Tilapias El Pavon - Ciudad Cortes

What a great place for a family adventure! El Pavon is located right next to the Cascada El Pavon waterfall, which is easily accessible, free, and an amazing experience. Arrive early for lunch (10:30ish), and enjoy great swimming and beautiful features in the waterfall before lunch. Then, a short walk to the restaurant, where you can take the kids down to the tilapia ponds to ‘fish’ with small bamboo rods an attendant is on hand to bait your hook and pull off your catch if you’re lucky enough to snag one. We caught three while we were there! Then up for a delicious lunch. We had three orders of the whole tilapia fritas you’re given the option of grilled or fried, and head on or off. They’ll filet it, or you can be adventurous and enjoy the whole fish like we did. Served with rice, tostones, yuca, and salad, this is a great lunch at a great price. For the four of us (one ordered chicken fingers and fries) plus soft drinks and bottled water, our total was 27,000 Colones about $47 US, including tip. Definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area, and an absolute must if you have young children, for the chance to catch a fish easily in a fun environment.

We had such a good time here! My husband, adult son daughter her husband came here for lunch. Firstly, the grounds are absolutely beautiful, don’t miss the towering Ceiba tree...it’s beauty majesty gave me goose bumps. The tico food was great we all enjoyed our dishes...rice w shrimp, fried whole tilapia, tilapia filet...but there was one hilarious exception. My daughter saw “fish slides” on the menu thought it was a typo for “sliders”. She asked the sweet young server, who spoke almost no English, if it was a sandwich, she said no. She made a slicing gesture with her hands, we thought that meant fish sticks, so my daughter ordered that. The look of horror on her face when she was presented with a plate of fried fish heads was priceless. For those of us brave enough to try them, they were quite tasty! And fortunately the portions of other food were large, we were able to provide her w plenty of lunch...no fish heads for her!

This place charges WAY too much. The food was just OK and that isn’t even considering that my entire family got diarrhea after eating this food. Our bill was like $50! For lunch, 2 people and a child! Absurd. Pay the 1000 colones to see the falls and get lunch at Terraba after.

The menu is as small as the choices. The service is slow and inattentive. When we claimed that the portions are to small, they brought additional fries. And charged 12$ for that. For a small meal with drinks for two people the bill was 48$. Even if the portions were adequate, this place is totally overpriced. Do not trust the local recommendations from the manager of Rio tico Lodge.

This sustainable tilapia farm not only offers tasty food, but also the unique experience of being able to see where your food is grown and harvested. Great experience and lunch for our whole family!