15 Best Restaurants in El Norte Grande, Chile

Popular with locals, this unassuming restaurant may have simple decor, but the food is excellent. The serving staff bring out endless plates of steaming seafood and barbecue delights. The fettuccini a la mancha is as good as anything you'd get in Italy (perhaps a little spicer though!). Prices are a little steep but fair for Antofagasta, which is a pricey town. 

This hip eatery creatively combines Peruvian, Japanese, and Chilean flavors in dishes served straight on the waterfront. You can expect Chilean classics like ceviche and empanadas as well as Peruvian and Nikkea staples of lomo saltado and rich seafood broth. The cocktails are also a highlight, and often use local fruit and herb mixers.

Wicker furniture enhances the cool South Pacific atmosphere of this pleasant, open-air restaurant that literally sits above the water on stilts. The seafood, lauded by locals, is always fresh; ask the waiter what the fishing boats brought in that day. House specialties include octopus grilled in lemon and olive oil, and sea bass in the pineapple-flavored salsa amazonia.

The altiplano sun burns bright and hot in San Pedro, so stop in at Babalu Heladeria to sample one of 52 flavors of ice cream.

One of the most popular restaurants in San Pedro, Adobe gets extra points for its atmospheric fire pit and local Andean band. The food reflects international and local tastes with quesadillas, salads, and pizzas, alongside the calorific Chilean favorite of steak a la pobre (topped with fried egg, onions, and fries). You'll also find more tasteful Atacama-inspired fusion dishes like Patagonian lamb kofte with local broad bean hummus and rica rica (a local herb) raita. Don't leave without trying a coca leaf or rica rica pisco sour.

While you may not have come to San Pedro to eat pizza, this busy joint serves respectable thin-crust pies. The restaurant itself is not classy, but if you’re looking for a bit of home comfort or takeout for your hotel patio, Charrua is the place. Note that they don't have an alcohol license, but service is speedy and friendly.

Located away from the center of the city, this seafood restaurant treats you to views of Playa Cavancha. Try the sole in Cleopatra sauce, with shrimp, capers, and olive oil; the Thai-style sautéed shrimp; or the paella for two, served by friendly bow-tied waiters.

Owner Carmen has managed to attract locals and tourists alike with her immensely popular restaurant that serves affordable, typically Chilean home-style dishes, ranging from soups and stews to roast meats and fish. Warm bread is served with a killer pebre (spicy salsa), and the lunch specials are the best value in San Pedro.

This rotisserie restaurant prepares some of the best roasted chicken in Chile—a good thing, because it's the only item on the menu. The thatched-roof terrace is a great place to kick back after a long day of sightseeing. Known for: chicken, fast service.

Locals love this seafood restaurant, and for good reason. The corvina con salsa margarita (sea bass in a seafood-based sauce) is a winner, as is the paila marina, a hearty soup stocked with all manner of fish. The dreary fluorescent lights and faux-wood paneling give this restaurant on the second story of a concrete-block building an undeserved down-at-the-heels air.

Decked with historic memorabilia, Patagonia is best known for its steak—large slices of steaming beef, cooked on the grill. Most people don't stray too far from the classics and it's probably best not to, as this is what Patagonia does best. Order a bottle of good Cabernet and a steak, and experience a carnivore's dream.