265 Best Restaurants in Mexico City, Mexico

With a chic terrace upstairs and a modern white-on-white interior space on the ground floor, Loretta is one of the few restaurants in the southern half of the city that consistently makes it onto critics' top dining lists. Celebrated chef Abel Hernández presents contemporary takes on classic Provençal, Tuscan, Greek, and Middle Eastern dishes, like pork belly confit–and–heirloom tomato crostini, followed by creative pastas, steaks, moussakas, seafood grills, and a generous selection of vegetable sides.

Stroll just a block south of Jardín Centenario's inevitable crowds to find this little gem with simple red-and-white-checked tablecloths and a front window lined with tantalizing displays of fresh-made cakes and pies. Indeed, sweets—as well as finely curated teas and well-crafted espresso drinks—are the specialty here, but you'll also find excellent breakfast, lunch, and dinner options, ranging from vegetable frittatas and mollettes with beans and ham in the morning to spinach-and-artichoke casserole and salmon burgers later in the day.

Centro's most famous tacos are available all day from this hole-in-the-wall puesto (stall), but are best experienced in the early hours of the morning after several rounds of beer. The tacos here are all beef and are small, so plan on trying at least three. The most famous is the braised suadero, but if you're feeling adventurous the taco de tripa (intestine) is really unmissable.

The specialty of this trendy San Miguel de Chapultepec restaurant helmed by a veteran of famed eatery Pujol is food prepared with an open flame, such as grilled sirloin with an eggplant puree and roasted vegetables, but you'll also find a number of classic Mexican and Italian dishes, from shrimp aguachiles to house-made casarecce pasta with a hearty ragu sauce. Dining is inside one of the neighborhood's well-preserved 1930s homes, but there's also a pleasing sidewalk terrace bracketed by cacti and succulents.

Run by Santiago Muñoz, formerly of the famous regional Mexican restaurant Nico's, this casually stylish rooftop restaurant showcases the talented chef's devotion to traditional preparations and ingredients (including the centuries-old nixtamalization process of producing corn tortillas). Highlights from the creative menu include barbecue-duck tacos, huaraches (oval-shaped masa tortillas) topped with braised oxtail, and grilled striped bass with pasilla chiles and heirloom tomatoes. There’s always an interesting selection of pre-Hispanic-inspired desserts, too. Downstairs, an on-site shop sells salsas, handmade tortillas, and other delicious products, and a festive taco bar serves up big portions of sensational short-order snacks that you can embellish yourself with the bountiful array of salsa.

In this narrow minimalist space with one long communal table, you can feast on a lighter and slightly more casual version of the Indian-Mexican-fusion fare popularized by noted Masala y Maiz chefs Norma Listman and Saqib Keval. Start with tortillas topped by stewed garbanzos, salsa macha, and pickled cauliflower, followed by lamb and beef kebabs with a tomato chutney, raita, and roti. Breakfast favorites include a creamy chia pudding topped with cacao, nuts, dates, and honey. Next door, the same owners run Super Cope, a tiny natural foods shop with a fantastic selection of produce, coffees, chocolates, craft beer, artisan juices, and baked goods.

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).

Fans of authentic Jewish deli fare flock to this rather chic modern deli with sidewalk seating facing toward gracious Parque México. You'll find all the classics here, prepared with care, including potato latkes with apple compote, Reuben sandwiches, smoked whitefish salad, cured lox bagels, and slow-cooker brisket.

Just a few steps down Calle Higuera from Plaza Hidalgo, this covered, open-air market with about a dozen stalls is home to some of the best street food in the neighborhood: barbacoa tacos, squash-blossom quesadillas, fresh-squeezed juices and smoothies, and plenty more, all of it affordably priced. There's nothing trendy about this bustling space where you may have to jostle a bit for a seat, but young buskers often entertain the crowds with great music. Having trouble deciding which vendors to try? Las Dietetics quesadilla stand is one of the best, as is the pozole vendor next to it.

