Panajachel Restaurants

This is a casual restaurant opening onto Calle Santander and serving Italian dishes, chicken and seafood, as well as lighter meals such as salads. It also has a pizza oven, and pizza was what we fancied that evening.

Favorite Dish: We shared a medium chicken pizza, which was ample for the two of us (although if really hungry you might prefer the larger size). It was very good – generous with the cheese and the base thin and just a little crisp. Chris had a Gallo and I had a bottle of sparkling water, and the bill was just 95 Q. Service was friendly if a little slow, but as we weren’t in a hurry that wasn’t a problem.

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Just opposite the top of Calle Santander on Calle Principal is this big barn-like space with a small counter serving excellent coffee, a few bookshelves selling second-hand books, and a scattering of furniture including some soft squishy sofas. It’s a great place to relax after climbing the main street and browsing all the handicrafts stalls perhaps. A well-chosen seat will give you a great vantage point from which to watch all the comings and goings at Pana’s busiest junction – tuk-tuks, gringos, local Maya women in colourful costumes, stray dogs dodging the traffic, children playing and more ...

This is the third of Jorge’s recommendations that we tried. We came here for lunch and were very happy with it. We also intended to come back one evening to test its claim to be a prime sunset viewing spot, but somehow never got round to doing so. Certainly it has the right location, with tables overlooking the lake and volcanoes beyond.

Favorite Dish: The menu has a Mexican slant, but we were after something fairly light. Chris chose the ham and cheese sandwich while I went for the chicken one, which turned out to be served hot, with fried onions and mustard – not what I was expecting, but quite tasty. Both came with a side of pasta salad. With a Gallo each we paid 152 Q including service. The meal was fine, but nothing special – you come here for the view above all.

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Despite its name this is not an Indian restaurant but a vegetarian one, although it does have a few curries on its menu. It’s a pretty tiny place, although a few tables out on the street add to the capacity. The walls are decorated with a lot of old maps covering all over the world, which I loved, and pictures of elephants.

It appears to be family-run and the owner / waiter seemed a little overwhelmed by a small group of travellers who’d arrived just before us (we were the only other customers apart from this group). Service was consequently rather slow, but he was very apologetic and as we liked the food and the ambience we didn’t really mind having to wait between courses.

Favorite Dish: We hadn’t spotted the small print on the menu that said that all main courses come with soup, so we ordered a shared starter of pitta bread with hummus. The bread was lovely though the hummus was oddly dry. The soup was great – a bit like a spicy minestrone. Chris’s main was burritos which had a good flavour and were of a generous size, though they could have been warmer. My choice was the “vegetables in pipian sauce” – another chance to sample this local dish after the disappointment of the Casablanca version. This time the sauce seemed much more what it should be – thick, spicy and with plenty of texture from the pumpkin and sesame seeds. It came in a separate dish to pour over the vegetables, which consisted of broccoli, cauliflower, red cabbage, beans, a corn cob and half an avocado – plus rice. My only gripe was that I could have used more sauce on such a generous plate of vegetables.

With two Moza beers each the bill came to 222 Q with service – very good value for the amount we ate.

This was another of Jorge’s recommendations and this time he was spot on! This is a really lovely breakfast spot. The tables and chairs (painted in bright candy colours) are set out in the garden and surrounded by greenery. The service is friendly and you can feel quite comfortable lingering here over a coffee or juice, maybe reading a paper or catching up with your travel journal while birds and butterflies dart around the bushes. We came here twice for breakfast and would have come on the third day (a Tuesday) too had it not been closed.

Favorite Dish: There is an extensive breakfast menu with something for all tastes I would imagine. On the first morning I chose the ham and cheese omelette which came with hash browns (both were very good) while Chris had the Eggs Benedict – Jorge had claimed that these were the “best in the world” and while not quite living up to that billing, they were certainly good. With two large mugs of good strong filter coffee we paid 120 Q including service.

On our second visit I had the delicious banana pancakes and Chris the omelette that I’d enjoyed the previous day (well, not the same omelette, you understand!) We were just as satisfied on this occasion, although I don’t seem to have noted the price – but it must have been similar.

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This restaurant was recommended to us by Jorge who drove us from Antigua to Pana, but to be honest we didn’t like it as much as his other recommendations. The service was patchy – almost too quick at first and then rather slow when a couple of large-ish groups arrived. And although it was nicely decorated we somehow found it lacking in atmosphere.

Favorite Dish: The food too was of a mixed quality. My bass in garlic butter was nicely filleted but a little over-whelmed by the garlic (I love it, but it was a bit too much for this delicate fish). The accompanying broccoli though was great – just cooked enough, rather than the soggy mess you get in some places. Chris chose the local dish of pollo pipian but was disappointed with it. The thick sauce should be rich and slightly spicy, with a distinctive texture created by the inclusion of ground pumpkin seeds, but this one was bland and could have been any sort of generic gravy. We skipped dessert as nothing much appealed to us, and the bill for the single course each, a Gallo and a glass of (good) Chilean red was 236 Q – quite a lot for Guatemala.

The website below has an unattributed quote claiming this to be ".. One of the 100 best restaurants in Central America" – well, we didn’t eat in 100 restaurants but I find it hard to believe that there aren’t at least that many better than this. It’s not bad – just not great.

El Patio is situated on the main drag of Panajachel, Calle Santander. As its name advertises, the outdoor patio is the main drawing card for this restaurant. Heavy cast-iron tables and chairs are set on a large patio with ample parasols to give shade. The menu is rather eclectic but it specializes in local dishes such as the delicious "pollo pipian"...which is pieces of stewed chicken in a lovely mild peppery sauce, called "pipian". It is one of the best-known dishes of Guatemala and El Patio delivers the goods! People watching is the main activity here and there are certainly enough Gringos passing by to keep you occupied!

Favorite Dish: Pollo Pipian...

Located towards the Calle Principal end of Calle Santander, Pana Pan (pan = bread in Spanish) offers a variety of Guatemalan baked goods. Be sure to try the champurradas, largish flat sweet cookies, and beef empanadas. The latter is large enough to possibly satisfy someone for lunch. They also have an espresso machine so you can get your caffeine fix here as well.

I have to say that the champurradas here are not the best, even disappointing based on those we had in Antigua. There's another panadarilla up on Avenida Los Arboles that may make better ones. But if you're going to be in Antigua, don't miss the champurradas at Panadarilla San Antonio. That's the real stuff!

Favorite Dish: Beef empanada