Cafe de Tacuba, Mexico City

This is a "traditional" Mexican restaurant, in every sense of the word. Cafe de Tacuba has been around a long time, 94 years. When you walk in and are seated, and absorb your surroundings - you'll think you've been transported back in time, way back!

Boveda-style ceilings, dark woods, murals painted on the walls, crisply uniformed waitstaff and well-heeled diners is what you see in this "Centro Historico" landmark.

The restaurant is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Favorite Dish: I've eaten late lunches and late dinners here, never breakfast. My favorite meal is "Pechuga de Pollo con Mole Poblano" - that's a huge breast of chicken smothered in home-made Poblano-style mole sauce - choclaty brown and rich in texture and flavor. I top-off the meal with a bottle of the rich-tasting dark beer - "Cerveza Negra Modelo." I've eaten this dish many places in Mexico but never found one better.

At night, and on weekend afternoons, you will usually find a group of "estudiantinas" (traditionally dressed singers and musicians - more "Spanish" style than indigenous Mexican) who stroll through the restaurant playing mandolins, guitars and singing - it's a wonderful compliment to any meal.

The food here isn't "great," but it's good and, for those of us spending foreign currency in Mexico - the prices are moderate.

This is a place where you eat Mexican food, and it has a very Mexican atmosphere as well (a beautiful decoration & live music). The food is good, prices a little high but not out of budget. In general, it's a good place to eat.

The original restaurant is in downtown (which was affected by a fire a few years ago but it was perfectly refurbished and you wouldn't be able to tell such thing happened), a few blocks away from Bellas Artes. It's very popular so if you go there by lunch time (around 2 PM) it will be very crowded and you will have to wait a bit to be seated.

Favorite Dish: Nothing in particular, mostly all stuff is good here. My mom recommends the Enchiladas (verdes - that is, with green sauce). The green Chilaquiles (very similar to enchiladas) are also very good; both dishes are made with tortilla, chicken, cream and cheese, and covered with green sauce (the one they make there is not very hot so you can eat it safely). There is a dish called "4 cositas" ("four little things") which has 4 different mexican dishes in one: a tamal, an enchilada, a flauta and rice with beans. VERY fulfilling, and all the stuff included in it was good!!!

I loved Cafe de Tacuba and even though there were plenty of options for food, I kept going back there for the tamales. The other food seemed good too, but since I love tamales that was the only thing I ate. On top of that the wait staff were super nice, as was everybody I encountered in Mexico City. Even though it's probably in every tourist book, I would recommend stopping by here. Great atmosphere.

Favorite Dish: Any type of tamale - can't go wrong.

I was attracted to Cafe' de Tacuba as I strolled by at night noticing it's decore and the clientele were predominantly Mexicano. I returned to my lodgings for a better fit as by no means did it appear a place for the downtrodden. Returning soon w/an aquaintance we were greeted w/the utmost courtesy, though crowded, placed immeadiately. The fun began right now! Mariaches serenaded the ladies w/ fine flare as they blushed or brazenly stood and took "a turn" besting the musicians at what they were doing. The food was great! The tortillas fresh, hot, and the best. The chile' rellenos super. The flan (dessert) , though overpriced, fantastic. I know so this can be taken to heart. My Godparents raised a blued eyed beaner ( her uncle was the Presidente' de Mexico, Don Miguel Alleman de Vasqes). My step-father was puro chicano and Grandma Teresa made rellenos buenos! Ambience, flair it was there and all in a gorgeous colonial mansion w/a spiral staircase.

Favorite Dish: The Chile' Rellenos, tortilla, rice, and beans w/ vino tinto de Santo Tomas (Valle' de Guadelupe'; Baja California del Norte'), finished w/ the flan was perfect. My friend however enjoyed the "Comidas". It was a delightfull plate w/ a variety of taste. An enchilada, tamale', tostada, and a fried squash flower (flor de calabasa), all beautifully garnished w/ guacamole', radish, shredded lettuce, tomates, and queso cotija.

