7 Best Restaurants in Panama City, Panama

The interior of this Lebanese restaurant goes a bit overboard, with faux-stone columns and arches, but the food is consistently good, and the waitstaff is attentive. The extensive menu goes beyond the Middle East to include dishes such as grilled salmon and pizzas, but the best bets are the Lebanese dishes, which include an array of starters such as falafel, baba ghanoush, and nearly a dozen salads that can make for an inexpensive, light meal. It's a good choice for vegetarians. Be sure to order some fresh flat bread to go with your meal. Belly dancers perform on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights at 9 pm. There is a collection of hookahs for smoking on the patio, which is a nice place to eat at night, as long as it isn't full of hookah smokers. The owner also has a restaurant on the Amador Causeway.

Decent Italian food at reasonable prices served amidst tropical foliage make this restaurant in the Hotel Las Vegas a local favorite. Though there is a small air-conditioned dining room, the nicest tables are on the hotel's large interior patio, with its tropical trees, potted plants, and palms decorated with swirling Christmas lights. At lunch, it feels like a jungle oasis in the heart of the city, with birds singing in the branches above. The food is standard Italian, with eight varieties of homemade pastas served with any of a dozen different sauces, a variety of broiled meat and seafood dishes, personal pizzas, and focaccia sandwiches. For dessert, choose from chocolate cheesecake, tiramisu, and other treats. There is usually a guitarist playing at dinnertime Monday through Saturday, and the Wine Bar next door has acoustic Latin music until late.

Hidden on the fourth floor of the Evergreen Building, down the street from the Sheraton Panama, the Golden Unicorn is one of Panama's best Chinese restaurants. A Cantonese restaurant that serves some Mandarin and Szechuan dishes, its a popular weekend spot with families who gather around its large round tables and order enough dishes to fill the lazy Susan. The menu is as long as a novella, and is written in Chinese, Spanish, and English. You can't go wrong with dishes such as pollo salteado con setas (sautéed chicken and seta mushrooms), pato salteado con piña y jengibre (sautéed duck with pineapple and ginger), langostinos Yau Pau (prawns with mini vegetables), or the spicy Szechuan shrimp. They also serve dim sum, the traditional Chinese breakfast, starting at 7:30 am. The spacious dining room has walls of windows that afford ocean views, beyond the roof of the ATLAPA Convention Center.

This collection of simple tables shaded by umbrellas at the edge of the Flamenco Marina is the place to go for an inexpensive dinner or a cold drink with a view. The food is basic but good—the Panamanian version of bar food—with dishes such as ceviche, sea bass fingers, hamburgers, and whole fried snapper, all served with yuca (fried cassava root) or patacones (plantain slices that have been fried and smashed). The relaxed atmosphere and low prices are a winning combination, and the place is packed on weekend nights.

Topped by a giant thatch roof that has become an Amador Causeway landmark, Mi Ranchito has a great view of the city across the bay and is one of the best places in town to sample Panamanian cuisine. The food isn't gourmet, but it's authentic and inexpensive. House specialties include various ceviches, corvina entera frita (a whole fried sea bass), crema de mariscos (seafood chowder), camarones a la criolla (shrimp in a tomato and onion sauce), corvina al ajillo (sea bass in a garlic sauce), and a rib-eye steak encebollado (smothered in onions). They serve tasy batidos (frozen fruit drinks) made from papaya, piña (pineapple), and other tropical fruits; this is an excellent spot for a drink at sunset, when the skyline glows. At night, you can enjoy the live Latin music, often traditional Panamanian.

This popular Peruvian restaurant named after that country's famous Inca ruins occupies an unassuming house a short walk from the hotels of El Cangrejo. Its relatively small dining room, decorated with paintings of Peruvian landscapes and colorful woven tablecloths, is often packed with Panamanians at night. The food they come for is traditional Peruvian, with a few inventions such as corvina Hiroshima (sea bass in a shrimp, bell pepper, and ginger sauce) and langostinos gratinados (prawns au gratin). You can't go wrong with such Peruvian classics as ceviche, ají de gallina (shredded chicken in a chili-cream sauce), seco de res (Peruvian stewed beef with rice), and sudado de mero (grouper in a spicy soup). Be careful how you apply the ají hot sauce; it's practically caustic.

This trendy tapas restaurant packs in the locals on weekend nights, but it's a fun place for a meal any time. Seating is at long, high tables, which different groups share under a tangle of wires and hanging lamps. The tapas are an international mix of flavors: from Greek salad to coconut cashew chicken to a selection of Panamanian empanadas (fried pastries stuffed with sausage and potato or beans and cheese). The portions vary in size, but the best thing is to start with two per person, and share. The atmosphere is hip, with house and other contemporary music on the stereo and original art on the walls. You may want to head up to the rooftop bar—a popular night spot with an impressive view—once you've had your fill of tapas. The restaurant's weekday lunch specials are reasonably priced and make for a nice break while touring the historic neighborhood.