Tenerife's food ranges from some of Spain's finest Michelin-starred kitchens to rustic guachinches where farmers serve homemade country cooking with their own wine. Wrinkly papas arrugadas with red and green mojo, fresh Atlantic fish and hearty stews are the local staples. Here are the restaurants worth seeking out, with prices, areas and tips.
€€€€El Rincón de Juan Carlos
Area
Los Gigantes
Type
Fine dining · 2 Michelin
“Book the tasting menu weeks ahead — it's a small room and one of only a handful of 2-star tables on the island.”
€€€€M.B by Martín Berasategui
Area
Guía de Isora
Type
Fine dining · 2 Michelin
“It sits inside the Ritz-Carlton Abama — arrive early for a sundowner overlooking La Gomera first.”
€€€€Kabuki Abama
Area
Guía de Isora
Type
Japanese · Michelin
“Sit at the sushi counter and let the chef guide the omakase — the local red tuna is superb.”
€€Casa Tomás
Area
Tegueste
Type
Traditional Canarian
“Order the costillas con papas y piña (ribs with potatoes and corn) — the dish that made the place famous.”
€Guachinche Casa Ana
Area
El Sauzal (north)
Type
Guachinche
“Guachinches open seasonally around the wine harvest — check it's trading before you drive up.”
€€Tasca El Callejón
Area
Santa Cruz de Tenerife
Type
Canarian tapas
“Come for the croquetas and a glass of Tenerife Listán Blanco before a stroll to the market.”
€€€La Bola de Jorge Bosch
Area
Puerto de la Cruz
Type
Modern Canarian
“The tasting menu is excellent value for the quality — reserve a table on the terrace.”
€€€Restaurante La Vieja
Area
Playa San Juan
Type
Seafood
“Order the day's fresh fish by weight and eat it with your feet almost in the water.”
€€Tasca Tagoror
Area
Las Cañadas / Vilaflor
Type
Traditional Canarian
“A handy, hearty lunch stop on the way to or from Teide — try the rabbit in salmorejo sauce.”
Tenerife restaurants in detail
1.El Rincón de Juan Carlos
Run by the Padrón brothers, El Rincón de Juan Carlos is Tenerife's culinary flagship, holding two Michelin stars and a Green Star for sustainability. The kitchen turns the island's raw materials — local fish landed that morning, Canarian goat's cheese, tropical fruit, wrinkly papas and volcanic-soil wines — into a precise, playful and deeply personal tasting menu that changes with the seasons. Dishes arrive as small works of art, threaded with a sense of humour and a strong sense of place, and the family's warmth in the dining room makes a long evening feel intimate rather than stuffy. Now located within the Royal Hideaway Corales resort in Costa Adeje, it pairs the food with an excellent, mostly Spanish and Canarian wine list. This is a special-occasion address where you settle in for several hours, so reserve well ahead — there are very few tables and even fewer two-star restaurants in the archipelago. For food lovers, it is reason enough to venture beyond the beach.
Hours
Dinner Tue–Sat from 19:30 (booking essential)
Price
Tasting menu from ~€165 pp
Getting there
Royal Hideaway Corales, Costa Adeje; hire car or taxi
Insider tip: Book the tasting menu weeks ahead — it's a small room and one of only a handful of 2-star tables on the island.
2.M.B by Martín Berasategui
Housed within the opulent Ritz-Carlton Abama on the sunny southwest coast, M.B carries the name and the two Michelin stars of Martín Berasategui, Spain's most decorated chef. Under his signature and a resident head chef, the kitchen delivers the polished, technically flawless modern Basque-Spanish cooking that made Berasategui famous, adapted with Canarian produce and served in a plush, low-lit dining room with sweeping views toward La Gomera. Expect luxurious classics from his repertoire alongside seasonal creations — think impeccable seafood, game in season and desserts of real finesse — matched by one of the island's deepest wine cellars and slick, formal service. It is unapologetically a grand-occasion restaurant, priced accordingly, and the setting inside a five-star resort adds to the sense of theatre. Reserve well in advance and dress up. For visitors who want to bookend a Tenerife holiday with a truly world-class meal, M.B and its neighbour Kabuki make Abama the island's gastronomic address of choice.
