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We've compiled the best of the best in San Rafael and Santa María la Ribera - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
Located in a renovated garage, Alebrije is loaded with plants, couches, and tables, good for working or chatting during the day and an ideal date spot in the evening. String lights and antique fixtures provide warm-toned light, dancing off the exposed brick as you eat sandwiches and drink hot chocolate, wine, or beer. Art zines are for sale near the kitchen area.
Black-and-white tiles give this bright space an impeccably clean and welcoming vibe. With its own house mezcal, wines, and beers, it can also be a place to gather for a drink or grab a light dinner. You can sit at the long wood bars facing either the barista zone or the street and the lovely Jardín de Arte, which separates San Rafael from the Colonia Cuautémoc.
Although its name is barely visible on the sun-faded awnings, this neighborhood taquería is busy on most nights. It’s a true local’s spot and its bright lights are visible from the street; you’ll know it from the number of people mostly patiently waiting to place their orders (food is available to go as well).
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.
Just around the corner from the famed Moorish Kiosk, this open-air coffee and tea spot also specializes in fresh pastries. Specializing in Mexican coffee, it’s also a place to go and buy a bottle of mezcal, cacao, local honey, and even artisanal Mexican beers. It’s hard to miss, with bright jaguar murals painted along its maroon-color walls. It’s a young scene, and you’ll be treated to local gossip if you take a seat at the bar.
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.
It’s not hyperbole to say that there are few interiors in the city as pink as the decor within this diner just near the San Cosme metro station. Cochinita Power specializes in Yucatecan food (read: pork and habanero salsas) with a set-up somewhere between a food cart and a restaurant, but without the hustle and bustle of standing and eating on the street. When you're ready to order, your server will arrive with a paper menu to mark your choices on. There’s not much to choose from: it’s really pork, pork, and more pork. But the food is tasty and cheap, and the service is great and speedy if you’re on the go.
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.
This tiny pizzeria has more space on its sidewalk than its interior, which is mostly a kitchen that prepares thin-crust Argentine style pizzas, empanadas, and salads. The service is attentive and the prices are low. You’ll probably have to wait for a table, as there are very few, but the food and staff will make it worth it.
This hip space is a communal eatery featuring six stalls with neon signs advertising everything from pulque (lightly alcoholic fermented agave nectar) to seafood tacos and Colombian arepas. Nestled among tortillerías, hardware stores, and apartments, it’s easy to walk past it unless you happen to glance inward to spot the brightly decorated market and its picnic table–esque seating.
A darling nook ideal for cat lovers, couches and cushions make for comfortable seating in a small, quiet space. You might have to duck your head to get in, but it serves as an espresso, tea, and coffee shop as well as a gift shop for all things cat-related.
