Restaurants You Need To Try In Ubatuba, Brazil
Restaurants You Need To Try In Ubatuba, Brazil
Published July 11, 2020
One of the surprising things about the beautiful beach town of Ubatuba is its impressive selection of restaurants. The vast majority of dining options in the city are family-owned, so there are countless unique dining experiences to choose from! This post will feature some of my favorites. It’s divided into four main sections: beach kiosks, sit-down restaurants, fancier options, and pizza places.
Disclaimer: I spent the month of June 2020 in Ubatuba, which means I was there right as the city was partially reopening during the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s worth noting that many restaurants remained closed during that time, so this post will feature the ones that were open. Part of my goal in writing this post is to help promote these businesses, so if you find this post helpful be sure to share it!
Beach Kiosks
The most common and iconic type of restaurant in Ubatuba is the beach kiosk (or in Portuguese, “quiosque”). They typically serve a complete menu of alcoholic beverages and a small or medium-sized menu of food, often specializing in fish and other basic meals like chicken or beef with rice and beans.
Quiosque Aloha
Address: Av. Leovigildo Dias Vieira, 475, Ubatuba – SP, 11680-000
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alohaubatuba.quiosque
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ivanserranoskamarakas/
My favorite kiosk was Aloha, but I have to admit that this might have been influenced by the fact that my Airbnb was only a couple minutes away. They made an excellent prato executivo (set lunch) with a choice of beef, chicken, fish, or sausage served with rice, beans, fries or potatoes, and a salad.
Quiosque Aloha is pictured below, but most of these beachside kiosks look similar. The three main beaches in Ubatuba are home to dozens of kiosks like this, and during the month of June, it looked like about half of them were open. In addition to COVID-19 this year, June is also the low season for beaches in Brazil (being the middle of winter), so that could’ve also contributed to so few of them being open.
Kiosks such as Aloha are also the perfect place to pick up a cold beer or a caipirinha, a traditional Brazilian cocktail.
Girassol
Address: Av. Gov. Abreu Sodré, 685 – Perequê-Acu, Ubatuba – SP, 11680-000
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quiosquegirassol/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/quiosquegirassol92/
This is another noteworthy kiosk with great food and good service. Located on the city’s northern Perequê-Açu Beach, Girassol offered unique cocktails as well as delicious meals. The fajitas served with sliced baguette pictured below were excellent!
Girassol was good enough to go back to a second time. If I had stayed a little closer to Perequê-Açu, I probably would’ve eaten there once every few days. Their fried fish plate with dipping sauces and peppers was another meal to remember.
Mar Aberto
Address: Av. Leovigildo Dias Vieira, 650 – Itaguá, Ubatuba – SP, 11680-000
Mar Aberto (Open Sea) is located just a short walk south of Aloha. I only went once but the fried shrimp I got there were good.
Quiosque Mirante
Address: click or tap here for Google Maps link
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Beach/Quiosque-Mirante-1792947057685109/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/quiosquemirante/
This kiosk is located on a small cliff overlooking two major beaches in Ubatuba: Praia Grande and Praia das Toninhas. Since it’s not really near any other restaurants or shops, I didn’t expect the food to be anything special when I stopped there for lunch one day, but the fish platter I ordered ended up being both delicious and beautifully plated!
If you’re exploring the beaches further south, this is the perfect place to grab lunch or a small refreshment.
Others
There are probably at least 50 oceanfront kiosks spread throughout Ubatuba, and I really hope that the vast majority of them are able to have a regular high season again by the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021. If you find another beach bar you really liked that isn’t mentioned here, leave a comment below and tell me about it!
Sit-Down Restaurants
In general, the restaurants in Ubatuba also serve a variety of seafood as well as Brazilian classics. While I did find sushi and Mexican food, I’ll admit that there isn’t a huge international dining scene here. I would’ve loved to see a Thai or Vietnamese restaurant, but these were hard to come by even in São Paulo.
O Rei do Camarão
Address: Av. Leovigildo Dias Vieira, 38 – Itaguá, Ubatuba – SP, 11680-000
Website: http://restaurantereidocamarao.com.br/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/orei.docamarao/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oreidocamaraoubatuba/
textThis restaurant (King of Shrimp) is aptly named. Their entire menu features seafood with a focus on shrimp. I tried two of their pastas and a shrimp burger, and everything there was delicious.