Hours
Dinner select evenings (seasonal); booking essential
Price
Tasting menus from ~€215 pp
Getting there
The Ritz-Carlton, Abama, Guía de Isora; taxi or hire car
Insider tip: It sits inside the Ritz-Carlton Abama — arrive early for a sundowner overlooking La Gomera first.
3.Kabuki Abama
The island branch of Spain's celebrated Kabuki group, this Michelin-starred restaurant inside the Ritz-Carlton Abama reinvents Japanese cooking through a Mediterranean and Canarian lens. The result is some of the most exciting food on Tenerife: glistening nigiri topped with local red tuna, amberjack or Iberian pork; delicate tempura; and playful signatures like the famous 'huevo Kabuki' egg yolk with truffle. Fish is impeccably fresh, much of it landed on the island, and the presentation is precise without being fussy. The room is sleek and contemporary, with a sushi counter for those who want to watch the chefs and views out over the resort's gardens toward the Atlantic. Prices are high but a notch below its two-star neighbour M.B, making it the slightly more relaxed of Abama's fine-dining pair — you can drop in for à la carte rather than committing to a full tasting menu. Book ahead in peak season. Together with M.B it cements the southwest coast as Tenerife's gastronomic heartland.
Hours
Dinner select evenings (seasonal); booking recommended
Price
À la carte ~€90–130 pp; tasting menus higher
Getting there
The Ritz-Carlton, Abama, Guía de Isora; taxi or hire car
Insider tip: Sit at the sushi counter and let the chef guide the omakase — the local red tuna is superb.
4.Casa Tomás
Tucked into the green hills of Tegueste above La Laguna, Casa Tomás is the kind of unpretentious country restaurant that Canarians drive across the island for. Its reputation rests on one dish above all — costillas con papas y piña, a mountainous plate of slow-cooked pork ribs with wrinkly potatoes and grilled corn on the cob, drenched in the house mojo — but the whole menu is a love letter to traditional island cooking. Expect grilled local meats, hearty stews, fresh cheese with mojo, and jugs of honest Tenerife wine, all served in generous portions at fair prices in a lively, rustic dining room hung with local memorabilia. This is authentic guachinche-style eating: no frills, no tourist mark-up, just the food islanders actually eat. It gets busy at weekends with big family tables, so book or arrive early, and come hungry. For visitors wanting to taste the real Tenerife rather than resort fare, a lunch here — ideally combined with a wander around historic La Laguna nearby — is a genuine highlight.
Hours
Wed–Mon lunch & dinner (closed Tue); often busy
Price
~€15–25 pp
Getting there
Tegueste, near La Laguna; hire car recommended
Insider tip: Order the costillas con papas y piña (ribs with potatoes and corn) — the dish that made the place famous.
5.Guachinche Casa Ana
To eat like a true islander, seek out a guachinche — a uniquely Tenerife institution born in the northern wine country, where grape-growers open a few tables in a garage, garden or back room to sell their homemade wine alongside a short menu of whatever the family is cooking. Casa Ana is a well-loved example: rough-and-ready, cash-friendly and utterly authentic. The chalkboard menu is tiny and changes daily but reliably features Canarian staples — papas arrugadas with red and green mojo, grilled pork, garbanzo stew, fried local fish, and slabs of fresh cheese — washed down with carafes of the owner's own barely-aged tinto. Prices are gloriously low and the atmosphere is convivial, with tables shared and conversation flowing. Because guachinches are tied to the wine harvest, their opening hours are famously erratic and often only advertised on local Facebook groups, so confirm before making the trip up into the hills. Find one that's trading and you'll have one of the most memorable, best-value meals of your Tenerife holiday.
Hours
Variable seasonal hours; typically lunch onward
Price
~€10–18 pp
Getting there
Northern wine country around El Sauzal/La Victoria; car essential
Insider tip: Guachinches open seasonally around the wine harvest — check it's trading before you drive up.
6.Tasca El Callejón
In the heart of the capital, Tasca El Callejón is the sort of buzzing, characterful tapas bar every Tenerife trip needs. Set in an atmospheric room of exposed brick, dark wood and hanging hams just off Santa Cruz's shopping streets, it serves a long list of Canarian and Spanish small plates designed for sharing over island wine. Standouts include silky croquetas, grilled octopus, local cheeses with mojo, fried fish and hearty meat dishes, all cooked with more care than the low prices suggest. The atmosphere is warm and unmistakably local — quieter at lunch, lively in the evening when city workers pack the tables — and the staff are happy to steer you through the menu and the by-the-glass list of Tenerife Listán and Malvasía wines. It's ideally placed for combining with a wander through Santa Cruz's plazas, the covered Mercado de Nuestra Señora de África and the waterfront Auditorio. For an authentic, affordable taste of the capital's food scene away from the resorts, it's hard to beat.
