72 Best Restaurants in Honduras

The island's best-known restaurant is this pleasant, open-air joint just to the right of the docks in town. (Note that if you're here during the week, this will likely be the only in-town restaurant open.) Seafood reigns here. Choose from such dishes as garlic shrimp or pescado sudado. The name, which translates as "sweaty fish," sounds less appetizing than it really is. It's merely fish poached in foil. El Faro serves up a decent burger, and ample french fries accompany every main course. Wash your meal down with one of several cold Honduran beers on the menu.

Tegucigalpa's best-known Honduran restaurant dishes up ample helpings of típico (traditional) food. The rustic building with brick patio evokes an old Honduran country home. You can watch your food being prepared on the open grill, with pinchos (Honduran-style chicken, beef, or pork kebabs) being special favorites here. It's all accompanied by anafres, a dip of refried beans and cheese. The waitstaff wear traditional Honduran clothing (think white dresses and pants with thin, colorful stripes).

The unpretentious but crowded Espresso Americano serves up some of the best coffee in the country. This is the original location, but you'll find many others across Honduras.

Considered one of the finest restaurants in town, this is the place to come for a quiet meal. A touch of elegance is added by the white- or melon-colored tablecloths. Dishes include such specialties as pork with onion sauce. The wine list includes some decent Chilean options.

Famous for its king crabs, Gio's is something of an institution on Roatán. Served with lemon butter, the seafood comes in heaping portions. There's a slew of other satisfying seafood specialties, as well as great steaks. Sit in the air-conditioned dining room or on the terrace overlooking the Caribbean.

The most centrally located supermarket on the island, H.B. Warren has a lunch counter where you can sample some delicious fried chicken. It's also a great place for a quick breakfast. Colectivo taxis and public buses depart from the store.

Homemade antipasti and hearty pastas, all at reasonable prices, make this is one of the most popular Italian restaurants in town. The garden courtyard makes a pleasant place to savor a glass of wine.

This tin-roof beach lodge serves up pizzas, pastas, and Omoa's seafood staples. Sit at a wooden picnic table or in a giant armchair and try an enormous plate of spaghetti in a tasty red seafood sauce. Slices of Canadian pizza come loaded with gooey cheese, ham, salami, and mushrooms. Henry's even does delivery (use the delivery-specific phone number). In the back of the restaurant is a double room ($) with a private bath, air-conditioning, and Wi-Fi. They also have a public laundry service, and Three Amigos Tours is based here.

As you would expect from a restaurant with this name, Hole in the Wall is a local favorite—so much so that the community helped rebuild it after a 2005 fire burned the place to the ground. Come here for the lobster, shrimp, and sirloin steaks; it's a quick boat ride from Oak Ridge, and any water taxi will know exactly where to take you. If you call ahead, they'll send a boat for you.

Puerto Lempirans call this quaint seafood restaurant the best around the lagoon. At times it's also the busiest, particularly in the evenings, so be ready for the possibility of a slight wait for the delicious food.

Nestled in the heart of Tela's Garífuna community, this small beachfront eatery in Triunfo de la Cruz is known for its selective lunch menu of genuinely Caribbean dishes. Artisan tablecloths in bold tropical colors top simple tables, and amazing refreshing breezes pass through the tall roof of the bamboolike caña brava. Lunches such as sopa de caracol (conch soup), calamari, and freshly caught mackerel join the rotating menu of Garífuna seafood favorites. The restaurant arranges shuttles to and from hotels in Tela and has six rustic rooms in the back for overnights.

Long considered the city's most romantic restaurant, La Cumbre arguably has the best panoramic view of Tegucigalpa going. By day or (especially) by night, it is worth the trip out here to view the world from this privileged vantage point. The elegant dining room serves classic German dishes such as Jägerschnitzel (pork or veal cutlets in mushroom gravy), and a few non-German dishes, too. Try the pork medallions with mango sauce.

A combination pony farm, playground, and miniature zoo, La Florida is a popular place for families and weekend events. There is a restaurant with typical Honduran beef and chicken dishes, as well as anafres of refried beans and cheese. The outdoor area has a small swimming pool, children's playground, and sand volleyball, as well as shaded picnic and dining areas. Don't miss the L10 pony rides, if you belong to the under-10 age bracket. There is a very large stable of ponies and horses, and they offer trail rides for adults as well. In the back is a small zoo with the white-tailed deer of Honduras and a tapir, as well as many birds.

The main drag's most popular sports bar offers breezy harbor views from the open-air, third-floor restaurant. Bacon cheeseburgers, nachos, chicken fingers, and buffalo wings are the house specialties, and La Pirata has the island's largest liquor selection. The place gets packed around 10 pm or during any major sporting event, and live bands play during the week.

