Arepas de Via España — Restaurant in Bella Vista

A must-visit in Panama City! Officially one of my favorite restaurants… ever. Festive atmosphere, giant sangria, excellent inexpensive food. They tracked me down when I left my purse! So much to love. A detailed review.

First, let’s talk about the sangria. We ordered the $18 jarra grande sangria, and we were not prepared for the beautiful giant glass that was presented at our table with the ladle to serve the sangria from!

Secondly, the food is excellent. It feels like the real star dishes here revolve around meat. I love the fact that they have both what they’re calling “fast food” such as Arepas, and larger meals that are more elegant, such as fish cooked in shrimp sauce and beautiful rice dishes. There was something for everyone, including my daughter who is a pescatarian.

I had the arroz paisa and it was bursting with meat. So surprised that the more I dug into this big pile of rice, the more meat I uncovered. All excellently cooked and excellently flavored. My husband had the bandeja paisa, which had rice and beans, and lots of meat and avocado and sausage and pork rinds. Incredible! My pescatarian daughter had the filette en salsa de camarones (a fillet of fish in shrimp sauce). It was creamy and Wonderful. My son had an arepa gratinada (which was a sandwich stuffed with meat and cheese) and he absolutely raved about it. He’s an 18-year-old boy and hard to please.

He also had platano con queso (plantains smothered in cheese). This was also very good, but it was a lot of cheese!

The place is loud. In a wonderful way! We were there on a Thursday and someone was singing karaoke. It was less of a true karaoke where people get up and sing along and more an employee singing a selection of favorites, especially salsa music. It added to the atmosphere and was lovely.

Finally, I left my purse. Yikes!! My husband went to retrieve it the next day, and they had it saved, and wrapped up in saran wrap. It looked hermetically sealed. Everything was still in it. And I had a lot of cash because we were on vacation. And then I received a Instagram notification from Maria from the restaurant. She had found me and was trying to return the purse! The fact that the people at the restaurant looked me up and tried to return the purse is amazing! I had my drivers license in it and so many other things that I really needed on this trip. I cannot thank the restaurant enough for being so diligent in trying to track me down and for serving us great food and filling our bellies and our hearts!!

PS. My Spanish isn’t great, and our servers English was not fabulous, but we were still able to communicate and have a wonderful experience. Just go with it, if you don’t understand Spanish that much. Don’t deprive yourself of a great experience. You can always use a web translation...

I was visiting Panama city over 4th July weekend and wanted to eat some good Arepas. I’ve heard there was a lot of good Arepas places in Panama City and was excited to try them!

I did a little research and spoke with the front desk of my hotel who happen to be from Caracas and from the 3 options I had he told me Arepas de via Espana was definitely the winner.

Went there for dinner with 2 friends who have never had Arepas before. We got quite a few things and everything was delicious!

Empanadas de carne Patacones Salchipapas Picadas 2 types of arepas

Very affordable as some appetizers are just $1 (yes, you read it right ONE US DOLLAR!!)

Definitely...

I'm a Panamanian/American and if you're looking for authentic Panamanian/Colombian flavors then this is the place for you. I had the Bandeja Paisa, a coffee, and a fresh squeezed glass of orange juice for $13 with tax! The meal was delicious and fresh and the atmosphere is lovely. They have an air-conditioned dining area with music/bar as well as an outdoor sitting area.

If you're looking for 2x1 drink specials. $6 plates of fresh fish, chicken, or steak and local foods for a chill night out this is the place to go.

They serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner and they cook ANYTHING on the menu at all times of the day.

Highly recommend. I had a...