11 Best Restaurants in Belize City, Belize

One of the city’s best vegan/vegetarian restaurants holds court in an early-20th-century colonial waterfront building with great views of the harbor. Begin your day with a fruit bowl, accompanied by avocado toast or a spinach and cheddar quiche. Lunch and dinner might give way to an Open Face No Tuna—really curried chickpeas with a balsamic guava vinaigrette or a Buddha Bowl, homemade hummus with veggies and brown rice. The entire production comes courtesy of the relaxing, slightly trendy Harbour View Cottages across the street. Two notes: it’s a climb of several steps to get up to the second-floor restaurant; and shoes are left at the door if you dine inside, but not if you eat out on the wraparound veranda.

This longtime local seafood favorite is an open-air seaside bar and restaurant on the little islet at the south end of Regent Street, also called Bird's Isle. The thatched-roof spot is a great place to sip tropical drinks and eat local seafood (the fried snapper is a favorite) or other dishes at lunch, away from the hustle of downtown. You'll like the prices, too. Always take a taxi after dark, as the neighborhood can be sketchy at night.

Visit at lunch or dinner almost any day and you'll see a cross section of Belize City's movers and shakers—attorneys, businesspeople, politicians—enjoying the restaurant's large menu of U.S.-inspired seafood, steaks, pasta, and salads, along with Belizean comfort food. If you can get past the flamboyant wallpaper in the main dining room and the fairly basic selection of drinks and wine, you'll enjoy it, too. This is a dressier restaurant. No ties and evening wear are needed, but shorts and T-shirts are out of place. There's a guarded parking lot.

Long a fixture near the Belize Zoo, Cheers has a good open-air restaurant that attracts local farmers and lots of zoo visitors. You won't go wrong with any of the local dishes, such as stew chicken with rice and beans, but it has good breakfasts and, for lunch, burgers, sandwiches, and daily specials. If you want to stay in the area longer, there are three simple cabins for rent on the property's 37 acres. Book ahead to get the lowest rates on lodging; walk-in rates are a little higher.

Locally adored for four decades, Chon Saan Palace is the best Chinese restaurant in Belize City, which is otherwise full of really bad Chinese eateries. It has some 200 dishes on the menu, most Cantonese style, such as sweet-and-sour pork. We like the Chinese-style crab legs. There's a live-seafood tank with lobster and the catch of the day, kept alive until you're ready to eat it. On Sunday, the restaurant switches gears a bit and makes sushi and sashimi.

You come here for the lively atmosphere more than the food, although the menu of seafood, burgers, salads, and grilled chicken is certainly filling. Locals and expats alike enjoy the breezy, seaside location. There's plenty of safe, guarded parking, good drinks, and an abundance of cold Belikin. (The Bowen family, who owns the brewery, also own this place.)

This nondescript Mediterranean/Lebanese restaurant in the Northern Suburbs has good kebabs, kofta, falafel, and hummus, with many vegetarian options. Service isn't always perfect, but the food is consistently good.

Tasty northern and southern Indian food is created at Sumathi's in its authentic tandoori oven—a large clay oven with intense heat—which cooks meat and seafood quickly, leaving it crispy on the outside and juicy inside. Try the tandoori chicken, with cumin, ginger, and minty yogurt, served with naan. There are many vegetarian options, too. Portions are generous. Service is sometimes a weak point.

Dining with a view is virtually unheard of in this low-rise city, but this classy, fifth-story dining spot provides blissful views of the Caribbean Sea. Start off with wonton, dumpling, or chicken-wing appetizers and follow with the variety of stir-fry dishes that highlight the menu. Steak and salads are scattered throughout too. Dine indoors in blissful a/c or outdoors under umbrella-covered tables on the breezy veranda. The restaurant's name means \"red wine\" in Spanish, and you'll find a good selection of house wines and other beverages here.

We don't often include airport restaurants, but Global Spice, a no-frills restaurant near the "waving gallery" on the second floor of the main terminal, will leave you with a nice taste of Belize. It's not a gourmet restaurant, just a good place to get that farewell plate of stew chicken with rice and beans and a cold Belikin.

Located in the Tourism Village, overlooking the boardwalk where cruise-ship tenders drop off passengers, there's no question of the target market of the Wet Lizard. Don't expect more than a bar with average bar food. The Wet Lizard, which focuses on lunch on days there are cruise ships in town, has expanded with a gift shop and a tour operation.