The Canal and Central Panama Restaurants
We’ve compiled the best of the best in The Canal and Central Panama - browse our top choices for Restaurants during your stay.
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1. La Casa de Lourdes
$$$ | | EclecticAfter years of running one of Panama City's most popular restaurants, Lourdes Fabrega de Ward built this elegant place across from her retirement...
After years of running one of Panama City's most popular restaurants, Lourdes Fabrega de Ward built this elegant place across from her retirement home so that she wouldn't get bored. It now seems unlikely that she'll ever retire, since old clients and a growing list of new fans pack the place on weekends, drawn by Lourdes' inventive menu and the magical ambience of her Tuscan-style casa. Meals are served on a back terrace with views of her garden and Cerro Gaital framed by high columns, arches, and an elegant pool. It is truly a house, and you enter through a spacious living room with couches, a piano, and family photos. She changes her menu frequently, but it always has a good mix of seafood and meat dishes, as well as amazing desserts. Reservations are essential on weekends.
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2. Bruchetta
$ | | ItalianThis small Italian restaurant next to the lobby of the Anton Valley Hotel has a covered terrace where you can watch the townsfolk roll by. The...
This small Italian restaurant next to the lobby of the Anton Valley Hotel has a covered terrace where you can watch the townsfolk roll by. The food is quite good and the menu includes an ample selection of salads and pastas, half a dozen different bruschetta, corvina (sea bass), salmon, and beef tenderloin. The nicest seating is on the front terrace, which has a view of the main road and the church, and access to Wi-Fi.
Av. Prinicpal, , 0211, Panama507-983–5118Restaurant Details
Rate Includes: Closed Thurs. -
3. El Rincón del Chef
$$ | | Latin AmericanIn a colonial-style building on the road to Playa Coronado, this attractive restaurant serves a good variety of quality dishes. The menu changes...
In a colonial-style building on the road to Playa Coronado, this attractive restaurant serves a good variety of quality dishes. The menu changes daily, but always offers a good mix of meat and seafood dishes that feature a mix of Panamanian and international fare. There is invariably corvina (sea bass), langostinos (prawns), and grilled (rather expensive) USDA-certified beef, including a good burger. The ambiance—terra-cotta floors, ocher walls, and a high wooden-beams ceiling—is right out of the 19th century, except for the TV and ceiling fans.
Beginning of road to Playa Coronado, on right, , Panama507-345–2072 -
4. Gerald's
$$ | | EclecticThis restaurant is a short walk from the beach, serves some of the best food on the island, and rents basic rooms. The eight rooms are in a...
This restaurant is a short walk from the beach, serves some of the best food on the island, and rents basic rooms. The eight rooms are in a two-story building behind the restaurant, with high ceilings, TVs, and air-conditioning. The restaurant is a rustic, open-air affair under a high-thatched roof, which means it picks up the breeze, if one is blowing. The menu is a mix of fresh fish and seafood dishes, and German standards such as Wiener schnitzel and goulash. They also make a decent pizza. Food is tasty, but service can be very slow.
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5. Los Lagartos
$$ | | Latin AmericanBuilt out over the Chagres River, this open-air restaurant at the Gamboa Rainforest Resort is a great place to see turtles, fish, crocodiles...
Built out over the Chagres River, this open-air restaurant at the Gamboa Rainforest Resort is a great place to see turtles, fish, crocodiles, and waterfowl feeding in the hyacinth-laden water. If you travel with binoculars, you'll definitely want to bring them here, so that you can watch wildlife while you wait for your lunch. A small buffet is frequently available, but the à la carte selection is usually a better deal, with choices such as peacock bass in a mustard sauce, grouper topped with an avocado sauce and cheese, or the hearty, spicy fisherman's stew. Lighter items include Caesar salad, hamburgers, and quesadillas. It isn't Panama's best food, but it's good, and the view of the forest-hemmed Chagres River populated with grebes, jacanas, turtles, and other wildlife is worth the trip out here even if you have only a cup of tea.
