The 50 Best Bars 2026, No. 82 (51-100). Regional honoree for Best New International Cocktail Bar at the 2026 Spirited Awards.
On the second floor of Bar La Buenos Aires, a 1905 cantina in San José's Barrio Aranjuez, Otro Bar has run as Costa Rica's cocktail laboratory since opening in February 2025. Founders Fernando Crespo and Manuel Crespo, together with creative director Lissa Barquero, kept the building's original woodwork and set stainless steel counters and a visible lab against it, while vinyl records chosen for the room's acoustics play through the night. Head bartender Nadia Rojas leads a research-driven program that reworks the Costa Rican pantry, from corn and specialty coffee to tapa de dulce and banana, through clarification, fermentation, and house infusions.
Segundo piso de Bar La Buenos Aires, Barrio Aranjuez, San José
