7 Best Restaurants in The Deep South, Belize

In a rustic wood shack built right over the water, Asha's has the best views of any restaurant in Punta Gorda. Asha's specializes in fresh seafood served Creole style, such as fried conch with mashed potatoes or grilled snapper with plantains and beans and rice. The menu changes daily. Stake out a place in the main dining room or on the breezy deck and look across the Gulf of Honduras toward Guatemala.

This longtime local favorite serves simple but tasty Belizean dishes such as stew chicken or pork with beans and rice. Sit at tables with oilcloth tablecloths under a covered patio, open to the breezes, and enjoy genuine Belizean hospitality at lunch and dinner. Some days Coleman's has a buffet of Belizean foods at lunch.

Count your lucky stars if you find Gomier’s open—the owner doesn’t always follow his posted hours—and enjoy an excellent vegetarian or vegan meal from organic ingredients grown locally, along with some seafood. Go with the vegetarian dish of the day, which could be stir-fried tofu or vegan spaghetti. Fresh seafood dishes, such as shrimp curry, sometimes are available. Garifuna hudut (green and ripe mashed plantains with fish and coconut stew) lunches are on Friday, and there's live music or documentary movies some nights. Prices are reasonable. The owner also offers tofu-making and cooking classes.

An established spot, Grace's has genuine value, a down-home feel, and hearty plates of beans and rice and other Belizean staples on the menu. Get a seat near the entrance and eye the town's street life. This is a good place for a full breakfast of eggs, bacon, fry jacks (a Belizean version of a Mexican sopapilla), and, of course, beans. For lunch and dinner you can always get chicken, but you can usually get fresh fish, too, plus pizza, chow mein, hamburgers, and several dozen other dishes.

No pretense here—instead, you're seated on the second-floor veranda of the chef-owner's house across the street from the water in Cattle Landing village just northeast of Punta Gorda. You'll find different dishes every evening but usually with a choice of seafood (snapper, snook, or shrimp) or a hearty dish like a thick pork chop or lasagna. It's all delicious and inexpensive, and it's BYOB so bring your own beer or rum. Because it's a little away from the main downtown area, most guests are local residents or expats, not tourists.

Burritos are the thing here, and in fact usually just about the only thing, except for smoothies, shakes, coffee, and the occasional daily special. You get a selection of fillings and type of flour tortilla. The huge breakfast burrito easily serves two. It's mostly a take-out spot. There are a few tables on the patio for open-air dining, but the view is only of a neighboring parking lot.