Padaria Integrale
Address: R. Dr. Esteves da Silva, 360 – Centro, Ubatuba – SP, 11680-000
Website: https://padariaintegrale.com/en/home-en/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/padariaintegraleubatuba
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/padariaintegrale/
Padaria means ‘bakery,’ but this particular bakery had an open-air dining space, so I tried it for lunch one day. The fish, quinoa, and salad I got was probably the healthiest meal I’ve had in recent memory.
As you can see below, they had about half of their tables blocked off to facilitate social distancing. In addition to good food, they also made an excellent mocha!
Restaurante Casa do Marmitex
Address: R. Dr. Esteves da Silva, 322 – Centro, Ubatuba – SP, 11660-000
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cdm.casadomarmitex
This restaurant may look simple from the outside, but it ended up being one of my favorites in town! Marmitex is a style of food that basically means a complete set meal, usually for a good price.
This restaurant offers a couple of dishes every day, but also has a rotating menu. The second time I went was feijoada day, so I couldn’t turn that down! It ended up being amazing, especially because it had been so long since I had it last (a couple of months at least).
MaH Restaurante e Pizzaria
Address: Rua Guarani, 335 – Centro, Ubatuba – SP, 11680-000
Website: https://app.menudino.com/mahrestaurante
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mah.restaurante/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mah.restaurante/
Based on their menu and promotional materials, MaH (not really sure how you pronounce that, to be perfectly honest) looked like it offered very fancy food pre-COVID. I stopped in for lunch twice and got their relatively simple yet satisfying lunch combos both times, which only cost a couple dollars.
Quintal da Villa
Address: Rua Guarani, 5 – e 6 – Itaguá, Ubatuba – SP, 11680-000
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/QuintaldaVillaUbatuba/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/quintaldavilla/
This restaurant is a short walk down the street from MaH. The first time I went, I got a platter of fish and rice for dinner, which I found to be good but not necessarily amazing. When I went back a few weeks later, I got their steak lunch set, which was excellent. At most restaurants in town, lunches in Ubatuba will cost around 20 BRL (approx. 4 to 5 USD as of June 2020).
Taco Surf
Address: Rua Guarani, 746 – Barra da Lagoa, Ubatuba – SP, 11680-000
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Bar/TacoSurf-Bar-e-Cozinha-Mexicana-163009697147781/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/taco.surf/
It’s been months since I’ve last had Mexican food (and the few times I had it in São Paulo, it was never actually very good). That’s why I was so excited to try Taco Surf! This restaurant next to a small skate park has some Baja and maybe Tex-Mex vibes, and the inside has nods to both skating as well as the main sport of Ubatuba: surfing.
You guys don’t know how happy I was to finally get salsa, guacamole, sour cream, and yellow rice! These ingredients don’t really exist in Brazilian cuisine at all (at least not in São Paulo). I have to admit in all honesty that the food wasn’t 100% authentic, but after living in Mexico City in 2018, my expectations of Mexican food abroad tend to be a little bit too high.
Nonetheless, the food and service was very good here, and this will have to hold me over until I make it to Rio de Janeiro. I highly recommend it if you’re in Ubatuba and craving a burrito.
Okone Sushi
Address: Av. Leovigildo Dias Vieira, 752 – Itaguá, Ubatuba – SP, 11680-000
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SushiOkoneUbatuba/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/okonesushioficial/
Okone Sushi only offered takeout, but will hopefully be open for dine-in soon again. I decided to go with the special combo they had. I’m not sure if that was seasonal or temporary, but it basically included everything pictured below.
This is the first time I’ve had sushi as a full meal in Brazil, and I have to admit that it definitely had a little bit of a different overall flavor, although I can’t exactly pinpoint what it was. I also had a food coma after this meal, but I think that’s because it was meant for two people!
