Eat and Drink in Cartagena
My sister and I recently visited Colombia for a week, spending a few days in Cartagena and a couple days in Minca. Here’s what and where we ate over our few days in Cartagena!
Scroll down to see a map of all mentioned places!
Food in Cartagena
Some food to look out for in Cartagena:
Arepas - stuffed or otherwise
Fresh coconut water
Limonada de Coco - a delicious lime and coconut slushy
Ceviche
Seafood
Paletas - ice pops
Gelato
Posta Negra - beef cooked in a dark, sweet sauce
Fresh juice
Restaurants in Cartagena
La Cevicheria
Although many restaurants serve ceviche, La Cevicheria will most likely pop up at the top of a lot of your searches. We happened to walk by it around 4PM on our first day and snagged a sidewalk table to enjoy a glass of wine and a small bowl of ceviche, served with crackers. It was a lovely snack in a beautiful setting.
La Mulata
La Mulata is a friendly, casual Caribbean restaurant with a seafood-heavy menu. We shared garlic shrimp and posta negra, which is beef cooked in a dark sweet sauce. Like many dishes at restaurants in the city, both came with plantains, coconut rice, and avocado.
San Valentin
San Valentin was recommended to us by a local as one of his favorite spots. We ate dinner here but when we walked by at lunch the large space was even more crowded than at night. We weren’t blown away by the food, but we only tried a couple dishes from the large menu. It’s conveniently located in the walled city, right across from Bogota Brewing Company.
Quero Arepa
Quero Arepa is a small casual sit-down restaurant with tons of delicious stuffed arepas options. We stopped by for lunch one day and had a couple of arepas and Club Colombias.
Malanga Bistro Caribe
Malanga Bistro is right on the quaint Plaza San Diego. We managed to grab a table outside making for good people watching. We shared ceviche, served here with patacones, and each ordered a fish dish for our main; my sister enjoyed fish and chips and I ate a white fish in a coconut sauce.
Colombitalia Arepa
Another casual stuffed arepas spot, but with a walkup sidewalk counter. Colombitalia Arepa is located near the Trinity Square in Getsemani and it seemed especially popular at night for an easy dinner before or after drinks, or while people watching in the square.
Dunia Express
Dunia Express is a small walk-up counter in Getsemani selling empanadas. Greasy, hot, tasty, and inexpensive - everything you want in empanadas for a quick snack or light lunch. No vegetable options, unfortunately, just cheeses and meats.
Demente
Demente is a delicious and cozy tapas (and pizza) restaurant in Getsemani. We sat inside and people-watched out the window on to Trinity Square, but there’s a big backyard with long communal tables that looked really nice! We shared 4 tapas between two of us and had some good wine and beer.
Stefano’s Bistro
We stopped at Stefano's Bistro briefly for an afternoon snack of patacones and limonada de coco. It was a little pricey but the food was good and the space was lovely.
Pastelería Mila
Pastelería Mila is a trendy brunch spot in the walled city full of young, well-dressed locals. They have a full brunch menu in Spanish only, so we took a bit of a gamble but the food was really good. We both had an arepa and egg situation, and the pastries and dessert in the counter case also looked delicious.
Stepping Stone
I only wish we had come to Stepping Stone earlier in our trip, but we didn’t try it until our last morning, when we were both a bit sick and couldn’t fully enjoy it. They’re a social enterprise cafe, providing education and employment to disadvantaged Colombian youth. Their menu uses high-quality and locally-sourced ingredients and, like most restaurants we went to, they make their own bread.
La Esquina del Pandebono
La Esquina del Pandebono is a perfect place if you want to try Colombian breads for a quick breakfast or snack. Order at the counter from their menu of various sweet and savory options. Between our two visits here we tried yuca bread, spinach and cheese pastry, buñuelo (fried dough ball), and pandebono (corn flour and cheese). Everything was really good, and they're open 24 hours, just in case...
Restaurants on our list that we didn’t get to try:
La Cocina de Pepina - the one I'm most upset about missing!
El Boliche
Malanga
Oh La La
Bars in Cartagena
Café del Mar
Café del Mar is a super popular outdoor bar right on the wall with a great view for sunset. The space is huge but it’s still hard to get a seat unless you arrive early; we ended up sharing a 4-top with two other guests. Service was slow and prices were high, but it’s still worth going one night. Another option is to stand along the same wall, on either side of Café del Mar, and bring your own beer or buy it from the local guys selling from coolers. You still get a great view and you save money.
El Barón
Creative cocktails in a beautifully designed bar, with the option of outdoor seating in one of the nicer plazas in Cartagena. Combined with high-quality ingredients, great service, and a bit of history, El Barón is definitely worth a visit.
Mirador in Hotel Torre del Reloj
To escape the aggressive vendors in Plaza del Reloj, we climbed up to the rooftop bar at Hotel Torre del Reloj. They had good happy hour specials and views of the plaza.
Bogota Beer Company
We ended up at Bogota Beer Company twice for some locally brewed beer. The bartender was very friendly and let us try a few beers before we decided on our order. The atmosphere is laid back and there was usually a soccer game playing on the TV.
Restaurante Palenqueras Getsemani
While walking around Getsemani on a hot day we sat in shaded rocking chairs outside of Restaurante Palenqueras Getsemani to enjoy a couple cold glasses of coco de limonada. A little overpriced because of the location right on Trinity Square, but a cute setting to sit and relax.
Café de la Trinidad
A less expensive sidewalk seating alternative to the above restaurant, Café de la Trinidad also gives you views of the square. Can’t speak to the food, but we ordered a couple Colombian beers. I wasn’t feeling well while here and the staff couldn’t have been more helpful.
Bars on our list that we didn’t get to try:
Salsa Donde Fidel
Alquimico
El Baluarte
Bazurto Social Club
Cafe Havana
Quiebracanto
Casa de la Cerveza
Paletas and gelato in Cartagena
La Paleteria is probably the most popular paleteria in the city and is conveniently located. Lots of flavors, either water-, yogurt-, or cream-based, makes it really hard to decide! Just come here often, like we did, to try multiple. D’li Paleteria is off Trinity Square but is only open at night. We were happy to find mint chocolate, which La Paleteria didn’t have.
There are so many gelaterias, but we only tried two, surprisingly. Gelateria Tramonti is a small little shop with no seating, while Gelateria Paradiso has a large inside where you can sit. Both were delicious with lots of flavor options.
Coffee in Cartagena
You can order coffee at any restaurant in Cartagena, but Colombia exports their good beans and keeps the low-quality beans for themselves (confirmed by our tour guide at a coffee farm in Minca). If you want a good cup of coffee in Cartagena, you have to seek it out, and these are some of the best options.
San Alberto
You can choose to have your coffee prepared pretty much any which way at San Alberto - syphon, chemex, cold brew, etc. We ordered an iced coffee, brewed to order, that came served in a wine glass.
Ábaco Libros y Café
I’m a sucker for a bookstore and coffee shop combo, so I was excited to check Ábaco out. The bookstore is beautiful, although we didn’t do much browsing as there was a limited English section. We didn’t try any drinks here, but they had a small bar inside and a couple of sidewalk tables.
Stepping Stone
I mentioned this up above under restaurants, but you can also stop at Stepping Stone for a good cup of coffee.
Cafes on our list that we didn’t get to try:
Epoca