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Mexico City has been a culinary capital ever since the time of Moctezuma. Chronicles tell of the extravagant banquets prepared for the Aztec emperor with more than 300 different dishes served. Today's Mexico City is a gastronomic melting pot, with some 15,000 restaurants. You'll find everything from taco stands on the streets to simple, family-style eateries and elite restaurants. The number and range of international restaurants is growing and diversifying, particularly in middle- and upper-class neighborhoods like Polanco, San Angel, La Condesa, La Roma, Lomas de Chapultepec, and Del Valle. Argentine, Spanish, and Italian are the most dominant international cuisines; however, you'll also find a fair share of Japanese, Korean, Arabic, and French restaurants. Mexico City restaurants generally open 7–11 am for breakfast (el desayuno) and 1–6 for lunch (la comida)—although it's rare for Mexicans to eat lunch before 2, and you're likely to feel lonely if you arrive at a popular restaurant before then. Lunch is an institution in this country, often lasting two or more hours, and until nightfall on Sunday. Consequently, the evening meal (la cena) may often be really light, consisting of sweet bread and coffee, traditional tamales, and atole (a hot beverage made from corn and masa and sometimes chocolate) at home, or tacos and appetizers in a restaurant.
If having dinner, most locals start out at 9 pm; restaurants serving dinner stay open at least until 11 pm during the week, and later on weekends. Many restaurants are only open for lunch, especially on Sunday. At deluxe restaurants dress is generally formal (jacket at least), and reservations are recommended; see reviews for details. If you're short on time, you can always head to American-style coffee shops or recognizable fast-food chains all over the city that serve the tired but reliable fare of burgers, fried chicken, and pizza. If it's local flavor you're after, go with tacos or the Mexico City fast-food staple, the torta (a giant sandwich stacked with the ingredients of your choice for about $3). Eating on the street is part of the daily experience for those on the go, and surprising as it may seem, many people argue that it's some of the best food in the city. Still, stick to crowded stands to avoid a stomach illness.
Also cheap and less of a bacterial hazard are the popular fondas (small restaurants). At lunchtime fondas are always packed, as they serve a reasonably priced four-course meal, known as the comida corrida, which typically includes soup of the day, rice or pasta, an entrée, and dessert. There are few vegetarian restaurants, but you'll have no trouble finding nonmeat dishes wherever you grab a bite. Vegetarians and vegans, however, will have a more difficult time, as many dishes are often prepared using lard.
Colonia Polanco, the upscale neighborhood on the edge of the Bosque de Chapultepec, has some of the best and most expensive dining (and lodging) in the city. Zona Rosa restaurants often fill up with tourists, so don't expect to be sitting with the locals here. The Condesa and Roma neighborhoods buzz with a younger crowd all week.
Although the availability of vegan cuisine has come a long way in Mexico City in recent years, few restaurants are devoted exclusively to it, but this small café produces some of the tastiest and most beautifully plated plant-based fare in town. Tortillas at La Pitahaya are as bright pink as the walls (they're dyed with beet juice---the tortillas, that is), and they come with equally bright, fresh fillings like cauliflower with coconut cream and pineapple, and pastor-style oyster mushrooms. There are also hearty raw bowls and tofu scrambles, and chia pudding and almond-milk ice creams for dessert. There's also a selection of house-brewed kombucha.
This tiny pizzeria has more space on its sidewalk than its interior, which is mostly a kitchen that prepares thin-crust Argentine style pizzas, empanadas, and salads. The service is attentive and the prices are low. You’ll probably have to wait for a table, as there are very few, but the food and staff will make it worth it.
Set in a pretty 1920s chalet-style house, this dignified destination for sophisticated modern European–Mexican cuisine is surrounded by the historic redbrick buildings of the Plaza Loreto shopping center. Once you're seated on the shaded side patio or old-world dining rooms—supping on beef tartare with caviar, roasted duck with a mango sauce and wild rice, or ribeye steak with a Roquefort sauce and Lyonnaise potatoes—it's easy to feel like you've been transported to a wealthy friend's hideaway in the French Alps. There's an impressive wine list, and the desserts are worth saving room for.