The hotel front desk, Mexico city's turibus driver and frommer's book recommended this restaurant to us. Do we need to say more?
Food was good but it's on the expensive side for Mexican standard. The restaurant itself was very busy, we had to wait for 20 minutes for a table. There was a mariachi band playing that weekend at the restaurant. I don't know if they have that on weekdays too.

Favorite Dish: I had a chicken Pozole - which I thought it was pretty good. Spicy, but good.

Food was bland. Ambience/surroundings were O.K., but you can find much better places where the food and ambience is much much better. The service staff is unmotivated and will try to short-change you.

Favorite Dish: All dishes were bland, except for the Tamal de Tacuba was decent, although I've had better.

1 more image

I'd read about Cafe Tacuba in my guide book but got the vibe that it was more touristy than the type of restaurant I was looking for. That being said, it's not that easy to find places to eat around the Zocalo at night, so two girls from the hostel and I decided to check it out on my last night in Mexico City.

First, the restaurant is absolutely beautiful. From the stained glass at the entrance to the beautiful tilework on the walls, Cafe Tacuba is a sight for sore eyes. In addition to the beautiful atmosphere, there is live mariachi music throughout your meal (please tip the musicians!).

However, Cafe Tacuba leaves a lot to be desired on the food and service fronts. Despite an expansive menu, the food quality is only average. I had cheese enchiladas in salsa verde and they were not great. Nobody else particularly enjoyed their meal either, and we felt that prices were very high in relation to the quality of the food. The service was brisk and our server never smiled at us. She was also a little bit rude about answering our questions, which is surprising in a restaurant that makes most of its money off tourists.

On my second visit to Mexico City I avoided Cafe Tacuba, and I wouldn't return in the future. However, I did tell my parents to poke their heads through the door just to see how pretty it is. If only the service and food were half as nice!

the overall ambiance and decor of the place is nice but the food was just so so, plus the waitress wasn't friendly at all.
she had no smile on her face the entire night, did even bother to say thank you or good bye when I paid the bill and gave her the tip.
she just took the order, put the food the table and that's about it, a mediocre service at best. Of our entire trip this was probably the worst service we received in a restaurant.
we ordered the tamarindo and jugo de naranja and both tasted like fresh squeezed which we enjoyed. if you have a party of more than two, and you like tamarindo drink, you can order the half pitcher or full pitcher. we also liked the tamale oaxaca. The tamale oaxaca had meat with a nice spice to it. Our main course we had pozole and enchilada mole poblano. I had a craving for poloze since we arrived in Mexico City and wanted to try it here and I was disappointed. Having had pozole in many other parts of Mexico such as Puerto Vallarta, Cancun, Playa del Carmen etc. this was just so so. The enchilada mole poblano was so so as well. After the first one it took us a lot of effort to try to eat the second one and we couldn't eat much of the third one. My wife had mole poblano in Texas where we are from and she liked it better back home. Overall, it was fine to try the restaurant for the first time and check out the interior but this is probably not a restaurant we'd return.
Now as a disclaimer, I suppose we are not experts in authentic Mexican food. We are only judging the food based on our palate as Americans who had eaten a lot of Mexican food in Texas and have travelled regularly to Mexico and other parts of the world. So you can take it for what it's worth.

Favorite Dish: tamale oaxaca - it was different than the other tamales we've had and the spice (not spice like hot spicy) was nice

This is a class place. Themed, I suppose around colonial ambience. Utterly authentic and definitely not geared to tourists (no, chile con carne) or tex/mex The mole (a rich cacao-based sauce, that reputedly has the highest number of ingredients in a sauce, somewhere in the region of thirty!) served with guajalote/pavo (turkey). Both , smooth, spicy and utterly delectable. The location is great too, just a couple of blocks from el zocalo and palacio del belles artes.

The place tend to look, like an old fashion place, the idea is to keep the old restaurant traditions in downtown. Visiting this place, you will be able to try any mexican dish you would like, so this place would be a nice option in the late afternoon, after visting the rest of the place.
The food is good!!

Favorite Dish: Enchiladas and MOLE