Panama City’s finest restaurants for the discerning traveler. From contemporary Panamanian cuisine to international fine dining, rooftop bars to intimate jazz clubs — your complete guide to eating exceptionally well in the city.
Why Panama City Is Central America’s Culinary Capital
Panama City has no serious competition for the title of Central America’s most sophisticated food city. The combination of the country’s extraordinary biodiversity (Panama has more species of birds than the United States and Canada combined — and a similarly remarkable range of micro-climates producing exceptional ingredients), a cosmopolitan population with influences from across Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia, and Europe, and a small but intensely talented generation of chefs who have trained in Europe and returned home to reinvent Panamanian cuisine makes the dining scene here genuinely world-class.
In the last decade, Panamanian restaurants have begun appearing on the Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants list. This is not a coincidence. This is the result of a culinary revolution happening in real time.
The Essential Restaurants: Our Curated Selection
Maito
Maito is the most important restaurant in Panama — the standard-bearer of a new Panamanian cuisine that draws from indigenous techniques, Afro-Caribbean traditions, and modern gastronomy. Chef Mario Castrellón has built something extraordinary here: a tasting menu that tells the story of Panamanian identity through food, using ingredients foraged from the jungle, sourced from Guna fishermen, and grown on small farms across the country. Reservations weeks in advance. Dinner for two: $150–$250 including drinks.
Donde José
Smaller, more intimate, and just as philosophically rigorous as Maito — Donde José is Casco Viejo’s finest restaurant and one of the most interesting dining experiences in all of Latin America. Chef José Olmedo Carles offers a single tasting menu that changes based on what is available from his network of indigenous and rural producers. The restaurant seats just 24 people. The food is extraordinary. Book at least three weeks ahead.
Fonda Lo Que Hay
The most accessible of the serious Panamanian restaurants — “fonda” means humble neighborhood restaurant, and the name is deliberately ironic. The food here is elevated traditional Panamanian cooking: ceviche made with fresh corvina from the Pacific, sancocho (chicken soup that is Panama’s national dish) elevated with aromatic herbs and served alongside coconut-infused rice, ropa vieja braised for hours and finished with tropical pickles. The setting is a beautifully converted colonial building in Casco Viejo with outdoor seating in the courtyard.
Intimo
Award-winning Chef Julieta Carrillo operates this intimate restaurant with chef’s counter seating and an open kitchen that makes the meal a performance as much as a dinner. The menu is contemporary with strong Panamanian influences. Exceptional wine program focused on small producers. The best date-night restaurant in Panama City.
Waterfalls
For the traveler who wants traditional Panamanian cuisine in an impeccably beautiful setting, Waterfalls on the Amador Causeway delivers both. The restaurant is named for the cascading water features that define its design, and the views of the Bridge of the Americas and the Canal entrance are among the best from any restaurant terrace in the city. Order the langostinos al ajillo and the patacones.
Rooftop Bars and Cocktail Culture
Tantalo Rooftop
The Tantalo Hotel’s rooftop bar in Casco Viejo is the most beloved outdoor bar in Panama City. The views — colonial rooftops in the foreground, glass towers in the distance, the bay shimmering below — are extraordinary at sunset. The cocktail menu is creative (try the Casco Mule, made with Panama’s own Seco Herrerano spirits). It is standing-room-only on Friday and Saturday nights.
Aire Rooftop Bar (Waldorf Astoria)
For the most elevated — literally and figuratively — cocktail experience in the city, the Waldorf Astoria’s rooftop bar is unsurpassable. 30+ floors above the financial district, looking out over the Pacific and the Canal approach. Service is precise, the cocktail program is excellent, and the crowd is the city’s business and diplomatic elite.
Seafood: Panama’s Greatest Culinary Treasure
Panama sits between two oceans and benefits from Pacific, Caribbean, and freshwater fishing traditions. The seafood here is extraordinary — and understanding the local fish is part of the education.
What to Order
- Corvina — Panama’s beloved white fish, similar to sea bass, available raw in ceviche or grilled simply with local herbs
- Langostinos — small but intensely flavored Pacific prawns, best garlic-butter preparation
- Ceviche de Mariscos — mixed seafood ceviche with rocoto pepper, lime, and cilantro
- Pargo Rojo — red snapper, the whole fish roasted in banana leaf or salt-crusted
- Camarones del Caribe — Caribbean shrimp, larger and sweeter than their Pacific cousins
Wine, Spirits, and Where to Drink
Panama does not produce wine (the climate is wrong), but Panama City’s best restaurants maintain cellar programs that would satisfy any oenophile. Argentine and Chilean wines dominate the mid-range; Spanish, French, and Italian producers feature at the top end.
Of more local interest: Seco Herrerano, a Panamanian cane spirit produced in Herrera province, is the national drink. It is served mixed (with milk and ice, in the traditional Panamanian style, as a “seco con leche”) or in the cocktails of creative bartenders who treat it as their mission to make you understand how good Panamanian spirits can be. Ron Abuelo, Panama’s premium aged rum, is equally worth exploring — the Centennial expression is excellent.
✦ Reservation Tip
Panama’s best restaurants (Maito, Donde José, Intimo) require advance reservations — often 2–3 weeks ahead for weekend dining. Our concierge team can arrange reservations on your behalf, including for notoriously difficult tables, as part of any itinerary we design.