The Best Places to Eat and Drink in Mexico

The dining room at this Four Seasons Tamarindo restaurant sits on artificially built clifftops above a run of infinity pools, with the Pacific spreading out beyond. The menu, shaped in collaboration with Elena Reygadas, pulls local Mexican ingredients through French and Italian technique. Order something, then spend most of dinner watching the horizon do its thing.

A wood-fired oven and a parrillada anchor the menu at this lively Argentine restaurant in Tulum's hotel zone, where the smoke-and-char approach extends well beyond the expected steaks to whole roasted fish and spinach gnocchi gratin. Empanadas and roasted artichokes with smoked labne pull their weight as starters. The room runs loud and social, the kind of place where the warm dulce de leche crepe at the end feels less like dessert than a closing argument.

Outdoor tables line the road through Puerto Juárez at this relaxed, open-air seafood spot, where the menu runs long and the blackboard runs longer. Everything comes from the local market, cooked in the regional style, and the portions are generous enough to make dessert feel optimistic. Order it anyway. The Michelin Guide has it selected, which tracks for a place where locals and curious visitors end up at the same table without anyone planning it that way.

A vegetarian breakfast spot in downtown Cancún where the tortillas are hand-pressed and the salsas are seasoned with evident purpose. Chilaquiles, quesadillas, and tostadas anchor the menu, with fruit batidos on hand if the heat gets serious. The room has the warmth of a family kitchen rather than a health-food statement. On good days, Guato, a chihuahua-beagle mix of considerable local renown, holds court on the premises.

Open-air tables tucked into the jungle off Tulum's beach strip, where every neighbor is also doing jungle-chic and the competition is stiff. This Mexican restaurant pulls ingredients from a regenerative Yucatan farm, and vegetables carry real weight on the menu, showing up stuffed, braised, or spiced in ways that make the meat dishes feel like supporting cast. The Michelin Guide has it on their selected list, which among this crowd is saying something.

A 1940s casita in San José del Cabo's Arts District, with umbrella tables out front strung under papel picado, doing the kind of all-day bakery-bistro work that makes mornings feel optional. Conchas, croissants, and donuts fill the display case, and the coffee counter handles the rest. Things get more serious toward brunch, when wood-fired pizza and chilaquiles in morita chile sauce join the mix. The Michelin Guide has taken note.

The guano leaf roof sets the palapa mood before you even sit down. This is a casual Yucatan restaurant in Gonzalo Guerrero where the salsas arrive first and pull no punches on heat. The kitchen runs familiar regional dishes with modern plating, and the desserts quietly steal the meal. A Michelin Bib Gourmand, it keeps portions generous and prices grounded. A full tasting menu exists if you want the longer conversation.

A candlelit Mediterranean tavern in a restored townhouse that spent decades in inheritance limbo before anyone thought to fix it up. The result is all greenery, vintage details, and mismatched elegance, the kind of room that makes whatever you're eating taste better. Fire-cooked fish and roasted vegetables anchor the menu, but cozy lounges and aged Negronis suggest nobody is in a hurry. Bring someone you want to impress.

Inside the Sofitel on Reforma, Bajel runs two tasting menus of contemporary Mexican cooking inside a room where the open kitchen is very much part of the show. The French hotel might greet you with a bonsoir, but the menu corrects course immediately. A white mole made from 25 ingredients arrives with a card listing all of them, which is either endearing or a lot, depending on your mood.

The menus print on paper made from recycled corn husks, which tells you everything about where this zero-waste Mexican restaurant's head is at. Inspired by London's Silo, the chef runs a tasting menu (or à la carte) built around chinampa vegetables and freshwater fish, with in-house water purification rounding out the commitment. The cooking is precise enough that the philosophy never feels like the main course.

The line down the block is the sign, and it moves fast enough that no one's complaining. This cash-only taqueria in Tránsito runs on generous portions and low prices, with carnitas piled high on doubled-up corn tortillas doing most of the talking. The bone-in beef rib taco is quietly worth the detour too. The Michelin Guide has it selected, which explains why the regulars share the line with everyone else.

The name is the Basque word for flower, which sets the tone for a fine dining room in Roma Norte where a single seasonal tasting menu drifts from Mexican roots toward wherever the chef's curiosity leads. Multi-level, wood-tabled, and quiet enough to hear yourself think, with the chef's counter as the obvious place to sit. The kitchen runs clean and calm, and the menu changes enough that regulars keep showing up.

Ruffo Ibarra's contemporary Mexican restaurant sits along Agua Caliente in a room that pairs exposed red brick and metal beams with warm lighting, landing somewhere between industrial and genuinely comfortable. The menu runs from chilled seafood starters through grilled steaks, and the kitchen has a fondness for tableside moments, pouring hot shrimp broth over raw consomé at your table. A Michelin Selected restaurant in Tijuana.

