18 Best Restaurants in Mexico

This fashionably casual spot owned by the talented chefs at neighboring Marmota is a great option for anything from sipping espresso drinks while you work to noshing on creative Mediterranean-meets-Pacific Northwest bar snacks while you mingle with friends. Highlights from the kitchen include house-made potato chips with creme fraiche and caviar, one of the best Caesar salads in town, Portuguese tinned sardines, burrata with figs and tomatoes, and a selection of cheeses with figs and honey.

This casually sophisticated dining room and garden is a local favorite. Although the menu changes frequently, you can expect to find salads with fruits, pasta dishes, steaks, and seafood entrées like seared sashimi-grade tuna or the sweet-mango-topped mahimahi. Consider sharing several small plates from the tapas menu (the blue-cheese phyllo rolls with black-cherry sauce, salmon meatballs, and octopus with garlic are top picks). Also on offer are reasonably priced wines by the glass from Argentina, Chile, and Mexico. As everything is made fresh, popular menu items tend to run out, but everyone seems to leave happy.

At this more casual and free-wheeling sibling to famed Rosetta restaurant and bakery, sit at one of the cozy café tables in the sun-filled, shabby-chic dining room and fill up on exceptional grilled, panfried, and oven-baked modern Mediterranean fare served on whimsical antique china. Highlights from the extensive menu include grilled rustic bread topped with tomato and anchovies, blistered-crust pizzas topped with eggplant and ricotta, and rabbit liver ravioli with a rabbit ragù. The bakery offers up different sweet and savory breads depending on the day of the week (the calamata olive bread on Thursday is notable).

Arched bay windows, checkered marble floors, live jazz, and exquisite garden views create a stunning backdrop to your dining experience here. The menu changes every four months but always consists of fine French-Mediterranean cuisine served beneath silver domes by tuxedoed waiters. The 14 chestnut tables surround a sunken gazebo where orchids bloom. Doubling as a gallery, Le Basilic displays paintings by local artist Leon Alva, and classical ballet dancers perform nightly. As a keepsake, you’ll be presented with a box of French truffles and refined recipe cards recapping the bill of fare. Note that the dress code is resort elegant, reservations are recommended, and children are not allowed. Since this restaurant is rather intimate, expect quality service, meaning that you might feel uncomfortable being watched by the attentive waiters.

Join the dinner party at Lolo's, where the multicourse, prix-fixe menu varies each night but might include lobster carpaccio or gnocchi with truffle sauce, served in an outdoor courtyard. There are a few catches, though—you must bring your own wine (there’s no corking fee), dining is at communal tables, and you must make reservations. Lolo does an occasional brunch, too, served with the same flair and format. French transplant Lorena—everyone knows her as Lolo—offers one of the island’s most distinctive dining experiences most evenings. (The operative word here is "most," and thank your lucky stars if your schedule matches hers.)

With a chic terrace upstairs and a modern white-on-white interior space on the ground floor, Loretta is one of the few restaurants in the southern half of the city that consistently makes it onto critics' top dining lists. Celebrated chef Abel Hernández presents contemporary takes on classic Provençal, Tuscan, Greek, and Middle Eastern dishes, like pork belly confit–and–heirloom tomato crostini, followed by creative pastas, steaks, moussakas, seafood grills, and a generous selection of vegetable sides.

Serving Lebanese food right on the Nuevo Vallarta marina, this casual restaurant has been voted the best restaurant in Nuevo Vallarta several years in a row. Staple Lebanese dishes are great, but there's also pasta and  pizza any little one will enjoy.

If there's one thing for certain, Nobu knows food, and the hotel's newest restaurant, a Mediterranean masterpiece helmed by executive chef Paolo della Corte, is coming for the throne. Every bite from start to finish will melt in your mouth like warm butter, but be warned: this place is not inexpensive. Modest portions lend to ordering multiple dishes: a delight for your taste buds, albeit not your wallet. If you come prepared to splash out, you'll have a meal you'll remember for years to come.

