5 Best Restaurants in Chiriqui Province, Panama

Perched on the banks of Caldera River, this pleasant restaurant is Boquete's go-to place for an intimate meal. The smoked trout and pasta with prawns are delicious, but it's the rack of lamb in a rosemary crust that is a local favorite. For a romantic dinner, the fireside gazebo has the best view. A more social setting can be found at the bar, appropriately named "La Roca" (The Rock) for a boulder that washed onto the property during a rainstorm in 1970; the boulder remains. There's often live music, which can be enjoyed with a glass of wine or the tres leches dessert. Lighter fare of soups, salads, and sandwiches is also on the menu.

There is something European about the stone building that houses this restaurant a short drive northeast of town, which is made complete with authentic Italian cuisine. The small dining room is on the ground floor overlooking a stream surrounded by trees and impatiens; an outdoor patio sits beside a small waterfall. The menu includes fresh pastas such as vegetable lasagna and fettuccine del Chef (with prawn-and-mushroom cream sauce) or napolitano (with tomato-clam sauce). You can also build your own pizza or calzone or grab a pizza to go.

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.

This simple restaurant serves 17 varieties of good pizza, as well as mediocre pastas, many meat and seafood dishes, and inexpensive, three-course lunch specials. The decor is limited to vibrant tablecloths and tacky art, but the place is clean, bright, air-conditioned, and very popular.