Four hot, fresh, and juicy burgers are ready for you at Inas’ Kitchen in Sadog Tasi. From left to right are the house burger, a Swiss Burger, the Kaksaka Burger, and the Pika Burger.
The Roasted Pepper Chipotle Cheesesteak is one hearty sandwich made with roast beef, Swiss cheese, marinated roasted bell pepper and onions, and chipotle mayonnaise. Behind it are the Big Sky Chicken Salad on the left, and the Baja Chipotle Turkey.
Zoom Chicken’s Hot and Spicy Chicken.
Cha’s famous iced coffees.
Chocolate croissants at Ohas Boulangerie & Café.
Get your weekend started right at Johnny’s.
A beautiful carbonara and a pizza are on their way to a hungry customer at Angry Penne.
Handmade pasta awaits at Angry Penne.
Chef Norman Chan is hard at work at Angry Penne.
Godfather’s not only took a silver medal as the Best Bar; they also are the gold winners for Best Beer Selection.
MARIANAS Variety’s annual Best of the Marianas contest may have already ended, but the best part is just starting.
With our contest results in your hands, you have instant access to the island’s most popular restaurants, bars, breakfast spots, cafés, and more.
Think of it as the personal recommendations of CNMI residents on the top spots for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack time, or whatever time you feel like sampling the culinary spread that’s available in the CNMI.
Best breakfast
Starting off with breakfast, we’ve got Shirley’s Coffee Shop taking this year’s coveted Best Fried Rice award. Of course, the quintessential house special, Shirley’s Fried Rice, is a showstopper, but don’t forget that they have a variety of fried rice options for a variety of palates. Choose from the bagoong (shrimp paste), garlic, corned beef, shrimp, Portuguese sausage and much more.
By the way, Shirley’s Coffee Shop is a double winner, taking Best Breakfast Place award as well.
Best brunch
But let’s say it’s Sunday, and you’re coming out of church, and you feel like treating your family to something special. Brunch buffet is a great choice because our top three winners serve up bottomless portions of hot and ready brunch staples.
At the top spot for this year’s Best Brunch is The Magellan, which calls the Pacific Islands Club Saipan home. Silver went to Aqua Resort Club’s Costa Terrace Restaurant. And bronze was Loria, Kensington Hotel’s brunch spot for those who want to chagi norf.
Best bakery
The award for the CNMI’s Best Bakery was a three-way, neck-and-neck race for the gold, with OHAS Boulangerie and Cafe’s 591 votes taking down two island juggernauts. Herman’s Modern Bakery ultimately was the silver award winner with 522 votes, and Himawari Restaurant came third with 500 votes.
OHAS recently celebrated their first anniversary, and if you’ve ever had their Apple Bread, Chocolate Croissant, or Garlic Baguette, then you would celebrate too.
Lunch options
If you’re already in Garapan enjoying a tasty OHAS pastry, you’re in the perfect position to think about lunch.
Our readers voted Oh My Grill! for Best Chamorro Food; Caravan of Food for Best Mediterranean Restaurant; Himawari Restaurant for Best Japanese Restaurant; Nam Dae Moon for Best Korean Restaurant; and The Hut for Best Tacos—and all of them are located in the island’s tourism center.
Not too far away from the island’s main village is Ina’s Kitchen in Sadog Tasi, which won this year’s Best Burger award. Chef Sonnie Sablan in past interviews has recommended the Pika Burger, Kaksaka Burger, and Swiss Burger as some of his top sellers. We loved them, and obviously our readers do too.
Great Harvest Bread Co. in Chalan Kanoa won the award for Best Sandwich Shop, and their Roasted Pepper Chipotle Cheesesteak, Big Sky Chicken Salad, or Baja Chipotle Turkey are great choices.
Drinks galore
With all these lunch options, you’re going to need something cool and delicious to keep you refreshed at the meal’s end. How about something iced from Cha Cafe and Bistro, which took home the Best Bubble Tea award for 2024? They’re also voted the Best Coffee Shop, so honestly you can’t go wrong with any of the drinks you get there.
Tupu Cane Juice, this year’s Best Juice/Smoothie winner, is conveniently located in the refurbished Paseo de Marianas.
Chicken delights
Driving down south, you can visit Best Chicken Wings award winner Zoom Cafe, where a whopping 1,091 people voted in favor of the Susupe restaurant. We figure it’s got to be the Hot and Spicy Chicken or the Soy Sauce Chicken, or any of the other crispy, sensational wings they serve that put them in the limelight.
Speaking of chicken, we would be remiss if we didn’t bring up the buttered fried chicken from JC Cafe, Best Restaurant winner on Tinian. As all our readers on Tinian know, the San Jose restaurant has a wide variety of things to order, with buttered fried chicken ranking high on the list of things that are great about Tinian. It’s available in original flavor, but c’mon—are you really going to the spicy island and not ordering your buttered fried chicken “pika pika”?
As for Rota, make sure to stop by Pizzaria Bar and Grill to get a taste of the island’s winner for Best Restaurant.
Winding down the day
As your day at work winds down, you might find yourself in need of some drinks and chesa, and thankfully the island has no shortage of places ready to cater to your happy-hour needs.
This year, Seaside Grill at the Pacific Islands Club Saipan reigns supreme as the winner of the Best Happy Hour award. The fried potato skins are free and bottomless, the drinks are cold, and the food and drink orders are on happy hour promo from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. You can get half-off on super weng wengs, tuna poke, or more. Oh yeah, and stunning sunsets are complimentary.
Dinner time!
If you’re going straight to dinner, might we suggest Angry Penne, winner of this year’s Best Pasta award? They handmake their noodles, and you can stop by to have their Mushroom Tagliatele, Linguine of Prawns, or Bucatini Cabonara.
Over at Surf Club Restaurant in Chalan Kanoa, you might want to order the Loco Moco, which won this year’s award for Best Hamburger Steak/Loco Moco. Feel free to take your dinner to their outdoor venue as well, because they likewise won Best Outdoor Dining and Best Oceanfront Dining as well.
Exotic cuisine
If you feel like some Southeast Asian cuisine, Spicy Thai was voted Best Thai Restaurant; Sunny Side Kitchen was voted Best Filipino Restaurant; and Pho Tam took the award for Best Vietnamese Food.
Night out!
After a great dinner, you and friends might be ready to enjoy a night out.
Johnny’s Bar is this year’s gold medal winner for Best Bar, with Godfather’s, and Naked Fish earning silver and bronze, respectively.
If you’re a beer drinker, just know Godfather’s is the winner of the Best Beer Selection; with Naked Fish and Tapped Out following right behind.
Late-night cravings
After all that, if you still need something for the end of a long night, stop by J’s Restaurant, which is this year’s Best Late-Night Eats award winner. As people at the end of a night out know best, J’s Restaurant has long been the place to enjoy island late night diner favorites like Chicken Chaser, fried rice, crispy pata, and much more.
As you can see, there’s no shortage of places to go for dining and beverages in the CNMI.
Our full list of food and beverage winners can be found elsewhere in this edition of the Best of the Marianas winners, alongside everyone else who was recognized.
Congratulations!
