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Mexico City has been a culinary capital ever since the time of Moctezuma. Chronicles tell of the extravagant banquets prepared for the Aztec emperor with more than 300 different dishes served. Today's Mexico City is a gastronomic melting pot, with some 15,000 restaurants. You'll find everything from taco stands on the streets to simple, family-style eateries and elite restaurants. The number and range of international restaurants is growing and diversifying, particularly in middle- and upper-class neighborhoods like Polanco, San Angel, La Condesa, La Roma, Lomas de Chapultepec, and Del Valle. Argentine, Spanish, and Italian are the most dominant international cuisines; however, you'll also find a fair share of Japanese, Korean, Arabic, and French restaurants. Mexico City restaurants generally open 7–11 am for breakfast (el desayuno) and 1–6 for lunch (la comida)—although it's rare for Mexicans to eat lunch before 2, and you're likely to feel lonely if you arrive at a popular restaurant before then. Lunch is an institution in this country, often lasting two or more hours, and until nightfall on Sunday. Consequently, the evening meal (la cena) may often be really light, consisting of sweet bread and coffee, traditional tamales, and atole (a hot beverage made from corn and masa and sometimes chocolate) at home, or tacos and appetizers in a restaurant.
If having dinner, most locals start out at 9 pm; restaurants serving dinner stay open at least until 11 pm during the week, and later on weekends. Many restaurants are only open for lunch, especially on Sunday. At deluxe restaurants dress is generally formal (jacket at least), and reservations are recommended; see reviews for details. If you're short on time, you can always head to American-style coffee shops or recognizable fast-food chains all over the city that serve the tired but reliable fare of burgers, fried chicken, and pizza. If it's local flavor you're after, go with tacos or the Mexico City fast-food staple, the torta (a giant sandwich stacked with the ingredients of your choice for about $3). Eating on the street is part of the daily experience for those on the go, and surprising as it may seem, many people argue that it's some of the best food in the city. Still, stick to crowded stands to avoid a stomach illness.
Also cheap and less of a bacterial hazard are the popular fondas (small restaurants). At lunchtime fondas are always packed, as they serve a reasonably priced four-course meal, known as the comida corrida, which typically includes soup of the day, rice or pasta, an entrée, and dessert. There are few vegetarian restaurants, but you'll have no trouble finding nonmeat dishes wherever you grab a bite. Vegetarians and vegans, however, will have a more difficult time, as many dishes are often prepared using lard.
Colonia Polanco, the upscale neighborhood on the edge of the Bosque de Chapultepec, has some of the best and most expensive dining (and lodging) in the city. Zona Rosa restaurants often fill up with tourists, so don't expect to be sitting with the locals here. The Condesa and Roma neighborhoods buzz with a younger crowd all week.
An oasis in the middle of the chaos of Centro Histórico, you'll find excellent service and elegant versions of traditional Mexican dishes here. A variety of dishes from around the country are expertly prepared under the watchful eye of renowned chef Ricardo Muñoz Zurita.
The architecture here is just as impressive as the food, with the restaurant housed inside a Californian colonial-style mansion built in 1940. Diners can choose from an international menu with Mexican flourishes (like the tacos de lechon confit) or an impressive tasting menu. Blanco Castelar has a sister restaurant in La Roma, Blanco Colima.
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.
The swanky Santa Fe business district has plenty of good restaurants, but this buzzy spot serving inventive takes on regional Mexican cuisine is one of the few truly worth making the trip. Decorated with Mexican pottery and eye-catching artwork, the contemporary space is perfect for feasting on short rib tacos with spicy glazed grapes and an arugula-peanut salsa, grilled salmon with garlic-chile sauce and Oaxacan-style polenta-huitlacoche tamal, and other boldly flavored, creative fare.
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.
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.
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.
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.
At Siembra Comedor, the diverse dishes are elevated and delectable, with both the decor and the menu heavily centering around corn. Whether you choose tacos, octopus, or a rib eye, your meal won't disappoint. A few doors down from the restaurant is Siembra Taqueria (Newton 256), a good spot for a quick bite if your time is more limited.
Both a café and a restaurant, Aúna turns locally sourced ingredients into fantastic meals with an international flair. It's an impressive collaboration between chef Fernando Torres and chef Jorge Vallejo from famed Polanco restaurant Quintonil.
Quite a few CDMX restaurants do upscale Italian food well, but this romantic, warmly lighted trattoria stands out for serving some of the finest pizzas around. Each thin-crust pie is crisped to perfection in the wood-fired oven on view at the front of the dining room—the pie layered lavishly with burrata and prosciutto is worth the splurge. You'll also find plenty of other contemporary Italian offerings of note, including beef carpaccio with white truffle oil and lobster risotto.
Revolving slowly on the 45th floor of the World Trade Center, Bellini maintains a formal, reserved character. While it's definitely known less for its food than the views (romantically twinkling city lights at night and a pair of volcanoes on a clear day), it's still worth the dining experience, especially for its beloved osso buco and French onion soup. Despite the name, most dishes here aren't Italian but rather Mexican and international, with lobster as the specialty. Colonia Nápoles is a lovely residential neighborhood south of La Condesa and La Roma, and across Insurgentes Avenue from Del Valle Centro.
This beef-lover's dream is popular with everyone from businessmen to young families. Everything is grilled, from the Argentine beef and Australian lamb to the whitefish in a mild chile sauce. Desserts are large and inventive—try the riff on an alfajor, a typical dulce de leche sandwich cookie. The low-ceiling, wood-beam dining room is hung with nostalgic pictures of Buenos Aires. Menus in Braille are also available.
