“Best” is a bold word... so let’s clarify. This isn’t a ranking or a competition. These are the restaurants that wowed us with inventive dishes, stuck with us thanks to their atmosphere, and left us saying you can’t leave Cartagena without eating here.
Cartagena has no shortage of great spots, but this list focuses on the showstoppers: the meals we’re still talking about, the flavors we didn’t see coming, and the places that hit that rare sweet spot between design, service, and food. It evolves — new restaurants open, menus change, settings shift — and we update it when something earns its way in. As of May 2026, Casa Mar is our number one. If you want the full picture beyond the dining room, our guide to the best things to do in Cartagena is a good place to start. And for Getsemaní specifically, we have a dedicated guide to that neighborhood’s best tables.
1. Casa Mar — The Best Restaurant in Cartagena
You find it through a blue chain-link fence near a half-built gas station and a fire station, which is not how you expect to find the best restaurant in the city. A Spanish chef with a quiet confidence, a harbor view that frames the Walled City in water, and a kitchen that treats Colombian ingredients like the serious raw material they are. The oblea dessert alone is worth the reservation. Read the full story in the entry below — it’s one we’ve written in detail because it deserves it. Book well ahead. The word has gotten out.
2. Restaurante 1621 — The Most Special Night in Cartagena
Our go-to for a genuinely romantic evening, and the restaurant in the city with the best food and wine pairing. Inside the Sofitel Santa Teresa, it has the kind of setting and service that makes a dinner feel like an occasion rather than a meal. The ten-course pairing is the move — unhurried, considered, and the kind of thing you’ll still be talking about on the flight home. Not an every-night spot, but exactly right when the night calls for something more.
3. Celele — The Most Important Restaurant in Cartagena
Celele has been ranked among the best restaurants in Latin America and earned its place on the World’s 50 Best list. What makes it genuinely important is not the accolades but what the kitchen is doing: building an entire creative vocabulary around Colombia’s Caribbean coast, its indigenous ingredients, its ancestral techniques, its producers. Some locals push back on it, which is part of the conversation. If you want to understand where Colombian cuisine is going, you need to eat here. Book well in advance and note that reservations are prepaid and nonrefundable if you’re late.
4. Román — The Freshest Menu in the Walled City
Most restaurants in Cartagena lean heavily on fried seafood — delicious, but a pattern that can feel relentless by day three. Román, on Plaza Fernández de Madrid right next to Townhouse Hotel, is the correction. Mediterranean-Caribbean fusion with a Greek sensibility, lighter and fresher than almost anything else on this list. The interior is spectacular. The sharing concept is well suited to groups. The crème brûlée is the dessert. Live music most nights. Reservations recommended.
5. Rabo de Pez — The One That Almost Took the Top Spot
When we first tried Rabo de Pez it went straight to the top of our list, neck and neck with Casa Mar. It’s still that good. Glass-door fridges display the day’s catch as you arrive, an open kitchen lets you watch the team work, and the food is thoughtful, refined, and anchored in Colombian ingredients without being precious about it. The chef is also behind Pascal, Cartagena’s best brunch spot — see our brunch guide for that one — but this is the elevated expression: more intention, more technique, more to remember. A note for the chocolate-curious: they’re one of the few restaurants in the city using fully traceable Colombian cacao in their desserts.
6. Mar y Cielo — The Most Romantic Setting in the Old City
A beautifully restored colonial house in the heart of the Walled City, candlelit stone walls, and a rooftop where the golden dome of the oldest cathedral in Colombia rises against the night sky. Mar y Cielo is the restaurant we’d choose for a first date in Cartagena or an anniversary dinner. The kitchen is led by chef María Stella Zapa Fernández — a woman chef running one of the city’s finest kitchens, which we’re proud to highlight — and the service is consistently among the best in the city. The rooftop can get warm, but the view is worth it. Limited space means advance reservations are essential. For more on that rooftop view, it also makes our best rooftops in Cartagena list.
7. Carmen — For When You Want Something Special
Carmen is the Cartagena outpost of one of Medellín’s most celebrated restaurants. Set in a beautifully restored colonial home on Calle del Santísimo in the Walled City, with a lush garden patio, an air-conditioned interior, and an electric bar, it’s one of the most complete dining environments in the city. The tasting menu — seven or nine courses — is creative, locally rooted, and occasionally pushes the inventiveness a little far, but the overall level is high and the menu rotates so there’s reason to return. The cocktail program is exceptional. Everything à la carte is equally solid. Reservations essential.
8. Harry’s Sasson — The Best Courtyard in Cartagena
A restored colonial mansion with cascading greenery, an open-air courtyard, and a menu that blends Colombian ingredients with global technique — fresh seafood alongside wok-fried rice, Peruvian-style noodles, and vibrant ceviches. The bar menu is where we’d start: crab croquettes, octopus, grilled hearts of palm, things built for sharing. Ask for a table in the courtyard rather than near the front patio, which can attract vendors. Service and consistency can dip during peak season. On the pricier side, but the setting earns a significant portion of that.
9. Tierra — Cartagena’s Best Nikkei Kitchen
A Colombian take on Nikkei cuisine — Japanese technique, Peruvian flavors, Colombian lens — executed with real care in a warm, intimate space across two air-conditioned floors and a small rooftop. The food is thoughtful without being fussy. The cocktail list matches the creativity of the kitchen. Better suited to couples or small groups given the size. Romantic without trying too hard, which is harder to achieve than it sounds in a city full of places that try too hard.
10. Erre de Ramón Freixa — Worth the Drive North
The only restaurant on this list outside the historic center. Erre sits atop Hotel Las Américas near La Boquilla, about ten minutes north of the old city, and rewards the short trip with sweeping views of Cartagena’s northern beaches and a kitchen guided by the vision of Spanish chef Ramón Freixa, who has two Michelin stars in Europe. Contemporary Mediterranean-influenced tasting menus, one of the best wine cellars in the city, and both indoor AC dining and a beautiful outdoor terrace. A special occasion restaurant in the fullest sense. Reservations recommended, especially for sunset seatings.
The ten restaurants above reflect the range of what Cartagena’s dining scene actually looks like at its best: from a harbor-side discovery behind a blue fence to a Michelin-influenced tasting menu ten minutes up the coast. If you’re building a full trip around the food, our best brunch guide and best cafés guide cover the rest of the day. And if you end up at Magno Chocolates on Calle de la Factoría between meals, we’re always happy to talk through a reservation or two.
