Restaurant in Lima, Peru
Lima seafood lunch worth planning around.
Ranked #11 on the OAD South America list in 2025 (top ten in each of the two prior years), La Picanteria delivers serious Peruvian seafood in a loud, casual lunch-only format in Surquillo. It is one of Lima's strongest arguments for a daytime booking — no tasting-menu formality, no dinner service, and easier to book than most restaurants at this recognition level.
Three consecutive top-ten finishes on the Opinionated About Dining South America ranking (ranked #9 in 2023, #10 in 2024, #11 in 2025) make La Picanteria one of the most consistently recognised seafood restaurants in the region — and it operates as a relaxed, lunch-only neighbourhood spot in Surquillo. That gap between format and accolade is the whole story. If you want serious Peruvian seafood without the tasting-menu formality of Central or Kjolle, book here.
La Picanteria runs Tuesday through Sunday, 12–5:30 pm only. There is no dinner service, no exceptions. The energy during lunch hours is the draw: an animated, market-adjacent dining room in Surquillo where the room fills with locals, chefs on days off, and food-focused visitors who planned ahead. The atmosphere is loud in the way a well-run picantera should be , conversation-driven, unpretentious, and built around sharing. If you are planning a celebratory lunch rather than a formal dinner, this is one of the better arguments for choosing the midday slot over a white-tablecloth evening in Miraflores.
Chef Héctor Solís has built La Picanteria around the picantera tradition , the Peruvian equivalent of a serious neighbourhood eating house, where the format is casual but the sourcing and technique are not. The kitchen's focus is seafood, and Lima's position as one of the world's great seafood cities gives that focus real weight. For context on where La Picanteria sits within Lima's wider seafood offering, Costanera 700 in Miraflores operates in a more polished register; La Mar Cebicheria pitches itself at a broader, more tourist-accessible crowd. La Picanteria sits between them , less formal than the former, more serious than the latter.
Google reviewers score it 4.6 across 2,735 ratings, which, for a restaurant with this level of critical recognition, suggests the experience holds up at volume. Restaurants ranked in the OAD top 10–15 frequently attract a more demanding audience; a 4.6 average across nearly three thousand reviews is a meaningful data point, not a casual one.
If you are planning a visit to Peru more broadly, La Picanteria pairs logically with Mil Centro in Moray for a complete picture of Peruvian culinary range , Solís's seafood-forward picantera versus Virgilio Martínez's altitude-driven Andean format. For the Lima leg of any trip, Maido and Astrid & Gastón are the obvious dinner bookings; La Picanteria handles lunch.
| Detail | La Picanteria | La Mar Cebicheria | Costanera 700 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Service | Lunch only (Tue–Sun) | Lunch & dinner | Lunch & dinner |
| Hours | 12–5:30 pm | Broader window | Broader window |
| Setting | Surquillo neighbourhood | Miraflores | Miraflores |
| OAD South America Ranking | #11 (2025) | Not ranked | Not ranked |
| Google Rating | 4.6 (2,735 reviews) | N/A | N/A |
| Booking Difficulty | Easy | Easy | Easy |
Booking is classified as easy, which is notable given the OAD ranking. Unlike Central Restaurante, where availability is tightly constrained months out, La Picanteria does not require the same advance planning. That said, weekend lunch slots , especially Saturday , will fill faster than midweek. If you have a specific date in mind, book two to three weeks ahead to be safe. The lunch-only window means there is no fallback dinner option if you miss out.
Address: Sta. Rosa 388, Surquillo 15047, Peru. The Surquillo location is close to the Surquillo market, which is worth building into the visit if you have time before or after lunch. For further planning across the city, see our full Lima restaurants guide, our full Lima hotels guide, and our full Lima bars guide.
Lunch is the only option , La Picanteria does not serve dinner. The restaurant operates Tuesday through Sunday, 12–5:30 pm. That constraint is also the format's strength: the kitchen focuses entirely on one service, and the midday energy suits the picantera style. If you need a dinner booking for the same day, pair it with Maido or Central in the evening.
There is no published private dining or group booking information in the available data. For groups of four or more, contact the restaurant directly ahead of your visit to confirm table configuration. The relaxed, communal atmosphere of a picantera is generally well-suited to group dining , it is not a format that penalises larger parties the way a counter-only omakase would.
