10 Best Restaurants
Mexico City rewards a stay organised around neighbourhoods and unhurried meals. In the historic centre, the excavated Templo Mayor and the Palacio de Bellas Artes place different chapters of the capital within the same itinerary. Chapultepec adds another scale: a hilltop castle, wooded parkland and the National Museum of Anthropology, whose collections deserve a substantial visit of their own. For a base, choose between the garden-centred calm of a grand Reforma hotel, Polanco’s residential polish and the smaller design-led addresses of Roma and Condesa. Restaurants make a persuasive reason to linger. The range runs from carefully orchestrated tasting menus to seafood lunches and cooking shaped by migration, regional traditions and close relationships with growers. Book the meals that matter first, then leave room between them. South of the centre, Coyoacán, the university district and Xochimilco reward separate outings. This guide also includes one expressly labelled excursion to Teotihuacán in the State of Mexico. Resist treating these places as additions to an already crowded day. A focused morning at a museum, a considered lunch and time to walk a single district will usually reveal more than a cross-city checklist.
Quintonil
Polanco, Mexico
Jorge Vallejo and Alejandra Flores have created a restaurant whose ambition is expressed through Mexican ingredients and a changing tasting menu. The discreet Polanco address gives little away; inside, the experience is lively and polished without feeling excessively formal. Native plants, seafood and other regional products appear through both traditional and contemporary techniques. Choose it for a carefully paced exploration of Mexican flavour, and discuss dietary requirements early because some foundational ingredients cannot simply be removed.
Seasonal Mexican invention
Pujol
Polanco, Mexico
Enrique Olvera’s Pujol offers a contemporary setting for a sustained conversation between Mexican tradition and invention. The seasonal tasting menu is the central experience, with mole providing a particularly meaningful expression of that approach; a separate taco omakase offers another format. The room is animated rather than solemn, and the wine programme gives Mexican producers considerable attention. Select the dining format deliberately when booking, as the experiences are distinct rather than interchangeable versions of the same meal.
A defining contemporary Mexican meal
Em
Condesa, Mexico
Chef Lucho Martínez gives Mexican ingredients a contemporary treatment at Em, an intimate restaurant on Ámsterdam in Condesa. Seafood is an important part of the kitchen’s vocabulary, alongside combinations that bring unexpected accents to familiar produce. The scale suits couples and diners who enjoy close attention to a chef’s ideas. Make this the focus of the evening rather than a stop between appointments, and confirm the current menu and dietary accommodations before reserving.
An intimate contemporary tasting menu
Rosetta
Roma Norte, Mexico
Elena Reygadas’s Rosetta looks outward while retaining a distinctly Mexican foundation. The menu rewards sharing, with vegetables, masa and contrasting textures providing as much interest as conventional centrepiece dishes. It is an appealing choice for diners who want a thoughtful meal without committing the whole table to a rigid tasting sequence. Reserve the restaurant on Colima rather than assuming its separate bakery offers the same experience, and ask the team to help balance the order.
Creative cooking to share
Máximo
Roma Norte, Mexico
Máximo combines a lofty, light-filled room with Eduardo García’s Mexican cooking, informed by French technique and a broad culinary outlook. The restaurant’s stated commitment to seasonal national produce gives the menu a clear foundation, while the choice of à la carte and tasting formats allows different kinds of evening. It suits diners who want serious food in a sociable setting. Allow time for the meal and the conversation afterwards rather than treating it as a tightly scheduled reservation.
A generous, produce-led dinner
Sud 777
Jardines del Pedregal, Álvaro Obregón, Mexico
Sud 777 makes a useful reason to explore the city’s south, with a spacious contemporary setting in Jardines del Pedregal. Edgar Núñez’s kitchen offers both a tasting menu and a substantial à la carte choice, making the restaurant adaptable to different appetites and occasions. Dark wood, high ceilings and earthy tones give the room a distinctive atmosphere. Plan transport around the reservation and combine the visit with a southern-city itinerary rather than assuming it is close to Roma.
A southern-city dining occasion
Masala y Maíz
Centro, Cuauhtémoc, Mexico
Norma Listman and Saqib Keval explore the connections between Mexican, South Asian and East African foodways at Masala y Maíz. The result is personal cooking grounded in research and family histories, rather than a casual mixture of fashionable ingredients. Its current downtown setting gives an itinerary another reason to spend time beyond Roma and Polanco. Arrive curious, ask about unfamiliar preparations and follow the restaurant’s own reservation link to confirm the location and current dining format.
Food shaped by migration
Esquina Común
Condesa, Mexico
Esquina Común combines a covered, plant-filled rooftop with Ana Dolores González’s confident, individual cooking. The setting is informal, but the food is built on careful technique and good ingredients, with dishes arranged to encourage sharing. It suits travellers who want a memorable restaurant without the atmosphere of a grand dining room. Reservations require planning, so use the restaurant’s current official channel and confirm the party size, menu format and arrival instructions rather than relying on walk-in availability.
A relaxed rooftop meal
Contramar
Roma Norte, Mexico
Gabriela Cámara’s Contramar makes seafood the centre of an animated Roma Norte meal. Tuna tostadas and the contrasting red and green preparations of its signature fish help explain the restaurant’s lasting appeal, but the menu offers plenty of scope for a table to build its own lunch. This is a place for conviviality rather than hushed ceremony. Reserve ahead, order with the size of the group in mind and leave room to consider the desserts.
A long seafood lunch
Nicos
Clavería, Azcapotzalco, Mexico
Nicos gives a city itinerary a valuable traditional counterpoint in Clavería, away from the usual restaurant circuits. The kitchen’s roots extend across generations, with classic Mexican preparations and regional ingredients treated as the main attraction rather than background inspiration. Choose it when you want to deepen your understanding of the country’s cooking beyond contemporary tasting menus. Plan the journey deliberately, ask about the current menu and give the meal enough time to unfold at its own pace.
Traditional Mexican depth