The relaxed yet refined restaurant at Casa San Agustin is a must visit. Begin your night in the picturesque courtyard or eclectic dining room with a libation from the creative gin and tonic menu. Afterwards, savor the excellent ceviche and other Colombian specialties. The top-notch food and drinks are matched by the impeccable service, and there is live music at dinner from Wednesday to Sunday.

Just a few blocks outside the old town walls, the Getsemani neighborhood asserts its own bohemian personality.  Bustling Plaza de la Trinidad is a vibrant central point and home to Demente Tapas Bar. The owners wanted to be as much a part of the plaza as possible so classic wood and leather rocking chairs are arranged around cocktail tables on the sidewalk—a hipster take on the habit of area residents who drag their rocking chairs out in front of their houses to catch the evening breeze and the day’s gossip. This small but stylish place also has the only retractable roof in Cartagena, which lets even more of the outside in.

A chalk board tapas menu includes addictive sweet peppers (flash-fried then salted), brochette of remarkably tender shrimp, fried local cheese with onion marmalade and secreto de cerdo, a little-used but delicious cut of pork. The most popular plate of all is a sweet, rich, satisfying oxtail slider served with homemade potato chips. Everything is served on custom-made plates, which each have a quote from Colombian poet Raúl Gómez Jattin hand-painted onto them.

Demente is as much a bar as an eatery with a comprehensive list of liquors, wines and beers, including hard-to-find Aguila beer on tap. Bar staff make ice cubes the size of navel oranges by hand so they don’t melt too quickly in the Caribbean heat.  No one wants that 20-year-old Colombian rum you just ordered to end up watered down.

The chic, blue-and-white palette, denim napkins, floor-to-ceiling wine racks, an intimate bar and inevitable crowd of smartly dressed locals make Donjuán Cartagena the kind of casual fine dining restaurant that Hampton residents wish they had. Here Chef Juan Felipe Camacho and his energetic staff (who wear white Crocs as part of their uniform) present wonderfully fresh and well-rounded dishes like grilled grouper on lemon parmesan risotto and pork chops with fried yucca and artichoke aioli.  Even ingredients that are often not done well in Cartagena, like lamb, succeed in the hands of this chef who trained at Michelin-starred restaurants before opening his own in 2009.

Indagare Tip: Don’t settle for a reservation at Maria, the restaurant chef Camacho opened next door. It does not get the same kind of raves.  And be aware that when large groups are dining, service at Donjuán Cartagena can become rushed. Reservations required.

This brightly painted little ceviche joint stylishly occupies a corner right behind the Hotel Santa Clara. Innovative, flawlessly fresh ceviche is served on hand-painted plates to diners at a handful of outdoor tables. Though still a favorite among locals and visitors, some grumble that the high prices may have more to do with La Cevicheria’s fame after appearing on an episode of Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations series in 2008 than for its cuisine.

Opened in 2008, La Perla quickly rose to the top of Cartagena’s culinary list and has managed to stay there, thanks to a regularly changing seafood-heavy menu from Peruvian chef Carlos Accinelli. There’s also the city’s most creative cocktail menu from owner and mixologist Roberto Carrascal. Some favorites are always on offer, including tuna tiraditos (thin strips) cured in yellow chilies and ginger, crispy, succulent suckling pig, house-made limoncello and the signature La Perla cocktail, an electric blue gin martini mixed with Hpnotiq, basil, cucumber and lime juice which tastes far more sophisticated than it looks. Amber lighting and a convivial crowd make the restaurant’s long, narrow space especially inviting.

For those who remember Harry’s Bar in Venice or Mortimer’s in New York back when neighborhoods had watering holes that operated as informal eating clubs for café society, La Vitrola will feel familiar. Opened in 1994, La Vitrola is now a favorite haunt of a who’s who of Colombia’s elite who table hop between courses or get up to merengue to the Cuban house band.

Though the quality of the food can vary, the restaurant remains an institution. With tiled floors, a long mahogany bar and overhead fans, La Vitrola (named for the old Victrola that commands a central spot) harkens back to an earlier era, as does the menu. Starters include grilled calamari, smoked salmon and carpaccio, which can be followed by grilled fish, lobster, mini hamburgers or an inventive salad like lettuce heats topped with blue cheese and a slice of pear perfectly poached in red wine. Don’t miss the homemade coconut cake for dessert.