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Coquimbo Region, Chile Food Guide: 10 Seafood food Must-Eat Restaurants & Street Food Stalls in La Serena
Find out what Seafood restaurants to try in La Serena including Mar Adentro restaurant, Jack Fish, Bakulic, Porotas Restaurante, Lima Limon La Serena, Resto-Bar Huentelauquen, Tololo Beach, Donde el Guaton, Kardamomo, Fogon Del Mar
Things to do in La Serena
10. Fogon Del Mar
Overall Ratings
4 based on 121 reviews
We are a restaurant dedicated to delivering new added values and obtaining the best experience, we are not perfect, but we work every day for many better services and quality. We have Smoking Terrace, access for the disabled, bathrooms for the disabled, d
Reviewed By Ben B
My wife and I went here on a Sunday during a three-day weekend. It was the last day we had together before she had to leave for a work trip. It was a sunny day and we wanted to have a nice lunch by the ocean, and, feeling a little adventurous (as such things go), we decided to try a new restaurant, El Fogon Del Mar.With a nice terrace with views to the sea and an outside brick oven, it seemed a nice place to eat. But for some reason, things started to go astray immediately. It seemed difficult for them to decide who was our waiter. And then once we ordered, the waitress began telling us one of our dishes would take twenty minutes longer to prepare than the other so we asked if we could have one first and then the other when it arrived. We would share. This seemed to confuse her, so we waited a long time before we finally flagged down another waiter and explained what we wanted. Then our order mysteriously arrived almost immediately.Also, we had to ask several times for our bread and it came without pebre. We asked for some pebre, they said the chef was making it now. It would come out as soon as it was ready. We asked again fifteen minutes later when the first round of food arrived, and got the same response. We never got the pebre. I doubt very much anyone was making pebre. This isn't that big of a deal, except that it makes you wonder about the restaurant. The first thing one should have in Chile at a restaurant is bread and pebre. It should come to you while you're still thinking about what to eat. Even the cheapest restaurants have this figured out. And Fogon del Mar is not cheap. So not having pebre was disappointing and having the waiters lie to us about it was frustrating. If you don't have pebre, just admit it. Never lie to your customers. It's extremely irritating. Our first shared platter was a ceviche de Reineta, and it was without a doubt, the highlight of the meal. The purple onions were sliced paper thin, the reineta was fresh and delicious, and the lemon juice was seasoned wonderfully. Things were really looking up. I was especially looking forward to the next dish because I am a lover of chicken and was looking forward to some nice, well-cooked pollo.Unfortunately, our second dish sealed our bad opinion of El Fogon del Mar. We ordered their appetizer special El Fogon. It is exceedingly ill conceived and not worth the exorbitant amount of money it costs. It advertises chicken, meat, french fries, shrimp, and calamari for close to 12,000 pesos. Not cheap. But it sounded good. What came was a small bowl of french fries with a few shrimp and calamari on top. They were cooked and seasoned well, but for 12,000 pesos, I would expect more. There were three shrimp, I think, and the same amount of calamari. The small bowl of french fries was done very well, but again, the serving size was lamentable. The meat was another clay bowl filled with chopped steak and sauteed peppers and onions. This was good but strange to eat. Whereas french fries and fried shrimp are finger foods, this had to be eaten with a fork or spoon. Again, there was not much to it. If there was bread served with it, there would not have been enough to make a sandwich with it. But above all, the most ill conceived part of the meal was the chicken. The chicken consisted of little bits of breast meat suspended in what I assume was mushroom soup. There were also mushrooms in this. There was no bread to spoon it on. I guess you're supposed to eat it like chicken mushroom soup. The taste was even worse than the conception. It really is a bad dish. It tastes as bland as it sounds and I ended up draining the mushroom soup and just eating the chicken, which wasn't very good either. It was such an extremely embarrassing dish, it made us wonder who on earth thought that was a good idea AND that it was worth nearly 12,000 pesos? Someone ate a spoonful of chicken and mushroom soup and pondered for a second and said, yeah, put THAT on the most expensive appetizer dish we have. And put our name to it. It's THAT good. That put us in a crisis of confidence.Here's the bottom line. El Fogon del Mar is not a bad restaurant. Some of the dishes are good while others are painfully mediocre. The service is not horrible, but it's also not very good. (No pebre? In Chile? On a three day weekend?) I just don't think El Fogon knows its business, and while it tries very hard to be fine food, it struggles to achieve mediocrity. In other areas of La Serena, this might be forgivable, but the prices are just the same as some of the best restaurants in the region, some of which are literally just next door! If you're in the area of the Caleta, spend your money at Tio Coco's or at Pica Mar Adentro. There you get outstanding service, exceptional food, and a feeling of joy and relaxation, all at the same, if not lower, cost than El Fogon del Mar. If you must try it out, please, don't encourage them. Avoid the Fogon appetizer.
9. Kardamomo
Overall Ratings
4 based on 178 reviews
Reviewed By Kenzas73
As a previous review said, this menu has everything from sushi to pizza. I do always worry when I see such a broad range but this was lonely planet reccommended so we tried it. My salad was fabulous - very generous portion and beautifully presented. Likewise with the sushi wich was very good too. My husband had grilled albacore tuna and my children grilled salmon. All dishes were very nicely presented, well cooked and tasted good, however, when I tried the fish I wasn't convinced it was fresh today. Our waitress was lovely - when we had struggled to ask questions and order in Spanish (our spanish isn't good) she spoke slowly and finally helped out by speaking some English.Kardamomo met all of our needs and we'd go back - particularly for the salads and sushi.
