6 Best Restaurants in San Rafael and Santa María la Ribera, Mexico City

One of the hottest restaurants in the city, this spot serves gourmet touches on Mexican classics with playful inventiveness and traditional ingredients. The base of all plates here, most of which are vegetarian, is mushrooms; even the drinks and the desserts have a fungi element to them. The cuisine is experimental, yet familiar, as mushrooms have an ancient culinary history in Mexico. 

An anticapitalist communal space, bakery, and kitchen, this feminist cooperative has been serving handmade goods since 2017, in resistance to unhealthy working situations and overarching franchises without a soul. Their homemade breads use a unique fermentation process, and they also sell sweets, snacks, coffee, and tea. There’s a focus on a nonhierarchical environment, and they regularly promote the work of women and LGBTQ+ artists with book launches, concerts, and craft-making. Beautiful artisanal crafts are also sold here with a focus on fair trade. 

This open-air locale charms with its curated selection of wines and vermouths along with delicious mocktails and coffee drinks. With a small menu of tapas-inspired snacks, it is a nice place to hang out solo for a while or meet up with friends. Local ceramics and artwork are for sale and it opens up to the street with outdoor and indoor seating options.

This charming colonial-era café is open to the street, with regulars, families, and digital nomads regularly making appearances. It’s bustling, maybe a bit too bustling for some folks to focus on work, but the price-to-quality ratio is impressive, as is its selection of Mexican-style hot chocolate, which range from spicy to sweet to bitter. Whether you're looking for molletes, chilaquiles, or pan dulce, this place has it all, served quick and delicious.