20 Best Restaurants in Santiago, Chile

An intimate yet smart spot attracting foodies and office workers, this sister restaurant to acclaimed Ambrosía in Vitacura is setting palates on fire. Grab a comfy bar stool to watch chef Carolina Bazán and team in action in the open kitchen, where they focus on Chilean ingredients; the menu changes weekly, but if possible order the citrus ceviche or steak from the dry-aged beef fridge. Thanks to its continual opening hours, you can trade tea time for an alternative afternoon pick-me-up: a charcuterie plate and a glass of wine.

Simple but creative dishes using the best and freshest Chilean ingredients appeal to local office workers and visitors alike at this popular downtown spot, where lunch patrons often enjoy a sandwich or soup-salad combo. The menu changes seasonally, with dishes like chicken cashew curry and venison with caponata sharing menu space with grilled bass and chia polenta cake. The restaurant has a good cocktail list, and a short yet decent wine list and does upper-crust business lunches. It is open for early dinners (until 9 pm). Reservations are advisable for lunch, particularly for an outside table.

A haven with wine aficionados, trendy Bocanariz in Lastarria has Chilean fare, but it's best known as a superior place to sample vino chileno. Waitstaff at this tastefully designed and somewhat romantic venue are all sommeliers, and they serve 300 wines on any given evening, many by the glass or small pour. Sample a themed flight of wine, such as huaso named for the Chilean cowboy. The menu separates out food types by notes such as smoky, spiced, citrus, light, creamy, herbed, and sweet. Ask to see the cellar.

Originally inspired by Laura Esquivel's romantic 1989 novel Like Water for Chocolate, this Bellavista standout focuses on Chilean dishes made with "life, love, vigor, and passion" as per the book. Reserve the "bed table" if you want to be showy (it has a headboard but is not actually a bed).

Opened in 1879, this is the oldest restaurant still operating in Chile and remains one of the city's most traditional dining rooms, with red-leather banquettes, mint-green ceramic floors, and huge chandeliers with tulip-shaped globes. Classic dishes such as lomo al ajo arriero (sirloin sautéed with peppers and garlic) are menu staples; if you're after a quick bite, order the Sandwich Barros Luca, as this is where it was created. This restaurant also has a branch for snacks in the Centro Cultural La Moneda, and another on upscale Isidora Goyenechea in El Golf (Las Condes).

This extremely popular restaurant and bar is always packed with a young crowd, so you might have to wait to be seated in the chandelier-lighted dining room or at one of the tables on the sidewalk. A large selection of Chilean wine accompanies such favorites as cazuela (a stew of beef or chicken and potatoes) and mechada sandwiches (thinly sliced beef). There are four branches of Liguria, but this one is the original.

Founded by a chef to the Peruvian embassy, Barandiarián serves traditional favorites, like ají de gallina, a mild creamy chicken stew, lomo saltado, and ceviche among other meat, fish, shellfish, and pasta dishes. The restaurant has an outdoor layout with parasols covering tables that surround a small swimming pool, all to the backdrop of a vast image of Machu Picchu. Even if you're only passing by, you might catch the savory smell of delicious food.

This restaurant inside the sophisticated Hotel Plaza San Francisco serves creative seafood dishes like marinated scallops over octopus carpaccio and cold tomato-and-pepper sauce. Frequented by local business people, Bristol has won several awards and often makes it onto top lists in local media. It's not as well illuminated as it could be and doesn't have much of a view, but what you've got on your plate should make up for it.

French fare is on the menu at this spacious national heritage converted castle with a turret room and gorgeous terrace. At lunch, sample the set brasserie menu with seafood tartare and duck, or for something lighter and also less expensive, try a turkey club or Mediterranean sandwich on focaccia with fresh Chilean mozzarella. It attracts a well-heeled clientele, so you'll want to make a reservation.

