Restaurants in Tabasco & Chiapas
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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.
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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.
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Alebrije
A fun, economical and busy cocina popular across from the Mercado Municipal, Alebrije serves freshly prepared food like enfrijoladas con pollo (tortillas with bean sauce, cheese and chicken), chilaquiles and pollo con verduras (chicken and vegetables) to a dedicated local clientele. A few vegetarian dishes are available.
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Anabanana
With five practically touching tables and a hand-lettered menu colored in with crayons, this long-time tortas and juice joint on the andador is a cozy choice for typical Mexican food and no-frills international options. Inexpensive breakfasts too.
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L’Eden
This quality restaurant’s tempting European and Mexican menu includes fondue suiza,sopa azteca and succulent meat dishes. There’s a lengthy wine list too, including French and Spanish vintages.
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La Paloma
La Paloma is an elegant, spacious restaurant with a glass atrium roof and greenery that includes bamboo and banana trees. The menu is creative and varied, with tasty pasta, beef, chicken and fish dishes.
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Emiliano’s Moustache
This large, enjoyable place specializes in tacos filled with combinations of meat, vegetable or cheese. The meat filetes are also excellent, and vegetarian possibilities exist.
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Mayambé
This superb courtyard restaurant boasts a wonderful Asian, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean menu, including plenty of vegetarian options.
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El Caldero
Simple, friendly little El Caldero specializes in delicious, filling Mexican soups – pozole (shredded pork in broth), mondongo (tripe), caldo (broth) – with avocados, tortillas and various salsas. Great for an authentic and inexpensive local meal.
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Casas Viejas
Opened in 2007, this is already one of the finest restaurants in Chiapas. Set in a gorgeous garden patio of two 'old houses,' chef/owner Matias Klein Kötter creates a delectable and ever-evolving international menu using regional ingredients.
The pollo al tamarindo (tamarind chicken) and pasta de salmon (salmon pasta with orange and tequila) keep the locals in eye-fluttering rapture, and if it's not too busy, the kitchen might whip you up a custom dish (including vegetarian options). For dessert, locally-grown cardamom, chocolate and coffee are blended together to make scrumptious crepes, but Kötter won't give up the family secret of the chocolately pastel tlacopac.
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Restaurant Los Tulipanes
Overlooking the Río Grijalva, near the Museo Regional de Antropología, Los Tulipanes is the best place in town for Tabascan specialties, including seafood-filled corn tortillas, and empanadas of pejelagarto, the tasty freshwater 'lizard fish' that is a symbol of Tabasco. It also serves steaks, chicken, róbalo (snook) and other fish - and on Sundays a Tabascan buffet (around $180) that's the perfect opportunity to gorge yourself silly.
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Don Mucho’s
The hot spot of El Panchán, popular Don Mucho’s provides great-value meals in a jungly setting, with a candlelit atmosphere at night. Busy waiters bring pasta, fish, meat, plenty of antojitos, and pizzas (cooked in a purpose-built Italian-designed wood-fired oven) that are some of the finest this side of Naples. And it offers live music – usually andina,cumbia or Cuban – around 8pm or 9pm, plus a rousing fire-dancing show most nights.
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Ostionería El Rinconcito
Take a taxi to this popular seafood spot near the Panteón and try to choose between the 17 different shrimp dishes, a freshly cooked róbalo (snook) and the in-season langosta (lobster). Weekend lunches are prime time, when an organ serenades diners with ranchera, cumbia and romántica. Kids will love the pufferfish dangling from the ceiling, the huge play structure and the trampoline.
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Matisse
A step up, the stylish and popular Matisse serves inventive and well-presented dishes in warm, wood-pillared surroundings. Start with a carpaccio or the excellent fusiole salad (spinach with nuts, bacon, avocado and balsamic oil), and follow it up with a beef filete or a creative pasta dish. You’ll find plenty of wine and cocktails, and a neat patio for alfresco dining when the temperature’s right.
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Las Pichanchas
This courtyard restaurant specializes in Chiapas food with live marimba music and, from 9pm to 10pm every night, a show of colorful traditional Chiapas dances that whips up quite a party atmosphere. Try the tasty tamales or pechugajacuané (chicken breast stuffed with beans in a hierba santa sauce), and leave room for chimbos, a dessert made from egg yolks and cinnamon.
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Restaurant Las Tinajas
It doesn’t take long to figure out why this place is always busy. It slings enormous portions of excellent home-style food, and it’s enough to keep you (and possibly another person) fueled up for hours. Pollo a la veracruzana (chicken in a tomato/olives/onion sauce) and camarones al guajillo (shrimp with a not-too-hot type of chili) are both delicious, as is the house salsa.
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Restaurante La Casona
Beyond stately carved wooden doors, high ceilings, columns and interior arches frame a dramatic table-clothed dining room in a century-old building. Dine on regional dishes like pollo juchi (fried chicken with pickled vegetables and potatoes) or tasajo en salsa de chirmol (sliced beef in tomato sauce) and listen to marimba performances from 2pm to 6pm.
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Parador Turístico Puerto Ceiba
At Puerto Ceiba, 6km northeast of Paraíso, the Parador Turístico Puerto Ceiba is an enjoyable waterfront restaurant where you can take 1¼-hour boat rides along the palm-lined Río Seco and into Laguna Mecoacán, with its mangroves and birdlife. It’s also possible to rent kayaks here.
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Los Comales Grill
To feel like you’re in the thick of things, dine in this open-air restaurant with a prime location in Parque Hidalgo. The menu includes good caldotlalpeño (hearty chicken, vegetable and chili soup) and decent steaks. There’s marimba music Thursday, Saturday and Sunday evenings from 8pm to 11pm.
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Pierre Restaurant Francés
Everything – including pasta, butter, cheese and bread – is made from scratch at this scrumptious French restaurant with a seasonal menu. A few favorites include orange duck (kosher) with figs, verduras salteadas en hojaldra (vegetable pastry) and a tartlet of poached pears. Vegetarian mains as well.
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Ristorante Marinni
A swanky new Italian spot, it has a sophisticated and softly lit indoor dining room and an outdoor patio cloaked in dramatic greenery. Order the tallarines con camarones (pasta with shrimp), a thin-crust pizza or the medallón al balsámico (beef medallions in red wine and balsamic vinegar).
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Café Punta del Cielo
A respite from the raging heat and humidity, this small air-conditioned glass box next to Parque-Museo La Venta is a dream come true. Primarily a café, it serves premium hot and cold coffee drinks (some organic), as well as panini and light snacks. Succumb to brain freeze with an arctic frappé.
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Restaurant Los Geranios
The excellent Restaurant Los Geranios serves Chiapan and international dishes prepared with organic ingredients (including coffee) grown onsite. Look for the 22km marker from La Trinitaria on the Montebello road. Prices drop 25% in the low season, but book in advance for high season.
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La Galería
An altar to Frida Kahlo presides over this uber-kitschy pizzeria 2½ blocks east of the plaza on Medina. The pizzas and pastas are excellent, and the dizzying array of old glamour stills, pastiche art and whatnot make for interesting eye candy. It also serves a good selection of thirst quenchers.
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