Mar del Plata's strongest suit is seafood. The fishing port at the southern end of the city supplies restaurants up and down the coast, and the standard is reliably high — you will eat better fish here than in Buenos Aires. Hake (merluza) is the local staple, prepared fried, baked, or in empanadas. Shrimp (langostinos) are excellent, and the calamari are caught locally. The port-area restaurants along Banquina de Pescadores offer the freshest catch with harbour views.
The city also has good confiterías — the Argentine combination of café and pastry shop — where you can eat medialunas and drink coffee for very little money. The pedestrian shopping streets near the cathedral are lined with them. For more elaborate cooking, the residential neighbourhoods south of the centre (Los Troncos, La Perla Sur) have a growing number of serious restaurants serving updated Argentine cuisine.