Lorea offers an almost flawlessly executed tasting menu with impeccable service in a sleek and sophisticated atmosphere. The restaurant is sexy and intimate. And now, it's the #1 upscale restaurant in Latin America for 2018.

For well over a decade, Latin America's most renowned chef, Gastón Acurio, and wife, Astrid Gutsche, who is arguably the continent's best pastry chef, have made Astrid y Gastón the Latin American gold standard in fine dining. While other restaurants lose their luster with age, this stalwart restaurant just continues to evolve.

Casa Cavia is more than a restaurant. It's a symphony of talent that puts the exclamation point on dining out. The ambience is sophisticated but unpretentious. Execution at the highest level makes Casa Cavia our choice for the best upscale dining experience in Buenos Aires.

Why pay for an expensive culinary tour to some remote region of the globe when you can take the tour in a single restaurant? Rafael Osterling injects flavors from near and far to create a unique fusion using Peru's wealth of interesting local ingredients. And the restaurant just happens to have the most impressive menu of distilled spirits in Latin America.

Nouvelle cuisine has evolved and landed squarely in Santiago, Chile in a restaurant called Ambrosía Bistro. Chef Carolina Bazán and Sommelier, Rosario Onetto, have loosened the reins on fine dining. At Ambrosía Bistro the ambience is refined, but very comfortable. It's fine dining in a slightly chaotic and fun ambience. It's Pastrami sandwiches, duck, pork belly and baos, all on the same menu. It's Ambrosía Bistro.

It was a photo-finish for the #6 spot on our upscale dining list. Chef Martín Rebaudino's somewhat less traditional take on French cuisine and a flexible a la carte menu edged out Dario Gualtieri Bistro by a nose in our assessment. But both restaurants are thoroughbreds that make watching the race exciting!

If you love upscale French cuisine there's no better example in Buenos Aires than Dario Gualtieri Bistro. It's a tasting menu only format, but every course is delicious, with the majority of the courses featuring complex sauces that would make Escoffier proud. Although the meal is expensive by Buenos Aires standards, you'd easily pay five times as much in Paris for a meal like this one.

Europeo has been flying under the radar, quietly avoiding all the culinary chatter in the online review sites ... until now. It's your choice of a tasting menu or ordering a la carte. Either way, you'll be elated with the options and how well they are executed.

Chef Israel Montero, at Raíz, has done a brilliant job of utilizing unique and interesting ingredients from Mexico and neighboring Latin American countries to create one of the most satisfying menus in Latin America. The majority of the courses utilize either the stems, flowers or fruit of indigenous cactus plants. And white, red and black corn, and chocolate, are components of several of the savory and sweet dishes.

Chef Leonora Espinosa incorporates ingredients from Colombia's Amazonian jungles and rivers into a memorable menu that is flawlessly executed. A recent remodel has created a slightly more approachable ambience in which to enjoy Chef Espinosa's masterful hand in the kitchen.

J by José Andrés has a whimsical decor that rides the line between upscale and casual and a unique menu that features celebrity chef, José Andrés's fusion of Spanish and Mexican cuisine. The restaurant, located in the W Hotel in Mexico City, earns a #11 spot on our list of fifty outstanding upscale restaurants in Latin America.

In a city that seems stubbornly caught in the past, a fine-dining restaurant with a contemporary personality is a rare find. Located on the boardwalk in Puerto Madero where Argentina's "new money" feels comfortable, Chila has managed to thrive in a city more prone to brass-railing and wrought-iron. Chila only offers a tasting menu, but it's a flexible format that allows the diner to choose between several options for the main course offerings. Impressive service and execution of the menu have earned Chila a #12 spot in our list of Latin America's best upscale dining spots.

It's worth a visit to Duhau just to see the magnificent hotel property that serves as the venue for this upscale restaurant. It's the closest to formal dining you'll find on this list in Latin America. Prepare to be pampered.

Don't let the oyster bar at Crizia fool you. This isn't some oyster shack on the boardwalk. It's fine dining with a creative menu that devotes a half-page to oysters prepared a variety of ways.

