3 Best Restaurants in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

Reservations at this intimate, 20-seat restaurant within the CHIC Resort in Uvero Alto are highly coveted since it welcomes nonresort guests and is not on the resort’s all-inclusive plan. The chef's table offers a nightly six-course tasting menu, including wine pairings and choreographed musical accompaniments. The talented chef prepares all courses in an open show kitchen. The cuisine is food art, the presentation contemporary, the menu ever-evolving and never disclosed beforehand. This meal is well worth the long ride to Uvero Alto. In fact, it may be the best meal you have in the country.

Dining on the deck here with the gentle breeze blowing, you feel as if you’re actually aboard a yola (a small, local fishing boat). The menu, which has always had Mediterranean and Caribbean influences, has been contemporized and given a French flair. Seafood dominates the menu (you'll also find meat and chicken selections). Main courses, including the catch of the day—usually red snapper, grouper, or dorado (mahimahi)—are artfully prepared and presented and most side dishes are extra but worth it; the expanded kids' menu has five options. As always, service is professional and attentive. What does come up short are the desserts—there aren't enough of them—but the passion fruit cheesecake is a palate pleaser. Happy hour remains popular.

On a white-sand beach shaded by coco palms, this understatedly cool seafood restaurant is efficient, friendly, and fun. Start with a perfectly executed cocktail—like a lime or mango daiquiri—then dig into the savvy menu, where fresh fish and shrimp done three ways are staples. The prices are an excellent value for the amount of creativity and skill, which seems to increase each season. Refreshing salads and cooked appetizers never disappoint. And there are paellas, pasta, risotto, ravioli, and grilled lobster and meat. Sides are usually extra but worth it. The best dessert is the coffee rum trifle. Live music weekly is just one aspect of the beachfront entertainment; another is watching the kitesurfers—poetry in motion—just next door.