8 Best Restaurants in La Paz, Los Cabos

Bandido's has come a long way since opening nearly a decade ago with three plastic tables and a grill fixed under the hood of an old pickup truck. The unique truck-grill is still around, but the restaurant's latest alfresco setting suggests it may be transitioning from working-class pit stop into romantic burger joint. Red-and-white checkered tablecloths are scattered amid dozens of palm trees festooned with lanterns, and tropical breezes blow in past the nearby marina. Bandido's is very popular with locals, who crowd the place nightly for enormous half-pound burgers and barbecue ribs, ice-cold cervezas, and old-time rock and roll.

Not far from hotels, restaurants, and important downtown sights, this small café is a great place to recharge with a morning espresso, chai, or smoothie, along with great pastries. Wi-Fi is available here, so you can catch up on your email. Credit cards are accepted.

The original Bismark is a bit out of the way, but it attracts families who settle down for hours at long wooden tables, while telenovelas (Latin American soap operas) play on the TV above the bar. Tuck into seafood cocktails, enormous grilled lobsters, or carne asada served with beans, guacamole, and homemade tortillas. Seafood tacos and micheladas are specialties at the malecón location, called Bismark-cito.

The freshest, tastiest seafood cocktails, ceviches, and clam tacos imaginable are served in this nautical restaurant crowded with locals. If you come with friends, go for the mariscada, a huge platter of shellfish and fish for four. The shrimp albondigas (meatballs) soup has a hearty fish stock seasoned with cilantro, and the crab ranchero is a savory mix of crabmeat, onions, tomatoes, and capers. Portions are huge.

A small stand that looks as if it might have been rolled along the street by a vendor is just the entryway decoration for this well-established restaurant. Whether you eat at a bench at the stand outside or dine within in the air-conditioning, if you like seafood, you will enjoy Los Laureles. It offers all sorts of fruits de mer served in many different ways, but the seafood cocktails are notable for their freshness (you can even try the shrimp raw) and variety (abalone is an option). A second location can be found at Altamirano and Reforma.

Everything is delicious, and prices are reasonable at this cheerful little restaurant painted in bright yellow and orange. Meats are the specialty here, but just about everything on the menu is good and choices are abundant. The tacos de arrachera, a kind of beef taco, are particularly tasty. You can pop in anytime, day or night, since this restaurant is open 24 hours.

La Paz has plenty of great taco shacks, but none are better than the small stand owned by the González brothers, who serve hunks of fresh fish wrapped in corn tortillas and offer bowls of condiments with which to decorate your taco. The top quality draws sizable crowds.