Panama City Restaurants: Bucanero’s and Diablicos
The VIP travel schedule to Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge puts you at the five-star Hilton in Panama City overnight so that you can leave for David bright and early the next morning. So, what do you do until then? You eat!
This is where Half Past First Cast comes in handy. We bring a little fun and excitement, the little extras to help you remember your trip and make it more special.
On our first trip in April 2021, one of our guests was celebrating a special birthday. I wanted to do something special and not just eat at the hotel. Through our friend Elliott Stark we found a restaurant, Bucanero’s, out on the Amador Causeway that overlooks the canal, the marina and Panama City. Unfortunately, we started our journey to dinner in the dark so our views were obstructed but the atmosphere of the restaurant won us over.
Bucanero’s has been around for 20 years and once you taste the food it is easy to understand why. The cuisine is a heavy on seafood, with a blend of Greek and other international flavors. Although not pure Panamanian food, the reviews piqued our interest; Panamanian haute cuisine.
Each of our group of six tried something different. I ordered grilled octopus for my appetizer and went for the special, grilled branzino with steamed veggies, for dinner. A full fish came on a fun fish plate and I fileted it myself.
Upon the completion of dinner, Dale Steele, our birthday boy, was treated to a special birthday dessert as an added surprise. I even brought a card which we all signed.
The food was great. We also had our first taste of Panama beer which had us hooked. We would definitely recommend Bucanero’s to others -- just make sure to get there before the sun goes down.
On our return trip in November we received a recommendation to eat at Diablicos, in the trendy Casco Viejo (aka, Old Town) part of Panama City. In addition to a meal, we got a taste of Panama's culture.
Upon entry into Diablicos there were crazy devilish masks everywhere, vibrant colors, loud music. The atmosphere is very lively, the workers are friendly and the food looked really tasty. The festivities started as soon as we entered the restaurant. The menu was found off a QR code, we were able to pay on separate checks and we ordered our entrees all while the live folk show with natives dancing went on around us.
It was a good surprise to learn that the restaurant puts on a show Saturday nights and our reserved table front and center gave us prime sight lines. The show features the devil's dance (hence the décor of the restaurant) and gets the patrons involved as well.
Many different Panamanian dishes were ordered and everyone was pleased with their choices. Pete ordered ropa vieja, shredded beef stew with a tomato based sauce, with a side of rice and fried plantains. I enjoyed arroz con pollo - apparently all I read was pollo - and thought I was getting chicken with a side of rice. That wasn't the case but that was my fault. It came with a side of potato salad which contained beets and sweet fried plantains. I clearly didn't order correctly for my dietary needs but I was hungry and it was put in front of me so I indulged and it tasted darn good.
There was guest participation, more dancing and an added surprise (not usually part of the action) an engagement (she said YES). That’s right, one of the patrons asked to give a “speech,” had champagne served to everyone and got down on one knee and asked his girlfriend to marry him. It was a fun way to meet and interact with new people on a bucket list trip, and gave us the ability to spend time with our new travel partners in a safe and vibrant city. Check out this brief video of our experiences:
