The Four Best Restaurants in Oaxaca, Mexico

In our month there, we made it our mission to discover the best restaurants in Oaxaca, Mexico. And I’d like to think we did a pretty good job! We ate everywhere from local holes-in-the-wall to upscale fine-dining places, including one run by a world-famous chef.

Oaxacan food is, of course, incredible—and our original plan of listing the three best restaurants in Oaxaca failed because there were just too many to choose from! We couldn’t narrow it down further than four: one for everyday lunches, one for tlayudas, one for mole, and one for special occasions. We hope you enjoy them as much as we did!

Casa Taviche

For everyday lunches, Casa Taviche was by far our favorite restaurant in Oaxaca. The menu changes every day, which I typically associate with high-end restaurants, but doesn’t carry the price tag to match. In fact, the daily lunch was under $5 USD per person for a three-course menu.

We went there over and over, and every single meal we had was delicious. For the set price, you’ll receive a soup, a main course, a dessert, and the flavored water of the day. The price is unbeatable, and the caliber of food is above and beyond what we would have expected. Honestly, we probably still would have gone there frequently if the price were tripled.

If you’re looking for an affordable restaurant in Oaxaca that serves up incredible food, where you’ll never get bored thanks to a changing menu, this is the one. I think you’ll fall in love with it just as deeply as we did!

Tlayudas El Negro

You can’t go to Oaxaca without eating tlayudas. These toasted tortillas with various fillings are maybe easy to compare to quesadillas, but really aren’t the same thing at all. They’re crispy and lusciously flavored, with beans, Oaxacan cheese, lettuce, and meat of your choice. They often also come with fresh herbs, lime wedges, salsa, avocado, pickled vegetables, and other topping options.

The best place we found for tlayudas was the restaurant Tlayudas El Negro. There, you can watch your food being made expertly in front of your eyes. The fairly limited menu assured us that they really specialize in the dishes they make, and sure enough, their food was incredible.

Funny side note: we knew we enjoyed tlayudas while we were in Oaxaca, but we didn’t realize just how much until after we were gone. Still, months later, we’ll randomly turn to each other and mournfully wish that we could eat tlayudas right now.

Los Pacos

Oaxaca’s cuisine is best known internationally for its moles, which are rich, delicious, complexly flavored sauces. You’re probably familiar with mole negro, the one that’s famous for containing chocolate. But did you know that Oaxaca is also the birthplace of six other major mole varieties?

If you’re in Oaxaca, do yourself a favor and try all seven moles. The easiest place we found to do this is at Los Pacos, where the staff will happily treat you to a tasting sampler of all seven moles while guiding you through their differences. From there, you can order off the menu and choose which of the delicious moles you want to go with your food. Best of all, they make all their moles in-house!

Pro tip: ask whether you can take a look at the mole-making facility behind the restaurant. This isn’t permitted when the facility is active, but you might be lucky enough (as we were) to visit when nothing is going on and it’s possible to take a quick tour. Be considerate, of course; don’t ask for this much of your server’s time if the restaurant is super busy!

Pro tip #2: if you’ve fallen in love with the moles here, you can buy them and take them home with you! I brought eight bags home to California on the plane, declared them at the border, and had no problem getting them through since they were sealed. We popped them in the freezer and had mole for weeks.

Origen

We like to splurge on food now and then, as you may have figured out if you follow us on Instagram or read our posts!

Origen was perfect for this. In fact, the food here was better than we found at another, more famous Oaxacan restaurant linked to a big name in the culinary world. (For the sake of politeness, I won’t identify it more specifically than that, but you can probably put two and two together.)

We came to Origen three times during our month in Oaxaca, and were pleasantly surprised every time. The dishes were innovative and complexly flavored. There were some ingredients I didn’t know, as well as some common ingredients prepared in unusual ways.

If you can only go to Origen once, I recommend going for one of the tasting menus! It’s incredibly affordable by tasting menu standards, and just might introduce you to new flavors you’ll fall in love with.

Origen serves amazing food in a delightful fine dining atmosphere in Oaxaca, Mexico.