Luxurious Options
Jundu Restaurante Lounge Bar
Address: Av. Leovigildo Dias Vieira, 810 – Itaguá, Ubatuba – SP, 11680-000
Website: https://www.junduubatuba.com.br/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jundurestauranteloungebar/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jundu_restaurante/
Both the price and the vibe of this restaurant suggest that it caters to tourists, but there’s nothing wrong with that! Jundu offers a similar style of food to many of the other restaurants in town, but it does have a slightly less casual vibe.
This is the first time I’ve had sushi as a full meal in Brazil, and I have to admit that it definitely had a little bit of a different overall flavor, although I can’t exactly pinpoint what it was. I also had a food coma after this meal, but I think that’s because it was meant for two people!
This is the first time I’ve had sushi as a full meal in Brazil, and I have to admit that it definitely had a little bit of a different overall flavor, although I can’t exactly pinpoint what it was. I also had a food coma after this meal, but I think that’s because it was meant for two people!
Restaurante Raízes
Address: Av. Leovigildo Dias Vieira, 1281 – Sala 1 – Itaguá, Ubatuba – SP, 11680-000
Website: https://www.raizesubatuba.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/restauranteraizes/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/restaurante.raizes/
This massive restaurant with multiple floors of dining is the other one that stood out to me as catering mainly to tourists. Their huge dining room allowed for very generous social distancing between tables.
I tried their filet de dourado em crosta de coco, a fried fish with coconut flakes and a side of black rice and mandioquinha purée, a type of root vegetable native to South America.
Restaurante Terra Papagalli
Address: R. Xavantes, 537 – Itaguá, Ubatuba – SP, 11680-000
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Papagali/206576329367564
This was probably my favorite place I splurged in Ubatuba. It has a very refined yet warm and welcoming vibe, and they have a nice little patio area facing the ocean.
The lighting isn’t great in the picture below, but I really liked the octopus pasta I decided to try for dinner. The most memorable part of the experience though was the fact that they offered a free dessert! I’m not sure if that’s because there was only one other family dining, and maybe the chefs were bored, but I wasn’t about to turn that down! Perhaps they also had a sixth sense that they would be featured in a blog post!
It ended up being a serving of raspberries and vanilla ice cream served in a hot sauce that reminded me a lot of German gluhwein. It felt very Christmas-y today, and despite being June, it was the perfect thing for a rainy evening!
Pizza Places
For whatever reason, Ubatuba has a ton of pizza restaurants. I honestly think at least 40% to 50% of restaurants in town serve pizza as one of their specialties. It makes me wonder if pizza is a food that Brazilians enjoy on holiday more than as an everyday meal. Although I only mention two below, there are many others to choose from.
Brothers Pizzaria
Address: Av. Leovigildo Dias Vieira, 58 – Barra da Lagoa, Ubatuba – SP, 11680-000
Website: https://brothers-pizzaria.negocio.site/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brotherspizzaubatuba/
This pizzeria with a large dining room was noteworthy because they allow you to get four different flavors on one pie, and they have a massive menu to choose from. I’ll say that in general, pizza in Brazil is lighter on the tomato sauce and heavier on the cheese. You can see this in the picture below. It also tends to have thick crust, so in many ways it’s closer to American-style than authentic Italian.
Restaurante Senzala
Address: Av. Leovigildo Dias Vieira, 1030 – Itaguá, Ubatuba – SP, 11680-000
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/restaurante.senzala/
This restaurant offered a standard menu with a full range of dishes, but I had to go with their seafood pizza when I saw it. Unlike most pizza restaurants in Brazil, Senzala actually did have a much more Italian (i.e. thin crust) pizza, which was refreshing.
Ubatuba: More Than Just Beaches
Ubatuba is such a great town because despite its jaw-dropping beaches, it isn’t overly commercialized. The vast majority of restaurants here really are small businesses, so any visitor who dines out is genuinely supporting the local economy!
As I said before, I really hope that all of the businesses mentioned here can make it through this current low season and that Ubatuba will be able to safely host visitors during the upcoming summer season that will start at the end of the year. If you want to help these businesses out, share this article or engage with some of them on their social media platforms!
Have you been to Ubatuba before? Are you interested in going once this pandemic is over? Let me know in the comments below! And if you’re interested in learning about the city’s stunning coastline of world-class beaches or what it was like to be in Ubatuba during its initial reopening, click the respective link. Thanks for reading, guys! Have a great week!