The red trompo of adobada spinning at the center of this taquería is less a cooking apparatus and more a landmark. The Valadez family has been running the place for decades, and on any given night it is probably Tijuana's busiest, with carne asada going over mesquite and suadero, tongue, and chitterlings frying in their own fat on the comal. Orders come dressed fast with onion, cilantro, guacamole, and salsa.

The smell of fresh pastry settles the question before you've read the menu. Bakers is a coffee-and-bakery spot on the Roma Norte and Condesa border, with a sleek wood-paneled interior and sidewalk seating that slows the morning down. Everything is made in-house, baguettes lined up on the back shelves and a pastry case full of viennoiserie. The guava and cheese cruffin, when it's around, is an argument for staying in the neighborhood all day.

The cochinita pibil comes out electric orange from achiote, and it will absolutely stain your shirt. El Turix is a bare-bones Yucatan taqueria in Polanco with a steel counter, no real seating, and a line that parks itself outside regardless. The slow-roasted pork lands on panuchos or in tacos, topped with pickled red onion. Office workers in loosened ties eat next to construction crews, which is about as reliable a quality signal as any.

Sarape blankets drape the chairs and the handblown glasses have those colorful rims that always make you feel like the meal is already going well. Edith's is a Mexican restaurant in Cabo that ranges across the whole country on one menu, pairing Baja lobster taquitos with moles rooted in Guerrero. The room is festive in a way that earns it, and the cooking follows suit.

Navios is a seafood restaurant where the tables sit on docks over the lagoon, some under thatched palapas and some under nothing but sun, so book a roof if you'd like to keep your composure. The kitchen leans Mexican-Asian, with the dots, swirls, and matchstick vegetables that say a plating class happened once. Time the reservation for sunset, order a spritz, and expect resort-area prices and dressy-casual linen. AAA gives it three diamonds.

This is an Argentinian steakhouse on the Cancún hotel zone strip, with a shiny grill out front and a wine cove stocked with malbec and merlot. The brick walls and Mediterranean touches are meant to calm everyone down, and it works on large groups, couples, and parents alike. Expect a proper sit-down dinner with chimichurri, puffy souffle potatoes, and prices that assume you're on vacation. It holds AAA Three Diamonds.

RosaNegra is a dinner party disguised as a restaurant, where the servers dance, the tomahawk steaks get a flamethrower, and fire dancers drop by between courses. Expect sparklers, cocktails in skull mugs, and a trout arriving under a smoking glass dome. It's a pricey Latin spot on the Boulevard Kukulkan hotel strip, so dress for a party and bring a card that won't flinch. AAA has given it three diamonds.

The showstopping fountain in the center of the room tells you everything: Toro is a pan-Latin American restaurant that wants to be remembered. Large furniture, a buzzy atmosphere, and a menu that swings from Oaxacan cheese-smothered enchiladas to grilled cauliflower in pomegranate and red wine reduction. It's the kind of place where both the carnivores and the vegetarians leave satisfied, which is harder to pull off than the fountain makes it look.

The name is a spoiler: Los Parados means "the standing ones," and there are no seats, just a counter and a condiment station where you build your own plate of onions, lime, and salsa morita. It's a cheap, fast taquería on Avenida Monterrey, good for a mid-afternoon snack. The chile poblano con queso tacos cost about $2.50 for two, the goat tripe is the specialty, and the arroz con leche is a dessert taquerías rarely bother with.

Big ceramic pots of guisado tacos lined up at the counter in Condesa, this old-school taqueria has been feeding the neighborhood forever. You order at the window, pick your fillings, tortilla count, and toppings, then find a table outside. The stewed options run from picadillo to chorizo con papa, and the crowd moves fast, which means the pots stay fresh. The Michelin Guide has it listed, which tells you what you already suspect from the line.

Street tacos and cocktails share equal billing here, which tells you everything about what kind of place this is. The bar runs as a coffee shop through the day before settling into a livelier cocktail spot come nightfall, with the Roma Norte crowd packed in close enough that it genuinely feels like someone's living room, just with better drinks. Bartender Khristian de la Torre's menu is the reason to linger past the tacos.

Absinthe gets the louche, ceremonial treatment it deserves at this intimate cocktail bar above natural wine spot Loup Bar in Roma Norte. The rotating menu runs to about a dozen drinks, swapped out weekly, or the bartender will just make you something. New Orleans French Quarter is the aesthetic, which sounds like a stretch until you're inside and it isn't. A Discovery from The 50 Best.

A farm shop sits at the entrance, which tells you what kind of restaurant this is going to be. Agricole is a garden-set contemporary Mexican spot on the highway between Cabo and Todos Santos, earning a Michelin Bib Gourmand for cooking that steps back and lets ingredients argue for themselves. The tomato plate, the fried fish tacos, the ribeye tacos, and the cocktail menu all do their part. Bring sunscreen; you're eating outside.

