From Taquerías to Fine Dining: Mexico City’s Must-Try Restaurants

When it comes to restaurants, Mexico can easily beat any other country in the world. Mexican cuisine is so famous that major fast-food chains have tried replicating it. Of course, the original taste only be experienced in Mexico. This makes Mexico City a must-visit destination for all foodies. With over 15,000 places to eat in the area around the city, it can be quite overwhelming to decide where to eat. To help you out, I curated a list of the top restaurants in Mexico City that will give your taste buds an unforgettable experience.

woman sitting in a cafe in san miguel de allende in mexico
Mexican cuisine is recognized by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage, celebrated for its ancient techniques and vibrant flavors.

20 Best Restaurants In Mexico City

If you are visiting Mexico as a tourist, be sure to have your health declaration form and Tourist Card to enter the Mexico. Once you do, you can begin exploring everything Mexico has to offer. Of course, the cuisine will play a significant role in exploration. 

Read on to discover the top restaurants in Mexico City:

1. Rosetta 

Not only is Rosetta cuisine Instagram-worthy, but the tastiest meal around. Elena Reygadas is the restaurant’s cook, and her specialty is making the greatest pasta and pastries from scratch is insane. 

2. Pujol 

Enrique Olvera is one of the best chefs in Mexico who opened Pujol in 2000. Initially, Pujol was only in the Polanco district and offered only thirteen tables. It was also much more formal, but then in 2017, a new location opened in another building in Polanco. 

The new location is much more casual, but it is incredibly beautiful. The chef uses indigenous ingredients, and many dishes are an ode to corn. The menu is a multiple-course tasting menu, and you will need to reserve a table months in advance as it is always full. 

inside veganos taqueria san cristobal mexico
Corn has been the foundation of Mexican cooking for millennia, transformed into tortillas, tamales, and countless other staples through nixtamalization.

3. Sud 777 

The executive chef at Sud 777 is Edgar Nunez, and he has helped turn Sud 777 into one of the best restaurants in Mexico. The restaurant is just a thirty-minute drive from Southern Polanco, and it is a totally fun experience. The ground floor is a bar and lounge with most delicious cocktails. 

The main dining room is on the first floor where eleven-course menu obviously level up your tatse buds. Anything ordered here will be delicious, and you can opt to have lunch here. The natural lighting makes the restaurant look incredible and adds to the dining experience. 

4. Quintonil 

Jorge Vallejo and his wife opened Quintonil in 2012. It is a journey through Mexican cuisine with some of the most beautiful platings you will find. If you can’t seem to get a reservation at Pujol, then your next best bet is visiting Quintonil. 

The chef Jorge Vallejo used to work at Pujol, which is why the quality is just as excellent. Quintonil has also become one of the top restaurants in Mexico in a short time. You will love each dish the restaurant has to offer to you. 

chickens mercado viejo san cristobal de las casas mexico
Street food culture thrives in Mexico, with antojitos like tlacoyos, huaraches, and quesadillas cooked fresh at bustling markets and street corners.

📖 Recommended Reading: If you’re looking for more useful information, check out Mexico City’s Top Day Trips Adventures

5. Dulce Patria 

If you are looking for the best mole bread in Mexico, no one does it better than Dulce Patria. The restaurant is located inside Las Alcobas and is a fine dining experience. The chef here is Martha Ortiz, and her dishes will blow your mind. 

The interior of the restaurant is sensual and soft, with comfortable seating. From the purple rice to the maize and cacao ice cream, yellow mole, multi-colored quesadillas, and mole bread, you will love everything time. The entire dining experience is nothing short of brilliant, and you will get great value for money. 

6. Churreria El Moro 

While fine dining is a great experience, Mexican food is the essence of street food. The Churreria El Moro is an eighty-year-old churro shop that was destroyed by a fire eleven years ago, but it has been restored to its original beauty. The window is grease-stained, and you will find two churro makers creating the best churros in the world. 

The churros are fresh, and you can order one with a sugar-cinnamon mix or just plain sugar. You can get these for takeaway, or you can get a table and enjoy them with some of the best hot chocolate. The dessert is not to be missed as it is one of the best in Mexico City. 

7. Masala Y Maiz 

If you want to indulge in the best Saturday brunch, there is no better place than Masala Y Maiz. The team here takes ingredients from local organic farms and creates an innovative menu you will not find anywhere else. The menu is a take on Indian and Mexican cuisine. 

