After more than a decade holding a prominent position on Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants list, Mexico City’s Pujol no longer ranks among the region’s top 50 for 2025.
Credited for bringing Mexican cuisine into the world of fine dining, Pujol, by Mexican chef Enrique Olvera, dropped from spot No. 24 in 2024 to spot No. 51, narrowly missing this year’s ranking.
Still, Olvera’s restaurant maintains its prestige in other ways. Along with Quintonil, Pujol is the only restaurant in Mexico to have received two Michelin stars in the guide’s first edition in the country, an accolade that both restaurants reaffirmed this year.
Since debuting on the list at No. 3 in 2013, Pujol’s influence on Mexican high-end cuisine is undisputed. Even though it wasn’t the first Mexican high-end restaurant in the country — Olvera built on earlier efforts by chefs like Patricia Quintana and Monica Patiño in the late 90s — it was Pujol that put Mexican cuisine on the global culinary map.
As chef Jorge Vallejo, co-founder of Quintonil, noted: “[Olvera] was a trailblazer for flipping the coin to do things differently and believing in the power of Mexican gastronomy.”
Which other Mexican restaurants made the regional list this year?
This year’s edition featured fewer Mexican restaurants than in previous years — the list included 12 in 2022. Still, a few newer names stood out in this year’s ranking. Here is the full list.
Quintonil
Mexico City
Quintonil, also in Mexico City, came in as the region’s No. 7 best restaurant on this year’s ranking. Led by Vallejo and his wife Alejandra Flores, the dynamic couple met while working at Pujol under the leadership of Olvera.
According to the 50 Best, Quintonil “is fast becoming a classic.”
“Focused on fresh, local ingredients and traditional Mexican flavours and techniques weaved [sic] into modern preparations […] Quintonil brings a unique brand of creativity to the plate,” 50 Best remarked.
In preparation for the flood of visitors to Mexico during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Vallejo and Flores announced they will soon be opening their second restaurant near Los Cabos.
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Alcalde
Guadalajara
Coming in at No. 15, Alcalde in Guadalajara made the list for its local flavors that highlight Jalisco heritage.
“Alcalde makes diners want to return again and again with its menu, which is deeply connected to the natural rhythms of the land,” 50 Best said.
Villa Torél
Ensenada
Located in Ensenada, No. 16 Villa Torél is the hyper-local farm-to-table restaurant of the Santo Tomás vineyard.
According to 50 Best, Villa Torél “is a restaurant with no fine dining pretensions, focusing instead on a short, well-thought [sic] menu served in a lovely venue, showing utmost respect to the producers and neighbouring Valle de Guadalupe food projects.”
Fauna
Valle de Guadalupe
50 Best describes Fauna as “boundary-breaking cooking from Mexico’s most exciting culinary duo,” chef David Castro Hussong and pastry chef Maribel Aldaco Silva.
Located on the site of Valle de Guadalupe’s Bruma Winery, the restaurant offers Pacific-inspired plates like tuna fin and beef trotter tostada and sea snail with peanuts and shiitake mushrooms.
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Arca
Tulum
At No. 22, Arca is celebrated for a bar program that “works in symbiosis with the kitchen, crafting cocktails with all-natural ingredients and a lot of personality.”
Máximo
Mexico City
Ranked No. 30, Máximo was also co-founded by two former Pujol employees: Eduardo “Lalo” Garcia and Gaby López. The restaurant earned a place on the list thanks to its blend of “refined French technique with locally sourced ingredients, Mexican elements and methodologies.”
Huniik
Mérida
With only 16 seats, Huniik is the younger sibling of the restaurant Néctar by chef Carlos Roberto Solís Azarcoya. “Solís and his team present a 10-course tasting menu from the open kitchen that marries punchy Mexican flavours with contemporary presentations,” which, in the words of 50 Best, makes Huniik an important agent of new Yucatecan cuisine.
Rosetta
Mexico City
Founded by chef Elena Reygadas, Rosetta landed at No. 39 for its innovative approach to traditional Mexican dishes. Even though it began with a strong Italian influence, Reygada’s restaurant has transformed into a cuisine more firmly rooted in Mexico. Rosetta now focuses “on presenting traditional dishes in a new light,” 50 Best said.
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