Donde José

The absolute best restaurant I've ever been to. This is a tasting restaurant, where Chef José tells a story through Panamanian cuisine. Your taste buds will be tantalized and the story is often changed. Reservations are required, there are only 32 people seated per day.

One of the best meals of my life. I'm a serious foodie. A tad hard to find, especially if you try to prelocate it. It's the wedgey shaped yellow building. First I've read some other reviews. Yes, it's dark elegant and modern. They also serve the courses in close secession. I never felt rushed or any thing. Also, the portions are quite small, so if they didn't keep bringing food you'd start to go hungry. I wouldn't bring a date here unless you're both foodies and deep into a relationship. I felt the place was not only an excellent presentation of the flavors and tastes of Panama, but a vision for the future of the country. Technically proficient and taking it's inspiration from the whole world but remaining true to it's roots. There was a blend of comfort and elegance that I've never seen duplicated anywhere. Every single dish was a on point. The scharma beef tongue was amazing. Not afraid of smoke and spice flavors, but never going overboard either. This is like going to a concert for food. I think I sampled at least 3 things I've never tried before. It's a good 2 hour meal to me. I wandered over to his other place Lo Que Hay a few days later and was equally impressed. You could eat there every day during a trip.

Great food, great staff, great service. We were lucky to get a table and had a fantastic evening. They have two sittings and we're in the earlier option, but didn't feel rushed or pressed to leave. The menu was different but we really enjoyed it, get the pre dinner cocktail and the wine tasting pairings.

I am sorry, but it's fu**ing delicious! We are right now here for new year's Eve. The restaurant has like 4Table and a Chef's table. I have no words. All taste so intense and just amazing! Thanks for this experience!

No signage on the outside of the restaurant, a cozy interior with only 5 tables (11 pax = full house for our seating). Restaurant has 2 seatings each night (7pm and 9:30pm). Prepayment required to reserve seat. Creative menu with discretise description. Well thought ingredients using local ingredients and touches if exotic international flavours. Wine menu is rather limited. Pairing option is available at $65. Book early.

To be honest I was expecting Donde Jose to be good, not great, but I do stand corrected. This place really is worth the hype. The food is extremely innovative and showcases the rich and diverse history of Panamá. I really enjoyed the "journey" the dishes take you on. I could really tell the chef and staff take a lot of pride in Panamaian cuisine and developing the story behind each dish. The food was both unique and extremely tasty. Some of the highlights included sashimi with a passion fruit shooter, squash ceviche, and chicken and rice. Dessert was also awesome, the highlight being coffee with my grandpa, which is this creative, fun play on coffee and cheesecake. I rate this 4 not 5 stars only because I wish they had less sea food. I don't love fish and Panamanian food can be fish/seafood heavy. Also in the chicken and rice dish the chicken was hard to eat. I used my hands like the waitress suggested but it was still a little harder than I'd like. Not a huge deal, but that's my rationale for 4 stars. Anyways definitely check out this restaurant if you're visiting Panamá City.

Everything about this place was excellent - 6 star review!!! The staff were so welcoming and knowledgeable and really added to the relaxed ambience. The music was a great addition and really helped make the evening so memorable. The cocktails were off the scale amazing and the food was both delicious and creative. So worth a visit if you can get a table.

Good quality tastes, too little wine and too little food. Not for a celebratory occasion. We were there on New Year's Eve 2016/17. The location is nice and intimate with only 18 seats. The quality of the food is really good. We got a 10 course menu. Each course is a story. We had 4 entrees, 4 savouries then 2 desserts. We decided to go for the wine pairing. It worked out at 200USD per person. The meal started at 09:00 pm and ended at about 11:45pm. The reason I am only giving 3 stars is due to the following problems, in order of significance: - The wine pairing was tiny, I asked for a top up on 2 occasions as sometimes the wine was supposed to last 2 or 3 courses. - The courses, even for a tasting menu, were too small. I have eaten in star restaurants and had many tasting menus - these portions (with one exception) were simply too small. The small portions and small wine servings means you are actually sitting around a lot of the time with nothing to do, not even sip your wine as it has all gone. - Lastly there was nothing special done for New Year's eve which resulted on us being on the street at 11:50pm with no plans or nothing to do. The last 30 minutes of service were rushed as staff clearly wanted to get on to their evening plans.