love to experience again (and hopefully next time, enhanced taste in food and improved communication).
