24 Best Restaurants in Mérida, Yucatán and Campeche States

This contemporary restaurant at the Wayam Mundo Imperial hotel in the García Ginerés neighborhood has floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking a plant-filled terrace. Chef Maycoll Calderón allows fresh ingredients to take center stage, avoiding anything too fussy in such flavorful Italian and Latin American dishes as ceviche, arroz con pollo, pizza, and pasta. Extensive cocktail and mocktail menus make the most of the area's tropical fruits. 

A henequen plantation in the 17th century, this beautiful hacienda just outside Mérida serves some of the best regional food around, primarily attracting well-to-do Meridanos for a leisurely lunch (let that be your guide on what to wear). Start with sopa de lima, then move on to standout mains like poc chuc (slices of pork in a sour-orange sauce) or cochinita pibil—both served with homemade tortillas—perhaps followed by dessert, which comes with a complimentary digestif. After your meal, stroll through the gardens where peacocks roam. If you’d like to spend the night, the hacienda has six handsome suites, but you'll need to book ahead for weekends and holidays. There are also two locations of Hacienda Teya in the heart of Mérida: one at the Paseo 60 mall and the other on Calle 60, across from Parque Santa Lucia.

Located on Calle 47, which was pedestrianized in 2023 as its status as Mérida's restaurant row became more official, this colorful restaurant specializes in grilled fish and meat dishes, though the cocktail menu of mezcal and tequila favorites is a draw as well. The scene is lively but not excessively so, making this a perfect option for a special-occasion celebration.

At this eatery on Mérida's restaurant row, the salads, pizzas, and pasta dishes could hold their own against any served by establishments in Italy itself. The restaurant group also has other locations, including Oliva Patio and Olivia Pizzeria in the north of the city.

The patio of this historic home glows with candlelight in the evening, but during the day, things feel a lot more casual. Although the menu has a few fish or meat dishes (cochinita pibil, say, or butterfly chicken breast in a cream sauce), the emphasis is on vegetarian dishes such as chaya soup (made from a green plant similar to spinach), stuffed mushrooms, spinach lasagna, and avocado pizza. Prices are reasonable, and service is excellent. Expect live music in the open-air courtyard daily between 8:30 pm and midnight.

An oat-processing facility, in an area that's busy by day but quiet at night, has been converted into an innovative cultural complex. In addition to this restaurant offering creatively updated Yucatecan dishes, you'll also find several bars, a gallery, an arthouse cinema, and a pop-up space that typically features the work of a local artisan or collective.

Apoala is one of the best choices for Mexican food on the lively restaurant-lined Parque Santa Lucia. The menu includes both Oaxacan and Yucatecan dishes—moles and beef dishes from the former, ceviches and cochinita pibil from the latter. The presentation is elevated without being fussy.

This casual spot north of Parque Santa Ana has a French flair, with vintage posters and antique signs, and its French owner, Eric Sureau, is on the premises most days, assuring that the quiches, crêpes, and salads all leave the kitchen comme il faut. There are tables in the lovely and shady yard in the back. In addition Sureau has a small but excellently curated selection of wines and some of the best cheeses in the city if you want to buy the essentials for a little gathering around the pool at your rental or hotel.

Though it serves good basic pastas, salads, and burgers, as well as some Mexican bar-food favorites, this restaurant's popularity is primarily due to its delicious cocktails, aguas frescas, and lively atmosphere. You can dine outside, enjoying the activity on Paseo Montejo, or inside, where the people-watching is just as interesting.

The homemade ice cream and sorbet at El Colón have been keeping locals cool since 1907. Served in a pyramid-shape scoop, the tropical fruit flavors (like chico zapote, a brown fruit native to Mexico that tastes a little like cinnamon and comes from a tree used in chewing-gum production) are particularly refreshing. The shop also sells cookies and fresh candies—the meringues are exceptional. There are five locations throughout the city, and while the one on the Plaza Grande is the oldest, the one on Paseo de Montejo is the most popular, especially on warm evenings. 

K’u’uk, which means "sprout" in Mayan, is chic in every sense of the word, from the suave waiters to the molecular gastronomy dining experience in a historic mansion facing the Monumento a la Patria on Paseo de Montejo. The presentation is artistic—picture dollops of baby pumpkin dusted with goat cheese the texture of powdered snow, potatoes slices as thin as tissue paper, and desserts sprinkled with dehydrated berries or honey-soaked seeds. Many of the Yucatecan options are prepared in a custom-built pibil oven, allowing for a modernized way to impart a traditional smoky flavor. Plan to stay awhile, since dining takes between two and three hours.

This cantina at the corner of Calles 62 and 49 is popular with locals, expats, and visitors thanks to its large courtyard and likewise large cocktails. You'll be offered free bar snacks as long as you keep ordering drinks, though it's worth trying some of the delicious (if basic) ceviches, enchiladas, and tacos, too. Live bands play most evenings. 

Residents of Mérida have strong opinions on who makes the best salbutes and panuchos, two signature Yucatecan dishes, and La Poderosa is at the top of many lists. All the seats at this restaurant in the southern part of Centro—near San Sebastian's square and market—are outdoors, and it's an especially lovely spot on warm evenings. Its evening hours also make it stand out from some other popular casual eateries, which are often open for breakfast and lunch only. A meal of three or four empanadas, panuchos, or salbutes, accompanied by a soda, will only set you back about $5. Note: There are several restaurants in Mérida named La Poderosa. The one you want is the one in San Sebastian.

