Restaurants in Mexico
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Restaurante Natura
Styled after the successful 100% Natural chain, this little bistro offers up a good mix of natural and vegetarian Mexican cuisine.
reviewed
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A
Joe Jack’s Fish Shack
Seafood aficionados flock to this joint for fish and chips, garlic shrimp, whole red snapper and great slabs of mahi mahi. Large groups are graciously accommodated on the pleasant rooftop terrace. The service is jovial and quick, and the music classic rock.
reviewed
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B
Fonda Margarita
Possibly the capital’s premier hangover- recovery spot – witness the line down the street on Saturday mornings – this humble eatery under a tin roof whips up batches of comfort food for the day ahead. Soulful fare like pork back in chile salsa verde is doled out of giant clay dishes. The fonda is beside Plaza Tlacoquemécatl, six blocks east of Avenida Insurgentes.
reviewed
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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.
reviewed
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C
Pizzería El Punto
Forget the cardboard crap that passes for pizza in some parts, these crispy pies are the best in town, bar none. The newest branch of this excellent pizzeria has a full bar, swanky black and red seating and a lovely balcony overlooking Real de Guadalupe.
reviewed
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D
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.
reviewed
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E
Café El Popular
So popular was this tiny round-the-clock café that another more amply proportioned branch was opened next door to catch the considerable overflow. Fresh pastries and good combination breakfasts are the main attractions. Café con leche (coffee with milk) is served chino style (ie you specify the strength).
reviewed
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F
La Tramoya
Hearty Mexican meat dishes are set out on spacious sidewalk tables. Ravenous? Try the carne azteca – a steak stuffed with huitlacoche (corn fungus) and served on a bed of nopal es (prickly pear cactus).
reviewed
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G
Taquería El Fogón
Taquería El Fogón serves outstanding tacos al pastor (rotisserie pork tacos) and several other variations on the tortilla-packed-with-goodies concept. Vegetarians can dig into quesadillas or stuffed potatoes.
reviewed
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H
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.
reviewed
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I
La Casa del Cheesecake
This veritable institution offers cheesecakes, whole or by the slice, in an array of funky flavors that may include peach or even Kahlua.
reviewed
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J
Café de Olla
This well-loved traditional Mexican restaurant nurtures a lively atmosphere with its sidewalk grill and open kitchen.
reviewed
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K
Aluxes Coffee House
Aluxes serves bagels with cream cheese, sandwiches, muffins, and hot and iced coffee. Between Guerrero and Hidalgo.
reviewed
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L
Birriería las Nueve Esquinas
Half a dozen blocks south of the city center, the un-touristy Nueve Esquinas (nine corners) neighborhood specializes in birria, meat steamed in its own juices until it’s so tender it melts in your mouth. Birriería las Nueve Esquinas does it best. The open, tiled kitchen, with its in-house tortillería is as beautiful as the tasty and absurdly tender barbacoa de borrego (baked lamb) and birria de chivo (steamed goat) served in traditional ceramic casseroles. Enjoy them with a stack of fresh tortillas and smaller bowls of guacamole, pickled onions and salsa verde (green sauce) swimming with cilantro and perfectly ripe chunks of avocado.
reviewed
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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.
reviewed
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M
Fonda San Francisco
A bit away from the center in the suburb of San Pedro, this restaurant is unique. Most of the recipes in this inviting little bistro, which is patronized by the chic upper crust, are inspired by pre-Hispanic cooking. English-speaking chef Adrian Herrera will guide you through the menu, which is ripe with delights like molito de hongos (mushroom mole with chicken) and pavo en pipián de cacao (turkey with pumpkin-seed and chocolate sauce). It’s located just south of Avenida Vasconcelos; if you take bus 130 get off by the Super Roma. A taxi is M$60 to M$70.
reviewed
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N
El Cardenal
Possibly the finest place in town for a traditional meal, El Cardenal occupies three floors of a Parisian-style mansion with a pianist sweetly playing in the background. Breakfast is a must, served with a tray of just-baked sweet rolls and a pitcher of frothy, semi-sweet chocolate. For lunch, go for the oven-roasted veal breast, Oaxaca-style chiles rellenos (chili stuffed with meat or cheese, usually fried with egg batter), or in summer, escamoles (ant larvae, a much-coveted specialty).
reviewed
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O
La Terraza del Zócalo
With dining on a broad balcony overlooking the Zócalo toward the national palace, La Terraza makes a promising new alternative to the ho-hum hotel restaurants on the same side of the plaza. Oaxaca-style enchiladas and cecina de Yecapixtla (thinly sliced salted meat from a town in the state of Morelos) highlight a menu of regional classics. Enter at ground level through the jewelry arcade (there are various foreign flags above the entryway) and look for the elevator.
reviewed
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P
Restaurante Lu
Inside the Hotel Casino, talented young chef Lucero Soto Arriaga turns humble pre-Hispanic ingredients into exquisite gems of alta cocina (Mexican haute cuisine). Her multicourse tasting menu might begin with tamales with smoked butter, then move on to delicate salads of dried nopal (cactus paddle) with caramelized pumpkin seeds, squash blossom-peanut tacos and whimsical confections of local fruits. Try to snag an outdoor table for perfect plaza views.
reviewed
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Q
Antigua Hacienda de Tlalpan
The setting is sublime; an 18th-century hacienda tastefully resurrected into one of the city’s quintessential colonial-style restaurants. The dining rooms are set around lovely gardens, complete with showy peacocks and a small pond with swans. The menu reads like a novel, with a vast choice including some delectable soups: pumpkin flower, cold avocado, lobster bisque and black bean. Follow this with a fish or spicy meat dish like roast pork loin in a chili sauce.
reviewed
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R
Pastelería Ideal
Mexico’s most glorious array of wedding cakes is on offer at this old-fashioned bakery: this is the place if you need a 70kg, multistory gâteau for your nuptials. Otherwise, there’s a huge variety of breads and pastries with odd names like ‘railroads’ and ‘dark rocks’, whose allusions can only be guessed at. Grab a pair of tongs and stack up your steel tray, then get rung up by one of the scores of girls in blue aprons.
reviewed
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TierrAdentro
A popular gathering center for political progressives and coffee-swigging, laptop-toting locals (not that they’re mutually exclusive), this large indoor courtyard restaurant and café is a comfortable place to while away the hours. It’s run by Zapatista supporters, who hold frequent cultural events and conferences on local issues. A simple yet delicious menú compa (M$35) rotates daily, with hearty offerings such as rice and beans with handmade tortillas.
reviewed
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S
Villa Saverios
Villa Saverios takes the concept of 'Baja Med' to absurd heights. The results? Try beef cheeks stuffed with ancho chilies; mesquite-grilled quail; tuna sashimi; gourmet burritos; sliced raw lobster with a chile vinaigrette; filet mignon carpaccio; or abalone served in its shell and smothered with chipotle cream sauce (gulp). Classical music tinkles over a fairly formal dining room, so dress appropriately.
reviewed
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T
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.
reviewed
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U
Acerto
This strikingly modern, sleek (and rather orange) conversion of a long-standing local favorite now functions as a restaurant, cocktail bar and internet café. The main attraction is the fantastic view across the Plaza Borda to Santa Prisca, although its delicious menu of salads, soups, antojitos and moles and its superior cocktail making are also good reasons to drop by.
reviewed
