As I went for my bike, one of my bartenders stopped me and asked what was up with the Milonga restaurant across the street from El Vaquero.
Good question. As the owner, I’ve been telling everyone I’ve been looking for a new tenant after Milonga closed. The best option (really, just the most likely to pay their rent) has been Papa John’s Pizza. I thought for a millisecond whether or not I was going to be responsible for bringing Papa John’s to Tamarindo. Actually no I didn’t even think that long.
I’ve looked for other tenants. Nothing that adds to the surf camp experience though. At least that’s what it has seemed.
Let’s rewind quickly. If you haven’t been around, across the street we used to have the El Coconut restaurant. Ran by Katherine, for like 20 years. She finally closed during Covid, and sadly died about a year later. She was my neighbor, I knew her pretty well, and I always thought she did a great job providing a great higher-end meal to the tourists and locals of Tamarindo. She might have had a little in-your-face/needy chef style, and her menu might not have ever really changed much, but she ran a tight ship, knew table service, and consistently delivered the goods. I thought she did great and I ate there all the time. But all good things eventually come to an end.
After Katherine passed away, I eventually made a deal with the owner of the property to buy the restaurant without the Coconut name. I had bought the property next door from the same owner, which used to be Kelly’s Surf Shop up until 2019 when we bought it, right before everything shut down with the pandemic. I figured it was better to own and control as much of Tamarindo’s street frontage as possible, especially in front of the surf camp.
Anyways, I had the place rented for a little over a year to Milonga. Leo was my tenant and the restaurant owner. I thought he did a pretty good job. I tried to eat there every month with my family and did so for a while.
It takes a LOT of guts and cash and determination to make a restaurant work. Restaurants really suck. You can do great and you can do horribly. I love restaurants, yet I hate them, yet I still love them. And I have multiple. I believe restaurants and bars serve a bigger purpose of bringing people together. They are definitely part of the hospitality equation. I was raised on restaurants and they’re part of my DNA.
Milonga didn’t make it though. Why? I have my own opinions, which include 1) he didn’t open on Sundays, arguably the busiest day of the week on the beach in Tamarindo 2) he didn’t open for lunch, or breakfast, or try to find another business to rent the restaurant space from him during these early hours 3) his prices were high to a point where you wouldn’t build a weekly visit into your life. Probably another issue was that he owns other restaurants, and each one just takes so much focus…
Restaurants are so hard to run. So many employees. The margins are tiny. Tons of risk. Theft. Spoilage. Inflation. So much more.
It doesn’t really matter why Milonga closed. They closed. Now it’s my problem. I have mortgage payments. And part of being a commercial property landlord is that, at any given moment, you can jump back in the saddle to make your cash. And that’s what I’m doing.
I’m opening a new restaurant. It’s going to have great pizza. It’s going to have sports. It’s going to have air conditioning, arcade games, and more beers on tap than anywhere else in Guanacaste. And it’s going to be fun. It wasn’t my plan, but it seems like the best plan and the one I want to pursue. Woo hoo.
Saying these things out loud makes them more real. This is happening, you’re hearing it from the source. I’ll make sure to document the project along the way.
I’m currently looking for Mrs. Pac Man (the sit-down, place your beer on the table while you play version), Big Buck Hunter, a pinball and a claw machine. We’re probably going to have to ship/import from the US. I’m hoping to open sooner rather than later, so it’s a rush project. Hopefully soon enough to watch some Chargers games this season. To be continued…