Location: Tarapoto
Top Restaurants in Tarapoto
Top Things to do in Tarapoto
Countries
Where to Eat in Tarapoto: The Best Restaurants and Bars
Tarapoto is a commercial hub town in the San Martín Province of the San Martín Region or northern Peru. It is an hour by plane from Lima, in the high jungle plateau to the east of what is known as the selva baja (low jungle). Although Moyobamba is the capital of the region, Tarapoto is the region's largest city and is linked to the Upper Amazon and the historic city of Yurimaguas by a relatively well-maintained transandean highway, paved in 2008-9.
Things to do in Tarapoto
1. Cafe d' Mundo
Overall Ratings
4 based on 495 reviews
Reviewed By SalsaB - Bay Area, CA
Cafe d'Mundo has a reputation for being the best restaurant in town. It isn't. The food is ordinary and uninspired. The manager, Dino, boasts making his own pasta (which, he claims, no one else in town does), and yet he uses canned vegetables. The only vegetarian salad on the menu is a caprese (tomato and mozzerella). The mushrooms used in the recipes comes from a can. When I encouraged him to branch out, he claimed that Peruvians don't want to eat vegetables and that his vegetables go to waste. Sound like haute cuisine? I didn't think so.
I was in Tarapoto for two weeks and happened to eat at Cafe d'Mundo twice. The first time I ate a pizza. That was when first confronted Dino about the food. The pizza was okay, nothing extraordinary. It was more or less the same price as every other place in town. Some locals recommended some places overlooking Shilcayo (such as Sacha's Pizza). It closed early when I attempted to go, which is why I tried the pizza at Cafe d'Mundo. There are lots of pizza places in town. Few of them are on TripAdvisor; most are patronized only by locals.
The second time I went to Cafe d'Mundo it was super late. While Tarapoto tends to be a later-night town, with lots of restaurants open until 11p, Cafe d'Mundo is open until midnight, every night. Other than a Chifa down the street -- Chifa Canton (excellent, by the way) - not so many place are open after 11p. I'm a vegetarian, which makes the attempts to discover suitable cuisine even more difficult. Tarapoto does boast some very good vegetarian restaurants, but most of them are only open during the lunchtime hours (12-4p). So, the second time I arrived, I asked Dino what he recommended. He steered me to the Spinach and Ricotta lasanga. I probed: is that the best option, over a regular pasta? He insisted it was.
In a word, the Spinach and Ricotta lasanga was terrible. I do not recommend it. At all. For all of the boasting of the homemade pasta noodles, I would be flabbergasted to learn that the lasagna is made with homemade noodles. Those noodles came from a box. It's not that big of a deal, but Dino had waxed poetic about being "the only" restaurant in town that is "making pasta", and then the entree he recommends is anything but. Even more troubling, there was no spinach in the lasagna at all, which struck me as odd. Dino claimed, when we first spoke (the time I ordered the pizza) that he buys fresh spinach and then freezes it to make the lasagna. I'm not sure that's true, but even if it is, there wasn't a leaf of spinach in the entire dish. I said something. "Uh, it's a spinach sauce," he replied. Could have fooled me. It was flavorless. The real kicker - because it's the easiest to control - is that the lasagna was lukewarm when it was served. He took it back, put it in the oven, and it came out hot like it should have been served, but no, I would not recommend the non-spinach lasagna. It wasn't inedible, but it was far from good. I should add that the ricotta was not real Italian ricotta either.
So to recap: there is a lot of boasting, but not a great deal of follow-up. The vegetarian pizza is principally stocked with canned vegetables, and the Spinach and Ricotta Lasagna has no spinach. And, the only vegetarian salad served doesn't have any vegetables (tomato is a fruit).
Funny, right down the street lies Chalet Venezia which has an outstanding spinach lasagna -- and get this -- with homemade noodles!!! Chalet Venezia is far superior in every possible way. The food is better. The staff is better. The ownership and management are more attentive. It doesn't boast or brag, but it delivers. Chalet Venezia isn't quite as elegant, but bite-for-bite, it was better in every respect. There were several salads that were vegetable heavy; the lasagna was made fresh with real spinach and homemade noodles daily, and the staff was always happy to serve. Go to Chalet Venezia. I can't speak for its pizza because its oven was out of service while was in town, but for the salads and the pastas, it's a far better restaurant with far more attentive staff and owner who cares about his patrons.
2. El Rincon Sureno
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 57 reviews
Reviewed By VMiyakawa - Lima
Very good stake. Chorizos (not the local version) are just Ok. The lomo saltado and the chonta (shredded palm tree core) is really, really good.
Overall very good place, careful with the bottled wine, due to the high temps it may be spoiled. There is a local versionof wine, but is more a ffermented juice than actual wine. But it is worth a taste. Don't forget to ask for the natural grape juice, it is great!
3. La Collpa
Overall Ratings
4 based on 257 reviews
Reviewed By Michellejlkjasf - Lima, Lima, Peru
great service. The waitress helped me pick out what to get and what was the best to order. the view is BEAUTIFUL. wow! the food is great. i had paiche with shriimp sauce. it was delicious. the camu camu and aguaje juice are so refreshing with the heat and so fresh. i also had the juane- what a great dish it is much like arroz con pollo. the chonta salad is light and a must in Tarapoto and hee it is tasty!
