Restaurants in Oaxaca State
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La Providencia
Zipolite's most suave dining option has an open-air lounge area where you can sip a drink while you peruse the menu and place your order. The flavorsome and well presented food is a nuevo mexicano treat, from cold beetroot and ginger soup to chicken breast in blue-cheese-and-pumpkin-flower sauce.
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Restaurante Los Danzantes
Delicious Mexican fusion food and a spectacular architect-designed setting make Los Danzantes one of Oaxaca’s most special dining spots. An old colonial patio now sports high patterned walls of adobe brick and cool pools of water in a highly contemporary configuration, half open to the sky. Welcoming young staff serve up a small but first-class selection of food: try one of the excellent duck dishes. The only gripe is that servings are not on the generous side. Desserts are very good too, and the restaurant has its own brand of mezcal.
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La Brújula
This is a great stop for good coffee; fruit smoothies; breakfasts (including waffles with fruit); salads; and home-baked bread, cakes and cookies. It is rightly popular among artists and expats.
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Guadua
There’s nothing quite like Guadua on the Oaxaca coast. A solid wooden deck sits about halfway along Zicatela beach, its thick palapa roof supported by bamboo poles. The delicious and attractively presented food is a Pacific-Mediterranean-Asian–Middle Eastern fusion with dishes like shrimp coconut curry, cashew couscous and seared tuna with teriyaki sauce. Guadua is also a hip beach lounge, with a good bar, music from bossa nova to dub to electronica (live Wednesday to Saturday evenings), and quirkily constructed loungers out on the sands in front. And it recycles waste water and trash.
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Cenaduría Tlayudas Libres
Drivers double-park along the entire block to eat here. The filling, tasty tlayudas are large, light, crisp, hot tortillas folded over frijoles, quesillo and your choice of salsa. Half the fun is taking in the late-night scene as motherly cooks fan the streetside charcoal grills, raising showers of sparks. Sit on benches around the range or at tables in the adjacent building.
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María Bonita
Come here for economical and tasty traditional Oaxacan food. Precede your fish, steak or mole with a good appetizer or soup, such as the sopa Xóchitl (squash, squash blossom and sweet corn). There’s a good breakfast range too. The old building is on a noisy corner, but the tasteful art and relaxed service make it all OK.
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Restaurante El Jardín
This palapa restaurant serves very good vegetarian dishes, from gado-gado (vegetables in peanut sauce) and many salad varieties to tempeh and tofu offerings. The menu also includes plenty of seafood, pizzas and pasta, and a good, long juice list.
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La Biznaga
Patrons jam the hippest of Oaxaca’s eateries for bold fusion dishes in an atmospheric courtyard. The nouveau-Oaxacan dishes in inventive preparations (tortilla horns stuffed with seasoned hibiscus, mushroom soup with chilies and bacon, mole with goat cheese) use local ingredients and are likely worth the dodgy service.
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1254 Marco Polo
Marco Polo’s popular Pino Suárez branch occupies a long, shady garden patio, and has attentive waiters and good-value food. The large breakfasts come with bottomless cups of coffee; from noon until closing, antojitos (tortilla-based snacks like tacos), ceviches and oven-baked seafood are the main draws. The downtown branch ([tel] 514-43-60; open 8am to 10:30pm Monday to Saturday) at Calle 5 de Mayo 103 has the same excellent menu and good service.
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Itanoní Antojería y Tortillería
Though you’re certain to eat a pile of fresh-off-the-grill tortillas in Oaxaca, this humble eatery, dedicated to exploring and exploiting the unique taste of pre-Hispanic varieties of native corn, takes the craft of tortilla-making to new heights. There are plenty of options for vegetarian tetelas (a pre-Hispanic tortilla wrap) and a divine ‘spiritual egg’ dish, which deep-fries a whole egg encased in hierba santa.
reviewed
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Pascal
Right under the palms on the Playa Principal sands, Pascal from France prepares original and delicious seafood, meat and homemade pasta dishes with rare flair. You might go for the ravioli with ham, peanuts and ricotta, or the shrimp with orange and tequila. There’s a choice of tasty sauces for all pasta dishes, and the seafood is fresh as can be. Your visit might coincide with the occasional live-music or trapeze entertainment.
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El Cafecito
It sometimes seems as if the whole town is here for breakfast, and with good reason, as the combinations (Mexican and international) are tasty and filling, the Zicatela view great and the coffee cups bottomless. The Cafecito also serves up great cinnamon rolls, carrot cake and juices, and tasty lunch and dinner dishes from vegetarian lasagne to Mexican antojitos. The other branch across town is just as good.
