Great coffee, great service! I had a latte and a croissant. How is it that Mexican croissants are…read morepossibly BETTER than the ones in France? Maybe I'm biased because I love Mexico so much. Muss Cafe is a gem.

Muss Cafe is a coffee shop located on the first floor of the Casa Antonieta hotel in the city…read morecenter of Oaxaca. This is not as well-known as other popular cafe spots in the area so it's not as busy and there is seating inside. We ordered the shakshuka ($125) and baguette jamon serrano y mozarella ($195). The shakshuka base was more of a soup than a sauce and its flavor was decent. We asked for the sandwich without olives but it still had some in there but it was fine. For drinks the flat white ($65) and americano ($45) were okay. It's more peaceful and not as busy if that's the vibe you're looking for. If you want another place to relax you can head through the door at the back of the cafe to the lobby of the hotel. If you're staying at the hotel this cafe is very convenient to get pastries or coffee.

Wonderful quaint little residential restaurant on a quieter street in El Centro. We shared a ham…read moreand cheese bruschetta, chorizo and mushroom pizza and a memorable creamy spaghetti carbonara which I would recommend to anyone. The three dishes with a gratis amuse were plenty for me and my wife and we walked out with leftovers. We paired our meal with a few glasses of affordable wine and left sated and happy. We will return.

Probably a great place to go if you just want to have a few glasses of wine and some tapas. We…read moreordered dinner and the food was pretty so so. Place is very cute - tiny. We went there on a Friday night. 20 minute wait. Service was good; waiter was very nice. Food was pretty so-so. My friend had the pasta with shrimp, which was dry. My shrimp were ok (note to self: remember to ask if their shrimp has been peeled). Salads were good. Don't plan on going there for a quiet conversation on a Friday night - place was incredibly noisy.

I was interested in getting a little pre-dinner drink somewhere and El Destilado came highly…read morerecommended to me. Upon arriving I asked to be seated on the rooftop which they obliged with no issue. The upstairs ambiance is upscale without being stuffy. They played contemporary music but it wasn't too loud. The drinks menu is interesting and there are a lot of creative options for cocktails. I ordered a drink called the GOAT margaritas and it was STRONG but balanced. Cocktails run around $180-230 pesos. The main menus are 6 and 9 course tastings but they also have somewhat reasonably priced a la carte bar snacks. I debated ordering something but didn't want to spoil my appetite which was already happening as they brought out complimentary chips and (excellent) salsa with my drink. Service was a tad on the slow side but I wasn't in a hurry. Would absolutely return!

We ate our last dinner in Oaxaca at El Destilado, and I'm glad we did. It was a great way to end…read moreour trip. El Destilado offers a few options: a 6-course meal and a 9-course meal. (They also offer a bar menu with snacks and drinks on their rooftop if you're not up for a whole tasting menu situation.) We did the nine-course menu, and we couldn't resist adding on the drink pairing. I can usually pass on a drink pairing, since they can be really expensive and I feel pressure to keep up. But El Destilado's drink pairing was too varied and unique to pass up! Each of our nine courses came with very different beverages - two cocktails, two glasses of wine (the wines were great natural wines, but I kind of wished they offered Mexican wines; I think there are some really incredible natural Mexican wines being made now!), one craft beer (brewed in Mexico), one sake (brewed in Mexico, the first Mexican sake company), one pulque (made in house; it was fantastic), and one port (with dessert). (I think I'm missing one! I believe there were 9 - one for each course. Maybe the last one is the little bottles of mezcal they gave us with the little dessert snacks as our last course?!) I often worry that the portions of a tasting menu will be too large, and I won't be able to enjoy the meal. But I really enjoyed El Destilado's portion sizes and progression. Our first course was a plate of three small snacks (tiny versions of Oaxacan dishes), and many other courses were very light (a tomato/vegetarian dish, a single ravioli in a bowl, a raw fish course, a cooked fish course, a shared main)... It was a smart way to serve a lot of great dishes without your guests filling up too fast! I think my favorites were the quail main, the foie course, the seafood courses, and the snack course! Overall, the food was all really good - modern takes on Oaxacan dishes and flavors. Fun and beautiful without losing focus on the flavor. The service was top notch (felt so welcome and comfortable and our server went out of her way to explain every course and beverage pairing) to us while still giving us time to enjoy. They can do service in Spanish or in English. The restaurant is beautiful and yet still understated for a tasting menu restaurant. It's on the pricey side. But it was my favorite of the pricey side meals we had. It was interesting and delicious and exciting, and I'd absolutely return to eat there again.

