15 Best Restaurants In Roma Norte Mexico City – We Ate At All Of Them!

One of the most important things to do in CDMX is eat. Yes, of course, you should also check out the museums, the Mesoamerican ruins, and the colonial architecture, but just as high on your list of must-dos should be a visit to some of the best restaurants in Roma Norte Mexico City.

Thank goodness we shelled out for a Smart Fit gym membership because we really love pigging out in CDMX! The very first time we set foot in the city, we were gorging ourselves on food tours, and our culinary adventures have only become more thorough since we moved here part-time.

In this post, we’ll take you through some of the best places to eat in Roma Mexico City that we’ve visited. Most of these serve excellent food – although we might be guilty of having slipped in a few that are worth checking out just for the vibe or the cocktails! 

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#1 Madre Café – Best Restaurant In Roma Mexico City For Brunch.

MENU: Brunch classics from both Western and Mexican cuisine fill the menu, including chilaquiles and eggs benedict. Although our go-to dish here is the amazing enfrijoladas, the Croque Madam is worthy of a Parisian café.

There’s also a delicious range of pan dulce (sweet bread) to go with the gourmet coffee.

AMBIENCE: Set inside a converted colonial mansion, Madre Café is one of the best restaurants in Roma Norte Mexico City if you want to dine al fresco. The leafy terrace is casual and chic, and there’s also a rooftop restaurant if you want something more formal.

Madre Café is deservedly well known as a brunch spot, so you can expect it to be busy. Reservations are essential!

#2 Altanera Rooftop – Best For Contemporary Mexican Cuisine.

MENU: The menu has its playful side, seen in dishes like the guacamole with grasshoppers. Other standout dishes include the birria tacos, served with stew on the side, and the chicken with mole negro. Portions here aren’t particularly large, so don’t feel shy about ordering plenty!

Make sure you try at least one of the well-mixed cocktails, which range from traditional faves to original creations.

AMBIENCE: Few Roma Norte restaurants deliver quite as much panache as Altanera, which is a casually stylish place for a good meal. Dish presentation is treated as an art form, with many of the plates instantly Instagram-worthy. 

The fancy vibe is matched by outstanding service. We were particularly impressed by the personal attention given by the manager, who was very helpful with menu recommendations.

#3 Balmori Bar & Grill – Best For Cocktails.

MENU: Mostly standard bar food like burgers and pizzas. The main reason to come here is the drinks, but don’t miss out on the stuffed zucchini flowers!

AMBIENCE: Balmori is one of the best restaurants in Roma Norte Mexico City, if you like a buzzy atmosphere. During sunny days, the terrace is a lovely place to sit and hang, while in the evenings, a live DJ keeps the tunes coming. 

Not too long ago, the owners updated the décor, replacing laidback wooden benches with a more design-forward aesthetic. Visualise baby-pink banquettes and pine-green chairs interspersed with potted plants. Those might not be colours you’d choose, but they certainly pop.

#4 Mercado Roma – Best Food Hall.

MENU: There are quite a few different food options, including stalls dedicated to burritos, tacos, empanadas, and tamales. It’s not all Mexican, though, and you can just as easily order sushi, vegan junk food, or Indian curries.

Mixed in with the cuisine outlets are several different bars where you can grab cocktail, beer, or tequila.

AMBIENCE: Mercado Roma is spread over multiple floors, each one offering a different range of stuff. Most of the seating is in a colourful courtyard on the ground floor, where they often have live music bucking up the place. 

On a sunny day, head up to the rooftop terrace to catch a few rays.

#5 Broka – Best Restaurants In Roma Norte Mexico City for Top-Notch Ingredients.

MENU: Our favourite ceviche and birria in CDMX are on the menu here, and that’s saying something in a city where you’ll find plenty of both.

More generally, the restaurant serves up some exceptional vegetarian dishes. Even meat eaters might be surprised at how good they taste!

