Restaurants

Four açaí bowls, fruit smoothies & iced coffee

Good food runs all day at Nativo, but evenings are really about the pool deck and the sunset — plenty of people just come for a drink, since it's clearly one of the best sunset spots in Santa Catalina. Saturdays bring a techno night, one of the few real parties in town.

Beachfront restaurant inside Hotel Santa Catalina, serving fresh seafood, banana pancakes, and fresh-carved fruit juice, with the surf break at Punta Roca right in front of the tables.

Argentine steakhouse run by Pablo and his wife Shenida, grilling over firewood since 2004 — the first Argentine parrillada in Santa Catalina. Empanadas, milanesas, homemade burgers and steak with homemade chimichurri.

Open-air pizzeria in a garden in Santa Catalina, with thin-crust pizza from the wood oven and homemade maracuyá soda. Open Tuesday to Saturday evenings.

A one-man seafood kitchen in a modest cabin, no menu, no fixed hours — you eat whatever Chano caught that day, and it might be the best seafood in Panama.

Chef Juan and his wife Chris run this small, evening-only restaurant out of their own hotel, mixing Spanish-style tapas with Thai curries and fresh seafood — repeatedly named the best kitchen in town.

A family kitchen on the main road, run by Nivia herself, known for a homemade passion fruit sauce that shows up on everything from lobster to pork chops.

Italian-Panamanian, family-run restaurant on Playa Santa Catalina, the only one sitting directly on the town beach, serving seafood pasta and grilled catch with a straight view of the sunset.

A beachfront restaurant on Estero Beach known for its ocean view, breakfast hojaldras, and the occasional live DJ set.

Viancka cooks in her own front yard next to the park, serving what the local fishermen brought her that day — cash only, and often called the best ceviche in Panama.

An open-air garden restaurant on Via Catalina Farms, best known for octopus arañitas, ceviche, and tuna tartare — with a full vegetarian and vegan menu alongside the seafood.

An Italian-Caribbean kitchen serving tuna steak, seafood pasta, and carbonara, closed Sundays and consistently named one of the best meals in Santa Catalina.

The cheapest, most local meal in town — a family-run spot on Calle Los Pibes where fried fish and patacones run about $10 and half the tables are neighbors, not tourists.