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Beto’s
On the uphill stretch of Boulevard Uribe toward the west side of town, you’ll find Beto’s, a relaxed, economical, friendly and clean little place with a large terrace. Offerings range from fish fillets and ceviches to chicken and beef dishes. Spot it by the string of colored lights leading up the steps. Beto’s keeps seasonal hours, so if you come during the off season, have a backup plan in mind.
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La Bohème
La Bohème has some of the highest prices in Huatulco but also some of the best food. The French owner-chef prepares almost exclusively French fare, from snails, mussels or duck foie gras to the rich coq au vin and yummy crepes and profiteroles. Add the elegant setting, friendly welcome and good service, and you'll be glad you found its slightly out-of-the-way location.
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Restaurant Flor de Loto
While many Oaxacan dishes are famously meaty, Flor de Loto does well with its selection of meatless dishes, including some vegan options. Vegetarian options include Oaxacan and international food, including spinach burgers, meatless enchiladas (corn tortillas in bean/tomato/chili sauce with assorted fillings) and verduras al gratín (vegetables with melted cheese).
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Restaurante Siete Mares
At the west end of Chacahua beach, Siete Mares prepares excellent fish and seafood meals (M$30 to M$90). It also has some of Chacahua’s better cabañas, some by the restaurant, some further along the beach and some by the lagoon. The best have two double beds, fans, nets, electric light and clean bathrooms. The señora here will lock up your valuables.
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Restaurant Doña Chica
Less than 100m from la cuchilla, bright and elegantly decorated Doña Chica serves straightforward, delicious Oaxacan dishes like moles, enchiladas and tasajo from an open kitchen. Good soups, antojitos, and salads cost M$35 to M$55, rounding out the careful menu. The restaurant also makes its own quality mezcal.
reviewed
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Un Secreto
Run by Julien from Un Sueño, Un Secreto serves up sabores del Pacífico with a touch of French flair. The short but sweet seafood-based menu runs from a delicious foil-wrapped fish with mint to vegetable skewers with aioli, and lemon pie to round things off. Excellent breakfasts, licuados, light lunches and coffee too.
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Terranova
Though the best food on the Zócalo is a toss-up, the quality of service at Terranova is unmatched, a fact reflected in slightly higher prices and its popularity with the Oaxacan business class. The green mole is exquisite, and the fixed lunch, usually consisting of typical Oaxacan dishes, is consistently delicious.
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Casa Oaxaca
This restaurant run by the Casa Oaxaca hotel works magic combining Oaxacan and European ingredients and flavors: witness the crispy duck tacos with red mole, or the Isthmus-style venison tamales. Presentation is outstanding, and all is enhanced by the courtyard setting and a good selection of wines.
reviewed
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1254 Marco Polo, Downtown Branch
Marco Polo's popular Pino Suárez branch occupies a long, shady, garden patio, with attentive waiters and good-value food. The large breakfasts come with bottomless cups of coffee; from noon until closing, antojitos (tortilla-based snacks like tacos), ceviches and oven-baked seafood are the main draws.
reviewed
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Seis Palmas
The fantastic ocean sunsets from this Carrizalillo clifftop perch are the perfect backdrop for the inventive and delicious Californian-Oaxacan dishes arriving at your table. You might start with green-bean tempura with mustard, and follow it with a grilled whole snapper with grilled veggies and caramelized onions.
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Mercado 20 de Noviembre
Cheap oaxaqueño meals can be had in this market south of the Zócalo. Most of the many comedores (small eateries) serve up local specialties such as chicken in mole negro. Pick a comedor that’s busy. Many stay open until early evening, but the food is freshest early in the day.
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Restaurante Bar Scarú
Two short blocks east and 30m north of Hotel Donají, friendly Scarú occupies an 18th-century house with a courtyard and colorful modern murals of Tehuantepec life. Sit beneath a fan, quaff a limonada and sample one of the many varied dishes on offer. On weekends old-timers plunk out marimba tunes.
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Restaurante Susy
This restaurant on Playa del Panteón offers fish and seafood for M$50 to M$200, plus cheaper fare such as entomatadas (a variation of enchiladas) and eggs. It stays open until 10pm or 11pm, and the setting is very pretty after dark. Be careful about the freshness of the seafood in the low season.
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