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We've compiled the best of the best in Oaxaca - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
Just two blocks from the plaza, this local favorite family restaurant serves traditional seafood dishes at reasonable prices. Try one of the seafood cocktails featuring shrimp, octopus, and oysters, or splurge on a pineapple stuffed with seafood and smothered in cheese.
This toes-in-the-sand beach restaurant is a local favorite for whiling away a pleasant day at Playa Manzanillo. Owners Pablo and Doris Carrasco are always happy to whip up a coco loco or offer a shot of fruit-infused mezcal. All the seafood is fresh and reasonably priced. You can eat while lounging just steps from the water or at a table under the shade of an almond tree. The vuelve a la vida (return to life) seafood cocktail is particularly recommended as it's packed with shrimp, pulpo (octopus), and clams. Or try the popular shrimp or dorado topped with creamy tequila-chipotle sauce. The owners' son is working on Blue Flag eco-certification for Manzanillo Beach, so restaurant patrons get the bonus of access to modern and environmentally friendly toilets. If you are going for dinner, be aware that the restaurant closes early—by 7:30.
Local families and expats in the know come here for a seafood fix. The ceviches are delicious, as are the whole-fried-fish platters and the shrimp specials. Margaritas, too, are best-in-class, and a wonderful baked banana dessert comes with condensed milk, cream, and rummy eggnog. This, the original branch, where you can enjoy your meal out in a lovely, fern-shaded garden, is a breakfast-and-lunch-only place, closing at 6 pm. Another branch on Calzada de Porfirio Diaz isn't quite as cute.
Seafood doesn't get any fresher than at this open-air restaurant bar and grill on the beach in front of the fishing boats of Playa Principal. Each morning, owner Ludovic Tisseur, who hails from Lyon, France, sources what's freshest from local fishermen, so the menu features an ever-evolving array of seafood from decadent lobster to a delicious shrimp and fish brochette. Pascale's is also the place to go for expertly grilled T-bone steaks, classic Chateaubriand, or house-made tortellini. Attentive service matches the ultraromantic ambience of candles, white linen tablecloths, and graceful palm trees. Call ahead if you have your heart set on lobster.
