Best. Steak. Ever.

If you put the word Argentinian in front of steak you are usually guaranteed a pretty damn good piece of meat and El Refugio Grill proves this theory. The intimate 25 top restaurant nestled in the jungle of Puerto Viejo is run by an Argentinian couple. Soledad runs the front of the house while her husband mans the grill. The menu is short but enticing. And the service by Soledad is top notch. We settled on the house malbec and guacamole and chips to start. The guacamole was good, although needed a touch more citrus and the house made fried tortilla chips were crisp and fresh. There was an entrée portion of pulpitos al pimenton which is grilled mini octopus served with garlicky potatoes in a smoked paprika sauce and they happily made it an appetizer portion for us. This dish was a close second best compared to the skirt steak. The octopus was grilled to perfection (a not-so-easy feat in the culinary world). We followed our appetizers with one order of the Argentinian skirt steak and an order of the grilled tuna. The tuna was served with a fresh garlic and parsley mixture (similar to a persillade) and fresh cut steak fries. The tuna was cooked to medium (my choice) and the table salsa with jalapenos was a nice compliment. This tuna dish at any other restaurant would have been a great order but did not come close to the amazing steak. In the future I would order two steaks because the BF and I came close to shedding blood over it. The traditional chimichurri sauce was an amazing salty compliment to the perfect medium skirt steak. If you find yourself in Puerto Viejo and only have time for one dinner, this is the place to go. I left the restaurant floating in foodie heaven. True story.