41 Best Restaurants in Roma, Mexico City

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.

For all the buzzy seafood restaurants in Roma, not one serves a better aguachile than this casual, affordable spot decorated like an old fishing shanty, with mermaid wall sconces, mounted fish, and seaside bric-a-brac. Everything here—including fish-and-chips, smoked-marlin tostadas, octopus-chorizo tacos, and salmon burgers—is fresh and boldly flavored, and you can add even more spice by choosing a few salsas from the extensive condiment bar (some of these are muy picantes, so ask for advice if you're wary).

Come before 1 pm or make an online reservation to avoid the long wait at this airy seafood haven, a power-lunch spot for the creative and celebrity sets since it opened in 1998 (there's often less of a wait for the casual outside tables). While the people-watching is prime, your attention will be on the food: start with the famed tuna tartare tostadas, then try some fish cooked al pastor or a bowl of clam chowder, minced soft-shell crab or octopus tacos, or the huge butterflied pescado Contramar with red chile. Be sure to save room for dessert, too (the banana pie is memorable). And there are few better places to enjoy the Mexican tradition of sobremesa, lingering over drinks and conversation after a meal.

Tucked inside the small El Mercado Amazónico on the east edge of Roma, this tiny offbeat Asian-Mexican-fusion taqueria features duck in every one of its handful of dishes, all of them addictively good. In addition to both Mexican- and Asian-style taco preparations (the Peking duck–inspired "Kim" version is especially tasty), you can enjoy ginger-duck-filled wontons and spring rolls as well as duck tortas. There's also a selection of house salsas (red wine-hibiscus, tamarind, and Thai sweet chile), and they offer a handful of artisan beers. The original location in Condesa is also excellent, and there are two others, one in Polanco and one in Coyoacán.

Occupying the intimate, refined space that was the original location of renowned Máximo Bistrot, this romantic farm-to-table restaurant is the brainchild of celebrated chef Lucho Martínez, an alum of both Máximo and Quintonil. Em's exciting menu varies according to the chef's inspiration and the season's bounty, but you might start with steak tartare with black truffles and a pain perdue brioche before graduating to braised short ribs with a rich peanut-based mole sauce or a fragrant, earthy porcini mushroom risotto.

Partly founded by Quinonil's celebrity chef Jorge Vallejo, Fonda Fina serves modernly interpreted Mexican classics, such as raw tuna tostadas with citrus oil and a gaujillo-chile vinaigrette or a casserole of beef cheeks braised in a green mole sauce with smoked cauliflower. One popular way to choose your meal here is to mix and match your protein (rib-eye, octopus, and pork among them) with any of several vegetable garnishes and about 10 salsa options—the servers are happy to recommend tasty pairings. The creative cocktails are excellent, too.

Fans of Thai food who are frustrated by the lack of options in the capital can flock to this stellar restaurant set inside a dramatic, spacious 19th-century mansion. The artfully prepared dishes here can hold their own with any you'll find in North America—it's best to share a few dishes, such as duck in a red curry of pineapple, eggplant, and lychee; a southern-style pad Thai with soft-shell crab, tamarind sauce, and coconut milk; and the dessert of fried bananas with house-made chrysanthemum ice cream.

This itty-bitty taqueria on a less swanky block of famous Calle Colima has a big following for its hearty tacos prepared in the style of Monterrey. There are just a few options on the decidedly meaty menu, all of them delicious, with the chiccharón with tangy salsa verde a particular standout. 

You can opt for either of the two distinct experiences in this stylish Calle Colima restaurant: dining in the early 20th-century town house that overlooks the busy street below or sitting in the much more casual and social covered outdoor section with a green living wall. The menu changes seasonally but might feature crab tostadas with grapefruit, ginger, and arugula or fillet of beef with pureed potatoes and a soy-caramel emulsion. The cocktails here are first-rate, too.

This younger sibling to Galanga offers a more varied menu that includes both Thai and Vietnamese fare at slightly lower prices, but as with the original restaurant, the food is flavorful, expertly prepared, and delicious. The solarium-style space creates the feel of dining in an art nouveau birdcage, and there's outdoor seating on a side patio as well. Next door, the same owners run the hip and inviting Somsaa Wine & Tea Room inside a gracious old house---here you'll find an extensive array of drinks as well as flavorful desserts and creative Southeastern small plates.

