27 Best Restaurants in Mexico City, Mexico

When it comes to authentic Mexican food, chef and food historian Ricardo Muñoz Zurita literally wrote the book with his Diccionario Enciclopédico de la Gastronomía Mexicana (Encyclopedia of Mexican Food). Here in his art-filled, elegant Condesa restaurant, you can sample some of his superb regional Mexican dishes, such as beef drizzled in a smoky Oaxacan mole that takes three days to make, Veracruz-style fish, or ancient Mayan dishes from the Yucatán. In addition, there is always a seasonal menu highlighting cuisine from a different state of Mexico, with recipes by some of that state's star chefs, as well as Muñoz. Azul has additional locations in El Centro as well as on the campus of UNAM in Ciudad Universitaria.

An essential, if touristy, breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snack stop downtown, this Mexican classic opened in 1912 in a section of an old convent. At the entrance to the main dining room are huge 18th-century oil paintings depicting the invention of mole poblano, a complex sauce featuring a variety of chiles and chocolate that was created by the nuns in the Santa Rosa Convent in Puebla. A student group dressed in medieval capes and hats usually serenades diners Wednesday through Sunday afternoons.

Carmen "Titita" Ramírez—a culinary expert who has been featured in various U.S. food magazines—has turned El Bajío into a true icon of traditional Mexican cuisine, with 19 locations throughout the city (the Polanco branch is likely to be most accessible to visitors). The empanadas de plátano rellenas de frijol (plantain turnovers filled with beans) are popular, as are the tortas de huauzontles, fritters of a Mexican green. The decor and clientele combine both old and new Mexico; business meetings happen alongside boisterous family outings.

Polanco's most beloved taquería serves up tacos, tortas, and panuchos of cochinita pibíl, the Yucatecan specialty of achiote-marinated pork. People from all walks of life, from hipsters to construction workers to businesswomen, line up throughout the day for a quick fix, topped with the habanero salsa and pickled red onion (and Montejo beer) typical of the Yucatán. If you can grab a table, get the sopa de lima, a mildly tart chicken soup made with the region's tiny limes.

This casual Spanish restaurant is known both for traditional tapas like tartar de atún con ajillo, croquetas de jamón serrano, and patatas bravas, and for its Iberian take on tortas, the classic Mexican sandwich. The tortas are among the best in the city, some with Mexican touches—like the secretaria (pork leg, chorizo, and cheese)—but the specialties are the calamar (chopped baby squid in chimichurri sauce) and vegetariana (a hearty stack of roasted eggplant and melted cheese). The small, stylish café has a long selection of artisanal Mexican beers, and may be the only tortería in town with a wine list.

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 as educational as it is hedonistic, and the two 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 tailored setting and haute cuisine, Pujol is a dressy-casual place; reservations aren't required, but are a good idea.

Chef-owner Jorge Vallejo cut his teeth at Pujol before opening Quintonil (named after a wild green herb often found in milpas, a Mesoamerican crop-growing system) in 2012. Vallejo eschews fussiness to let the ingredients shine: smoked trout from nearby Zitácuaro or a salad of greens and herbs from the floating gardens of Xochimilco. A seasonal set menu is available, as well as the à la carte selections. 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.

Chef-owner Elena Reygadas worked for years at London's Michelin-starred Italian restaurant Locando Locatelli before moving back to her hometown in 2011 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 the adjoining bakery, which has two other locations nearby.

Young, celebrated chef Edgar Nunez has developed a thoroughly ambitious approach to contemporary cuisine that uses both Mexican and international ingredients—consider seared tuna with jocoque, fennel, smoked grapefruit, and citrus butter, or Veracruz-style beef tongue with quelites and onion. The gently modern space (a 10-minute drive south of San Ángel) merges indoors with outdoors and is one of the sexiest spots in town.

Open around the clock inside the Hotel Presidente InterContinental, this fashionable bistro continues to seduce well-heeled chilangos with high-end French classics. The oysters are flown in from France as well as Baja California; the roasted leg of pork with béarnaise sauce is the signature dish; green-apple sorbet with Calvados is a delicate finish. The extensive breakfast menu features both French and Mexican favorites. A fun indulgence at any hour, it's best for a decadent late-night repast, when the people-watching is at its best. (Another location, in the Hotel InterContinental Presidente in the Santa Fe neighborhood, isn't open 24 hours.)

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.

Here you'll find everything you would expect from a petite bistro: an intimate environment open to the street, comforting food, good music that's not too loud, and excellent French wines. Start by ordering the house specialty, hailing from Lyon, France: fish quenelles with your choice of various sauces. A popular main dish is the carne bourguignonne, beef cooked in red wine and butter with bacon and mushrooms. If there's room for dessert, try the clafoutis, a French custard with cherries.

This beef-lover's dream (with three additional locations in Mexico City, as well as branches in Cancún and Toluca) 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 chili sauce. Desserts are large and inventive—try the riff on an alfajor, a typical dulce de leche sandwich cookie. The low-ceiling, wood-beamed dining room is hung with nostalgic pictures of Buenos Aires.

The former ambassador to China was so impressed by El Dragón's lacquered Beijing duck that he left behind a note of recommendation (now proudly displayed on one of the restaurant's walls) praising it as the most authentic in Mexico. The duck is roasted over a fruitwood fire and later brought to your table, where the waiter cuts it into thin, tender slices, though it's served with flour tortillas instead of the traditional Chinese steamed pancakes. Most of the cooks hail from Beijing, but they mix up their regional cuisines.

Although a Uruguayan owns this fashionable eatery on Coyoacán's lively Jardín Centenario, the menu will be familiar to fans of Argentine cuisine: the superb provoleta (grilled provolone cheese with oregano), for example, and the stellar steaks. Uruguay's Italian heritage appears on the menu as well, with good pizzas and gnocchi with a creamy gorgonzola sauce.

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.

The oldest portions of this 16th-century mansion were built using stones torn down from the Templo Mayor, which lies just feet away. At lunchtime, you may want to reserve a table on the atmospheric second-floor terrace overlooking the Zócalo, cathedral, and national palace, or simply stop at the ground floor patio for a drink in the shade of the towering cathedral across the street. The menu is a mishmash of international (Cornish game hen) and Mexican (cilantro soup).

This popular veteran of the city's modern Mexican culinary scene is still a mainstay for reasonably priced, consistently well-prepared dishes like huitlacoche risotto with corn and poblano chiles, and grilled prawns with a sweet-spicy tamarind-guajillo reduction. The space is refined, relaxed, and ideal for conversation, and there are a few tables on the sidewalk overlooking Plaza Villa de Madrid and Fuente de Cibeles.