This lively family-owned eatery on Parque Santa Lucía has outdoor seating that's the perfect place to eat on cool evenings, as well as plenty of tables in an air-conditioned dining room for days when the heat doesn't break. The menu is made up of filling salads, thin-crust pizzas, and pasta dishes. Happy hour runs weekdays from 7 to 9 pm (there's usually some kind of deal on the excellent wine list, too). There is also a larger location, simply La Tratto, a little to the north of the historic center on Prolongación Paseo de Montejo.

This bright, sunny café on Mérida's restaurant row is an appealing spot for a cappuccino, latte, or tea, paired with an avocado toast, yogurt and fruit, or a pastry.

This vintage Yucatecan restaurant with high colonial ceilings and an elegant atmosphere is a longtime local favorite. The combinado yucateco (Yucatecan combination plate) is a great way to try different dishes like cochinita pibil, longaniza asada (grilled pork sausages), escabeche de Valladolid (turkey with chiles, onions, and seasonings in an acidic sauce), and poc chuc (slices of pork in a sour-orange sauce). In fact, Los Almendros invented some dishes that have become regional classics—including the cheese soup, which is also spectacular. A live trio performs daily from 2 to 5 pm.

The menu here is as an encyclopedic take on Yucatecan cuisine, with everything from salbutes to start to manjar blanco (a milk-based delicacy) for dessert. Before sitting down to eat in the courtyard or one of the rooms that open onto it, explore the modest displays on regional food in the colonial-style building and Maya-style houses in the garden. There are also cooking demonstrations, including those using the traditional method for cooking cochinita pibil, buried in a pit in the ground.

This bakery just a few blocks north of Parque Santa Ana is a great place to start your day with a light breakfast of a pastry and a coffee. It has a small garden and plenty of seating if you want to linger for awhile at your laptop. The decor is an inviting updated colonial style with pasta-tile floors and more contemporary touches, such as the steel staircase leading up to the second-story seating. You'll only wish it didn't close so early—at 1 pm during the week and 2 pm on the weekends. 

Don't let the bare walls and basic furniture fool you—this restaurant, a few blocks east of Parque Mejorada, offers one of Mérida's best dining experiences. Chefs Xóchitl Valdés and Selena Cárdenas have impressed gourmets with their celebration of corn, the basis of many of the dishes served here. Before you leave, stop in at the adjacent store, which sells local honey and honey products, from candies to shampoo. 

In the evening this patio restaurant is bathed in candlelight and the glow from tiny white lights decorating the tropical shrubs. Much of the menu, as well as the decor, is geared toward tourists—you can even buy a Pancho's T-shirt on your way out. Although you won't find authentic Yucatecan dishes at this lively spot, the tasty tacos, fajitas, burritos, and other dishes will be pleasantly recognizable to those familiar with Mexican food served north of the border. Waiters—dressed in white muslin shirts and pants of the Revolution era—recommend the shrimp flambéed in tequila, and the tequila in general. Happy hour is weekdays from 6 to 8 pm.

On any given day, the flavors at this little historic-center gelato shop vary, but you can typically expect between five and ten sorbets and the same number of gelatos. In addition to classics like chocolate and chocolate chip, you'll find options inspired by regional cuisine and produce—perhaps, chocolate with chiles, flan, pineapple with chaya, or lemon with rosemary. If it's not too hot, enjoy your sorbet or gelato in Parque Santa Lucía, just a block away.

This elegant restaurant at the inn of the same name is beautifully designed in hues of pink and brown, with long-stem roses on every table. Chef David Segovia's menu is an haute interpretation of Mexican and Yucatecan cuisines, with sauces incorporating local chiles, tamarind, and hibiscus (or jamaica) flowers. There are also pastas, salads, and sandwiches if you'd like a lighter meal. You can sit in the formal dining room, the more casual open-air patio, or the rooftop bar. 

Menu highlights at this beautifully designed, upscale restaurant include tuna steak in a black-pepper crust and Angus beef served with rosemary potatoes. A glass wall separates the formal indoor dining room from the less-formal patio seating area, which is surrounded by lush vegetation that helps you forget that you are on a bustling avenue. Although steaks are the specialty, you'll also find plenty of delicious tapas and salads, and the starters alone make Trotter's worth visiting—try the octopus carpaccio or foie gras.

This oasis of carnivorous delights serves tortas—Mexico's answer to the sandwich—and tacos at four locations in Mérida. In addition to ham and cheese tortas, you can get pork loin in smoky chipotle-chile sauce, chorizo sausage, turkey strips sautéed with onions and peppers, and several other delicious combos guaranteed to go straight to your arteries. If you don't speak Spanish, just point to one of 20 types of ingredients while they heat up your tortilla. Not a meat lover? Try some unusual combos, like chopped cactus pads sautéed with mushrooms, or scrambled eggs with chaya or string beans. All of the Wayan'e locations are casual and unassuming, with plastic tables and chairs, but most diners gather around the counter where the food is handed over. The restaurant closes when the food runs out, which is usually around 2 pm.