Where to eat

South · $$$

Dinner-only sushi on Av. Campeche — fresh nigiri and sashimi, one of the island's top-rated. Closed Sundays; sister branch on the Lagoa.

Everyday · Sushi

South · $$

Specialty-coffee brunch house that flips to Southeast Asian food later on — pad thai, gyoza, shakshuka, own long-ferment breads. Breakfast through dinner; closed Mondays.

Coffee & Brunch · Coffee · Brunch · Asian

South · $$

Buffet por quilo on Av. Campeche, and a good one — Santa Catarina fish and seafood cooked properly, with a wine list behind it. Lunch only, roughly 11:30–14:30.

Everyday · Buffet · Seafood · Brazilian

South · $

Café, pizza and wine bar in Novo Campeche — sharing plates and sandwiches by day, pizzas and wine at night.

Everyday · Pizza · Coffee

South · $$

Churrasco, sandwiches and petiscos straight off the grill.

Grill & meat · Churrasco

South · $

Mineiro café and empório. Best pão de queijo — try the frango-com-catupiry and doce de leite stuffed ones. Closed Sundays.

Coffee & Brunch · Coffee · Bakery

South

The Novo Campeche gelateria.

Dessert · Gelato

South · $$

Specialty coffee and all-day brunch on Av. Campeche — ovos turcos, ovos rancheros, avocado toast, and a bakery doing gluten-free and vegan properly. Small room, opens 07:30 and shuts before dinner. The OKA branch runs later.

Coffee & Brunch · Café + desk · Coffee · Brunch · Bakery

South

Italian espresso and an organic lunch (11:30–14:30) with a natural-foods mercado attached, on Av. Campeche.

Coffee & Brunch · Coffee · Organic

South · $$

Café and organic emporium on Av. Campeche — espresso, croissants, açaí, and an organic express lunch 11:30–14:30. Mon–Sat 08:00–19:00; the fruit-and-veg market runs Saturday mornings.

Coffee & Brunch · Café + desk · Coffee · Organic · Brunch

South · $$

Proper Thai — curry pastes imported from Thailand, pad see ew and Thai rolls the standouts; Vietnamese and Malay touches too. Dinner-only weekdays, from midday at weekends.

Everyday · Thai · Asian

South · $

Brazilian buffet — feijoada, maminha assada, octopus vinaigrette.

Everyday · Brazilian · Buffet

South · $$

Now just the kiosk in Novo Campeche — curries, pad thai, loads of vegan. Dinner-only on weekdays, lunch too at weekends. The old mercado on Pequeno Príncipe is Broddo's address now.

Everyday · Thai · Indonesian · Vegan

South · $$

Right on Praia do Campeche facing the island — beach-shack energy, ostra ao bafo, boards for hire. Closed Mon–Tue; ~R$100/head minimum converted to consumption.

Everyday · Seafood · Oysters

South · $

Campeche's first dedicated brunch house — fish tacos, ceviche in leche de tigre, doce-de-leite-stuffed pão de queijo. Closed Mondays.

Coffee & Brunch · Brunch

South · $$$

Contemporary Brazilian fusion on Av. Pequeno Príncipe — lamb bolovo, okra tempura with miso, agnolotti with moqueca sauce. Strong cocktails, very good service.

Special occasion · Brazilian

South · $$$

Open-fire parrilla on Av. Campeche — entrecôte, mixed grill and chivito uruguaio; provoleta to start. Weekends only (Fri–Sun).

Grill & meat · Parrilla

South · $$

The chain's concept store on Manoel Severino de Oliveira — specialty coffee, brunch and cake, with plugs at the tables and proper communal work benches. Open seven days, from about 08:00.

Coffee & Brunch · Café + desk · Coffee · Bakery

South · $$

Family-run Ecuadorian kitchen at the Porto da Lagoa end of Osni Ortiga — ceviche jipijapa, encocado de pescado, plantain in every good form, rompope to finish. Mains R$49–59. Closed Mondays.

Everyday · Ecuadorian

South · $$$

Open-air, candle-lit Thai in Canto da Lagoa (ex-Lagundri), rated the island's best — red and green curries. Dinner only Tue–Sat; book.

Special occasion · Thai

South · $$

Unfussy Uruguayan parrilla at Porto da Lagoa — 12-hour costela and grilled provolone, well priced. Dinner-only on weekdays.

Grill & meat · Parrilla

South · $$

Everyday

South · $$

Deck floating over the lagoon — farm oysters, shrimp-stuffed squid, best sunset on the water. Fri–Sun only, 11:30–19:00; mains R$52–130, book on WhatsApp for sunset.

Seafood & Azorean · Seafood · Oysters

South

South · $$$

The Ribeirão da Ilha institution. Oysters are the whole point — Floripa grows most of Brazil's, and they're cooked here.

Special occasion · Seafood · Oysters

South · $$

Bakery-café by day, scissor-cut pizzeria by night (oyster pizza à Bulhão Pato) — and the best almond croissant on the planet. Closed Mondays.

