Which neighborhoods are on this tasting-menu list?

Coco del Mar, San Francisco, El Cangrejo, and Obarrio are the neighborhoods on this tasting-menu list. Coco del Mar has both restaurants named Maito. San Francisco has La Tapa Del Coco and Intimo. El Cangrejo has Riesen. Obarrio has Makoto, which serves omakase.

Which restaurants on this list hold awards?

The Modern Panamanian Fusion Maito in Coco del Mar, La Tapa Del Coco in San Francisco, and the Chombasia Maito in Coco del Mar hold the awards on this list. The fusion Maito placed number 18 on Latin America's 50 Best. La Tapa Del Coco placed number 61 on that same list. The Chombasia Maito holds the World Culinary Awards title Panama's Best Restaurant.

What wine is poured with these tasting menus?

Curated wine programs are in place at both Maito restaurants in Coco del Mar, at Intimo in San Francisco, at Riesen in El Cangrejo, and at Makoto in Obarrio. The Modern Panamanian Fusion Maito serves that wine with a tasting menu and a la carte. The Chombasia Maito does the same. Intimo and Riesen serve their curated wine with a tasting menu.

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Best Tasting Menus in Panama City

Restaurants named Maito, both in Coco del Mar and both under Chef Mario Castrellón, are on the tasting-menu list in our Panama City guide. One cooks with native ingredients and the restaurant's own organic garden, drawing on Afro-Caribbean, Asian, and indigenous influences, and it serves a tasting menu and a la carte with a curated wine program and craft cocktails. Latin America's 50 Best placed that restaurant at number 18 in 2025.

The second Maito cooks Chombasia from an on-site organic garden, with craft cocktails and a beer program. La Tapa Del Coco in San Francisco, led by Chef Isaac Villaverde, serves a tasting menu of Afro-Panamanian cooking. Intimo, also in San Francisco, is a chef's table in a residential home using 90 percent local homegrown ingredients. Riesen in El Cangrejo serves a tasting menu with fermentation and wood-fire. Makoto in Obarrio serves omakase and a sake program.

How this list is chosen: Restaurants serving a tasting menu or omakase, listed alphabetically. Updated October 8, 2026.

Intimo
On Calle 72 Este in Panama City, Intimo draws a loyal local following that returns not for novelty but for consistency and a particular kind of intimacy that larger venues in the city rarely sustain. The room operates at a register that rewards repeat visits, where the experience accumulates meaning across multiple evenings rather than delivering everything in a single sitting.
La Tapa Del Coco
La Tapa Del Coco operates at the intersection of culinary preservation and contemporary technique, bringing Afro-Panamanian gastronomy into formal dining conversation. Led by Chef Isaac Villaverde, the project treats Afro-Antillean and Afro-Colonial traditions as living reference points rather than museum pieces. It sits among Panama City's most purposeful dining addresses, alongside places like Maito and Caleta, where national identity is the actual subject on the plate.
Maito
Panama's most internationally recognised restaurant, Maito occupies a firm position on the Latin America's 50 Best list and ranked #9 on Opinionated About Dining's Casual North America list in 2025. Chef Mario Castrellón builds a menu around Panamanian ingredients sourced from indigenous communities, framing traditional cuisine through a contemporary land-and-sea structure. Open Monday through Saturday in Obarrio's Kenex Plaza.
Maito
Maito Restaurante on Calle 50 is Panama City's most discussed address for contemporary Panamanian cooking, where indigenous ingredients and Afro-Caribbean techniques are reframed through a modern kitchen lens. The restaurant sits at the centre of a broader conversation about what Panamanian cuisine actually is, drawing on the country's agricultural interior and coastal diversity to build a menu rooted in provenance rather than performance.
Makoto
In Obarrio's Kenex Plaza, Makoto occupies a corner of Panama City's increasingly serious Japanese dining scene. The restaurant draws a well-travelled crowd that recognises what it takes to run a credible Japanese kitchen this far from Tokyo — and books accordingly. For anyone assembling a serious Panama City itinerary, Makoto warrants attention before you finalise your table list.
Riesen
On a quiet residential street in El Cangrejo, Riesen occupies a house address that signals something deliberately apart from Panama City's main restaurant corridor. The kitchen works at the intersection of European technique and Central American produce, placing it in a small but growing cohort of Panama City restaurants treating local ingredients as the primary creative variable rather than the decorative one.

Planning tasting menus in Panama City

Which neighborhoods are on this tasting-menu list?: Coco del Mar, San Francisco, El Cangrejo, and Obarrio are the neighborhoods on this tasting-menu list. Coco del Mar has both restaurants named Maito. San Francisco has La Tapa Del Coco and Intimo. El Cangrejo has Riesen. Obarrio has Makoto, which serves omakase.
Which restaurants on this list hold awards?: The Modern Panamanian Fusion Maito in Coco del Mar, La Tapa Del Coco in San Francisco, and the Chombasia Maito in Coco del Mar hold the awards on this list. The fusion Maito placed number 18 on Latin America's 50 Best. La Tapa Del Coco placed number 61 on that same list. The Chombasia Maito holds the World Culinary Awards title Panama's Best Restaurant.
What wine is poured with these tasting menus?: Curated wine programs are in place at both Maito restaurants in Coco del Mar, at Intimo in San Francisco, at Riesen in El Cangrejo, and at Makoto in Obarrio. The Modern Panamanian Fusion Maito serves that wine with a tasting menu and a la carte. The Chombasia Maito does the same. Intimo and Riesen serve their curated wine with a tasting menu.