Santana

Style of food: International

Cost: Moderate

Type of place: Paladar (private)

Food
Ambience
Service
Value

Best for: Good lunch option if you are at the Miramar Trade Center. Quick, relaxed.

Worst for: Seems a little sedate and typically quiet in the evening.

Ave 5ta No. 8004 entre 80 y 82, Playa

(+53)7206 - 5201

Open noon-midnight

Santana opened in November 2011. I love the name (Santana is a rock band based around guitarist Carlos Santana) and although it has nothing really to do with the place, it does sound nice and is easy to pronounce! Santana the restaurant is right next door to the Miramar Trade Centre opposite the beautiful Jesús de Miramar Church. The house in which it is located is 1950s style with all those excessive decorative touches.

This is a smart place, with a nice terrace outside with a view across the busy 5ta Avenida to the church and an upmarket interior. It is dark but not dingy, dark because the chosen colours are red and black. The linen is clean, the furniture new and the little bar a great place to have an after-work cocktail.

Food wise, specialties include house tuna, lobster and pork. The pork was not super exciting but well cooked and tasty.

While it is still in its early days, this seems like a quality place that looks like a restaurant (rather than somewhere to eat inside someone’s house), and has a niche it should be able to develop next to the Miramar Trade Centre as a quality place to get lunch and after work drinks and snacks.