Two to three weeks is a reasonable lead time for a weekday slot. Saturday lunch is likely to fill faster given it is the most popular day for leisure dining in Lima. The booking difficulty is classified as easy by Pearl standards , significantly more accessible than Central Restaurante, where months-ahead planning is standard. Don't leave it to the day of if you are visiting on a Saturday.
No formal dress code is listed. The picantera format is inherently casual , smart casual is appropriate and, if anything, overdressing would feel out of place. This is not the kind of room where a jacket is expected. Think of it as you would a well-regarded neighbourhood restaurant rather than a fine-dining destination, even given the OAD ranking.
Yes, with the right expectations. A celebratory lunch at a top-11 OAD-ranked restaurant, in a lively room with serious seafood, is a legitimate special-occasion choice , particularly if the people you are celebrating with prefer energy and informality over hushed service. If the occasion calls for a formal dinner setting, Astrid & Gastón or Kjolle will serve you better. For a daytime celebration, La Picanteria is one of Lima's stronger arguments.
For seafood at a similar casual register, La Mar Cebicheria is the most direct comparison , broader hours, more tourist-accessible, less critically recognised. Costanera 700 offers a more formal seafood experience in Miraflores. If you are open to shifting away from seafood, Maido handles Nikkei at a very high level and operates dinner service. For the full Lima picture, see our Lima restaurants guide.
No bar seating information is available in the current data. The picantera format typically centres on table dining rather than counter or bar eating. If bar seating is important to your visit, confirm directly with the restaurant before you go.
The format works for solo diners , a lively, high-energy lunch room in the picantera tradition does not make solo dining feel awkward the way a formal tasting-menu restaurant might. The absence of a dinner service means you are planning a daytime visit regardless, which suits a solo traveller's schedule. If you prefer a counter seat for solo dining, Maido may offer more structural support for that format.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| La Picanteria | Seafood | Opinionated About Dining Top Restaurants in South America Ranked #11 (2025); Opinionated About Dining Top Restaurants in South America Ranked #10 (2024); Opinionated About Dining Top Restaurants in South America Ranked #9 (2023) | Easy | — | |
| Astrid & Gastón | Modern Peruvian | World's 50 Best | Unknown | — | |
| Mérito | Venezuelan/Fusion | World's 50 Best | Unknown | — | |
| Mayta | Peruvian Modern | World's 50 Best | Unknown | — | |
| Kjolle | Modern Peruvian | World's 50 Best | Unknown | — | |
| La Mar Cebicheria | Peruvian | Unknown | — |
Side-by-side comparison to help you decide where to book.
Lunch is the only option — La Picanteria serves Tuesday through Sunday, 12–5:30 pm, with no dinner service at all. Plan your day around it. The midday-only format is part of what makes the room feel charged during service, so there's no off-peak version of this meal.
La Picanteria's format — a lunch-focused seafood spot in Surquillo — tends to work better for smaller groups than large parties. For a group of 6 or more, contact ahead to confirm availability; walk-in groups risk not being seated together. Booking is currently classified as easy, so advance coordination shouldn't be difficult.
Booking is considered easy relative to its OAD ranking — unlike Central Restaurante, where reservations require months of lead time. A week out is generally sufficient for most party sizes, though weekends may fill faster given the limited 12–5:30 pm window and five-day service week.
La Picanteria is a Surquillo seafood institution, not a white-tablecloth tasting-menu room — dress comfortably rather than formally. Neat casual is appropriate. The venue's three consecutive OAD South America top-11 finishes reflect the food, not the formality of the setting.
Yes, if a long, celebratory seafood lunch is your format. Three consecutive years in the OAD South America top 11 (ranked #9 in 2023, #10 in 2024, #11 in 2025) give it real credibility as a destination meal. It's a better fit for a laid-back celebratory lunch than a formal dinner occasion — there is no evening service.
La Mar Cebicheria is the closest direct comparison — also seafood-focused and lunch-heavy, though with broader name recognition and a more polished format. Kjolle and Mérito push further into modern Peruvian territory and offer dinner service if your schedule doesn't suit a midday-only meal. Astrid & Gastón suits longer tasting-menu occasions.
Bar seating specifics are not confirmed in available venue data. Given the lunch-only format and the venue's reputation for a lively room during service, it's worth asking when you book — particularly if you're dining solo or as a pair and want a more casual spot to eat.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