This popular veteran of the city's modern Mexican culinary scene is still a mainstay for reasonably priced, consistently well-prepared dishes like huitlacoche risotto with corn and poblano chiles, and grilled prawns with a sweet-spicy tamarind-guajillo reduction. The space is refined, relaxed, and ideal for conversation, and there are a few tables on the sidewalk overlooking Plaza Villa de Madrid and Fuente de Cibeles.
This cozy, well-established restaurant and wine bar is ideal for conversation and lingering over a light meal from the eclectic menu that shows Mexican, Spanish, and Italian influences. Try the wild mushrooms and goat cheese in pastry with brandy sauce, the steak tartare with curly french fries, and the cajeta crepes for dessert.
One of the newer and decidedly modern French restaurants that abound and, indeed, fit in perfectly amid Condesa's vaguely Parisian vibe, this dapper bistro is a charming option when you're seeking a slightly fancy but still unpretentious dinner out. You'll find all the classics here, well-prepared and artfully plated, including salade niçoise, filet mignon, duck leg confit, and beef bourguignonne.
Meals in this minimalist dining room are among the most refined and romantic culinary adventures in Roma. Local chef-owner Oswaldo Oliva spent years abroad honing his craft at some of Spain's most hallowed restaurants, and he shares his farm-to-table approach here in the form of exquisitely plated, ethereal bites that change seasonally, but you can expect a number of Mexico-centric ingredients, such as huitlacoche, tomatillos, and honeycomb.
On the fancy side for the neighborhood, this outpost of a famed Mexican fusion restaurant in Oaxaca occupies a handsome two-story space overlooking Jardín Centenario. Artfully plated dishes like guajolote (organic wild turkey) smothered in mole poblano and negro sauces, and achiote-marinated huachinango (Gulf red snapper) with plantains, avocado, and cotija cheese reflect the kitchen's creative approach, although service can be a tad stiff, especially for laid-back Coyoacán.
When Los Girasoles ("the sunflowers") opened more than 30 years ago in Centro, it became the first in a wave of modern Mexican restaurants to take on a neighborhood dominated by century-old classics. Now it remains a good place to sip a cold beer and enjoy pre-Hispanic delicacies like escamoles (ant eggs), gusanos de maguey (agave worms), and chapulines (fried grasshoppers). Set in a restored colonial home, its front patio has the best view around of one of the city's most grandiose plazas, its edges lined by extravagant belle epoque giants.
This cozy wine-cave-like space, located beneath the wildly popular cocktail-piano bar Artemisia, stands out from the city's growing clutch of vino bars for its devotion to natural bottles, from German orange wines to heady, bold Rhône blends (nearly all are priced over MP1,000—and many are much costlier—so budget accordingly). But there's also a quite reasonably priced menu of tasty French-inspired bar fare, including a savory Wagyu beef tartare with piquillo chiles, fried Brussels sprouts with a garlic-lemongrass dressing, and lamb couscous with olives and preserved lemon.
Part of the city's warm embrace and advocacy of Mesoamerican culinary traditions, this diminutive café with Mexican folk art on the walls specializes in dishes made with—as the name suggests—corn and chocolate. Tuck into a plate of blue-corn tamales with mildly spicy pork rib meat, eggs grilled with chiles in banana leaf, or cheese gorditas, washing everything down with corn atole or indigenous chocolate drinks (all of which are also available in the form of refreshing paletas, or popsicles).
Japanese chef Makoto Okuwa brings his energizing point of view to Mexico's rich culinary heritage. The dishes are beautifully presented; main dishes like the black cod miso and short rib maki offer a complex blend of flavors. From the upstairs terrace, diners can look out over the leafy surrounding neighborhood.
Open from 8 in the morning until late every evening (it closes a little earlier on Sunday night), this unpretentiously stylish café with a covered sidewalk terrace fits the bill for a wide range of occasions. Early in the day, it's a favorite for well-crafted espresso drinks, shakshuka, and French toast, but as the day continues, patrons drop by for smoked-trout sandwiches, French onion soup, and to share a bottle of from the short but well-chosen wine list. Service can be on the leisurely—though still friendly—side, but for many who favor this spot, that's the point.