AMBIENCE: Almost as good as Broka’s food is its setting. The tables are laid out in the courtyard of a historic mansion set back from the road.

The owners of the restaurant actually continue to live upstairs, an indicator of how much the place remains family run despite its success.

#6 Tres Galeones – Best For Superb Seafood Snacks.

MENU: Tataki tuna tostadas, octopus tacos, and other oceanic delights fill the menu at Tres Galeones, which serves up shrimp, marlin, and soft-shell crab in a variety of forms.

The food prices are on the higher end of the scale for a hole-in-the-wall joint but still affordable enough for you to try several bits and pieces – which we highly recommend you do! As an added bonus, the wine and beer are surprisingly cheap by comparison.

AMBIENCE: This is a super chill spot with just a handful of tables that spill out onto the sidewalk. We’re really into the casual cool of the place, which pretty much sums up the overall Roma Norte vibe.

#7 Mux – Best For Mexican Flavour Experiments. 

MENU: Mux is all about supper with a story, so it helps to be able to speak decent Spanish so you can understand the origins and ingredients of each dish. Or you could just ignore all that and have your mind blown by the flavours alone!

Last time we went, we were surprised how much we loved the heritage tomato salad, made with unusual local tomato varieties. Generally speaking, the kitchen does well to showcase farm-grown produce, making it one of the best restaurants in Roma Norte Mexico City for vegetarians.

AMBIENCE: The restaurant itself is fairly muted, so that the focus is all on the dishes.

#8 Supra Roma – Best Restaurant Roma Norte For Evening Hangouts.

MENU: Tacos, calamari, and other finger foods are the items that work best at Supra Roma, mostly because they act as a nice complement to the cocktails. We mainly come here for drinks with a view rather than a gourmet meal. 

There’s also a list of flavoured shishas that you can enjoy in between sips of your Supra Sunset.

AMBIENCE: The only word you really need to describe Supra Roma is ‘lively.’ A house DJ keeps the tunes blasting throughout the day, though the volume definitely seems to kick up a notch in the evening.

Situated up on the 14th floor, this casual hangout has some of the best views of any Roma Norte restaurants. That’s true when the sun is lighting up the surrounding skyscrapers, but especially when the surrounding buildings glitter like stars in the night. 

#9 Restaurante Rosetta – Best For Food To Make You Think.

MENU: Chef Elena Reygadas’ cuisine has cemented Rosetta’s reputation as one of the best restaurants in Roma Mexico City. Everyone talks about the corn tamales with celeriac and smoked cream, but we prefer the punchier flavours of the chicken liver pappardelle.

As you can probably tell from the massive difference between those two dishes, Rosetta draws upon an international array of influences, though usually incorporating seasonal Mexican ingredients in some way.

AMBIENCE: The décor of the restaurant has a rustic air that gives it the feel of a neighbourhood hidey-hole eatery from yesteryear. It’s the opposite of the kind of pretentiousness you might expect from a place that was named on last year’s World’s 50 Best Restaurants list.

The dangling vines and walls painted with leaves give it all the feel of an indoor garden.

#10 La Corriente – Best Old-School Eatery.

MENU: The signature at La Corriente is the whole grilled octopus, but there are a lot of other excellent fish dishes to try. For us, it’s a toss-up between the red snapper tostada and the tuna carnitas for the best dish.

AMBIENCE: La Corriente is one of the best restaurants in Roma Norte Mexico City for a slightly more old-fashioned meal. Set inside a beautiful historic building, it’s been refurbed but not particularly modernised. 

Compared to the self-consciously forward-looking places that make up most of the surrounding area, La Corriente feels like it’s determinedly looking backwards in time for its cues.

Our recommendation: nab a table outside for lunch and enjoy a spot of people-watching to go with your seafood specials. The inside tends to be a little dark for our tastes.

#11 Restaurante Punto y Coma – Best Restaurants Roma Norte For No-Frills Food.

