2 Best Restaurants in Playa Santa Catalina, Chiriqui Province

Surprisingly good pizza is served at this small, Italian-owned open-air restaurant a short walk from the beach. The thin pies baked in a wood-burning brick oven would be popular in Panama City, but they taste that much better served at the edge of civilization. On holidays and dry-season weekends the place can get packed, and it stays open late as locals and visitors top off their dinners with cold beers and good music. Service is relatively slow, so if your stomach is grumbling, get there by 6:30 pm if you don't want to wait longer than an hour for your food.

Smack at the end of the main road to Santa Catalina, this beachside restaurant has a fine selection of seafood and Italian dishes, with recipes for pollo a la scalopina and filete de pescado a la mediterránea taken straight from the cookbook of the Italian owner's mother. With a great sunset view of the bay at Playa Santa Catalina, finer dining in a more sandals-optional location won't be found.