Inside the Hotel Presidente InterContinental, you'll find elevated traditional Mexican ingredients like huitlacoche, a type of fungus that grows on corn, and chapulines, or grasshoppers. If you visit for breakfast, order the blue corn chilaquiles for a nourishing start to the day.
Emilio is a popular all-day eatery in Polanquito, combining Italian, Mexican, and Spanish influences. The sidewalk seating is matched with a casual menu of imaginative shared plates and cocktails (try the tacos de pato confitado) while a classic European menu is served on the pleasant terrace upstairs.
Built in the 17th century on the site of a mulberry farm, this hacienda has been transformed into one of Mexico's most elegant dinner spots. The atmosphere outclasses even the food, which consists of both Mexican classics and more experimental dishes that incorporate Spanish and Mediterranean influences. Live music in both the dining and bar areas, which might take the form of a string quintet, a lone pianist, or a strolling mariachi band, adds to the experience.
Set in a pretty 1920s chalet-style house, this dignified destination for sophisticated modern European–Mexican cuisine is surrounded by the historic redbrick buildings of the Plaza Loreto shopping center. Once you're seated on the shaded side patio or old-world dining rooms—supping on beef tartare with caviar, roasted duck with a mango sauce and wild rice, or ribeye steak with a Roquefort sauce and Lyonnaise potatoes—it's easy to feel like you've been transported to a wealthy friend's hideaway in the French Alps. There's an impressive wine list, and the desserts are worth saving room for.
Meals in this minimalist dining room are among the most refined and romantic culinary adventures in Roma. Local chef-owner Oswaldo Oliva spent years abroad honing his craft at some of Spain's most hallowed restaurants, and he shares his farm-to-table approach here in the form of exquisitely plated, ethereal bites that change seasonally, but you can expect a number of Mexico-centric ingredients, such as huitlacoche, tomatillos, and honeycomb.
Japanese chef Makoto Okuwa brings his energizing point of view to Mexico's rich culinary heritage. The dishes are beautifully presented; main dishes like the black cod miso and short rib maki offer a complex blend of flavors. From the upstairs terrace, diners can look out over the leafy surrounding neighborhood.
The glowing reputation of this long-standing Polish restaurant shone even brighter after people got word that the establishment had served Pope John Paul II on several of his visits to Mexico City; the generous Degustación del Papa (Pope's Menu) includes small portions of various entrées served to the pope. Its best days might be behind it, but it's an interesting slice of the city's diverse culinary history, and still a source for terrific duck dishes.
The original Mexico City location of this empire of swanky restaurants founded by celebrity chef and proponent of modern Sonoran cuisine Alfonso Lira Valenzuela (there are additional outposts in the Mitikah tower mall near Coyoacán and in Santa Fe) occupies a spacious, high-ceiling space with verdant living walls in Lomas de Chapultepec. A fleet of solicitous servers works the room, carrying out plates piled high with slow-cooked pork belly, mixed octopus-shrimp-scallop grills, and rib-eye steaks—everything presented with great artistic flourish.
Tantalizing displays of oysters on the half shell, Alaskan crab legs, jumbo prawns, fish roe, and sashimi anchor the fashionable, high-ceilinged dining room of this bustling seafood restaurant in a modern office tower by Plaza Loreto shopping center. Here at one of the top seafood restaurants on the city's south side, treat yourself to selections from the extensive raw bar as well as grilled octopus, Maine lobster, and soft-shell crab sandwiches.
One of two (the other is in Polanco) Mexico City locations of the famous, see-and-be-seen Nobu Japanese restaurant empire, this stylish space with soaring ceilings, a long sushi bar, and plush booths is in the affluent Arcos Bosques complex, between Santa Fe and Lomas Altas. Signature dishes from the extensive menu include salmon tataki with cilantro sauce, a Peruvian-style tiradito of Japanese scallops, grilled black cod with miso, and gyozas filled with wagyu and foie gras.
Named after the Mexican dictator whose 31-year reign sparked the Mexican Revolution, Porfirio's does classic Mexican steak and seafood dishes very well. The service and atmosphere are quiet during the day, with DJs taking over after dark. The Polanco branch is one of many dotted across Mexico.
The internationally acclaimed chef at Pujol, Enrique Olvera, continuously reinvents traditional Mexican dishes and their presentation, and is largely responsible for the country's gastronomic revolution. The dining experience here can be described as educational and hedonistic, and the seven-course menus are designed to create a holistic flavor experience. There is also a 10-course taco menu available, with drink pairings included. Despite the rave reviews it receives from critics, Pujol has fallen out of favor locally after many accusations of terrible labor practices.
Dark mahogany furniture, crisp white table linens, exquisite blue-and-white Talavera place settings, and refined service strike a note of restrained opulence at this 18th-century estate whose dining rooms surround a central courtyard with fragrant gardens and a circular fountain. Although you'll find European-influenced classic fare like chateaubriand for two and crispy calves' brains in brown butter, the Mexican delicacies are the stars—consider the crepes of huitlacoche, or a jewel-like dish of escamoles panfried in butter and herbs. The dessert cart, which displays everything from rich chocolate cake to Bavarian cream with strawberries and cajeta (goats-milk caramel), is a must. Even if you don't come for a full meal, try to drop by for cocktails and appetizers in the beautiful courtyard.