Hours
Mon–Sat lunch & dinner; closed Sun
Price
~€20–30 pp
Getting there
Central Santa Cruz, near Plaza del Príncipe; tram or bus
Insider tip: Come for the croquetas and a glass of Tenerife Listán Blanco before a stroll to the market.
7.La Bola de Jorge Bosch
In the pretty old town of Puerto de la Cruz, La Bola brings a dose of contemporary, gastro-bar cooking to the traditional north coast under chef Jorge Bosch, who cut his teeth in Michelin kitchens before opening this relaxed, design-led spot. The kitchen takes recognisably Canarian and Spanish ingredients — local fish, Iberian pork, tropical fruit, wrinkly potatoes — and gives them a modern, well-travelled spin, plating up refined tapas and full mains that punch well above the restaurant's easy-going prices. The atmosphere is smart but unfussy, with an appealing terrace for warm evenings and a well-chosen list of Canarian wines. It's the kind of place that satisfies both those wanting a serious meal and those just after a couple of excellent small plates and a glass of wine after a day at Playa Jardín or Loro Parque. A good-value tasting menu makes it a favourite with visiting foodies. Book ahead at weekends, when it fills with a mix of locals and in-the-know travellers.
Hours
Wed–Sun lunch & dinner; closed Mon–Tue
Price
~€35–50 pp; tasting menu available
Getting there
Central Puerto de la Cruz; walkable, TITSA buses
Insider tip: The tasting menu is excellent value for the quality — reserve a table on the terrace.
8.Restaurante La Vieja
In the low-key fishing town of Playa San Juan on the sunny southwest coast, La Vieja is exactly what a Canarian seafood lunch should be: a relaxed terrace right on the seafront, a display of whatever the boats brought in that morning, and a wood-fired grill to cook it. You choose your fish — vieja (the local parrotfish that gives the place its name), sea bream, sea bass, grouper or whatever's freshest — by the kilo, and it arrives simply grilled with wrinkly potatoes, mojo and a green salad, letting the quality of the catch speak for itself. Start with limpets, prawns or octopus and a bottle of crisp Tenerife white, and you have a long, sun-drenched meal with the Atlantic lapping just beyond the railing. It's popular with Spanish families at weekends and holds its own against far pricier resort restaurants, precisely because it does the simple things well. Combine lunch with a swim off the town's quiet beach and harbour for a perfect slow day away from the crowds of Las Américas.
Hours
Daily lunch & dinner (seasonal closures)
Price
~€30–45 pp depending on fish
Getting there
Playa San Juan seafront, southwest coast; hire car or TITSA bus 473
Insider tip: Order the day's fresh fish by weight and eat it with your feet almost in the water.
9.Tasca Tagoror
High on the pine-clad slopes leading up to Teide National Park, around Spain's loftiest village of Vilaflor, a scattering of rustic tascas offer exactly the sort of hearty, warming food you crave in the cool mountain air, and Tasca Tagoror is a reliable example of the breed. This is robust Canarian country cooking: conejo en salmorejo (rabbit marinated and stewed in a garlic, wine and paprika sauce), grilled local pork, thick chickpea and watercress stews, wrinkly potatoes with mojo, roasted chestnuts in season, and gofio-based dishes made from the toasted grain that has been a Canarian staple since Guanche times. Portions are generous, prices are fair, and the setting — stone walls, wooden beams, mountain views through the pines — is a world away from the coastal resorts far below. It makes an ideal refuelling stop before or after a day exploring the volcano, when the altitude and clean air sharpen the appetite. Simple, filling and thoroughly authentic, it's the taste of highland Tenerife.
Hours
Daily lunch (check winter hours)
Price
~€15–25 pp
Getting there
Along the TF-21 near Vilaflor, Spain's highest village; car recommended
Insider tip: A handy, hearty lunch stop on the way to or from Teide — try the rabbit in salmorejo sauce.