The delightful dishes at this Mediterranean restaurant are combinations of Moroccan, Greek, and Turkish flavors based on owners Lior and Yaron Zelzer's family recipes. Start with the Greek or Moroccan tapas and move on to house favorites like the shawarma pita wrap filled with grilled chicken, hummus, tahini, and fried eggplant or the moussaka, a Balkan casserole with layers of ground beef and eggplant baked in a Parmesan béchamel sauce. Everything from the freshly baked spanakopita to the flaky baklava is made in the open-air kitchen. The setting is casual yet romantic, with tiki torches lighting the way to a tropical garden where rustic tables sit beneath a palapa roof. No visit is complete without a bowl of homemade cherry ice cream.

This sophisticated Mediterranean restaurant enjoys an enviable location at the heart of the Zona Hotelera and with breathtaking views of the Nichupté Lagoon. Start with the Alaskan king crabs marinated in lime or the Omega mussels with white wine and Sicilian lemon; continue with wood-fired Mediterranean shrimp or a New Zealand rack of lamb. For dessert, the Valrhona chocolate soufflé is handmade specially for you at the moment you order it. 

At a restaurant known colloquially as "La Pergola" due to its lovely location under one in Baja Club's garden, executive chef Panagiotis Vounos prepares Mediterranean cuisine inspired by his native Greece with a touch of French flair (it's where he received his training and worked before moving to La Paz). When it comes to beverages, however, that's all Mexico: the wine is sourced exclusively from Valle de Guadalupe, and Baja Club was the first establishment to officially collaborate with GUAYCURA Damiana Liqueur to create hyperlocal craft cocktail recipes.

New-kid-on-the-block Biznaga is one of La Paz's trendiest restaurants, and a top spot for young, cool locals to gather. Its splashy design and solid mixology is garnering even more praise than its bites, but you won't leave disappointed or hungry if you order a selection of starters and tacos for the table.

This gourmet market, artisan bakery, and sidewalk café with a prime location on Álvaro Obregón is a top destination for any meal, but especially breakfast and brunch, when you might try French toast with whipped cream and fresh fruit or Greek-style baked eggs with jocoque, olives, tomato sauce, and grilled pita. The rest of the day, the eclectic but slightly Mediterranean-leaning menu features tortas and toasts (like the one with smoked trout, pickled beets, and capers) as well as lasagna, lamb moussaka, and other heartier dishes. The market also carries fresh baked breads, wines, cheeses, jams, salsas, olive oil, and other goodies. There are a couple of additional locations in Roma Norte, including a Colima branch that's mostly a take-out market.

This intimate but elegant (for the neighborhood) diner has small tables in a quiet space with a reclaimed feel and appropriately minimalist decor. With juicy burgers, salmon carpaccio, and crunchy thin-crust pizza, the menu caters to a wide audience. The space gets busier with an artistic crowd throughout the day, some staying a while to sip wine and coffee. With a variety of tapas-style snacks, mouthwatering burgers, and their own craft beer brand, it makes for a relaxed afternoon or evening stop. 

Expect fine dining and culinary excellence, with rich-in-flavor ingredients, at this Mediterranean restaurant; consider the tasting menu for the full Fantino experience. With synchronized precision, servers unveil each plate with beautiful, if not artistic, execution. The restaurant's interior combines beautiful frescos with floor-to-ceiling windows that create a romantic and impressive space. Adjacent to the main dining room, Petit Fantino is available for private dining. Reservations are recommended and suggested attire is resort elegant.

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.

A typical beach club with gourmet restaurant aspirations, Playa Rosa Beach Club offers a mix of Mediterranean and Mexican seafood in style. During the day, the place becomes a social gathering for locals and visitors. Playa Rosa beach provides the perfect background, and at sunset the atmosphere is spectacular.

It's very pleasant to dine at night on the back patio of this local favorite amid dozens of candles and tiny lights. The menu includes pizza, salads, pasta dishes, and Mediterranean fare like chicken souvlaki and Greek chicken. Order a liqueur-laced coffee or dessert from the bakery counter. The café at the front has great espresso but is open in high season only, usually December through Easter.