4. La Patarashca Restaurant
Overall Ratings
4 based on 674 reviews
Reviewed By Gerry-Kerkhof - Granada, Spain
My wife enjoyed a local fish dish here whilst I had a satisfactory lomo saltado. The place was very quiet so no atmosphere at all, the service was fine. Overall an okay experience but nothing to write home about.We appreciate your preference and comments, every opinion helps us to improve and to provide quality excellence in our service. The Patarashca Restaurant, offers a pleasant experience inside its facilities, for which we are committed to make constant improvements. Thank you!
5. Real Grill
Overall Ratings
3.5 based on 124 reviews
Reviewed By VMiyakawa - Lima
I am a regular visitor to Tarapoto. In the last four years I have been eating at the iconic places (Patarashca, Cafe d'Mundo, Tia Zully, Rincón Sureño, etc.). I omitted the Real Grill because I knew its menu very well and I found it unsurprising. Today, I arrived in Tarapoto late for lunch and too early for dinner. After wandering around I had no choice but dine at Real Grill. I went light, so I thought. I ordered Tilapia and Oyster sauce, and it was very good. A mountain of Chinese veggies (snow peas, Chinese cabbage, green onions, bell peppers, squash) covering two small (still edible) tilapias. I had the classic watermelon juice and a guanábana juice glass. It was really good. I can see they have changed their menu, I think next time I will be back to see what I can find.
Keep you posted.
6. Dona Zully
Overall Ratings
4 based on 369 reviews
Reviewed By Corvell - Surrey, England
Found this place after failing to find Café D'Mundo due to poor Google map. Very nice ambient interior, away from traffic noise. Well trained staff, friendly lady in charge, beautifully cooked food - we had a mixed grill with both beef and chicken cooked to perfection. Not cheap, obviously, but not too expensive either.
7. Chalet Venezia
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 245 reviews
Reviewed By SalsaB - Bay Area, CA
I had nothing but great experiences at Chalet Venezia. As a vegetarian, I am always looking for restaurants that serve vegetables. Unlike Cafe d'Mundo down the street, Chalet Venezia has several salads, and many are vegetarian. My favorite was the Mario Salad, which boasted (I think) garbonzo beans, elote (corn), hearts of palm, lettuce, and a number of other things. It was great, particularly with the homemade balsamic vinaigrette. The Spinach Lasagna was outstanding, creamy, cheese, and loaded with enough spinach to make Popeye's biceps burst. I also tried the quesadilla at the owner's suggestion. It was chock full of vegetables and far better than many anemic quesadillas that one often receives at purely Mexican restaurants. This was really good. I didn't get a chance to try the pizza because the oven collapsed the week prior to my arrival and it took several weeks for a new oven to be built and installed. I was gone before that project had been completed.
The service at Chalet Venezia was above and beyond. All of the waiters remembered my name. The manager addressed me directly when I ordered the quesadilla spicy, as he feared that the local peppers would be too hot. They weren;t, but I appreciated the attention and the care for the food and the care for the patrons. Christian, the owner, was always quick to offer suggestions about hikes or his experience in the area. He also owns the French bakery next-door (La Mason du Pan).
I would strongly recommend Chalet Venezia for Italian food, certainly for the Spinach Lasagna, for the quesadilla, for the salad, and for the service. In my estimation (as a non-meat-eater), it is likely one of the best restaurants in town, and far, far better than Cafe d'Monde down the street.
8. Chifa Canton
Overall Ratings
4 based on 49 reviews
Reviewed By Hor-em-akhet - Lima, Perú
It is very difficult to have better chinese-peruvian food than the chifa of Lima, the capital (chifa is how peruvians call the chinese food and chinese food restaurants addapted to the limitations of local peruvian ingredients and few brought by chinese workers on the 19th century) But this is a nice surprise, few chifas out of lima have good food and this is one of them.
9. Cafe Plaza
Overall Ratings
4 based on 270 reviews
Reviewed By RichardBar - Lima, Peru
Not good enough this time, average small plates and not the best coffee, I've tried better ones. But is a good place to go if you live locally, good for a casual meet with friends.
10. La Muyuna
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 97 reviews
We elaborate natural ice cream based on selected fruits of the Peruvian Amazon, seeking the full satisfaction of our customers. We manage the human talent of our company in a Bio, Psycho, Partner, Spiritual way, with the commitment of a continuous improvement of the quality in our products and services, hoping to permanently exceed their expectations. We are a family company, Christian and leader in the creation, production, distribution of ice cream and nutritious pacifiers, made from 100% natural fruits of the best quality, using appropriate technology, to achieve efficiency in each of the processes and working Integral form for the service of our clients, in search of an optimal level so that their experience is unforgettable.
Reviewed By Josh N - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Good ice creams, good cakes, the service is really slow and most of them dont know what they are doing. But who cares dont rush enjoy the weather and eat your ice cream. The cappucino is great its coffee with frozen solid chunks of cream mixed in.
