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Looking for the best Utila restaurants to fuel up pre or post-dive? I got you covered!
We spent a week here and made it our mission to try out as many of the restaurants in Utila as we could squeeze in.
From baleadas to brunch, lionfish and Thai, this tiny island has a surprising number of food options!
This is good because unfortunately, most accommodation options (especially at the dive schools) don’t have kitchens.
We ate out more than we would usually like to, but luckily the restaurants in Utila are pretty good, and there are plenty of options to choose from!
In this post, I’ll run you through our 10 personal favourite restaurants in Utila, as well as a few honourable mentions that didn’t quite make it but are worth sharing.
Don’t have time to read this whole post? Here’s the lowdown 👇🏼
- Our favourite baleadas were from La Casita, but Mama Rosa is a backup option, go to The Safety Stop in the afternoon for pastelitos (empandas), another cheap meal
- The Pelican (Thai/Asian and pasta) and Mango Tango (mixed cuisine) are both nice treat meals, worth a splurge at least once
- Josie’s was our favourite cafe, open early pre-dive with good coffee, bagels, smoothies
- RJ’s is only open a few nights a week but serves up huge dinner plates with your choice of meat or fish
Top 10 Utila restaurants
I’ve tried to be as accurate as possible with the opening hours, but Utila is very laid back and informal. The best way to check if something is open? Walk there and find out.
1. La Casita
- 📍 Location: on Google Maps here
- 🍴 Eat here for: breakfast, lunch or dinner
- ⏰ Opening hours: Wednesday – Monday 8:00 am – 9:00 pm (closed Tuesday)
- 💰 Approximate cost: from 30 HNL (~ $1 USD) for baleadas
- 🌮 Speciality dish: baleadas
Utila has a bit of a baleada rivalry going on.
If you’re a backpacker on a budget, scuba diving in Utila, baleadas are your perfect meal. They’re cheap, filling and (should be!) quick to prepare.
Although many restaurants on the island serve baleadas, the two most popular are La Casita and Mama Rosa. They’re located just across the street from one another, and each has their loyal fans.
We tried both, and La Casita was the clear winner for us. Their baleadas were much more flavoursome, with better fillings and nicer salsas. You can choose a few fillings for a yummy combo for around 50 Lemp (~ $2 USD).
BUT, and this is a huge caveat, if La Casita is busy – do. not. bother.
Usually, this is in the evenings and if there are already a lot of people waiting, don’t even go in.
They make great food, but their kitchen organisation is seriously lacking. We waited well over an hour and a half for a couple of baleadas.
2. Mama Rosa
- 📍 Location: on Google Maps here
- 🍴 Eat here for: breakfast, lunch or dinner
- ⏰ Opening hours: 7:30 am – 9:30 pm Monday – Saturday, 8:00 am – 1:00 pm Sunday (I think)
- 💰 Approximate cost: from 50 HNL (~ $2 USD) for most baleadas
- 🌮 Speciality dish: baleadas
The baleada rival Mama Rosa is a much bigger space, and coincidently, they serve much bigger baleadas.
Their prices are slightly higher, but the baleadas are a lot larger to compensate. However, we felt they were a bit bland and lacked flavour.
It’s worth trying both, and for 50 – 80 Lemps (~ $2-3 USD), it’s a cheap and filling meal.
They have the same kinds of issues with wait times when busy, so check out both restaurants and choose whichever one is quieter.
Honestly, neither of these places even came close to our beloved Calelu’s in Roatan, they are the best baleadas we’ve ever had!
3. The Pelican
- 📍 Location: on Google Maps here
- 🍴 Eat here for: lunch or dinner
- ⏰ Opening hours: Monday – Friday 11:00 am – 1:00 pm & 5:30 pm – 8:30 pm (closed Saturday & Sunday)
- 💰 Approximate cost: from 280 HNL + (~ $10 USD) for mains
- 🌮 Speciality dish: Thai cuisine
This spot was right across the road from our dive school Underwater Vision, and despite being a little outside our usual price range, we ate here a couple of times because it was so good!
They have a random and varied menu, but they do a lot of cuisines well.
One is Thai, which we did not expect on Utila! We had some delicious pad thai and pad kee mao (spicy noodles) which were very on par with the excellent Thai food we have at home in Australia.
They also do a range of pasta dishes, and they were equally yummy.
4. Mango Tango
- 📍 Location: on Google Maps here
- 🍴 Eat here for: lunch or dinner
- ⏰ Opening hours: Wednesday – Saturday 11:00 am – 9:30 pm, Sunday 11:00 am – 2:30 pm (closed Monday & Tuesday)
- 💰 Approximate cost: from 300 HNL + (~$11 USD +) for mains
- 🌮 Speciality dish: sweet potato and blue cheese ravioli and lionfish dishes
Mango Tango is another splurge meal, but an experience you have to have in Utila.
