20 Best Restaurants in Guadalajara, Mexico

It's difficult to beat Cerveceria Chapultepec when it comes to finding a quick snack and a cold drink. Throughout the day, you'll find tacos, desserts, and many beers, and everything costs 20 MXN.

At high meal times, travelers will find lines of locals and tourists alike extending out the door of this traditional Mexican restaurant in El Centro. While the decor is plain, the food is among the best in the city. Items worth testing include the queso fundido (cheese fondue) and the enchiladas. If you're staying in West Guadalajara, there's a second restaurant at 405 Terranova in Providencia.

The only gastronomic brewery in Chapala, it offers craft beer and delicious food including burgers, burritos, tacos, and salads.

Relax with tasty Mexican dishes at the tables along the sidewalk or in the oversize garden patio surrounding a magnificent old tree. Try the house specialty: chicken stuffed with huitlacoche (a corn fungus that's Mexico's answer to the truffle) and shrimp in tamarind sauce. Live musicians accompany the food (2:30 to 6 pm, approximately) every day except Monday.

If you are looking for a traditional Mexican experience, there's no better place to go in Tlaquepaque than El Parián. At this large complex with a central patio shared by 18 different restaurants and bars, everyday is a Mexican fiesta! Mariachis perform all day long and tequila flows easily. The cuisine might not be the best in town, but it's quite good. 

A covered patio invites you to sip margaritas while listening to live trova (romantic ballads). Musicians play Tuesday to Friday evenings and on weekends during the leisurely lunch hour. Try one of the steak or chicken dishes, the burrito, or the classic chiles en nogada in the colors of the Mexican flag. The staff is friendly and helpful.

This typical Mexican restaurant owned by José Cuervo serves decent quesadillas and other local favorites without leaving your wallet empty. The margaritas are quite tasty, too.

This Tapatío institution has held the Guinness World Record for fastest restaurant service: 13.5 seconds for a table of six. Lightning-fast service is made possible by the menu's single item: carne en su jugo, a combination of finely diced beef and bacon simmered in rich beef broth and served with grilled onions, tortillas, and refried beans mixed with corn.

Food in this "Old House" is exquisite, the location is serene, and the service is very good. Located inside Hotel Solar de Las Animas, it's open to the public.

Locals and visitors come here for tasty traditional Mexican food in a simple family-friendly restaurant. Try the pozole, which starts with hominy and a protein as the base, and comes in three types of broth. Red pozole is a thinner broth that uses dried, red chilies; green pozole broth is rich and calls for fresh, green peppers; and white pozole is a thinner broth without chilies.

This fantastic stop for breakfast and lunch serves fresh, delicious food in a pleasant environment. Try the eggs Benedict and homemade muffins.

This grandly turreted brick building was once the summer home of the Braniff family, former owners of the defunct airline. The house specialty is chamorro, pork shank wrapped in banana leaves. A patio overlooks the boardwalk and is inviting in the evening.

This outdoor restaurant is one of a handful of eateries along the lakeside in Teuchitlán. While not fancy, it offers a variety of Mexican dishes, including fish, molcajetes dishes of mixed meats, cheese, and vegetables in a stone bowl), and fajitas, and provides a grand view of the lake teeming with fish and birds including herons and pelicans. There's also a fish pond where kids can borrow a homemade rod for some catch and release. As you turn into the street, don't feel pressured by the parking attendants at the other restaurants who will make attempts to get you into their locales.

If you're into trying local favorites, this is the place to order lengua—beef tongue—or chicken mole, which has a sweet twist. The pork loin and barbecue ribs are also worth a taste. For dessert, order the flan with cajeta (a local soft caramel sauce); it's homemade—literally made in someone's house and delivered nightly to the restaurant.

One of the most sophisticated restaurants in Guadalajara, Santo Coyote offers top-notch Mexican-fusion cuisine, like delicious tacos el negro with lobster and traditional Mexican sopa de tortilla. Set in a wide indoor/outdoor space, the atmosphere couldn’t be more spectacular with outstanding lighting, a huge palapa, and a beautiful garden. This is the place you would take that date you are trying to impress.

A true Tapatío (Guadalajara native) will tell you that these are the best tacos in town. Don’t expect anything fancy; it’s just a clean and functional taqueria where everything is about those exquisite tacos.

One of Guadalajara's most famous dishes is the torta ahogada, literally a "drowned sandwich," and Tortas Toño serves the best in town. It’s a baguette filled with pork meat served in a bowl with lots (and we are talking lots!) of hot tomato sauce on top.