The glowing reputation of this long-standing Polish restaurant shone even brighter after people got word that the establishment had served Pope John Paul II on several of his visits to Mexico City; the generous Degustación del Papa (Pope's Menu) includes small portions of various entrées served to the pope. Its best days might be behind it, but it's an interesting slice of the city's diverse culinary history, and still a source for terrific duck dishes.
This hip space is a communal eatery featuring six stalls with neon signs advertising everything from pulque (lightly alcoholic fermented agave nectar) to seafood tacos and Colombian arepas. Nestled among tortillerías, hardware stores, and apartments, it’s easy to walk past it unless you happen to glance inward to spot the brightly decorated market and its picnic table–esque seating.
About 55 vendors offering everything from elevated short-order street food to refined farm-to-tables victuals operate out of this trendy food hall with a popular artisan beer bar, the Biergarten, on the third-floor rooftop space, which is also home to a whiskey bar. The first floor features stalls and a patio seating area, and a smaller mezzanine offers still more options. Some of the most popular choices include paella, sushi, mezcal, boozy paletas, churros, and French crepes.
The hip Mercado Roma has replicated its success on a slightly smaller scale with this attractive, three-story food hall a couple of blocks from both Avendia Francisco Sosa and the swanky Oasis Coyoacán shopping mall and cinema. You'll find a good variety of options, including mini-outposts of some popular restaurants around town (including El Auténtico Pato Manila and Butcher & Sons, which occupies the entire top floor), serving everything from pizza and burgers to kebabs and Thai curry bowls.
Eclectic paintings of Mexican scenes, colorful tilework and papel picado banners, and ladderback rush-seated chairs capture the traditional vibe of this cozy restaurant that opened here in 1959 on a lovely corner of Avenida Francisco Sosa. The charming setting is the top reason to dine here, but home-style machaca with eggs, chorizo gorditos, carne asada, and other Norteño-style dishes are affordable and tasty.
This alluring mesón (tavern) exudes Old Spain with stained-glass windows and a roaring fireplace. On weekdays, classic dishes such as paella, spring lamb, suckling pig, and Cornish hens with truffles keep customers happy, but on Saturday night this place comes into its own with a four-course medieval banquet (starting at 8:30 pm), including a procession of costumed waiters carrying huge trays of steaming hot viands. Further entertainment is provided by a student vocal group dressed in medieval Spanish capes and hats, a juggler, and a magician. For dessert, a real winner is the turrón (Spanish nougat) ice cream.
Strategically positioned a few blocks west of the U.S. embassy and close to the Japanese embassy, this spot is notable for its varied sushi and teppanyaki options. A fine Japanese chef and a cheerful mix of Japanese embassy workers and young Mexicans also make Mikado a real treat.
The original Mexico City location of this empire of swanky restaurants founded by celebrity chef and proponent of modern Sonoran cuisine Alfonso Lira Valenzuela (there are additional outposts in the Mitikah tower mall near Coyoacán and in Santa Fe) occupies a spacious, high-ceiling space with verdant living walls in Lomas de Chapultepec. A fleet of solicitous servers works the room, carrying out plates piled high with slow-cooked pork belly, mixed octopus-shrimp-scallop grills, and rib-eye steaks—everything presented with great artistic flourish.
Tantalizing displays of oysters on the half shell, Alaskan crab legs, jumbo prawns, fish roe, and sashimi anchor the fashionable, high-ceilinged dining room of this bustling seafood restaurant in a modern office tower by Plaza Loreto shopping center. Here at one of the top seafood restaurants on the city's south side, treat yourself to selections from the extensive raw bar as well as grilled octopus, Maine lobster, and soft-shell crab sandwiches.
The menu of this sleek corner space with striking ceramics and statuary lining the walls celebrates the flavorful cuisine of the scenic mountain town of Malinalco, about 70 miles southwest of Mexico City. Some of the more interesting dishes include a starter of chilacayote squash with mint and citrus and a yellow-tomato pico de gallo salsa, and a main dish pork ribs served with a rich red mole sauce.
One of the first purely vegan options in the area, this hidden spot serves more South Asian fusion rather than the traditional Indian fare that's advertised. Still, it’s a great option for vegans, with very affordable prices, a lively color scheme featuring brightly painted peach and turquoise walls, and five white tables alongside the kitchen. The restaurant looks out onto Jardín Mascarones Park.