It’s the nicest restaurant in town, and it has a very romantic location on the waterfront just outside the centre of the village.
They also have quite a varied menu and at first glance, I wondered how they could make such a diverse range of cuisines well, but they do. It just works!
I am still dreaming about the sweet potato blue cheese ravioli, it was mouthwatering. We also had lionfish ceviche, a great way to support reef conservation by eating this invasive species.
The lionfish ceviche, some wontons, the ravioli and 2 cocktails came to just over 1,000 Lemps (~$38 USD), which we thought was very reasonable for the experience.
We went later in the evening when it was dark, but I would highly recommend booking a table out on the deck around sunset time. It would be a gorgeous view!
5. Josie’s
- 📍 Location: on Google Maps here
- 🍴 Eat here for: breakfast or lunch
- ⏰ Opening hours: Tuesday – Saturday 6:15 am – 2:30 pm (closed Sunday & Monday)
- 💰 Approximate cost: 125 – 150 HNL (~$ 5 USD +) for breakfast mains
- 🌮 Speciality dish: coffee, bagels and smoothies
If you want a nice coffee and a change from baleadas for breakfast, Josie’s is the place!
One of the only options in Utila that open early enough to order from pre-dive, we frequented Josie’s a lot.
We tried their bagels, avo toast, burgers for lunch, coffee and a range of juices, and everything was good.
It’s pretty reasonably priced for the quality, and if you’ve got the time to sit down, it’s a nice spot to work or read for a bit.
6. RJ’s
- 📍 Location: on Google Maps here
- 🍴 Eat here for: dinner
- ⏰ Opening hours: Wednesday, Friday & Sunday 5:30 pm – 9:00 pm (or until sold out)
- 💰 Approximate cost: 250 – 350 HNL (~ $9 – 13 USD) for dinner plates
- 🌮 Speciality dish: big dinner plates
RJ’s a bit of a Utila institution. This family-run restaurant is only open on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday from 5:30 pm until they sell out.
The menu is fixed, and you get a big hearty plate of goodies.
Basically, you choose which protein you want, they’ve got options like steak, pork, chicken, barramundi, tuna (!!) etc. and it comes with a range of sides. The plate is overflowing with salad, mashed potato, garlic bread, corn and rice.
Prices range between 250 – 350 HNL (~ $9 – 13 USD), depending on the protein option you choose. It’s not dirt cheap, but is huge and very filling. The tuna was a big treat, and super affordable for the large slab of fish we got served!
They also offer chocolate and carrot cake for dessert, and both are mouthwateringly delicious.
Go early, because once they’re out of something, they don’t restock.
7. Che Pancho
- 📍 Location: on Google Maps here
- 🍴 Eat here for: dinner
- ⏰ Opening hours: Most days 5:00 pm – 10:00 pm (closed Thursday & Sunday)
- 💰 Approximate cost: 300 HNL (~ $11 USD) for dinner mains
- 🌮 Speciality dish: Argentinian food
We didn’t really expect anything from Che Pancho, but we were craving something besides baleadas, so we decided to give it a go.
It was so good! I got a milanesa de pollo (a schnitzel topped with tomato sauce, ham and fresh mozzarella) and Brayden got a choripan. Both were delicious, and we hadn’t eaten anything like that in a long time on our Central American travels.
Service wasn’t particularly remarkable or noteworthy, but it was quick, easy and yummy. Definitely worth a visit if you’ve cycled through the baleada places a few too many times.
8. Costa Dulce Gelato [CLOSED]
- 📍 Location: on Google Maps here
- 🍴 Eat here for: dessert or sweet treat throughout the day
- ⏰ Opening hours: not sure, they were open every evening we passed by
- 💰 Approximate cost: 50 HNL (~ $2 USD) for one scoop
- 🌮 Speciality dish: ice cream!
📣 UPDATE 2025: Costa Dulce Gelato is now permanently closed 😭 If you find an alternative ice cream shop, please let me know in the comments, otherwise it’s back to the chest freezer in the little tienda!
No matter what town we’re in, I always find an ice cream to satisfy my sweet tooth. Usually it’s from a little tienda with a freezer.
But the ice cream from Costa Dulce was next level! Their dulce de leche flavour was so creamy and delicious, that I went back multiple times during our week in Utila.
One scoop in a cone for 50 Lempira (~ $2 USD)? Yes, please!
I wish I had known before they also have a Costa Dulce restaurant in West End Roatan!
9. The Safety Stop
- 📍 Location: on Google Maps here (inside Utila Dive Centre)
- 🍴 Eat here for: lunch or afternoon snack
- ⏰ Opening hours: 7:00 am – 7:00 pm daily (I think)
- 💰 Approximate cost: 35 HNL (~ $1 USD) per pastelito
- 🌮 Speciality dish: pastelitos (aka empanadas)
Located inside the Utila Dive Centre, this little dive shop kiosk is a great place to visit, even if you’re not diving here.