The town's most popular steak house, La Plancha serves up a 16-ounce filete especial that will satisfy the most ravenous diner. There's seafood as well—the shrimp and conch cocktails make a good starter. The service is snappy, whether in the dining room or at the fully stocked bar.

How many restaurants keep a shrine to the Virgin Mary on their premises? At the entrance to the restrooms, no less? This downtown eatery does. The statue of the Virgin of Suyapa, Honduras's patron saint, appeared wrapped in newspaper in Don Pepe's men's room one night in 1986. A miracle or a drop-off by a thief? You can decide Standard Honduran fare—hearty chicken, beef, and pork dishes—are served here; the lunchtime plato del día, a combination of meat, rice, and vegetables, includes a beverage and is a good bargain.

The Lakou Payaska restaurant opposite Hotel Yu Baiwan has been a culinary staple in Puerto Lempira for years. The kitchen offers standard fried chicken dishes as well as lobster, conch, and shrimp served with the ubiquitous rice and beans.

Named for a colorful flower, this cheerful little place is tucked away on a side street. It feels much larger than it really is because of the sloped wooden ceiling that soars above the dining room. This is the place to come for barbecued meats—try the pinchos, which are chunks of beef brought to your table on long skewers. Open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, this is a longtime favorite in Copán.

Run by German expats, this waterfront eatery is wildly popular with both locals and visitors. Billiards, darts, a breezy terrace and picnic table seating give a casual vibe to this island hangout, which livens up in the evening with the occasional German jam session. The menu constantly evolves and often includes homemade spätzle, roasted pork, and chicken schnitzel. The bar has a big selection of German beers and imported wines. Come out on a Saturday night, and you just might meet the entire island.

Masapan is a small group of eateries on a downtown corner. The cafeteria has a long, campy, fun buffet that serves many Honduran favorites, including tamales, baleadas, and typical breakfast and lunch plates. It's a great way to sample a variety of local cuisine at one time. Whatever you choose, try a natural fruit juice drink to wash it down. On Saturday, the cafeteria holds a seafood festival; available fish dishes often include a very good sopa marinera (fish soup). Two doors down from the cafeteria there is a Masapan Chicken, with fried chicken and fries, and around the corner is the Masapan bakery, for cakes, breads, sandwiches, and more baleadas.

Come to this busy restaurant for a quick bite of local fare at an unbelievable price. Baleadas (flour tortillas filled with re-fried beans), pasteles (meat-filled, deep-fried pastries), and the typical local breakfast of ham, eggs, beans, and tortillas are served on plastic tables in a no-frills setting.

Cheesy, creamy Tex-Mex classics like refried bean burritos and beefy nachos are served in a pink-and-purple room along Bonacca's main drag. Chill out with a frothy licuado (smoothie) or a freshly squeezed juice.

It's a testament to any Argentine restaurant when you see a city's Argentine community dining there, and that's the case with this Honduran-owned minichain of restaurants (there are also branches in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, and Antigua, Guatemala). It's not just the Argentines, though; the high-quality imported cuts of beef draw diners of all nationalities to this place off Boulevard Morazán. The best deal here is the four-person platter with a selection of steak, pork, ribs, and chorizo. Top it off with a trip to the ample salad bar and a bottle of Argentine wine. The restaurant's name translates as "more or less, " but this place is definitely more.

Diners come from out of town to feast at this second-story champa on the beach. Chef Dante serves hearty portions of Italian family recipes and classic American dishes. His grandmother's lasagna is served once a week with a vinaigrette salad, and brick-oven pizzas come topped with fresh ingredients like roasted shrimp, spinach, and portabella mushrooms. Dante's Best Burger Ever has roasted red peppers, onions, and homemade buns. USDA steaks and barbecue ribs are also on the menu. Two rooms ($$) are available downstairs, and the owners also offer picnics to the nearby natural attractions.

The sign in front may say "pizza copán", but everybody knows this old standby as Jim's Pizza. You'll find the standard variety of pizza toppings and sizes here at this long-time favorite expat hangout, along with rotisserie chicken and decent burgers. The place is not open for lunch, per se, but does start serving at 2 "pm."

Sit at a long wooden tables right on the sand, or climb the stairs to the third floor for the best breeze. Fresh seafood dictates the menu: try the shelled lobster sauteed with garlic, or the Conch ceviche, if you're an adventurous diner. Fried chicken is also available for those wanting something more familiar. Don’t let the light music trick you into thinking the place has no verve. It’s also a bar with a long liquor list, and drinks that pack a punch.