13 Best Restaurants in Mexico City

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Updated: March 7, 2022

The 13 Best Restaurants in Mexico City

Pujol • $$$$
The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2019 list named it the best restaurant in Mexico and all of North America. Its creator, Enrique Olvera, is a rockstar in the world of chefs. His signature dishes offer a fancy reinterpretation of traditional Mexican cuisine. Diners can choose between a seven-course tasting menu and a nine-course taco bar in Japanese omakase-style. Bookings should be made well in advance.

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Quintonil • $$$$
Quintonil regularly competes with Pujol for the first place as the best restaurant in Mexico and sometimes it beats it. Patrons have the option of ordering à la carte or choosing the ten-course tasting menu. The selection of ingredients by Jorge Vallejo, the chef, depends on the harvests of the season, so the menu changes constantly.

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Carmela y Sal • $$$
In the 2019 edition of México Gastronómico, a culinary guide published by Larousse, Gabriela Ruiz was named the best chef in Mexico. The chef was born in Tabasco, a state in the south of the country, and she brings the essence of her childhood cuisine to her restaurant. With a keen ear that makes her a music lover, the chef uses synesthesia to create her dishes and the menu exudes rhythm and cadence. There are also options for vegans and vegetarians.

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El Huequito • $$
If there’s a dish that represents Mexico City, it’s undoubtedly the taco al pastor. El Huequito, first opened in 1959, offers a “gourmet” version that arrives at the diner’s table topped with marinated onion, guacamole, and orange sauce, the house’s secret weapon. This veritable hole-in-the-wall (the literal translation for “huequito” is small hole) started out in a space that occupies a mere 11 square feet, but the restaurant now has branches throughout the city.

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Páramo • $$
This place has no sign indicating its name, it’s open only in the evenings, and in speakeasy style, has gained popularity through word of mouth. Its menu offers a combination of the owners’ homemade recipes influenced by classic canteen fare. The atmosphere is unbeatable and they organize different events all the time, from social gatherings and pulque tastings to sets by famous DJs.

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El Cardenal • $$
This is one of the most representative restaurants of traditional Mexican cuisine. Paying special attention to elaborating raw materials in house, they produce their own tortillas, bread, and chocolate. There are three branches in the historic center, one in the west of the city and one in the south.

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Rosetta • $$
Rosetta is located in a beautiful house in the trendy Roma neighborhood. With chef Elena Reygadas at the helm, the restaurant is a local favorite on account of her creations. The menu is à la carte and changes regularly, depending on the products of the season. Rosetta’s bakery is even more popular than the restaurant, so much so that it even has its own premises in the Juárez neighborhood.

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La Esquina del Chilaquil • $
Literally translated as “the corner of the chilaquiles,” this is one of the most popular street stalls in the city. The waiting time can last up to 40 minutes, which patrons gladly endure in order to get their hands on a torta de chilaquiles. This is nothing other than bread stuffed with beans and fried tortillas with salsa, cream, and cheese. The combination can seem a bit strange but diners are delighted and visit time and time again. “La Güera” and her relatives serve this delicacy to an eclectic crowd that includes office workers, hipsters, and housewives.

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Máximo • $$$
This is one of the most revered restaurants in the city thanks to the creations of its chef, Eduardo García, which vary daily. That’s right, Máximo’s menu is not printed since he cooks something different every day based on seasonal products and whatever the mood strikes. The menu consists of three courses and can be enjoyed from Tuesday to Sunday. Bookings should be made in advance.

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Nicos • $$
Homemade Mexican cuisine reaches new levels at this restaurant that has been seducing palates for over six decades. It starts the day by serving breakfast, and delicacies like Filete Nicolasa, beef in a crust of dried chiles with hibiscus sauce, can be found on the menu. July to September is chiles en nogada season in Mexico as that’s when the nuts used for the iconic sauce are harvested, and this restaurant’s take on the dish is a classic. It’s very popular among locals, so it’s recommended to book in advance.

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Dulce Patria • $$$$
An unforgettable experience awaits locals and travelers in a dining room decorated in red, Mexico’s “primary color”, and gold to evoke the hues attained by corn. The renowned chef Martha Chapa experiments with the essence of Mexico and crowns her creations with flowers and some of the country’s quintessential ingredients. Her flagship cocktails and aguas frescas —flavored water— deserve a special mention. Like the dishes on the menu, they’re made from traditional ingredients.

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Azul Histórico • $$$
Located in the courtyard of a beautiful building in the historic center, this is a restaurant that rescues the traditional flavors of the country and reinvents them through the cuisine of Ricardo Muñoz, known as “the anthropologist of Mexican cuisine”. The menu is à la carte and, in addition, there is a “festival” each month dedicated to a different dish or ingredient. This is a well-known spot among the international crowd, so bookings are essential.

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Campobaja • $$
In this corner of Baja California located in Mexico City’s trendy Roma neighborhood, diners can sample the perfect combination of seafood and traditional Mexican antojitos —snacks or hors d’œuvre— such as sopes, quesadillas or tacos. The cuisine is simple but exquisite, with seasonality at the forefront given that the dishes are prepared with the fresh ingredients that chef Ezequiel Hernández receives every day.

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