Everyday · Coffee & Brunch · Café + desk · Coffee · Bakery · Pizza

South · $$

Handmade pasta and open-fire cooking with an oriental fusion streak. Dinner most nights, lunch at weekends.

Everyday · Pasta · Asian

South · $

Buffet por quilo where the draw is the charcoal grill and the fish rather than the steam table. Lunch only; Saturday is the fish-and-shrimp day.

Everyday · Grill & meat · Buffet · Seafood

South

Counter small plates and natural wine on the Gonzaga, in the Barcelona bodega mould — the menu moves with what the sea and small producers bring. Tue–Sat from 7pm; Santa Catarina's only finalist for Prazeres da Mesa 2026.

Special occasion · Small plates · Natural wine

South · $$

Tree house brunch spot where most the staff are fit. Everything made in-house — organic, naturally fermented bread, Brazilian menu with Italian leanings.

Everyday · Café + desk · Brunch · Organic · Bakery · Brazilian

South · $

Tex-Mex on the Gonzaga — quesadillas, tacos, nachos and big burritos. Around R$40 a head.

Everyday · Mexican

South · $

Vegan cafe with the best coffee on the island — long-fermentation sourdough, focaccia, vegan pastrami sandwiches. Closed Sundays; Saturdays it shuts at 1pm.

Coffee & Brunch · Café + desk · Coffee · Vegan · Bakery

South

Cumbuca's dinner-only forneria on the Gonzaga — long-fermentation sourdough pizzas.

Everyday · Pizza

South · $

Café and a desk in one — proper Work Café at the back, good espresso, smoothies and pancakes. Good rainy-day option. Closed Mondays.

Coffee & Brunch · Café + desk · Coffee · Brunch

South · $

Organic buffet by weight, gluten- and lactose-free, own bakery, shop attached.

Everyday · Organic · Buffet

South · $$

Casual artisanal pasta house on the Gonzaga — lasagne rodízio plus sharing petiscos like coalho-cheese tapioca cubes. Closed Tuesdays.

Everyday · Pasta · Small plates

South · $$

Everyday · Peruvian

South · $

Tiny specialty-coffee bar run by barista Paulo — rated flat white, brownies, free plant milk, and one of the best cafes to work from. Closed Sundays.

Coffee & Brunch · Coffee

South

Artisanal bakery on the Gonzaga by the stone church — breads, pastries and coffee.

Coffee & Brunch · Bakery

South

Island açaí chain, built at the counter from thirty-odd toppings — the Premium is just açaí, banana and apple juice, no sugar. Two shops on the Rio Tavares road, plus Campeche, Morro das Pedras and the Joaquina.

Dessert · Açaí

South · $

Best burger on the south of the island.

Grill & meat · Burgers

$$$

Smart Italian in Centro from the Rosso chef (Alysson Müller) — seafood risotto and filet-mignon gnocchi are the calls. Open lunch and dinner daily.

Special occasion · Italian

$$$

Japanese fusion on the roof of the Majestic Palace, with the whole of Beira-Mar Norte and the bay through the windows. À la carte, or the eight-course omakase at R$265. Tue–Sat, dinner only from 19:30 — book ahead.

Special occasion · Sushi · Asian

Italian

$$

Everyday · Bar

On the Beira-Mar.

Brasserie

Pub

Pizza bar from the Forneria Livorno group — the name honours the old Pizzaria Lisboeta on Rio Branco, not Portuguese food.

Pizza · Italian

$

Everyday · Pizza

Sushi

$$$

Special occasion · Sushi

Italian

Italian

Iberian

Italian

Centro · $

Coffee & Brunch · Bakery

Centro

Contemporary kitchen and bar in a leafy Itacorubi garden. Announced an indefinite pause in May 2026 — check it's back before going.

Bar

Centro

Evening-only restaurant and live-music room, Wed–Sat from 7pm — jazz on Saturdays. Google Maps still calls it a coffee emporium; it isn't one.

Centro

Pizza

Centro

Italian

Centro · $$

Everyday · Tapas

Centro

Thai

Centro · $$

In the centro histórico of São José, the mainland town over the bridge.

Everyday

Centro · $$

Palestinian-run Levantine kitchen on Madre Benvenuta (city side) — hummus, kafta, shawarma, esfihas, plus an empório of Lebanese imports.

Everyday · Levantine

North · $$$

Special occasion

North · $$$

The Azorean seafood benchmark since 1997 — gratinéed oysters, moqueca, coconut shrimp stuffed with catupiry. Two floors facing the water at Passeio Primavera (SC-401).

Seafood & Azorean · Seafood · Azorean

North · $$$

Mediterranean seafood by the water — oysters, monkfish, squid-ink spaghetti, house limoncello. Closed Tuesdays; book ahead at peak.

Special occasion · Seafood

North

Asian-inspired seafood fusion, not the Azorean kind.

Seafood · Asian

North

Mykonos-style beach club on the water — Floripa's first Greek restaurant.

Seafood · Greek

North · $$$

Beachfront seafood. Oysters, crab, octopus and an award-winning shrimp moqueca. Sunset over the bay.

Special occasion · Seafood · Oysters