Alvear Grill is the primary restaurant at the Alvear Palace Hotel in Buenos Aires. The hotel recently changed directions, saying goodbye to the French restaurant, La Bourgogne, which formerly occupied that space, opting for a more generic cuisine emphasizing grilled meats served in a upscale setting. Ambience, service and execution of a menu that's way more varied than your typical steakhouse menu. Alvear Grill is an impressive replacement to much respected La Bourgogne.

There are a lot of restaurants offering Nikkei cuisine in Lima, but for our money, none that exceed the style with which it's done at Osaka. Locals know that Osaka is the place to go for upscale Nikkei.

Sud 777 offers the diner a multi-course tasting menu or the ability to order one of the unique dishes a la carte.

With a menu created at the hand of the same chef whose restaurant, Ambrosía Bistro, earned the #4 position on our list, Ambrosía has an almost indistinguishable culinary style from the bistro in Providencia. The chaotic open kitchen and the slightly more contemporary casual menu at the bistro are characteristics that the majority of diners are now looking for. But Ambrosía's ambiance, surrounded by quiet and lush gardens and ponds, in the foothills of the Andes might be more your style.

In a creative tasting menu that takes diners on a culinary journey, Chef Juan Manuel Barrientos manages to excite the senses in more ways than one, augmenting the dining experience with a zen-like tactile experience that is very unique. We don't favor tasting menus, but every course was both unique and delicious and the theme cohesive. The journey ended with a finale that featured Colombia's intimate connection to coffee. The cost of the tasting menu was less than you'd pay for two courses at some of the restaurants on our list.

Gonzolo Aramburu has created a lengthy tasting menu that demonstrates some extraordinary plating technique, even without the plates. The restaurant is extremely small and dimly lit, with strong spotlights shining down on patrons' plates. We think foodies that love these multi-course extravaganzas will relish the opportunity to see what Chef Aramburu can pull out of his gastronomic bag of tricks.

Diana is one of two restaurants in the St Regis Hotel in Mexico City that made it onto our 2018 list of upscale dining spots. The view from the terrace overlooking the fountain of Diana La Cabezadora below is one of the best in the city. It's one of our favorite spots for breakfast in Mexico City. And the dinner menu, a mix of traditional French and popular Mexican dishes elevated to gourmet status, makes spending an evening dining at Diana a delight as well.

This international chain of Japanese and Nikkei fusion is a restaurant travelers will likely be familiar with and Nobu, in Mexico City's affluent Polanco neighborhood brings Chef Nobu Matsuhisa's highly successful style to Mexico City. The decor is as impressive as the food.

The large glass solarium built over the main dining area at Chapinero's Harry Sasson makes it the most impressive upscale dining spot in Bogotá from a architectural and design standpoint. And the cuisine will equally delight diners, with a menu that incorporates international flavors from Asia to the Middle-East, all elevated to gourmet status. Harry Sasson spells "fine dining" in Bogotá.

This is the second of the popular chain of international Nikkei restaurants to make it onto our list of fifty. Osaka, in Puerto Madero in Argentina's capital city, brings Nikkei cuisine to Buenos Aires with that unmistakable Osaka style and finesse.

Looking at a wall hiding the restaurant from the street you'd never guess that one of the most impressively designed restaurants in Latin America lies behind that wall. Amoramar's main dining area sits in the front terrace of what once was one of the most expensive mansions in Lima. It's an extraordinary ambience, but the food won't disappoint either. The expertly executed menu of sophisticated dishes utilizing unique ingredients from Peru's vast landscape make Amoramar a top-5 restaurant in a city full of impressive dining haunts.

Elena is the primary restaurant in the Four Seasons Hotel in Buenos Aires and has gained international acclaim from both professional and consumer reviewers. Elena has an interesting menu that is devoid of pretension. The cuisine is earthy and rustic and clearly focuses on giving Elena a true Argentine personality. The cured meats, cheeses and high-end cuts of grilled beef that comprise the majority of the menu shout "Argentina". But Elena is much more than a steakhouse. It's a shrine to Argentina's vast culinary diversity, all expertly executed with near-flawless service.

Chef Jorge Vallejo elevates Mexico's comfort-food cuisine to gourmet status in a simple but comfortable ambience.