The chefs of Masala Y Maiz are Saqib Keval and Norma Listman. Once you go here for Saturday brunch, you will never want to come out. The restaurant is located in San Miguel Chapultepec, which is more refreshing than all other restaurant areas in the city. 

vegan food san cris mexico
The chili pepper is central to Mexican cuisine, with varieties ranging from mild poblanos to fiery habaneros used in salsas, marinades and stews.

8. Chupacabras 

A Mexican restaurant list is incomplete without offering the best tacos. If you are craving tacos even late at night, the restaurants stay open late, so you could visit Chupacabras to have the best ones. The original location is in Coyoacan, and they have been serving tacos for more than twenty years now. 

The taqueria is well-known for satiating customers’ global taco desires. These are some of the most unusual tacos you will ever taste, and a lot of people claim that the key to their success is the inclusion of over a hundred spices in the seasoning. Thus, Chupacabras is the place to go if, at any time of day, you have a hankering for tacos. 

9. El Turix

Besides serving some of the greatest cochinita pibil in the city, this modest and welcoming eatery offers panuchos, salbutes, and sopa de lima, among other Yucatecan classics. The pig is roasted in a pit oven after being marinated in achiote and citrus liquids and wrapped in banana leaves. Consequently, the final product is meat that melts on your tongue—tender and tasty. It goes well with homemade tortillas, habanero sauce, and pickled onions.

10. Contramar

Mexico City’s Contramar is a highly regarded seafood restaurant. It serves a great range of delectable, freshly prepared delicacies, including soft-shell crab, grilled octopus, tuna tostadas, and spicy fish tacos. Pescado a la talla, a whole fish that is divided and cooked with two distinct sauces—red and green—is the highlight of the menu. While the green sauce is created with parsley, cilantro, and olive oil, the red sauce is made with guajillo chiles, garlic, and tomato. Tortillas, beans, and rice accompany the fish. It’s best to make a reservation since this restaurant becomes quite busy.

tasting different types of atole in mexico
Regional diversity means Oaxacan cuisine differs dramatically from Yucatecan or Northern Mexican cooking, each with unique ingredients and techniques.

11. Quintonil

You know what, Quintonil is named among the top 50 best restaurants in the entire world. It is run by chef Jorge Vallejo, who creates innovative and elegant dishes. Some of the dishes you can find at Quintonil are Cactus paddle sorbet, butternut squash, and avocado tartare. The restaurant also has a grand wine list and a beautiful lawn.

12. Pasillo de Humo

Pasillo de Humo has private dining. They basically specialize in Oaxacan cuisine, one of the most complex and diverse in Mexico. You can find a lot of tasty dishes such as mole negro, tlayudas, and tasajo, as well as a variety of mezcal and chocolate.

The restaurant is situated on the second floor of a market, where you can also buy some of the products and ingredients used in the kitchen. The atmosphere is casual and lively, and the service is friendly and very attentive.

📖 Recommended Reading: If you’re looking for more useful information, check out Is Mexico City Safe? A Comprehensive Guide with Tips

13. Taqueria Orinoco

Taqueria Orinoco’s menu is pretty short but at the same delicious, too. Their famous tacos especially the ones from the northern state of Tamaulipas really blew my mind. The tacos are made with flour tortillas, and these tortillas, unlike corn tortillas, are thicker in nature. The tacos are often served with salsa, lime wedges, and toppings of cheese, avocado, onion, and cilantro. They are filled with goat meat, hog meat, and beef. The restaurant is constantly busy and boisterous since it is open around the clock, but that is part of its allure.

14. Amaya

For a classy and romantic dinner or night out with friends, Amaya deserves a try. The restaurant’s exposed ceiling ducts, concrete columns, and vibrant murals, all come together to create an urban-chic aesthetic.

Cook Jair Téllez, who also runs Merotoro in Mexico City and Laja in Baja California, creates very tasty, unexpected meals by fusing seasonal and local ingredients with Mediterranean influences. The lamb ribs with yogurt and mint, the chocolate cake with mezcal and sea salt, and the maize soup with huitlacoche and ricotta are honestly exceptional dishes.

bbq tlacolula market oaxaca mexico
Pre-Hispanic ingredients like huitlacoche (corn fungus), chapulines (grasshoppers), and nopales (cactus) remain important in modern Mexican cooking.

15. Los Cocuyos

Los Cocuyos is particularly all about appetizing meat and it’s pretty much plunged in lard, which not only adds flavor but also prevents it from drying out while being cooked. In turn, the meat is absolutely tender and juicy. Try the suadero (brisket), the campechano (mixed meat), or the Cabeza (head) for a real treat.

