About Us

A Brief History of Tin Jo Restaurant

Tin Jo Restaurant is located in an old house in the cultural heart of San Jose, Costa Rica, close to theaters, museums, and galleries. Originally, the house belonged to Don Cuco Arrieta, an interesting character who became famous as lender ("When pressed, Arrieta Cuckoo"), and as the first kidnapping victim in the history of Costa Rica. In any case, they built a nice house, which my parents aquilaron of his widow in 1972 after arriving in Costa Rica to China, taking shelter from the Cultural Revolution. Shortly after the restaurant opened Tin jo.

I was 12 when I came to Costa Rica, and still I have memories of my youth in the restaurant with its exotic mix of Chinese and Costa Rican culture, with its courtyard of light with the shock of gigantic leaves, and always the sound of a kitchen busy.

It was a magical time, but also hard for me, and as soon as I could, I left, heading towards the bright lights of New York. After graduating from college I was in the United States, and later I got my masters in business administration from UCLA. I served a while as the heroine of the high Technology at IBM for 80 years, and then I met my future husband, Robert, who worked as a social worker. Together we went to work in a refugee camp in Thailand. There, we fell in love with Thai food, and during a tour of other Asian countries, the food of these countries also.

From Asia, we returned to the States and settled in the Bay Area where I worked as coordinator of the Recycling Program of the City of San Francisco, and Robert took his MA in Urban Planning at UC Berkeley.

And then, something completely different. My parents had grown tired of the restaurant business and wanted to transfer it to any of his four daughters who are genuinely interested. I was the only one who was encouraged. So Robert and I packed up and moved to Costa Rica where we confuse all expectations and become owners of a restaurant.

We think it a try for a year or two. That was ten years ago. During this time we have grown in the restaurant in several ways: we have expanded the menu to include dishes from across Asia, we have increased the capacity of the restaurant, annexing a neighboring building, and changed the decor to reflect the varied cultures of Asia. Oh, and raised two beautiful daughters, Maya and Leila, and watched a movie or two there.

After ten years of our little culinary adventure, we are still here, and while we feel tired at times, if we love what we're doing. We are very proud of what the Tin Jo Restaurant today, and look forward to a warm welcome in his first, fifth, or hundredth visit.

Hon Mary