Mother Son Experience - This was an excellent experience! My son (15) and I enjoy learning new foods to cook! Everything is natural and local, the focus was on healthy foods! We started by making a yummy drink, of sugar cane, lime and ginger great for digestion. Then prep for chicken and rice and dessert. While we did a lot of chopping, into tiny tiny pieces I never knew how small I could chop! We were grateful for the owner opening her home and teaching use to cook local recipes from her grandmother. My only suggestion would be to include taxi service. We learned Uber getting home was unreliable also to have a simple sign close to the road pointing folks to her home upon arrival we were a bit confused however a good Uber driver pointed us in the right location. My son got back to the hotel and didn’t stop talking about how amazing the experience was! How he loved the food!

Amazing experience - This was an amazing experience. We loved our chef, she was the absolute best. My wife and I think this was the highlight of our trip. The best food we had in Costa Rica. Would highly recommend doing this, my wife and I will certainly be back the next time we’re in town.

Fun time!! - This was a fun interactive experience. The chef Astanda is full of knowledge and secret ingredients. The location is a bit hard to find so reach out and add the local transportation. We would definitely recommend and we would do this experience again!

100% Costa Rican Food Experience - Fun, interactive, local experience with a delicious and fresh menu from the chef! David and Suzanna created an authentic experience for our family. Excellent hosts and would recommend.

Evening cooking class - Estanda is an amazing chef! Not only did she share the secrets of traditional Costa Rican cooking but she is also kind and funny. The dinner we all prepared together was delicious and healthy, you should definitely go to this class on an empty stomach. I liked that I did not need any cooking experience and could still participate. You should definitely book this one evening and go! It’s a great way to spend an evening after the sun has gone down.

Learn the secret ingredient! - My sister and I wanted to learn how to cook authentic Costarican dishes. We left with more than delicious recipes. We learned the importance of taking your time to cook and its health benefits. Cooking together not only allowed time with loved ones but the opportunity to talk and have fun with your loved ones. Cooking with love is the secret ingredient to a tasty dish. We had a great time cutting up everything "tiny tiny", laughing and dancing. We would definitely do this again! Thank you for the experience.

Authentic cooking in a Costarican kitchen - My sister and I spent a enjoyable evening learning about and preparing Costarican food. What is the key to Costarican food? "tiny tiny"! (inside joke, you had to be there.) We did learn the key ingredients and wrote down the recipes to try at home. We even stopped at the local market to pick up Lizano. Make sure you go on an empty stomache we had no room for dessert by the end of the night. If you're going to Tamarindo it's a must do local experience.

Great night! - Loved learning about the local food. Good food and conversation. Will definitely cook the recipes at home.

Could be more organized to keep to 2-2.5 hour experience - As other reviewers have noted: 1) The experience was over 4 hours. The listing says 2.5. So you should have a snack just before arriving or you will get too hungry. This is really not for kids and young teenagers for this reason or adults who don’t snack beforehand. 2) The host did not prep sufficiently before the class, thus 4-4.5 hours long. This should be more of a demo class versus spending 3+ hours chopping produce in very tiny tiny pieces. I understand that chopping is obviously an important part of the meal prep, but it is too time consuming for the class. She could tell the participants to expect to spend so many minutes chopping for each meal component. We didn’t actually cook on the stove. She and her assistant did, which is fine given it was her home, but we didn’t see what they were doing. Again, this would be better as a cooking demo class with a yummy meal to eat. 3) The host is very nice and funny. 4) It is a cultural experience - you are in the chef’s home, she provides some interesting info about the typical ingredients used in CR cooking. The meal was traditional and it was tasty enough. 5) It you want recipes expect to write them yourself and eyeball portions - no measurement tools are used. 6) The space is small for 8 participants. Additionally, bring your own hand towel. The bathroom only had a very tiny one that several people use and the chef doesn’t remind patrons to wash hands often. Napkins are also not provided unless requested. Although the music adds to the ambiance, it was a little loud and made it difficult to hear the host.

The description oversells the experience - Overall, it was ok. Probably not worth the money for the quality of food and experience, though. The class was 10 people. It should be max 8. Because of the spacing and number of people, attention and descriptions by the host were limited. The food was ok, though it was a bit disappointing that the ceviche was "banana" instead of fish. The water in the house went out midway through, thwn came back on. That was a bit odd. It ran over 4.5hrs - things could have been prepped more. All in all an interesting experience, but not something I'd do again.