The Churrascaria Norcineria Steak House is the restaurant located on the property of the Los Pinos Hotel (or Residence Los Pinos) in Las Terrenas which in in Samana located in the North East portion of the Dominican Republic. Churrascaria Norcineria is an open air restaurant (pretty typical in th DR) with a pleasant atmosphere and a friendly staff. You can also sit out in the garden area to have your meal or to have a drink. Prices range from about $9.50 USD per plate to about $20.00 USD with the majority being around $14.00 USD.

Menu
The menu was huge, including specialty pages with Italian food (I believe the owner is from Italy), imported steaks (Dominican beef has a tendency to be leaner, tougher, and a less flavorful than imported beef), Sea Food and a wide variety of other choices. Prices very with prices ranging from about 350 pesos to about 750 pesos. We chose the Shrimp and Fried Squid (yes, that would be calamari) for 500 pesos (about $15 USD). My wife was impressed enough to order that again the second night.
I picked the Camarones a la Plancha (450 pesos) the second night. These are large whole shrimp sautéed in the shell. Perhaps I just don’t get out much; this was a little different for me. The heads, legs, and everything else are still attached. I tackled the meal by breaking the head off, cracking the shell with my fingers and pulling the meat out. I would consider this to be a little more adventurous meal.

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The Los Pinos Hotel (or Residence Los Pinos) is one of the many hotels located right across the street from the Las Terrenas beach located about 45 minutes from the city of Samana and on the North East coast of the Dominican Republic. This is a small 2 story hotel with an adjoining restaurant and bar (Churrascaria Norcineria Steak House). Also during peak season they open up a lounge area right on the edge of the beach across from the Hotel / Restaurant. The hotel is about a 5 minute easy walk to the center of town where you will find an outdoor plaza with shops and other places to eat like the Boulangeris Francaise (our favorite breakfast place in Las Terrenas).

The Hotel was clean, and had a friendly staff. There was hot water in the morning and evening, but it was mostly cool during the day when they were doing laundry any hot water at all seems to be a bonus in the DR. There is a nice garden sitting area in front of the Hotel providing a nice area to relax when you are not on the beach. If you are coming with a vehicle, they have a secured parking area, which is also a good place to stow your Quad (4 wheeled motorcycle) should you choose to rent one to get around with while you are here.

Beach View
While it was right across the street from the beach, the view is mostly blocked by trees, especially if you are on the lower floor. Our room was on the lower floor directly behind the kitchen of the restaurant. There were no windows other than the door area looking out at the back of the kitchen (about 6 feet from our porch). As you can guess I will not be able to recommend this hotel if you are looking for a romantic vista from your room, although I would imagine the upper rooms have a little more view.

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Unfortunately, at this time visitors to the DR should by very cautious while traveling in the Southern part of the country.

Leaders of two rival bus owner groups are battling for the rights to certain territories and are using violence to achieve their goals. At this point the problems seem to be centered around the Santo Domingo area heading toward San Cristóbal. So using the countries public transportation North of Santo Domingo is probably still safe. Near Santo Domingo it might be best to use Taxis until this gets worked out.

You can view the articles written in Dominican Today at these links.
Dominican Republics owners strike again injure reporters
The country’s owners stage showdown over bus routes 7 injured
Dominican Republic owner mocks the Government from Congress
Dominican Republics owners continue standoff 2 injured

What would a great vacation be without great food? We found that the city of La Terrenas has no shortage of great places to eat. Most of the restaurants don’t open for breakfast but one little pastry shop, Boulangerie Francaise in the middle of La Terrenas opens at about 7:00 in the morning. It’s the corner store of the Plaza Taine which is within easy walking distance of most of the Las Terrenas Hotels.

As you walk in the first thing you notice is the aroma of fresh warm bread. There is an array of fresh bread of several different types, Danishes, and donuts to choose from. They also have a number of different sandwiches on fresh bread and then my favorite dish there. The quiche! Normally I’m not a big quiche fan, but this was great, enough so that we chose to come back the next morning to have it again.
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