Celele Cartagena Restaurant Review

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Celele is one of Cartagena, Colombia’s more highly regarded and award winning restaurants.

Despite that status, I actually never ate here during the 11 years I was living in Cartagena.

I had heard of it, and it was always on the list of places in my head I knew I should try sometime. I just never got around to it.

So, I wanted to make sure I tried it during our visit to Cartagena in the summer of 2024.

Here, I’ll review my experience at Celele Cartagena, why I think it lives up to its hype, but also why as great of food and as neat an experience as it was, I wouldn’t necessarily go out of my way to fit it into a trip if you’re not a big foodie person.

Celele Cartagena

Celele is located in a pretty but fairly unassuming little building just around the corner from the historic San Roque Church off the Calle Media Luna in Getsemaní.

I have to be honest, I had seen some pretty tasty looking pictures of their food on Instagram and seen lots of great Celele reviews, but based on the outside of the place, I would not have figured they are one of Cartagena’s higher regarded restaurants.

Celele was actually named #16 on the 2023 list of the 50 best restaurants in Latin America, the 3rd highest rated restaurant in Colombia (#2 and #8 were in Bogotá). They moved up to #6 in 2024.

For 2025, they came in #48 on the list of the 50 best restaurants in the world.

On top of that, they won the 2025 Sustainable Restaurant Award. The award noted their use of traditional ingredients, their purchases directly from small farmers and fisherman as well as their efforts to reduce waste.

So, needless to say, this is arguably the most internationally recognized restaurant in Cartagena.

In fact, we learned that the hard way when we tried to stop in here one day, and were informed that they pretty much don’t take walk ins and reservations are basically required.

What’s more, when I went to make my reservation online, I learned that they have just a few windows a day to make reservations, and that’s it.

Basically, the restaurant is full for a 2-3 hour period, then they reset and do it again.

So, I guess in theory, you could show up at one of those times and maybe get a table if there is one that wasn’t reserved.

You would have to get very lucky, not to mention time it pretty much perfectly too though.

When you make your reservation, you even have to put a credit card on file and agree to spend a minimum amount (it is less than what you’ll spend on a meal unless you’re a really cheap date).

You are also warned that they will charge you a cancellation fee if you are a no show.

Oh, and you also get a stern warning that if you bring children, you have to accept they they have a unique and special menu, definitely don’t have a kids menu, and that they don’t do substitutions or changes.

So, they do make clear that this isn’t necessarily a family friendly restaurant, nor is it a place for all adults, and frankly, I’d agree with that, as I’ll get to below.

I noticed that they keep the door locked once checking in the reservations for each window.

So, again, you’re probably not getting in as a walk up.

While I was one of the first to arrive for my window, Celele filled up completely for my afternoon lunch time reservation on a weekday, so you definitely do need to make your reservation in advance.

I made mine about a week before hand.

I would say, if you don’t have flexibility on the date and time, definitely make it a couple weeks in advance, especially if you want a weekend.

I have to be honest, I think I’ve eaten in places that are nicer and more expensive, but Celele Restaurant in Cartagena is absolutely the most exclusive restaurant I’ve ever eaten in!

My Celele Review: Does it Live Up to the Hype?

I’m going to say yes.

I really, really enjoyed everything I ate here.

It was wonderfully presented, unique, and was clearly inspired by Cartagenero and Colombian culture.

And it did indeed all taste very good too!

I should say, I enjoy eating food, and I appreciate creative dishes and food that is well presented. I really enjoyed the Cartagena cooking class I did with my mom, for example.

However, I wouldn’t exactly consider myself a foodie or even all that sophisticated.

I just, you know, like good food!

I would say that this and Carmen are the two best fine dining experiences I’ve had in Cartagena. Celele was much more unique and felt much more “foodie.” It felt like somewhere the guy from the movie The Menu would want to do when he was in Cartagena.

I say that because they had dishes with things like garnishes that were edible flowers and things clearly put together in a way that was meant to be unique, pretty, and as much about the experience of eating something out of the ordinary than just something that tasted good.

The Celele Menu

And Celele Cartagena’s menu is pretty unique.

They are all inspired by traditional Colombian food and ingredients but are often creative blends of those traditional tastes, traditions, and ingredients.

The menu at Celele definitely includes some quirky flavors and dishes, like the Pastrimi de Lengua (tongue).

It’s like the Celele menu is both giving you something completely unique but grounded in and paying homage to Colombian and Cartagenero culinary traditions.

I imagine the items on the menu rotate and change, but I’ll share what I ate below.

You can also see the current full Celele menu on their website here.

When I arrived to Celele and was let inside and seated, I was struck by the charming interior.

They’ve done a good job playing up and emphasizing the historic brick and stone work but have also added some really pretty murals and neat decorations that fit with the historic building and what the restaurant is going for very well.

To start I ordered a guayarita, sort of like a margarita but with guayaba (guava) and a mix of tequila and mezcal. It came in this tiny little glass, which was cute but only held a few sips.

Fortunately, they did bring me a little decanter with some more to refill as I went.

The drink was good, and I felt pretty dainty drinking out of the tiny glass. I would have liked my spicy rim to have been larger and lasted through my refills though.