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This post was published on July 11, 2020
The Caffeinated Man Behind The Blog
Where I’ve Been
Wow- I’ve never seen a food guide post where literally EVERYTHING looks so amazing!!!
I just love eating from beachside kiosks! Great food and views! Marmitex looks great and I’d love to try the squid at Jundu!
A lot of South American food is based around starches like potatoes/rice/fries/bread… AND I LOVE IT. These dishes look absolutely delicious!
Great selection of food and amazing pictures, made me hungry just reading it, best kind of food guide 🙂
Can I just say that I started getting hungry only by looking at your pictures! Seems like whether one goes to a beach kiosk or a more fancier restaurant, one can still enjoy delicious food. Brazil is for foodies no doubt! 😍
There are 3 things that impress me: a) the beautiful name Ubatuba, b) the beautiful murals and wall paints and c) the fact that the food is so diverse. A lot of South American food is beans and rice and chicken. You had that too, but I appreciate the other meals.
So glad to see you’re able to go out for meals again and I must say the food looks amazing!! Your post made me very hungry and I only had lunch 1 hour ago ha ha! I especially like the look of the fajitas from Girassol, yummy! Enjoy the rest of your meals!
Ubatuba looks so lovely. What I like is that the restaurants and food too look as colourful as the place itself. Seems a great place for a leisurely getaway with amazing food.
Ubatuba look like a foodie’s paradise. Your photos are really yummy. 🙂
Wow, that is an amazing list of restaurants to try in Ubatuba! Personally, I love all the beach kiosk dive restaurants you started with because all of them have such amazing looking seafood. I love the fried shrimp plate! Also loved that you ate sushi while there. I heard from a Japanese friend that there may actually be more japanese in Brazil than in Japan now. But either way, as a traveler, sometimes it fun to try something totally off the wall in another country so you dont get weary of the local cuisine.
Lastly, love all that food at Jundu. I never understand why “expert” travelers always avoid the tourist spots. But their loss cause that squid plate looks amazeballs!
I am already salivating by just looking at the food haha. Brazil was supposed to be the last country of my solo trip to South America but now I am stuck in Colombia thanks to Coronavirus.
Great list of restaurants. They all look so great! I think that Quiosque Mirante would be one of my top choices. The dish looks great and the view is stunning. A Brazilian cocktail sounds lovely to!
Well I just ate but now I’m starving again. I had no idea Brazil had such great cuisine choices. South America is moving higher up my list!
Wooow Kevin! You have really been finding some fantastic food!
Firstly, i LOVE the relaxed open air look of the kiosks, especially when you see all that yummy looking fish! Plus you get the beach views while you eat. I am also really intrigued by the Brazillian sushi. There are a couple of Brazilian sushi restaurants in London and they always have really interesting, innovative flavours. I’d love to try it in Brazil!
p.s. I love the new video/beach header at the top of this post. It looks fab!
These all look so cute and lovely and the food looks pretty hearty. At least I know it’s easy to stay fed well in Brazil!
Even with COVID, it looks like you were able to try many different restaurants. They all look delicious, especially the little beach cafes. Thanks for sharing this article, although I’ve never been to this area, it looks like a great place to go.
The food looks amazing. You are a good food photographer because your photos made me really hungry. I would love spending my time at these beachside kiosks. Glad that you were able to go out again.
This is such a useful restaurant review if you’re heading this way. The fajitas at Garisoll look fab and Jundu restaurant looks amazing – definitely one for a treat or special occasion.
I love rice based dishes, all of them look tempting to me. Not sure if I will experiment with that octopus though.
Hope they do good business post Covid.
All the fresh seafood looks super good!! Also, the video heading of the ocean is very cool, might have to show me a few tricks for my blog:)
Great guide, thanks for sharing! I think, first of all, I would try the national cuisine.
We’re headed to uba-chuva next week, I’m glad I found your blog and I can’t wait to try out your recs! If you have any extra tips for cafes where we could get some work done (if it’s safe to post-up with a laptop?) I’d appreciate it greatly!! Take care