16. Swagat

Well, basically, you could get an Indian and Mexican here as the restaurant is a fusion of these two. With roots in both nations, the proprietors, Norma Listman and Saqib Keval, combine ingredients and cooking methods from both cultures to create inventive and delectable meals. 

Their birria paella, a rice dish with lamb, tomatoes, and spices, and their uttapam mollete, a rice and lentil pancake with beans, cheese, and salsa, are also worth trying. Above all, the restaurant serves a fantastic assortment of beverages, including cocktails, lassi, and chai.

17. Bacal

Seafood from Mexico’s Pacific coast is the main attraction of Bacal. Their delectable recipes are made using fresh, basic ingredients. Gabriel Rodríguez, the chef, has experience at well-known restaurants like as Pujol and Quintonil. He supports local farmers and fishermen by using sustainable and organic goods.

The menu changes according to the season and availability, but some of the dishes that are worth trying out are tuna tostada with avocado and peanut sauce, the grilled octopus with black beans and habanero, and coconut flan with caramel and sea salt.

a man grilling meat for a taco in mexico
The Mexican kitchen relies on essential tools like molcajetes (stone mortars), comales (griddles), and cazuelas (clay pots) to achieve authentic flavors.

18. Restaurante El Cardenal

The restaurant has several locations, but the original one is in the Palma building in the historic center. Here, admire the murals and sculptures that decorate the walls. The restaurant is pretty renowned for its delicious breakfast. The breakfast includes dishes like enchiladas, chilaquiles, and eggs with mole. For lunch or dinner, they have the mole poblano, the stuffed peppers, or the duck with green sauce.

19. Le Tachinomi Desu

A Japanese-inspired bar that offers a variety of drinks and snacks in a minimalist and cozy space. The name means “standing bar” in Japanese, and that is exactly what you will find here: a long counter where you can order curries with rice, sake, grilled sausages topped with uni, wagyu beef burgers, beer, wine, and cocktails, along with small plates of cheese, cured meats, pickles, and more. The bar also hosts occasional pop-up events with guest chefs and bartenders.

20. Mi Compa Chava

For the city’s delicious carnitas, head to Mi Compa Chava. Mainly, Carnitas are pieces of pork that are cooked slowly in their own fat until they are crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. You may add salsa, onion, cilantro, and lime to your order, and you can get them by the kilo or by the taco. Besides, you should order quesadillas, gorditas, and soups, too, if you get there with your family and kids.

family eating out in mexico

21. El Vilsito

El Vilsito is famous for its night-time tacos al pastor. The meat is juicy and flavorful, and you can top your tacos with pineapple, onion, cilantro, and lime. El Vilsito restaurant is open until 5 AM on weekends and 3 AM on weekdays.

22. Meroma

Meroma restaurant in Mexico City is known for its fine dining experience in a relaxed and intimate atmosphere. You can order both local as well as international cuisine here. The menu changes frequently, but I honestly urge you to try the slow-cooked grilled jerk-spiced pork chop in the dinner, and Meroma’s condensed goat milk tart for dessert. You’ll definitely gonna thank me later. 

23. Ticuchi

It’s the greatest restaurant for couples, in my opinion, and if you’re on your honeymoon, you really should go there. Enjoy a variety of delicious bites, like insects, guacamole, tostadas, and tamales. Indulge in the al pastor tacos with pineapple replacing pork, or savor the seared mushroom “barbacoa.”

24. Maximo Bistrot

Maximo Bistrot, a cornerstone of the farm-to-table movement in Mexico City, offers a menu where refined, upscale cuisine meets local sustainability. Here, each dish is a canvas for seasonal ingredients, like the crisp-skinned trout with clams, peas, and wild spinach, a symphony of delicate flavors and textures. The velvety chicken liver pâté, paired with sweet cherries to spread on artisan toast, provides a rich and nuanced contrast.

taco stand in queretaro mexico

25. Fonda Margarita

This is a homey, real restaurant with traditional Mexican breakfast and lunch options in a communal, family-friendly ambiance. Get there a bit early as this guarantees a seat and a plate since the restaurant shuts at 12:00 pm, or until the food runs out. It opens at 5:30 am.

Conclusion – Final Words!

That was your complete guide to the best restaurants in Mexico. In turn, these top eight restaurants need to be on your list when visiting Mexico. From fine dining to street food, I added particular restaurants on this list to satisfy your cravings. Visit Natvisa for some help on visiting Mexico.

Last Updated on June 29, 2025

Marina Travel Experta

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