Opening soon · Costa del Este
Spanish tapas and Argentine grill in Costa del Este
After a decade in Casco Viejo, Restaurante Santa Rita is opening its second home in Costa del Este. The same fire, the same cellar and the same tapeo — now minutes from your office and your front door.
Casco Viejo · since 2016Santa Rita moves east
The house that Casco Viejo fell for, now in Costa del Este
Santa Rita opened in 2016 in the heart of the old town, run by Niño Muñoz — a chef from a family of cooks who opened his first restaurant in Barcelona at 21 — and Geraldina, Patagonian and working restaurant floors since she was 18.
Out of that pairing came a simple, and surprisingly rare, idea: put the craft of Spanish tapas and the fire of the Argentine grill on the same table. The old world and the new, with neither one asking the other for permission.
Now that same kitchen crosses the city. Costa del Este has grown faster than anywhere else in Panama over the past decade, and it was missing a house where you can just as easily close a deal at midday as celebrate a twenty-person birthday on a Saturday night.
2016
The year we opened our first house in Casco Viejo
2
Kitchens on one table: Spain and Argentina
60+
Dishes across tapas, grill, rice and fish
550 g
The Special Cut Santa Rita chuletón, made to share between two
Two kitchens, one table
The tapas of Spain and the fire of Argentina
This is not fusion — it is coexistence. Each kitchen cooked with respect for its own tradition, served on the same table so you never have to choose.
Spanish tapeo
Creamy croquettes, hand-carved acorn-fed Iberian ham, patatas bravas, tortilla, Galician octopus, rice dishes and fideuà. The bar you know, with produce that earns it.
See the tapas
Argentine grill
Skirt steak, entrecôte, picaña and vacío over embers, crispy sweetbreads, melted provolone, choripán with Patagonian chimichurri and the 550 g chuletón for two.
See the grill
Cellar and sobremesa
Rioja, Ribera, Malbec and Albariño, signature cocktails and house desserts. At Santa Rita the sobremesa is not an afterthought — it is the point.
See the full menu
From our menu
The dishes people come back for
A sample of what leaves our kitchen every night. Prices in Panamanian balboas (B/.), pegged one-to-one to the US dollar.
Costa del EsteWhy Costa del Este
A restaurant built around how the east side actually lives
Costa del Este stopped being a commuter neighbourhood a long time ago. It is now Panama's corporate centre — office towers, banking, multinationals and consultancies — and at the same time one of the most established residential areas in the capital, full of families who have been here for years and would rather not cross half the city for a good dinner.
That double rhythm is what shapes our offer: sharp, serious midday service for working lunches that start and finish on time, and long evenings of tapeo and grill for when the table is the plan and not an errand.
- Business lunches minutes from the Costa del Este corporate towers and Business Park.
- Neighbourhood dinners for people living in Costa del Este, Santa María, Ciudad Jardín and San Francisco.
- Genuinely large tables: birthdays, anniversaries and team dinners without booking out half the city.
- Close to Tocumen airport, for the last dinner before a flight or the first one after landing.
- Pet friendly, with the menu marked for coeliac, vegetarian and vegan diners.
Events and celebrations
When the table is long, the night is remembered better
Birthdays, anniversaries, company dinners, quarter closings, farewells and long Sunday family lunches. We put together set menus per person, wine pairings and reserved areas.
Tell us the date, how many of you there are and the kind of night you have in mind. We come back with a concrete proposal and a price per person, with no surprises.
Opening list
Be among the first at our table
The first nights at Santa Rita Costa del Este will be limited. Leave us your details and we will tell you before anyone else, with access to the pre-sale of opening tables.
- The opening date before it is announced publicly.
- Pre-sale of tables for the first nights.
- An invitation to the tasting of the opening menu.
- No spam: we only write when there is something real to say.
Prefer to write to us directly? Message us on WhatsApp or call +507 303-0991.
Frequently asked questions
Everything people ask us about the opening
When does Restaurante Santa Rita open in Costa del Este?
We are in the final stretch of the build. The exact opening date will be announced first to everyone on the opening list: they receive it by email and WhatsApp before it goes public, along with the pre-sale of tables for the first nights. In the meantime, you can still visit us at our Casco Viejo home.
Where exactly will the restaurant be?
In Costa del Este, Panama City. We will publish the full street address, the Google Maps link and the access and parking details on the contact page as soon as they are confirmed. If you join the opening list we send them to you directly.
Can I book a table already?
You can leave a pre-booking now. It is not a confirmed reservation yet: it is your place in the queue. When the diary opens we contact people in the order the requests came in, to confirm a date and time.
What kind of food does Santa Rita serve?
Spanish and Argentine cooking on the same table. Spanish tapeo — croquettes, acorn-fed Iberian ham, patatas bravas, tortilla, octopus, rice dishes and fideuà — alongside the Argentine grill with imported and local cuts, provolone, sweetbreads, choripán and milanesas. All of it with a curated cellar of Spanish and Argentine wines.
Do you have gluten-free, vegetarian or vegan options?
Yes. Every dish on our menu is marked as gluten-free, vegetarian or vegan. We have grilled vegetables with romesco, grilled eggplant, salads, tortilla, provolone and several rice dishes. Tell us about any allergy or intolerance when you book and the kitchen prepares it separately.
Can you host private events, birthdays or company dinners?
Yes. We work with groups, family celebrations, company dinners and corporate events, with set menus per person and the option to reserve areas of the restaurant exclusively. Message us on WhatsApp with the date and the number of guests and we will put a proposal together.
Is the restaurant pet friendly?
Yes. As in Casco Viejo, your dog is welcome in the designated areas of the restaurant.
What is the price range?
Sharing plates start at B/. 3.95 and most of the tapeo sits between B/. 8 and B/. 19. Grill cuts run from B/. 15 to B/. 36, and the chuletón for two is B/. 85. A full dinner sharing dishes usually lands between B/. 30 and B/. 50 per person. Prices are in Panamanian balboas, which are pegged one-to-one to the US dollar.
Is there parking?
Costa del Este has generous parking throughout the area. We will confirm the specifics for our own location — on-site parking and valet — together with the final address. At our Casco Viejo home we offer valet parking.
While we finish Costa del Este, we are waiting for you in Casco Viejo
Our first house still serves every night at Avenida Eloy Alfaro and Calle 11, Casco Antiguo. Same team, same menu.