Gioia is the second restaurant located in Hyatt's Palacio Duhau in Buenos Aires to make our list of the best upscale restaurants in the Latin America. Gioia is the more contemporary and less formal of the two restaurants but offers a very similar menu and the same attentive service and posh accoutrements that are the hallmark of all the food and beverage venues in this posh hotel. After dinner, enjoy a libation in the hotel's inviting Oak Bar.

The Singular’s menu is an interesting mix of dishes utilizing proteins from every corner of Chile’s expansive landscape, including a few wild-game dishes. Although billed as a French restaurant, there is only a single classic of French cuisine on the menu. Service is excellent. But the ambience, although sophisticated and elegant, needs a shot of adrenaline. Despite this minor drawback. this is the only restaurant in the city where this caliber of French technique and unique, quality ingredients, can be found.

This is the second restaurant at the St Regis in Mexico City to make our list. The decor is more contemporary and more trendy than the other upscale restaurant, Diana.

Anatol successfully navigates the boundary between upscale and casual dining. Its casual and comfortable ambience is just formal enough, when combined with the high-level of service and the well-executed gourmet cuisine, to elevate the overall experience sufficiently to classify the restaurant as upscale. It’s one of the most pleasant restaurants in Mexico City in this genre.

When the W Hotel in Santiago recently revamped its primary restaurant, it called on Jean Paul Bondoux to create the menu. Bondoux, who had gained notoriety as the man at the helm of the French restaurant, La Bourgogne in the Alvear Palace Hotel over a 2 ½ decade tenure there, created a menu full of unique French dishes utilizing locally harvested ingredients. Many of the dishes include the use of classic French sauces, such as the rouille sauce in the crawfish dish, a velouté and a mousseline accompanying one of the main course dishes. This menu, combined with stellar service and a bright, casual ambiance make dining at NoSo a delight.

Criterión is one of only a handful of French restaurants making this year’s list of upscale restaurants. Brothers Jorge and Mark Rausch throw in a bit of local personality. But about half the menu is either a classic French dish or a slight variation of one. Although the restaurant is beginning to show a bit of wear and tear, which adversely affects the overall ambience, the execution of these complex French dishes is admirable, as is the level of service.

Rafael, whose restaurant in Lima garnered an impressive #3 position in this year's list, hasn't quite managed to work the same magic in Bogotá, but the restaurant is, nevertheless, still one of the top-5 in the city. Execution of Osterling's menu and the service at the Bogotá restaurant are still impressive enough to garner a #32 position in the Latin America list.

Colombian-born chef, Santiago Macias, heads the kitchen at iLatina. The restaurant has no a la carte menu, just an eight-course tasting menu full of interesting Latin American dishes. And it’s not just Colombian cuisine. The roots of this menu spread far and wide across every part the Americas that speaks Spanish, and through a few that speak Portuguese and French as well. The energy level from these young cooks is high and that positive vibe can be felt in the dining room, which is why diners from every part of the world love this restaurant.

The menu at La Pecora Nera is a somewhat odd mix of French and Italian cuisine. But the saving grace is that Chef Daniel Hansen's brigade in the kitchen does an admirable job of executing both types of cuisine. The ambience is the most formal of the upscale restaurants in Buenos Aires that made our list. The service in the small dining room is second to none in Buenos Aires. That and the high-level of execution keep diners coming back to La Pecora Nera.

Sucre’s cuisine is earthy and rustic. There are no chefs with tweezers at the pass, delicately placing flower petals on the plate. It’s all about the flavorful, quality ingredients sourced from every corner of the long expanse of Argentine pampas and coastlines. Sucre, after years at or near the top of the fine-dining genre, remains one of the best upscale dining options in Buenos Aires.

The restaurant at Hotel B in Lima mimics the hotel’s upscale, boutique personality with a classy, uptown, attitude and a high-energy vibe that make dining at Hotel B a fun and memorable experience. Chef Oscar Velarde’s menu has a European personality. The dining room is also the bar, where locals love to gather to rub elbows over a Pisco sour and nibble on something from the restaurant’s long list of tapas.