Savor deftly crafted modern Japanese fare—yakitori skewers, oden and ramen bowls, tempura, udon noodle, raw shellfish, and sushi and sashimi—in this inviting, contemporary space with a variety of seating options, including private tatami rooms. The menu stand-outs are many, including a serrano-wagyu beef roll and shrimp mapo tofu. There's an impressive selection of cocktails, wines, and artisan beers to match the food.

The creative cuisine served in this chic restaurant with sidewalk tables overlooking pretty Plaza Río de Janeiro is inspired by the time the chef-owners spent in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Typical fare from the regularly changing menu includes wild boar sausage with pickled blackberries or clams steamed with white wine, panceta, spring peas, and parsley. The sister restaurant next door, Cafe Trucha, serves lighter fare throughout the day. 

One of the capital's most sought-after dining experiences has moved from its unassuming original digs to a much more spacious and rather swanky space. Chef Eduardo García crafts complex French-Mediterranean-Mexican dishes like sea scallops with a raspberry "aguachile," lobster risotto, and tagliatelle pasta with a wild boar ragout—nothing outlandish but always perfectly executed. For an opulent feast, book the tasting menu with wine pairings (MP5,350).

The mid-century-modern design of this fashionable, trendy, and yet somehow still unpretentious restaurant feels distinct from its grandiose Porfirian neighbors, and so does the seasonally inspired small-plate-focused cuisine, which is heavy on fresh vegetables, hand-made pastas, and seafood. A foie gras terrine is served with a zesty apple-shiso-rhubarb-port sauce, while tender, slow-roasted lamb is served with crushed falafel, braised eggplant, labneh, fried pistachios, and a green zhug sauce. For the price, this is some of the most complexly flavored, beautifully presented food in the city. If there's a wait, enjoy a cocktail in the little downstairs bar.

This rambling, seemingly always-packed restaurant is one of the city's pioneers in genuinely sophisticated, authentic modern Asian (mostly Japanese) cuisine. The food, which is artfully presented in small plates, bowls, and bamboo steamers, spans Thailand, Japan, and China, with highlights being several varieties of ramen, shimp pad thai, hamachi sashimi, sushi rolls, and Chinese sausage.

One of the tiniest yet most beautifully designed restaurants in Roma, this strangely wonderful bistro serves boldly flavored contemporary Mexican cuisine from a short, always-changing menu created by an alum of Pujol and El Bulli. Options might include a tostada topped with smoked leeks, recado negro (a charred Yucatecan chile paste) and avocado mousse, or an infladita (a fried, puffed tortilla) filled with crabmeat and corn and topped with a puree of spring peas and mint. It's a good idea to reserve a few days ahead. 

Regarded as one of the best female chefs in the world, Elena Reygadas worked for years at London's Michelin-starred Italian restaurant Locando Locatelli before moving back to her hometown to open Rosetta in a stunning early 1900s belle epoque mansion. Despite the perfect risottos and handmade pastas in varying shapes, what her cuisine primarily takes from Italy is reliance on local and seasonal ingredients (the olive oil is from Baja California, the burrata cheese made in the town of Atlixco)—but much of the food has a creative Mexican heart. Breads both sweet and savory are baked in-house, and sold from Panadería Rosetta bakery, which has two locations nearby.

There are few more satisfying experiences after a night of dancing and drinking than devouring a plate of tacos at this taqueria with a spacious dining room on Avenida Álvaro Obregón. Fillings include trompo (al pastor), chicharrón with spicy house-made salsa, and beef; a side of the crunchy fried papas orinoco potatoes is a must. Orinoco is open until at least 3:30 am most nights and until 5 am on weekends, and there can sometimes be a long wait for a table. There are a few other locations throughout the city, including the original location on the border between Roma and Condesa.