Smoke from the wood grill drifts across the open-air terrace before you've even sat down, which tells you most of what you need to know about this rooftop restaurant in Roma Norte. The menu is short and Mexican, built around whatever's coming off those embers, and a Michelin Bib Gourmand keeps the prices from matching the view. Grab a bar seat if you can and watch the grill up close while the cocktails arrive.

Bougainvillea drapes the front of this Ensenada courtyard restaurant, where wood slats and old trees shade the tables. The owner's family has been making cheese in Valle de Ojos Negros for generations, and that artisanal cheese turns up on the chilaquiles at breakfast, which is the main draw. The Michelin Guide awarded it a Bib Gourmand. Lunch runs to tostadas and cochinita pibil, all built around ranch ingredients. Casual, unhurried, and cheap enough that you'll order more than you planned.

Handmade tortillas arrive at the table still warm, which tells you most of what you need to know about Comedor Jacinta. It's a cozy neighborhood Mexican spot in Polanco run by chef Edgar Núñez, who built the menu around childhood food memories rather than a concept. Corn, molcajetes, guacamole, generous portions, and prices that won't require a moment of hesitation. The Michelin Guide gave it a Bib Gourmand, which tracks.

A coffee shop in Roma Sur that's been slinging guisado tacos for generations, El Jarocho started life as a tortilleria and still makes its tortillas in-house. The format is simple: sit down, a server takes your order, and you pick from a rotating spread of stewed meats and vegetables. The campechano with chopped steak and chicharron does a lot of convincing on its own. It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand.

Full-grown trees punch through the dining room floor at this Mexican restaurant in Roma Norte, where the concrete-and-glass space feels more like a greenhouse someone forgot to finish. Chef Martha Ortiz runs a kitchen that treats familiar dishes as open questions, and the Michelin Bib Gourmand crowd arrives expecting surprises. Gorditas, tamales, pozole: they all show up looking nothing like you remembered, which is apparently the whole point.

A white-tiled open kitchen anchors this sleek seafood restaurant just off the Tijuana-Ensenada highway, where the menu is short and the cooking is confident. The bar wall runs local beers and mezcal sours; the food runs from tiradito and oysters into pasta, octopus pizza, and a tuna al pastor taco that swaps pork for spice-rubbed fish with pickled onion and avocado. It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand.

Breakfast is served all day at this beloved Valle de Guadalupe spot, which started as a humble operation feeding local vineyard workers and never really stopped. Heavy wood tables, a boisterous crowd, and housemade tortillas set the tone. The café de olla and elote pancakes have developed their own devoted following. No reservations, so expect a wait, but the line is part of the ritual. It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand.

A slender seafood restaurant in a converted winery warehouse, with brick floors, teal walls, and a counter that puts you face-to-face with the kitchen. The menu is tight and coastal, running from oysters and aguachile to a cast-iron baked pasta finished with clams and mussels. The Michelin Guide awarded it a Bib Gourmand, which tracks for a room where the food is the whole point and nobody's pretending otherwise.

A comal smoking by the front door is the first sign you've found the right place. La Olla is a Oaxacan restaurant in the Centro Histórico, the kind of casual room where the menu reads like a defense of the region's culinary traditions. Chef Pilar Cabrera, who also runs a local cooking school, has built a following around mole negro and squash blossom quesadillas. The Michelin Guide awarded it a Bib Gourmand.

A fermentation-obsessed Asian restaurant in the middle of Oaxaca, which sounds like a fever dream until you're eating shoyu-and-ginger fried chicken under an open roof with a good playlist running. The team makes their own kimchi, miso, and shoyu in-house, and it shows. Pork wontons, barbecue bao, dashi, a front shelf stocked with house sauces to take home. A Michelin Bib Gourmand, and the kind of place that earns its own category.

A second-floor taqueria in Del Valle where the built-in charcoal grill does double duty: cooking the tacos al carbon and keeping the dining room warm enough that the breezy patio starts to look appealing. The thinly sliced meats are grilled and then diced before hitting the tortilla, and the arrachera comes with a rosy pink center that argues its case without any help. Vegetarian options hold their own too. It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand.

The orange awning and the smell of frying pork will find you before you find this taqueria in a quiet residential corner of Álvaro Obregón. The specialty is Milanese-style tacos, breaded cutlets sliced into strips and piled onto corn tortillas, finished with lime and house-made green or red salsa. The Michelin Guide gave it a Bib Gourmand, which tracks. Bring cash, and don't plan anything too athletic afterward.

Six counter seats, a handful outside, and almost everything else given over to the kitchen: Molino El Pujol is a compact neighborhood spot in La Condesa built around corn nixtamalized on-site daily. Tamales, chilaquiles, tacos, and enfrijoladas are the focus, and the tortillas are available to take home warm. It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand, which is either a reason to go or a reason to arrive early, probably both.