We happened to stumble upon this "grand" hotel which was refurbished approx 9 years ago. It's 30+ yrs old. Beautiful setting right across from the beach road is the beach and sound of the surf all day and night. All rooms have balconys with ocean view. The surf is fairly large but safe enough to play in. The loan of boogie boards was great. The pool and jacuzzi were large enough to almost swim laps - absolutely beautiful
The "grand" staircase belongs in "Gone with the Wind". We felt inappropriately dressed climbing it.
Service was friendly and fun. We had 3 amazing meals by an American chef, at very reasonable prices. We would definitely return. Thanks to Ed and staff.

We retired to the Mountains of Costa Rica 4 years ago. We go to the beach a couple times a month, and have seen most of the beaches of the country. We stumbled across the delfin last weekend. We checked in for 1 night and stayed 3. The place is as close to perfect as you can get in this country. I thought it was a new hotel, turned out to be 35 years old, and the American owners had done a total renovation to the place. The grounds, pool, and hotel were spotless. The most beautiful bar and best cocktails I have found anywhere in the country. Ed the owner drew us maps and sent us on local excursions, and knows more about the country than anyone I have met here. He even sent us home a new way that we didn't know about. The food was awesome as he has an American and local chef. The beach itself was soft sand, and the cleanest we have found. We were told the currents were strong, and the hotel loaned us boogie boards. The staff was super friendly, everyone that worked there seemed happy. This is our new favorite place, and is where we will take all our friends and family that visit us here. For Costa Rica, this place is as good as it gets!

We had three rooms on a family vacation, two sets of grandparents and two couples with kids 3,5 and 10 yrs old.
The rooms were adequate, although the bathroom was very cramped.
Dinners were excellent- thanks to Tony. We all wanted fish the second night, and Tony made an early morning trip for us to the local suppliers to cook up an excellent Pargo (snapper) dinner with a choice of excellent sauces. An upbeat chef that was in his element in the kitchen, the food was great.
The pool was very nice, much fun for the kiddos, and large enough to swim short laps in.
A huge beach great for sea shell hunting, and the rooms all look over the ocean for amazing sunsets. The ocean is not safe for swimming due to rip currents, but this is fairly common all along the Pacific Coast.
We were the only ones there, and the staff were not especially helpful or pleasant- had to ask to have pool lights turned on even though the bartender/helper (Miner) was right there. But I think they just are not service oriented and did not appear rude, just not used to looking out for the guests. Miner excelled at making fresh fruit based drinks.
The owner was there for one night and a morning- helped with the bags and greeted us on arrival, and had some good tips on getting through the tourist trap on Manuel Antonio National Park, which we felt to be overrated and was the low point of our three week trip in Costa Rica.

Loved the interior, the grand staircase and lofty ceiling had a nice atmosphere.

I recently stayed one night here with my Costa Rican girlfriend. We ordered two bowls of seafood soup. MISTAKE. It was what my girlfriend called sopa de agua, (water soup). We complained and only had to pay for one bowl of this so-called "soup". We were going to stay another night until we were told that their restaurant was closed and we were told to "find someplace else to eat". We checked out. Later, the Delfin Beachfront Resort tried to steal $75.00 from Bank of America on a blank voucher I had signed. Bank of America is well aware that I never pay for hotels with my VISA card and so relieved them of my money. Also there were fleas infesting the room. Never again....
Jim Agnos