You'll find one of Roma's prettiest dining rooms—with high brick walls and lush greenery set around a two-story interior courtyard with plenty of natural sunlight—in this moderately upscale and somewhat unassuming restaurant that turns out excellent globally influenced bistro fare. Consider the Vietnamese shrimp dumplings in a fragrant soy-shiitake sauce or tuna tartare tostadas to start, before choosing among the soft-shell-crab tacos, grilled Pacific snapper, or rabbit carnitas among the mains. There's a very nice cocktail and wine list, too.

Always packed with locals---including plenty of expats from other parts of the Americas---watching fútbol on TV or enjoying the live music, this welcoming two-story Roma Sur mercado contains more than a dozen food stalls set around a central dining area with communal tables. Cuisines from mostly Central and South America are featured, including Brazilian feijoada, Peruvian ceviche, and Salvadoran arepes. There's an extensive selection of juices, soft drinks, beers, and cocktails, too. 

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 trendy, casual spot with a long wooden bar serves up some of the best Korean food in the city, including classics like beef bulgogi, kimchi-fried rice topped with a fried egg, bibimbap, and—arguably the star of the menu—crispy Korean fried chicken wings with gochujang (fermented chiles). There's also a nice selection of kefirs and kombuchas to sip, plus wine and craft beer. 

The logo says "tradición desde 1970," but in fact El Parnita is a more recent addition to Roma's lunch scene: a hip, updated take on the simple family-owned fonda. The menu consists of antojitos (snacks like tacos, tostadas, and ceviches), from recipes culled from the family's travels throughout the country, such as rellenito, a chipotle chile stuffed with cheese and beans in a sauce of piloncillo (unrefined brown sugar) from Zacatecas; and tacos viajeros, homemade tortillas piled with pork loin and leg long cooked in citrus, from Michoacán. While it's a hugely popular spot for trendy types, local workers and families come, too, enjoying it for the affordable neighborhood restaurant it is at its core.

World-famous Pujol mastermind Enrique Olvera is the talent behind Eno, a smart-casual bakery and café on a lively Roma Norte street corner (there's another location in Polanco). The airy brick-ceilinged spot with a handful of sidewalk tables is great for a light meal, dessert, coffee, or atole (a warm Mesoamerican corn drink) from early morning until late at night, with breakfast especially popular. Try the cochinita pibíl or hongos (mushrooms) rancheros in the morning, or a turkey–cheese torte later in the day.

In this intimate pizza place, you'll find a generous selection of excellent thin-crust pizzas and handmade pastas, plus a good variety of cocktails and wines. The pizzas come with red or white bases, with the truffle oil, gorgonzola, and wild-mushroom pie being a favorite among the latter, and the pie with Brie, mozzarella, pepperoni, and cherry tomatoes standing out among the "rosso" pies. You'll find a few other locations around town.

At this unpretentious, cozy spot on the north edge of Roma, the short menu of tapas-size plates changes according to what chef Giuseppe Lacorazza picks up that morning at the city's leading seafood market. The focus is always on sustainability and fresh produce---think bonito crudo with tamarind and tangerine, smoked-mackerel quesadillas, steamed clams with spring peas and basil, or Veracruz-style shellfish stew. 

Although the availability of vegan cuisine has come a long way in Mexico City in recent years, few restaurants are devoted exclusively to it, but this small café produces some of the tastiest and most beautifully plated plant-based fare in town. Tortillas at La Pitahaya are as bright pink as the walls (they're dyed with beet juice---the tortillas, that is), and they come with equally bright, fresh fillings like cauliflower with coconut cream and pineapple, and pastor-style oyster mushrooms. There are also hearty raw bowls and tofu scrambles, and chia pudding and almond-milk ice creams for dessert. There's also a selection of house-brewed kombucha. 

This popular veteran of the city's modern Mexican culinary scene is still a mainstay for reasonably priced, consistently well-prepared dishes like huitlacoche risotto with corn and poblano chiles, and grilled prawns with a sweet-spicy tamarind-guajillo reduction. The space is refined, relaxed, and ideal for conversation, and there are a few tables on the sidewalk overlooking Plaza Villa de Madrid and Fuente de Cibeles.