MENU: The menu is short and sweet, featuring standard fare like enchiladas and huaraches. They also have quite a few variations on chicken/beef pounded into thin steaks, served alongside different sides.

The food may not come with any flourishes, but Punto y Coma is one of those places where you can experience a less highfalutin version of Mexican cuisine. Essentially, it’s what your average Joe chows down on when they’re not dining at home.

AMBIENCE: Think diner with basic furniture and brisk waitstaff. For the true local experience, turn up at lunchtime and join the office workers for the three-course set menu.

#12 La Pitahaya Vegana – Best For Vegan Meals.

MENU: Serving up the best food in Roma Mexico City for meat-free dining, La Pitahaya Vegana does the smart thing by not overextending itself on the menu. 

Aside from pink tacos, which come with toppings like coconut cheese, mushrooms al pastor, and tempura cauliflower, they also do excellent enfrijoladas, which you can upgrade with chickpea ‘chorizo.’

AMBIENCE: The vibe is super casual, with a mix of indoor and outdoor seating. Compared to some of the other best restaurants in Roma Norte Mexico City that have a special-occasion ambience, La Pitahaya Vegana is somewhere we come again and again.

#13 Blanco Colima – Best Restaurants In Roma Mexico City For Fine Dining Meets Party Vibe.

MENU: Our mouths are watering, just remembering the sucking pig tacos. These generously stuffed beauties are part of the restaurant’s tasting menu, which features all the house specialities, including duck ravioli, gorditas with octopus chicharrónes, and thinly sliced hamachi. It’s expensive stuff, but it’s worth it for a special occasion.

Make sure you finish off the meal with one of the house cocktails.

AMBIENCE: Blanco Colima occupies a converted mansion, so there are several different areas where you can enjoy your meal. Some are more intimate and quieter, while others are louder and livelier.

Overall, this is less a soothing fine dining affair and more a spot for bright young things to chatter cheerfully over the sound of EDM.

#14 Orinoco – Best For Fast Food.

MENU: Tacos, tacos, tacos! There are three main types: trompo (rotisserie pork), res (beef) and chicharron (pork rinds). You can upgrade these to a costra (which comes with grilled cheese) or a bigger taco that’s stuffed with cheese, corn chips, salad, and avocado.

The Orinoco also has a couple of meat-free options, some pretty good sides, and passable desserts, but nobody comes here for that stuff!

AMBIENCE: We don’t know if this is intentional, but the décor definitely seems to be channelling Five Guys. The plastic chairs and tables with Coca-Cola branding are all part and parcel of the retro red-and-white colour scheme.

You wouldn’t come here on a date, but you know exactly what you’re getting every time: delicious tacos, efficient service, and low prices. There’s often a big queue, but it usually moves about as fast as you would expect a line at McDonald’s to go. 

#15 Mi Compa Chava Marisqueria – Best Sinaloa-Style Roma Norte Restaurants.

MENU: Probably the best restaurant in Roma Norte Mexico City for aguachiles, Mi Compa Chava serves up the spicy shrimp dish surrounded by a ring of cucumber. It’s a signature here that everyone MUST try at least once.

Another of our go-to orders is the Señora Torres, an artfully constructed seafood tower of scallops, shrimp, octopus, yellowfin tuna, avocado, and onion, doused with a chili sauce. Just. Awesome.

AMBIENCE: Bare concrete walls and metal girders give this place an industrial feel, softened slightly by the handful of plants scattered about.

One thing we hate about this place? They don’t take reservations! It’s often busy, and the queues can be painful, so try and come about half an hour before opening during the week.

Best Restaurants in Roma Norte Mexico City: The Wrap-Up

We probably could have included more than 15 places in this guide to the best restaurants in Roma Norte Mexico City, but we’re faint with hunger after writing about all these to-die-for dining experiences.

Joking aside, we hope you’ve found this a useful starting point for planning your eating journey through one of the Mexican capital’s trendiest neighbourhoods.

Buen aprovecho!