10 Best Restaurants in El Calafate, El Chaltén, and Parque Nacional los Glaciares, Patagonia

This successful microbrewery is famous in the region for its brews and comfort food. Of course, it's not just the hops bringing in the crowds; they also cook up delicious soups, snacks, empanadas, and a great locro (hearty traditional northern Argentine stew). The owners of this restaurant and bar pride themselves on the handmade beers, with the stout or negra not to be missed.

In a dark wooden dining hall you'll share hearty steaks, warming soups, and wine poured from penguin-shaped ceramic jugs in a family restaurant that includes a hostel upstairs. It's rustic, and the food is not spectacular, but you can't beat the friendly atmosphere in what is easily El Chaltén's largest and most popular restaurant. It's also the only one that's consistently open for lunch and dinner in the off-season.

This restaurant and wine bar boasts a hipper-than-thou interior and modern menu serving such delights as Patagonian lamb with calafate sauce (calafate is a local wild berry). The Casimiro Biguá Parrilla, down the street from the main restaurant, has a similar trendy feel, but you can recognize the parrilla by the cordero al asador (spit-roasted lamb) displayed in the window. A third branch, also on Libertador, offers Italian dishes in a less formal setting. Each closes periodically during winter.

It takes a lot of moxie to open a restaurant not serving cordero, barbecue, or pizza in Patagonia, and former “fancy” chefs José and Leandro show they have just that with their homey restaurant, which uses vintage plow wheels to cook a traditional and ultimately delicious stew-style dish known as al disco. The al disco menu offers all sorts of meats and veggies cooked in beer, red wine, or white wine; more creative and quasi-modern options like Bife al Napolitana; or you can create your own. And you've got to love a restaurant that tells you not to bother with starters but rather just dunk your bread in the disco sauce. Great atmosphere, laid-back charm, and effortlessly tasty food have made this a popular spot in town.

This bustling spot is where locals go for their pizza joint fix, thanks to the typical Argentine-style pizza of thick crust, and layered with stringy cheese. Their empanadas are just as good—pick up a few and you have the perfect pastry pick-me-up during a long day of exploring. With two other branches on the main strip (one with a kids' playground and the other for more Patagonian-style dishes), the secret is out, but stick with the original pizzeria, as the locals do. If it's not crowded, you're in the wrong one.

It's a couple of extra blocks from downtown and across a little white bridge, but this parrilla is where the locals go for a special night out to watch their food as it's cooking; Patagonian lamb and beef ribs roast gaucho-style on frames hanging over a circular asador, and an enormous grill along the back wall is full of steaks, chorizos, and morcilla (blood sausage). The whole place is filled with a warm glow despite the lackluster decor. It's slightly more expensive than other parillas in the center of town—and almost always fully booked—but has a classier atmosphere that will make you want to linger for dessert, if you have room.

Bohemian music, homemade cooking, and colorful patchwork cushions set the tone for this unpretentious, friendly restaurant several blocks from downtown. You'll be surrounded by funky artwork, couples whispering under low-hung lights, and laid-back but efficient staff as you try to decide which big-enough-to-share dish you'll order while working your way through a great dome of steaming bread. Choose between soups, pies, and bakes; the lamb stew served inside a calabaza (pumpkin) is the signature dish. They also have vegan and vegetarian options.