IK is popular with both local diners and visitors to Lima. The menu is fusion of European style and Peruvian ingredients. The restaurant is composed of one intimate dining room seating approximately forty patrons. The decor is pleasant with professional lighting that adds to the ambience. The menu is unique and well-executed and the whimsical desserts are real crowd-pleasers.

Huaca Pucclana's picturesque location at the foot a ceremonial pyramid, along with the beauty of the building, and the expensive table linens and tableware utilized in the restaurant, create a unique, one-of-a-kind dining experience. The superbly prepared dishes elevate Peru's criolla cuisine to gourmet status.

Hacienda de los Morales is traditional Mexican cuisine elevated to a sophisticated level. The restaurant’s location in a beautifully restored Spanish mansion adds to the luxurious experience. Friendly and attentive service is the icing on the tres leches cake.

Perroquet, located in Lima's upscale Country Club Hotel, offers a traditional Peruvian menu with a hauty personality. This is "old school" luxury which only serves to make the expertly prepared dishes seem all the more special.

Chef Hector Solís would have you believe that his restaurant is merely the embodiment of the rich heritage of the Lambayacana cuisine that he grew up with and that he is merely bringing to life the recipes he inherited from his parents. Solís belittles his own contribution. Solis works magic on that menu at Fiesta. Fiesta is fabulous ingredients and fabulous recipes that are fabulously executed. And, yes, fabulously plated and presented.

Pujol is a good, and perhaps the best example of traditional Mexican cuisine raised to gourmet status that you can find in Mexico City. Chef Enrique Olvera gussies up Mexican comfort food to make it taste and feel like haute cuisine. But be forewarned. The restaurant does not always honor reservations.

With a great view of Vitacura’s Parque Bicentenario, an open-air environment, and an equally impressive design and décor, Mestizo has the foundation for a world-class restaurant. Execution of the menu is better than acceptable, but the menu isn't high on creativity and the service is a bit inconsistent. Despite these minor flaws, Mestizo has earned a coveted spot on our 2018 list of the best upscale restaurants in Latin America.

The talented chefs at Peumayén Ancestral Foods take you on a one-meal culinary tour of Chile from the northern arid extremes to the frigid tundra of Tierra del Fuego. The adventure features a tasting menu of both breads, potato pancakes, and an assortment of vegetables and meat dishes that were staples of the cuisines of the indigenous tribes of Chile. It’s a “must-go” experience for visitors and locals alike.

Sagardi is a Spanish restaurant chain offering high-end Basque cuisine with restaurants throughout Spain and Portugal, and in London, Mexico City and Buenos Aires. The Buenos Aires restaurant has a very large dining area, professionally designed and decorated. Clearly upscale dining. The menu offers classic Basque recipes and Spanish wines and there’s a full tapas bar with a communal table that’s ideal for striking up conversations with new friends. It is the best location for upscale Spanish cuisine in Latin America.

Spanish born, Sergio Barroso, 040’s talented chef, has cleverly taken some unique ingredients, most with an Asian personality, and transformed them into savory dishes that look and taste deceptively different than what is expected. Savory dishes like a nigiri are made to resemble ice cream on a stick. Another dish is made to look like iridescent red sushi and sashimi. A savory dish with blood sausage and paper-thin slivers of filo dough and potatoes are made to look like a fancy French pastry. But it’s more than smoke and mirrors. These optical illusions are tasty too.

Celebrity chef, Masaharu Morimoto, brings his unique brand of Japanese fusion to Mexico City, offering gourmet Japanese cuisine in city with very few Japanese dining options. A large dining room with a view to an expansive open kitchen creates a high-energy vibe when the restaurant is busy, and the runners are scurrying in and out of the sliding glass doors separating the diners from the cooks. Execution and service are both good. We haven’t sampled the sushi but we were impressed with the Omakase tasting menu.

Ureña is only ranked #755 on one popular consumer review site despite an overall rating of 4.5 stars and the restaurant is virtually ignored by local media. The ambience, although somewhat casual, has enough upscale trimmings to enable us to place it in the upscale category. The menu is chock-full of sophisticated French cuisine that's well executed. It's a definite sleeper, but impressive enough to earn the final spot in our list of the 50 Best Upscale Restaurants in Latin America.