One of the most beautifully designed and eclectic of the city's many contemporary food hall–style mercados, this bustling complex occupies a stylishly converted colonial home off Plaza del Carmen. The front contains hip boutiques selling sophisticated gourmet goodies, designer sunglasses, and mod housewares, and the open-air rear section is anchored by a bi-level seating area with a retractable roof that's fringed with trendy food stalls dispensing elevated pork buns, American barbecue, sushi, burgers, tortas, pizzas, tacos, and a range of wine, craft beer, and cocktail options. Order at the counters and grab a seat at one of the long communal tables set beneath rows of hanging ferns and Edison bulbs—your food will be brought out to you. Moira's Bakehouse, with its decadent teacakes and hand pies, is a must for dessert—it's located among the boutiques, before you reach the food hall.

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.

Prepare to wait for a table at this hugely popular seafood restaurant a couple of blocks from Jardín Centenario—it's known for serving big, gorgeously plated portions of sublime ceviche and aguachile. There's also a great variety of raw bar options, including oysters on the half shell, as well as fish tacos, smoked-fish pâté, seared bluefin tuna, and more. The original location in Roma Norte is similarly outstanding (and also always packed).

One of the best vegan eateries in the city, Mictlán prepares traditional Mexican meals without meat or cheese, and without depending too heavily on non-Mexican food products such as tofu or seitan. Everything sold here is Mexican in origin, with a special focus on ancestral cuisine and sauces.

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.

Legendary chef and Enrique Olvera, a devoted practitioner of making tortillas according to tradition and with only the highest-quality ingredients, opened this hole-in-wall shop and café, in part to expand his world-famous Polanco restaurant to the masses. The short menu is basically an ode to maíz, featuring elote and esquites, enmoladas (chicken mole enchiladas), avocado-hoja santa tacos, chilaquiles con mole, huitlacoche tamales, and other perfectly prepared botanas (for breakfast and lunch). You can even sip a glass of atole (a thick and warm masa-based beverage with Mesoamerican roots). Although this is undoubtedly the least expensive way to sample the cuisine of Enrique Pujol, there's often a wait—arrive early if possible.

A must-visit for fans of traditional Mexican cuisine who think they've tasted it all, this barely adorned, simply elegant restaurant in a pleasant workaday neighborhood—a 20-minute Uber ride from Polanco—is the domain of chef Gerardo Vázquez Lugo (whose parents opened Nicos in 1957), a stickler for ingredients sourced from small producers and dishes that can seem nuevo but are all rooted in history. The sopa seca de natas—several crepes layered with cream, tomato, and poblano chiles—is a 19th-century recipe from a convent in Guadalajara, and the octopus stewed in its ink with pecans, almonds, and pine nuts is a generations-old recipe from Veracruz. 

Just a block away from the famous restaurant that inspired it, this wildly popular bakery is worth the often long wait for a table to savor a fantastic breakfast, lunch, or even a sweet treat to break up your day. The flaky pastries here are second to none—try the blueberry-lavender scones, guava rolls, or mamey-filled berliners. The savory items are just as mouthwatering, including ricotta-spinach croissants and Croque monsieurs. Traditional Mexican atole is served, plus fine espresso and tea drinks, and there's a pantry that sells gourmet groceries, from olive oil to rosemary focaccia.

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. 

Named after a wild green herb often found in milpas, a Mesoamerican crop-growing system, Quintonil was opened in 2012 by chef-owner Jorge Vallejo. Today, Vallejo eschews fussiness to let the local ingredients shine: smoked trout from nearby Zitácuaro or a salad of greens and herbs from the floating gardens of Xochimilco. The discreet, refined restaurant is locally focused all the way up to the rooftop garden.

An immediate success since it opened on a quiet side street in Colonia Cuauhtémoc, tiny Rokai is perhaps the most authentic Japanese restaurant in a city where cream cheese, chipotle mayo, and bottled hot sauce adorn many a sushi roll. Japanese chefs Hiroshi Kawahito and Daisuke Maeda use immaculately fresh fish brought in daily from Mexico's various coasts, primarily Baja California and Oaxaca, and turn it into sushi and sashimi, as well as cooked dishes. There's also a ramen restaurant next door, bearing the same name and ownership.

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.