Where to Eat in Atins

There are plenty of options for eating in Atins — not just beach shacks, but restaurants tied to tours, hotel restaurants, and standalone spots too.

One fun detail: cashew trees grow all over the region, so there’s a lovely fragrance drifting from them everywhere.

Our main tip: if you want to eat well and you’re visiting during a holiday weekend, book your restaurants ahead of time, or you might end up stuck with the worse options.

Beach shacks — where to eat in Atins

Cabana do Peixe Atins

This was our first meal, and given all the mishaps from our travel day, we were already starving by the time we got there.

The setting: genuinely pleasant, and we caught the sunset here — though it’s better if you sit at the restaurants further to the left facing the ocean; the first spot we tried had actually stopped serving food.

Main course: the house’s grilled fish and grilled shrimp skewers were fine, though given how hungry we were, we’d hoped for spectacular.

Dessert: buriti fruit candy and cocada (coconut candy) — we weren’t big fans of the buriti candy, but the cocada was tasty.

Price: R$200 for three people.

Cabana Maria

We stopped here after our Pequenos Lençóis tour fell through, so we’d already had lunch and came by just to spend the late afternoon.

I ordered an açaí, which is quite different from the São Paulo version — not sweet, and I found it a bit more watery, though it was fine, served with banana and granola, while Andrey stuck to beer.

Afterward, we hung out on the beach to catch the sunset.

Tour-linked restaurants — where to eat in Atins

Restaurante do Sr. Antônio

When you take the tour to Lençóis Maranhenses, you’ll typically choose between the restaurant run by Sr. Antônio or the one run by Luzia.

They’re brothers who had a falling out and opened competing restaurants directly across from each other — there’s quite a story (and some local legend) behind it.

We were told to go to Sr. Antônio’s, and we thought it was good.

Setting: open and airy, with large tables.

Main course: we ordered the shrimp, served head-on and shell-on, and the fish in a coconut-and-cashew sauce.

Sides: rice, beans, farofa, and vinaigrette.

Desserts: cashew fruit candy, cocada, and buriti candy. We only really liked the cocada.

Price: R$210 for two people.

Lunch at “Grandma’s”

This lunch happens when you visit Ilha do Amor, and honestly, we wouldn’t recommend either the tour or the food — they don’t have filtered water, and the food is cooked with well water, which affected the taste. On top of that, we thought the price was excessive.

Note: the setup is quite basic — for example, they don’t sell any drinks at all besides water brought in from Atins.

Setting: a shack where the family actually lives.

Main course: anchova and serra fish.

Sides: rice, green beans, pasta, farofa, and vinaigrette.

Dessert: buriti candy, which we really didn’t enjoy.

Price: tour and meal combined, R$100 per person.

Hotel restaurants — where to eat in Atins

Atins Charme Chalé

The restaurant and hotel are beautiful, and the owners are incredibly friendly — honestly the warmest welcome we got in the whole region. Our tip: make a reservation. We ended up having dinner here twice, so we got to try more of the menu and desserts.

Setting: beautiful, open-air.

Starter: we ordered the fried fish of the day both nights, and Andrey loved it.

Main course: lamb with mashed potatoes and carrots — the mash was excellent, the meat was fine.

Desserts: genuinely creative and delicious. Cream ice cream with guava paste and parmesan, and later, cream ice cream with red berry topping.

Price: R$170 for two people.

Standalone restaurants — where to eat in Atins

Restaurante da Sessé

Our last where-to-eat-in-Atins tip, though not our favorite.

Setting: quite dark, but open and airy.

Main course: shrimp risotto, though the rice wasn’t actually risotto-style — prettier than it was tasty.

Price: R$75 for two people.

Urra Beer

Craft beer pub — though the Pilsen was served warm and wasn’t great, the Stout was good. They also serve burgers and appetizers, though we didn’t try those.

More tips on where to eat in Atins

Beyond restaurants, here are a few local products worth trying too.

Cerveja Magnífica

A cassava-based beer, made from cassava grown and harvested in the Tabuleiro de São Bernardo region of inland Maranhão, produced by Ambev.

An American Lager style, 4.4% ABV, that pairs well with seafood.

Tiquira

An artisanal spirit made from fermented cassava, similar to cachaça, typical of a few northeastern Brazilian states (Maranhão, Piauí, and Ceará), with a high alcohol content between 38% and 54%, usually purple in color.

We tried a pineapple-flavored version, and even then, it packed quite a punch.

Jams

Our hotel served three regional jams: bacuri, cashew with banana, and açaí — my favorite was the banana-cashew, though they’re all worth trying.

Enjoyed our tips on where to eat in Atins? Read more about our trip in Atins and São Luís.