Absolutely delicious! Highly recommend asking for a mocha…read morebut hot chocolate, foam & all!

Cute hidden spot. Would recommend. The staff was so nice and gave me lots of recommendations to go…read more My favorite was the banana nut bread with coffee

Sabina Sabe is a popular restaurant and bar located in the city center of Oaxaca. It was recently…read moreon the list of North America's 50 Best Bars. I thought it was funny when I got the menu and the food menu was only one page while the drink menu was five pages. The outside of the restaurant is blue-ish and the restaurant has multiple rooms. The ceviche del dia ($190 MXN) was a little sweet and not as tart or sour as others I've had. The tacos de sirloin ($170) were really good and were our group's favorite. The taquitos dorados de mole negro ($140) were okay; there was no meat just in case you were wondering. The aguachile rojo de camaron ($190) were good. The esquite con tuetano ($100) was not like a typical corn in a cup but it was closer to a corn soup. For drinks I had the pequeño gigante ($210) which was good. The paloma madura and paloma margarita were both favorites among our group. We went during the day and it wasn't that busy but supposedly it gets way busier and livelier at night.

I came here for the renowned drinks but also ended up loving their food! It's a super cute spot…read morewith tiles and open balcony doors. We were able to get a seat right away and the servers were super helpful. My friend wanted to try some mezcal and they let us taste a couple before choosing. We sat at the restaurant instead of the bar because it was cuter and I wanted food too. I tried two of their fruity mezcal drinks and loved both. I forget the names but one had watermelon, and the other had coconut and lime. I ordered cheese stuffed plantains with mole and this was soooo good. It was very filling too!

I came here with my wife, who is a bartender, and my mother in-law. We all loved our cocktails…read more They also served our mezcal with dried cranberries and chocolate covered coffee beans. It complimented the Mezcal in a special way. Super good!

New bar offering cocktails, Mezcal and tapas options. Seems like a friendly and well-meaning spot…read moreand I hope it develops, but was very disappointed in quality of drinks here. I tried the Senor del Rayo, a Mezcal cocktail with cucumber lemon juice and grasshopper salt. It was just overly ambitious, both spicy and overly sweet. Our friends met us after dinner so tried a "dessert drink," the La Capillita with Chocolate liquor, Mezcal and evaporated milk that was decent but one note. The meat/cheese plate looked incredibly small and disappointing, and people at the next table barely touched it and didn't recommend. My friends did enjoy their margaritas, and my top shelf friend enjoyed his Mezcal from their decent assortment. Thought the decor/artwork and layout was cool. Found the interior way too bright for primarily a bar, though. Staff was great and bartenders were working hard--find it hard to recommend based on food/drinks, but hope they work out the kinks

My friend and I strolled in here on a lively July night during Guelagetza. The place was packed…read more They had a two man band playing Spanish rock and requests from the crowd. We had already had dinner so I can't speak to the food. But we had two beers with suero (or cheladas) and they were perfect. The band was also fun and really added to the atmosphere of the place. Super fun.

We visited this restaurant last month in February during a birthday trip, it was a Saturday evening…read moreafter returning from Monte Alban. We were very hungry and it was very hot as it was 88 degrees in Oaxaca. We decided to start with a few drinks. The drinks were ok, a bit sweet and did not taste like mezcal at all or like they had any alcohol. I was very disappointed. We also had a tlayuda which was a decent portion and filling but it was way overpriced. They charge $260 pesos where in other places they charged around $170 for the exact same portion. The only good thing about this restaurant is the view of the Templo de Santo Domingo from the rooftop which was gorgeous. Our servers were also attentive.