A favorite with Chilean politicians, journalists and, on Sunday, local families, this restaurant serves both homemade pasta—the spinach and ricotta ravioli served with butter and sage is excellent—and traditional Chilean fare such as pastel de choclo (beef and corn casserole). For alfresco dining, book a table in the tranquil tree-shaded setting at the base of San Cristóbal hill. It's great for families. Children can play safely outside while the adults linger over their meal, and there are kids' meals for 7,000 pesos.

Evoking another time and place, El Mesón Nerudiano centers around traditional recipes, poetry, music, and live theater, all in homage to Chile's greatest poet, Pablo Neruda. A stone's throw from La Chascona, Neruda's house-turned-museum, this restaurant has a menu with Chilean favorites, including caldillo de congrio, a fish soup cooked from the recipe given in one of Neruda's poems.

Expect enormous flavors from this tiny bistro, whose patio is considerably larger than its interior. A young husband-and-wife team run Guappo, cooking solid and delicious Mediterranean fare such as gnocchi and Sicilian-style eggplant stew, all nicely plated and well priced. Leave room for the delicious tiramisu.

Stop by this authentic Spanish restaurant after visiting Cerro San Cristóbal for tasty tapas like chorizo riojano (a piquant sausage), pulpo a la gallega (octopus with peppers and potatoes), and queso manchego (a mild white cheese) or for the house specialty—cabrito al horno (oven-roasted kid goat). Wine aficionados will appreciate the extensive list of vino chileno.

For excellent homemade pastas such as agnolotti, stuffed with ricotta cheese and spinach, head to this longtime Italian-owned favorite that's been feeding regulars for more than 60 years. The rear of the dining room, with its small cypress trees and corner pergola, is traditional, while seating in the front is more contemporary. The name of the restaurant refers to the two towers erected by the dueling Garisenda and Asinelli families in the owner's native Bologna.

This restaurant features Mediterranean fare and is a great place for a carry-out breakfast or a light quiche and salad lunch. Le Fournil also offers a unique version of pizza, known as tartine, which uses its own homemade bread as a base. Unusual for Chile, the restaurant includes a children's menu. There are four other branches of Le Fournil around Santiago, including at the Parque Arauco shopping mall and Patio Bellavista, as well as at the international arrivals area in the airport.

Although at first glance this appears to be a rather somber bistro, nothing could be further from the truth. The service is friendly and the Provence-influenced food---such as the mouthwatering steak au poivre and beef Bourguignon---is first-rate.

Where better than to sample fresh Chilean seafood and eat where the locals eat than at Santiago's fish market? Bustling and loud, the market has an ambience you'll want to soak up, whether you visit Donde Augusto and La Joya del Pacífico in the center or at a smaller, less touristy, and cheaper spot such as Marisol or Francisca. The tables may be rickety, but the fish couldn't be fresher and cheaper or the service friendlier. Credit cards are accepted at larger restaurants. The mercado and its restaurants close at 5 pm.

Sporting views over Parque Bicentenario, this is a great spot for a leisurely lunch or a generous pisco sour as the sun sets between the hills in summer. The eclectic menu brings together some of the best of Chilean and Peruvian cuisine, with an emphasis on fish, as well as plateada, a slow-cooked cut of beef on a bed of mashed potatoes and basil.

This unassuming French restaurant with a slightly haphazard decor has service as friendly as the food is good. Join the regulars at the wooden bar for a steaming bowl of onion soup and beef Bourguignon with French fries (made from real potatoes) in winter, or a glass of wine at one of the pavement tables in summer.

Taking inspiration from ancestral dishes made in all the regions of Chile, there's a historical theme at Peumayén, where every meal starts with a colorful "bread basket," a slate plate with examples from the north to the south of Chile. Entrées designed for sharing include guanaco meat; horse meat, lamb, fish, and the much-celebrated potato continue the ancestral theme. The restaurant interior is part romantic, part rustic, and there's an agreeable plant-filled courtyard for outside dining in warmer months.