We heard whispers about the famous pastelitos (aka empanadas) among the dive masters while we were out on the boat, and they let us in on the secret.
Each afternoon, between 3:00 – 3:30 pm, The Safety Stop serves up fresh, hot and crispy pastelitos, ready for when their divers get back.
This is Honduras’ version of an empanada, basically a pastry pocket stuffed with goodies.
They have flavours like veggie, beef, chicken, pepperoni and more, and they were so good. I’m a huge empanada fan, and these were the perfect cheap afternoon snack post-dive.
10. Trudy’s
- 📍 Location: on Google Maps here (inside Underwater Vision)
- 🍴 Eat here for: breakfast, lunch or dinner
- ⏰ Opening hours: 7:00 am – 9:00 pm (ish) daily
- 💰 Approximate cost: most meals under 200 HNL (~ $7.5 USD)
- 🌮 Speciality dish: coffee
Trudy’s is the restaurant on-site at Underwater Vision.
We stayed and dived here, and we can confidently say Trudy’s actually isn’t one of the best Utila restaurants if we’re talking quality of food. It’s not that great.
However, if you’re not staying at Underwater Vision, eating or drinking at Trudy’s gives you access to undoubtedly the best hangout area on the island.
The beachfront area here is amazing, with lounge chairs, hammocks, and a big dock to swim in what feels like a pool in the ocean. The vibes are amazing, and it’s so worth visiting.
Trudy’s opens early at 6:30 am, and their coffee is actually really good, so we had this most days before diving. They do a range of breaky options that you can grab and go.
They also run themed activities and food nights each week, with special BBQ nights, Asian cuisine, wing nights etc. with events like trivia and karaoke. It’s a really fun place to hang out and meet other travellers.
Just don’t order a cocktail, the backpackers behind the bar have no idea what they’re doing haha, stick to a beer!
Honourable mentions
I couldn’t wrap up this list of Utila restaurants without at least mentioning some of these places.
We didn’t have the time, money, or energy to visit all these places (if you’re staying east of the village, you won’t want to walk to the west and vice versa, trust me).
But if you have more of all these things, you might also like to try:
- 🍷 Wine Attic: for a good range of wines and charcuterie boards on their rooftop terrace. We tried this and loved it, but it wasn’t really a meal as such.
- 🍻 Utila Brewing Co: they have recently relocated to the waterfront in the old Seabreakers building, with good beer and tacos.
- 🍣 Mister Buddha: they have some great-looking Asian options (including sushi), but it was a bit too expensive for us, and we chose Mango Tango for our treat night.
- 🍹 The Point Pool Bar & Grill: we didn’t visit, but drove past on our ATV adventure day. A really cool restaurant with a pool overlooking the beach. It would be a fun way to spend an afternoon with delicious cocktails and burgers. Stay for sunset.
- 🍫 Utila Chocolate Co: don’t think I forgot about the chocolate shop! I mentioned this as one of my top things to do in Utila because it’s kind of out of town so it feels a bit like an activity. Either way, go there and get a brownie, thank me later.
- 🫓 Gordo’s Place: this beloved street food stall has opened since our visit, serving up pupusas, baleadas, other tasty mains and donuts on Main Street.
- 🍳 The Local & The Gringa: another new option since our visit, this gorgeous spot is consistently rated well for breakfast and lunch, with great rotating specials.
Utila restaurants: Final thoughts
There you have it, our top 10 Utila restaurants.
Considering this is a pretty small island, we ate good here and really enjoyed trying out so many different cuisines. That was not what we expected from an island in Honduras!
You don’t have to eat baleadas for every meal while you’re in Utila, even if you are on a budget.
If you’re concerned about eating out for every meal, look for accommodation with a kitchen. But do know that it’s not very common, and you may need to choose your dive school specifically around this factor.
MORE UTILA POSTS
- Complete Travel Guide to Utila Honduras: The Scuba Island
- 16 Best Things to Do in Utila, Honduras (Diving & More)
- Complete Guide to Scuba Diving in Utila
- How to Visit Water Cay Utila: Untouched Tropical Heaven
- Renting an ATV in Utila: Self-Guided Island Adventure
- Roatan vs Utila: Which Honduran Island is Right for You?
The Comments
Ze Caillou
Costa Dulce is now closed definitively 😭😭😭 we were craving for some dulce de leche ice cream !
Sally Rodrick
Ze CaillouNOOOOO 😭 That is so sad to hear!! Thanks so much for letting me know. I think there was one other ice cream shop from memory, I’ll do some research and update this post.
Adam
Hi Sally you missed Shell Del Mar, the restaurant located at the Coral View Beach Resort
Sally Rodrick
AdamOne to try next time! 😁