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Il Ritorno Restaurant San José, Casa Italia, 200 m South from KFC, La California
Located in the Casa Di Italia Building

Saturday Night closing for the Holidays and the place was pretty crowded considering. Marco came out and said hello to our table of 5 as we were not starving after a boat ride the left two of our dining party unsure if they were ready for food tonight.

Atmosphere still quaint and a great place to get away 5 mins from everywhere. Service only 2 waiters and a little overwhelmed but good.
Wine list limited but not totally overpriced.

1 Pizza with Mushrooms was excellent
1 Special Homemade fettuccini with a Tomatoes cream sauce with mushrooms and shrimp was out of this frigging world
1 Veal Parmigiana with side of pasta was better than Ancora. Large plate supple amounts of tasty tomatoes sauce
1 Fettuccini carbonara was creamy rich and delicious
1 Veal scaloppini with mushrooms, and champagne cream sauce. Best veal Ive tasted anywhere in Central America and sauce was again rich creamy and delicious.
Stuffed beyond words though Marco sent us some Lemoncellos shots.

All and all best meal I've had in Costa Rica ever A MUST REPEAT

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I think Il Pomodoro in the San Pedro area is a bit better.

Why

When it comes to food its a matter of taste ( I know what a genius) I just like the tomato sauce better than Il Ritorno. But to be honest with you, SJO is not a great city for food in my opinion in general. WE can only seach for reasonable facsimiles.

That is like fast food italian

I have posted about Il Ritorno before,but now that Marco bought it from Tony,it certainly stands on its own. I ate there again last weekmand I can honestly say that its as good as ever. The next time I am there I am going to ask Marco if he would like to offer a discount for our VIPs. If any of you are there before me,try the corvina special or the Veal Franciase.

Could not agree with you more

The constant search for adequacy and "OKness" - well, lets just say Paris NYC, and San Francisco don't stay awake nights worring about being replaced by San Jose.

What kills me is that there has been enough foreign influence to at least, well, influence food but that does not seem to be the case.

And don't get me started on the Chinese food, to give you just one example - its the worst I've ever encountered (you can get "Chop Suey" - which is an American invention BTW - in Costa Rica prepared many different ways - that this is their "signature dish" says volumes about their food ) - for an acient culture, with a tradition of excellence in the kitchen, Confucius is certainly weeping.

Scuba1 have I got a Chinese Place for you, check out Isla Verde in Pavas 2 blocks west of the US Embassy. It is really quite good!!

Greengo, love it. Keep 'em coming!

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" Omit no happy hour that may give furtherance to our expedition."

I’ve dined at Italian Restaurants all over the world, with my favorites being from the Northeast, New York, New Jersey with a couple in South Florida. There are some outstanding restaurants along the way that you simply can’t get enough of. When leaving the country I am almost always disappointed in the quality of the food that is served around the globe. Even in Europe where you would think that some of the best Chefs in the world reside that the Italian food should be far superior to what we have in the states. Last evening with a few friends in tow, I was able to visit Ill Ritorno just outside San Jose for my second meal in as many trips. Myself, Gamlingman, Don Papi, Grinder dined here last evening.

First off it’s a small place on the corner of the main drag back into town in “Casa Italia” building. We did have a reservation for 8:30PM and we needed it as there wasn’t a seat in the house and many more waiting for dinner on a Saturday night. After being greeted by our two waiters Antonio & Anthony Chef Marco came out to greet us and say hello as he knew several persons in our party tonight. After some letting him know what we liked we asked him to do what he does best improvise. No menus were provided though we did have a very nice Pinot Grigio from a nice wine list $44.00 U.S. including all taxes.

Last evening we had some side salads and he brought me out his home made meatballs & pasta for an appetizer. Let me tell you Mom makes a great meatball, grandma made a great meatball, but Chef Marco can ball so to speak. Absolutely delicious mouth watering tasty with a marinara sauce with homemade pasta. This was an appetizer and I didn’t leave a bite. Fresh Garlic bread was also consumed with my previous trip the foccacia was sampled. Everything on the appetizer menu looked fantastic as well as we saw some platters of fresh cold cut samplers go by. Some Shrimp another tasty treats also passed our view.

On to Dinner. I told him I liked Veal so off he went the boys liked my appetizer so much they enjoyed a platter for the main course. Some Veal dishes sampled were veal Marsala with mushrooms that was simply one of the best Marsala dishes I have ever eaten in my entire life. A veal parmigina with loads of cheese copious amounts of veal in a delicious red sauce. The final entrée which was off the menu was and will now sit in my mind in infamy as the single greatest Item I’ve consumed in the country of Costa Rica. Veal Francais with a side of Spaghetti carbanaro. Ok whats so special about a simple combination like that? I really can’t explain it other than the mouth watering veal melted in your mouth with a perfect amount of seasoning and batter / coating. The side of Carbonaro was not dry as many are but a hint of heavy cream bacon, egg, with homemade pasta that has me wanting it for breakfast as I write this. All I can say is, if Chef Marco was operating a restaurant in the states you would not be able to get a table in here for weeks.

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CRT Discount now in effect! beginning Monday May 28th. Official announcement to come later today.

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Thank you for supporting CRT!

Kudos to admin on this discount. I totally agree with the CRT Gourmet that in all of last years 3-4 visits to SJO, this restaurant is number one priority on the list to have a meal at. It has always been "decent", but is now the BEST I have experience in over a decade knowing Costa Rica. One of my favorites is the Medallions of Steak with pasta. Great combo of well prepared meet, pasta and great sauce. Hungry just talking about the place...

Of course, next time there I will probably be waiting in a long line behind CRT mongerers and their buxom dates. The high level, stalwart locals who i always see there might find themselves over run. Do I dare suggest to my CRT friends that they enforce their own dress code on the girls they take there? I would hate to see Marco regret his decision to have us all there on discount with ladies who may or may not know how to handle "fine dining". Ok...I'm ready to duck now...

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All that a man achieves and all that he fails to achieve is the direct result of his own thoughts...

Thanks for the updated review! I don't do the heavy stuff but would like to check out their Caprese, bruscheta and lighter fare. I do pasta once in a blue moon, so would also be interested in seafood pasta with red sauce. Will have to put them on the to do list soon.

Il Ritorno is great, but La Adiamola (spelling mistake im sure) is better.

Il Ritorno lacks in spotty service, relatively small portions (however main courses are cheap so You can order a double), poor setting in a 'cultural club', expensive drinks and a weak desert menu. With that said though, I go quite a lot and Marco does make great pasta, carpaccio and veal. The pizza is just ok as is the foccacio.

Boyd of the HLH turned me on to Limoncello, excellent italian restaurant and my favorite so far in SJO!