I property is actually a really nice place, lovely and green, and right on the beachfront, However the owner is a bit weird. They have signs up everywhere saying everyone there must spend a minimum of $6 per person (so you cant just drop in for a drink). We had our room sold out from under us to a higher paying customer.

There are other places in the area that are nicer and less hassle.

When I first read the review above, I couldn't help but play devils advocate and take sides with the owner. But on a recent 6 night stay at Casa Frida, I had a really similar experience.

For El Zonte, this place is great. A nice property in front of a stunning ocean. A quick walk to 2 great surf breaks. But the grounds were a little unkempt, and only got cleaned up for the weekend day-trippers. The rest of the week garbage, old beer bottles and dog poop littered the grounds. The room was clean, but they only cleaned it once during out 6 night stay. And only when the owner was around. Lots of sand and dirt on our floors!

In the end, our bill wound up being annoyingly more than it should have. Taxing us 5% for using a credit card after the owner asked us to pay only 1x with the card so she would not have to pay a fee (implying that she would bear the burden of the fee). And the guy making our bill said the room that we were told (by who?!?!) that our room was $33 not $30 a night. No big deal, but no one ever told us that.

We left feeling like it has great potential, but needs some changes to make it the gem it could be.

Until that "last moment", we had a pleasant stay at Casa de Frida (CF) at the El Zonte beach. The rooms were in good condition and the staff was helpful. I can´t tell you if this is an "English" friendly hotel as we always communicated in Spanish. I suspect, however, the staff does not speak English. In general food is overpriced at El Zonte and that´s certainly true for CF where the prices are high. We only had one meal and some drinks at CF but the food seemed good and the portions reasonable. The hotel is right on the beach, though you should note that El Zonte is a surfer-friendly beach, not good for kids or those scared of a fierce sea. Anyway, the "last moment" I mentioned was when the bill came. There were a few problems. First of all, when we had called and spoken to the friendly owner beforehand, we intended to reserve for us and a couple of friends . . . but we failed to confirm. So, when we arrived we found out there was only 1 room available. The owner, by phone, gave us the go ahead to use the phone there to communicate with our friends. After 3 short phone calls we ended up deciding to stay. Anyway, on the bill we were charge $2 for 2 phone calls. This would´ve been ok if we had been told that we were allowed only 1 short call. The fact that we would be charged for more than 1 call was never made clear to us. Secondly, the hotel includes breakfast in the price. Breakfast is pancakes or for $1 more--eggs. Our waitress told us we could choose from 1 of 3 egg meals. We both chose the omlette. On our bill, however, it didn´t say $2 for 2 omlettes. We were charged $2 each PER omlette. A call to the owner (obviously you can tell the staff is not empowered to make decisions) revealed that she was upset her staff was allowing the omlette to be had for $2. She said it should only be the other 2 eggs meals available for the extra $1 and that her staff should be charging us the normal $6 price ($6 for an omlette in El Salvador, come on!!!) Anyway, she did us the "favor" of keeping it at $2 per person. She seemed to be laying the blame on us and on her staff (with a classist undertone towards her "campo" staff--not an untypical attitude of priveleged Latin Americans). Ok now, I come from a family that spent 50 years in the restaurant business. Clearly this owner doesn´t understand what we take for granted in the US: "The customer is always right". Now, I know that there is no requirement that other cultures follow that . . . but a shrewd business person will. Absorbing these little costs for the phone calls and eggs would´ve kept us happy customers. We would´ve considered coming back and spending $$$ in the future as well as recommending the place to friends. Now, instead, because she felt she was losing money on the omlettes, she´s lost future business and earned this review. To make matters worse, after we left, we realized they had tallied up the room, the drinks, the eggs, and the calls and calculated a 10% tip based on ALL of that. That´s completely absurd! Salvadoran friends have confirmed for me that the tip should be only on the food & drinks. This suggests to me that the owner is trying to run the biz mostly from the city and doesn´t really know what´s going on at the hotel . . . which also seems to result in her staff screwing up and then she blaims it on them instead of looking inward at her own failfure for not training the staff to her vision. So, I wish I could recommend this hotel--chances are you wouldn´t undergo our experience--but: buyer beware.