8. Donde el Guaton
Overall Ratings
4 based on 273 reviews
Comida Chilena bien Chilena - Country style Chilean food. Estimados clientes: Nuestro Restaurante se ha dedicado por más de 30 años a complacer a los exigentes degustadores de nuestra comida Chilena. Tenemos el agrado de ofrecerles una variada carta y Men
Reviewed By mitraveler16
In addition to grilled meat, they have very good traditional Chilean foods that we haven't found in other restaurants thus far. We enjoyed an excellent dinner of choclo (beef and corn casserole), fish and a large tomato and avocado salad. The restaurant is in a house from the 1840s, which has been we'll preserved and gives it a great atmosphere. The service is also attentive. It's well worth having a meal there when you're in La Serena.
7. Tololo Beach
Overall Ratings
4 based on 684 reviews
Reviewed By Buttzyue
Of all the places we ate in La Serena this was the best!The food we had was incredible!! The setting is spectacular and the service was attentive. Hope to get back again for my filet of beef with bacon ... almost âproperâ bacon too!
6. Resto-Bar Huentelauquen
Overall Ratings
4 based on 1192 reviews
Reviewed By J B
Restaurant Huentelauquen is located at the Avenida del Mar in La Serena. For chilly evenings the large wood-stove in the restaurant is a great plus. Service is adequate and fast.Huentelauquen offers a-la-carte Chilean food. We came on the day of the solar eclipse and the place was packed with tourists from Santiago. We thought that to be a good sign. What a mistake.We went for sirloin with home-made fries. The food was terrible. The sirloin so tough-meat that it was uneatable and the fries were cold. We told the waiter that the food was uneatable. He just said that the kitchen was overloaded. We got fresh fries. We ate some of the fries, paid and left the building.Restaurant Huentelauquen truly is a never-come-show.If you like to sit next to the stove, restaurant Huentelauquen is the place for you, but stay away from the bad food.
5. Lima Limon La Serena
Overall Ratings
4 based on 281 reviews
Reviewed By Daniela_Enroth
One of our favorite restaurants in la Serena. We've tried other Peruvians in the area but this is by far the best one. Opens at 13:00, and offer great fish dishes and ceviches. Don't miss the trio de ceviches and a pisco sour. They also have some dishes that are not in the menu worth a try (salmon with passion fruit and spinach pure yum!). The service is also very good, they are friendly and welcoming. Don't miss it. You'll surely come back!
4. Porotas Restaurante
Overall Ratings
4 based on 547 reviews
Reviewed By Angie C
We visited as a group of 8 (including 2 young children) and found everybody incredibly accommodating. The fish and seafood dishes were cooked very well and had original sauces. They prepared a delicious child friendly meal of prawns and chips and were able to easily accommodate my vegetarian mother. The âode to chocolateâ pudding was spectacular! Presentation of all dishes was very good - we would definitely return and recommend.
What to do and see in La Serena, Chile: The Best Places and Tips
3. Bakulic
Overall Ratings
4 based on 573 reviews
Reviewed By Nick Z
This is a nice restaurant with good service and excellent food. But, if you pay your bill in cash, count your change. The staff attempted to short-change me by 3000 clp tonight. Their apology was enthusiastic ... but seemed well-rehearsed. I suspect that this is not the first time this has happened -- and it won't be the last. Someone is making a few extra pesos on the side.
La Serena Food Guide: 10 Must-Eat Restaurants & Street Food Stalls in La Serena
2. Jack Fish
Overall Ratings
4 based on 358 reviews
Reviewed By erniep8333
We found this restaurant on the recommendation of a waitress who lives in La Serena when she was serving us in a more touristic waterfront restaurant. The restaurant is a small "hole in the wall" with awesome fish and seafood. Daniel, the owner is a unique and fun guy. He clearly has pride in the food preparation and restaurant. His Ceviche was amazing as were the prawns we had. We both wished we were staying another day to come back and have 2 or three orders of his other Ceviche's or some of the other dishes as the food was hat good. The sushi we had was not to my taste, solely because the texture of the roll and rice was much firmer than I am used to and as such it dodn't wow me the same as the other two dishes. Specifically, the centre of the California Roll had (I believe) Abalone along with the crab, which is kind of firm, tasteless and rubbery which in my opinion didn't add to the roll and somewhat overpowered the texture. This is purely a personal taste issue as opposed to quality, but both of us thought the same thing.We had a great experieince also. Daniel's approach is somewhat unique, and perhaps not for absolutely everyone. He is playing hard rock, with no appologies or other options. He speaks English well which was appreciated as our Spanish was terrible and it made for great conversation and easier ordering choices. We recommend this restaurant for anyone that likes small out of the way places that locals know about that you wouldn't normally find on your own. We had an awesome evening and experience. I wouldn't recommend it if you are going to request any music other than rock and roll or heavy metal as Daniel will just show you the door, but we do recommend it if you like amazing and unique seafood and fish!
Most Popular Asian food in La Serena, Coquimbo Region, Chile
1. Mar Adentro restaurant
Overall Ratings
4 based on 960 reviews
Restaurant de especialidad en pescados y mariscos, con larga trayectoria en la region de Coquimbo, además ofrecemos servicio de desayuno, coffee break y eventos especiales
Reviewed By Terri11556
My family had ceviche and fish soup and they ranted and raved about it. I don't eat seafood so I had the beef steak with pebre and a Chilean salad with tomato, onion and cilantro. The portions were generous and significantly less than the tourist row. It doesn't look like much from outside but is nice inside and the food is good Chilean. I recommend the Pisco sour. thanks for your feedback, we are glad you had a nice experience :)
Where to eat Thai food in La Serena: The Best Restaurants and Bars