Carretera Gamboa, right after bridge over Chagres River, , 0801, Panama507-314–5000Restaurant Details
Rate Includes: Closed Mon. except during high season -
Recommended Fodor’s Video
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6. Pimienta y Sal
$$ | | Latin AmericanLocated in the small downtown area of Isla Contadora, this pleasant, open-air restaurant (formerly known as Hot Stone Rincón) has an ample menu...
Located in the small downtown area of Isla Contadora, this pleasant, open-air restaurant (formerly known as Hot Stone Rincón) has an ample menu of seafood, beef, and sandwiches.
next to police station downtown, , Panama507-250–4251 -
7. Restaurante Los Cañones
$$ | | SeafoodThis rambling restaurant with tables among palm trees and Caribbean views is one of Panama's most attractive lunch spots. The food and service...
This rambling restaurant with tables among palm trees and Caribbean views is one of Panama's most attractive lunch spots. The food and service fall a little short of the setting, but not so far that you'd want to scratch it from your list. In good weather, dine at tables edging the sea surrounded by dark boulders and lush foliage. The other option is the open-air restaurant, decorated with shells, buoys, and driftwood, with a decent view of the bay and forested hills. House specialties include pescado entero (whole fried snapper), langosta al ajillo (lobster scampi), and centolla al jengibre (king crab in a ginger sauce).
2 km (1 mile) before Portobelo on left, , PanamaRestaurant Details
Rate Includes: Closes at 7 pm -
8. Restaurante Rincón Vallero
$$ | | Latin AmericanThis open-air restaurant, a short drive from the main road, is like something out of a fairy tale. There are stone floors, plants everywhere...
This open-air restaurant, a short drive from the main road, is like something out of a fairy tale. There are stone floors, plants everywhere, goldfish ponds and a stream running between the tables; the food is pretty good, too. The ample menu ranges from traditional Panamanian dishes such as sancocho (chicken soup with tropical tubers) and corvina (sea bass) prepared various ways, to filet mignon and chicken cordon bleu—they spell it "gordon blue." There's a playground and a tiny menagerie in the back garden. They also rent rooms, but they're cramped, dark, and musty.
Calle Espavel, , Panama507-397–1393 -
9. El Suizo
$$$$ | | SwissClosed PermanentlyContadora's best (and most expensive) restaurant offers dishes that you would expect to find at a good restaurant in Switzerland—the chef and...
Contadora's best (and most expensive) restaurant offers dishes that you would expect to find at a good restaurant in Switzerland—the chef and owner is Swiss—with some local touches. The ample menu includes beef tenderloin, prawns Provençal, and fish of the day prepared various ways, such as with herbs and butter or smothered in hollandaise sauce. The restaurant is a rustic, open-air affair under a thatch roof with a view of what was once the island's golf course and is now a pasture for its deer herd.
On hill between Punta Galeón and Contadora Pearl Island hotels, Isla Contadora, Panamá, Panama-6560–3824 -
10. La Niña Delia
$ | | Latin AmericanClosed PermanentlyThe high, thatch roof on the left side of the Avenida Principal as you roll into town marks this spot for inexpensive Panamanian food. Its open...
The high, thatch roof on the left side of the Avenida Principal as you roll into town marks this spot for inexpensive Panamanian food. Its open-air dining area is rustic by design, with a hedge of foliage around the edges and woven hats and baskets hanging from the wood columns. Meals include traditional Panamanian breakfast and such favorites as langostinos a la criolla (prawns in a tomato sauce) and lechón (pork roast), but you can also get some international dishes, such as pollo al limón (lemon chicken) and filet mignon. The pastas should be avoided. Some of the cheapest rooms in town are rented in the building next door.
Av. Principal, on left 600 meters past Texaco station, El Valle, Coclé, 0211, Panama-983–1610
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