Mi Ranchito Amador — Restaurant in Ancón

The place was hyped on Trip Advisor as “tipical Panamanian cuisine” and we went there for dinner. We were disappointed. We ordered one of the most expensive dishes on the menu - a seafood casserole - and half of it was fried fish fingers as if it came from the store frozen food section. It was topped with overfried breaded calamari tentacles. We did not want fried food and left it untouched. The dish also had a lot of strange tasting clams that were drenched in the thick garlic sauce. We could not taste the flavor of the seafood. The creamed seafood soup also was very average and tasted worse than off the shelf clam chowder in the US. Overall, the food tasted below our expectations . The seafood was over cooked and the garlic sauce was thickened and overpowered the taste of the seafood. They used the same garlic sauce for several dishes. We ordered mussels expecting them to be fresh however they were not fresh but frozen New Zeland green mussels drenched in the same thick garlic sauce. The place was overcrowded and the service was slow. They also mixed up our order and when we pointed it out they said they ran out of the ingredients, so this “was a replacement”. We left much of the food untouched. When they brought the check they asked for the tip. I explained that there will be no tip because we did not like the food. We spend $77 for two people which is a lot for Panama, and felt that we did not get good value...

The food here is amazing! Everything we had was delicious. We celebrated my mom's birthday here on a Tuesday afternoon and the weather was perfect for eating outside. This place has fans everywhere to keep you cool in the humid Panamá weather. We had the garlic bread and fried shrimp for starters. Then I had the Nachos de Pollo and red sangria (which was amazing), and my parents ate the Mixto de Mariscos. My step dad ordered 4 portions of the mixed seafood which was waaaaay more than enough and couldn't finish it all (even though my mom just said order enough for 2 he didn't listen, lol). I can't express enough how good everything was; perfect temperature, seasonings, and portion sizes. Our waitress, Samira, was very kind and professional. I would gladly tell others about this place and hope to visit again...

Absolutely delicious! We are foodies and after a couple of disappointing restaurants in Panama we decided to look up restaurants on Trip Advisor. Mi Ranchito was perfect. We ordered take-out because of COVID concerns though it was obvious they were social distancing. The ribs were delicious! The mixed seafood was amazing. The squid, whole corvina and nachos were great also. We were served by someone who was able to interpret our English and the prices were commensurate with the quality. We had time to have a drink while we waited for our food and enjoyed the antics of the young promenading...