I also got a piece of casabe, a crunchy almost cracker like bread made from yuca that is common in the Amazon and Guaviare regions of Colombia as a welcome snack, compliments of the chef.

The sesame butter it was served with as really, really good.

I ordered an appetizer of buffalo burrata which was served with roasted watermelon, a hibiscus gazpacho, and covered in a layer of long, white cucumber slices with a border of pretty, edible ciruela leaves (Ciruela is plum in Spanish, but the ciruelas most common in Cartagena are little green sour ones that are a local favorite street snack when the are in season).

It also came with some breads, known as journey cakes, which sort of reminded me of a lighter pan de bono and were tasty.

It was really good, and really different than what I normally would order, which was kind of the reason I ordered it in the first place.

It was definitely wonderfully presented, and the flavors did combine really well.

For my main course, I had the goat, which was stewed in a coconut sauce and served with rice with dried shrimp al guajiro (Guajira Peninsula style).

The bowl had some wafer like crunchy, wavy things on top. I think these were rice cakes seasoned with the dried shrimp, based on the taste.

My dish included some shrimp head garnishes, which my waitress informed me were edible. I ate them because I figured it was part of the experience. They were crunchy and tasted like a stale shrimp potato chip with legs I guess.

The goat, on the other hand, was absolutely delicious!

It was very tender and tasty, and the sauce was great with it.

The wafer rice cake things were good at first when they were nice and crunchy. After they got a bit soggy, they were not nearly as good. I could have probably done with just the goat and rice (and maybe a bit more of each).

I also ordered a second cocktail, the Palenquera.

It was good, but, despite it having Scotch, was still a bit sweeter than I was hoping.

To be frank, this was my mistake.

It was a good cocktail that had several fruit juices in it, I was just hoping the whisky might balance it out a bit more than it did.

For what it’s worth, I noticed most restaurants in Cartagena on this trip serve almost all sweet forward speciality cocktails.

For dessert, I had a tough time deciding.

I was considering the creamy chocolate from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, but I went with my waitress’s (who was terrific by the way) recommendation of the coconut sorbet with a “Flor de amor” (love flower).

This was very interesting!

It came served in a hollowed out fruit that I think was a pomelo (sort of like a big green grapefruit) and had several layers of sorbet and fruit with more edible flowers on top.

Oh and it was served with a wreath of leaves too (I don’t think those were edible!).

It was very good. It was very light and fresh with a good balance between the creamy sorbet, the fruit, and the flowers.

I might have been happier with just a chocolate cake or some regular, tasty coconut ice cream though.

But, again, I’m not a foodie.

Celele Restaurant in Cartagena Final Verdict

Which brings me to my final verdict.

Yes, Celele Cartagena lives up to the hype.

The food is beautiful, it’s very unique, and it’s definitely tasty with flavor combinations that were thought out and put together by a terrific chef.

However, those combinations are also a bit odd and, to me, felt a little more about serving something extravagantly different looking than simply something delicious.

Also, portions are on the smaller side. While not exactly tapas size, they are definitely small entrees.

I will say prices here aren’t outrageous, especially given how rewarded the restaurant is.

Still, they are deceptively higher than they appear with just a glance at the menu given the small portion size.

It’s pretty rare I can eat an appetizer, entree, and dessert all by myself and not feel like I’m going to be sick afterwards.

I left here full but definitely not about to pop.

In fairness though, it’s pretty rare I eat a three course meal with drinks that isn’t more expensive than my meal at Celele too, so the prices even out to be about on par with other well regarded restaurants in Cartagena.

Honestly, Celele is probably best enjoyed not alone like I did it but with at least one other person, preferably a small group joining.

That way you could share a number of different things and try more of the unique creations on the menu.

If you are a foodie or you just want the most unique fine dining experience in Cartagena, you should definitely make sure you include Celele on your Cartagena itinerary.

There’s really no other place quite like it in Cartagena.

It’s definitely the kind of place that will be memorable for the foodies or those who just like to have a more unique experience.

If you’re just looking for really good food, I’d say take a look at their menu, and if some thing or some things stand out to you and you can fit it into your schedule, go for it.

I honestly would not go out of my way or sacrifice doing something else I wanted to do to eat here personally, though.

I would recommend places like Carmen, Buena Vida Marisquería, La Cevichería, or even Candé over Celele for just good food in a nice setting even if nothing at those places is nearly as unique as the offerings on Celele’s menu.

Just to be clear though, I did enjoy Celele.

As someone who doesn’t normally eat at places like this, it was a neat and special experience, and I’m glad I went, and will probably go back some time.

It’s the kind of place, I’d take a special visitor or something like that. It’s not a place I’d eat regularly, and to be honest, it’s not a place Susana, a picky eater, would like.

So, I definitely do recommend it, especially if you are into neat chef creations or restaurants that offer unique experiences, but I don’t think it’s for everyone.

I hope you did find this review of Restaurante Celele in Cartagena useful, and if you do decide to go, I hope you enjoy it! I’d love to know what you ordered and what you thought in the comments below!

Cheers and Happy Exploring!