Visiting Puerto Escondido and don’t want to deal with reading a million tripadvisor reviews? Don’t worry, I gotcha covered. The beautiful beaches and laid back vibes may be what draws people to Puerto Escondido, but the amazing cuisine is definitely a reason to stick around. The variety of restaurants in Puerto Escondido is unbelievable, from swanky al fresco beach dining to little road side taco stands. With menus featuring fresh seafood, veggies, and Oaxacan cuisine even the pickiest eater will be purrrrfectly fine.
I’m not going to claim to be a food blogger by any means, but I adored every restaurant on this list. I spent my week in Puerto Escondido eating at as many different spots as possible. Not going to lie, I obviously made a couple repeat visits, but it’s hard not to when you find the best fish tacos on the planet.
This list is in no means definitive, since it would take a solid couple of months to try everything the town has to offer. I’d love to hear of any amazing restaurants in Puerto Escondido that I missed, in the comments! 🙂
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Paletas! My favourite Mexican icy treat. They come in a huge variety of flavours, and are made of fresh fruit/coffee/cookies/coconut. So a fancy popsicle and 1000 times better. If you’re travelling to other spots in Mexico, you can usually find them in a nondescript deep freeze stashed away in mom and pop convenience stores.
Palma Negra also offers fresh made hard icecream as well, which I would definitely recommend trying, once you’ve sampled a paleta. A huge selection of flavours, these are the most refreshing in the sweltering heat.
The coconut strawberry one is definitely my favourite, just frozen blended chunks of coconut and slices of strawberry. So delicious for the 30 seconds I had to eat it before it melted over me.
Off the main drag in Zicatela, this little spot might be the most delicious (and economical) restaurants in Puerto Escondido, ESPECIALLY in bougie Zicatela. I doubt you’ll find it on any other best restaurants in Puerto Escondido lists, since it’s extremely easy to miss, hidden down the alley next to the OXXO on Av. Del Marro. We ate here a couple times since the food was delicious and the ladies running the place were incredibly sweet.
Breakfast and lunch were both amazing, I could eat the enfrijoladas every day for the rest of my life and be happy. Enfrijoladas – tortillas stuffed with cheese and topped with two fried eggs and a salsa made of fried beans, is definitely aon the heavier side for breakfast, but it was entirely worth it. Whatever you eat, make sure to order a coffee. Mama Malu serves up Oaxaca style coffee – coffee brewed in a clay pot with cinnamon, brown sugar, and orange peel. Not too sweet, and the little taste of cinnamon is delicious!
El Cafecito has two locations in Puerto Escondido, one near the entrance to Playa Carrizalillo and the other on the main strip in Zicatela.
With an absolutely massive menu, cheap prices and huge portions, El Cafecito’s breakfast has basically become a Puerto Escondido legend with the travelling and surfing crowd. Talk to anybody about where they ate while in Puerto Escondido, and El Cafecito will definitely be included in that list.
We ate here a couple times during our stay in Puerto Escondido, trying it out for breakfast and a late lunch to escape the high heat. The breakfast was good, but the fresh quesillo quesadillas and guacamole was definitely my favourite.
If you’re looking for a spot to get your caffeine/wifi fix, head to Dan’s. Down a quiet street shaded by trees dripping with flowers, Dan’s is a perfect spot to sit for a while with your coffee and chill out. They offer a full food menu as well as their extensive coffee options. I had the granola fruit bowl and an iced latte and it was fantastic to settle in and escape the sun for a bit.
Dan also has a guesthouse next door to the cafe, we didn’t stay there but I peeked in the front door and it looked adorable!
When in Mexico, you obviously need to eat as many tacos as possible. What’s La Olita’s speciality? Tacos. EXCEPT, these are fancy tacos. Served on the most delicious house-made moringa and amaranth tortillas, dressed with a crunchy pickled vegetable slaw, and served up with an array of house made salsas.
Our server was the sweetest and brought us over a taster of their hummus and chips as well, and if we hadn’t already eaten 6 tacos, we would of ordered that too!
The restaurant’s name gets right to the point. Their specialty is a smoked fish taco – a white fish that’s been smoked and has a texture similar to flakey tuna. There were a few of us, and we tried the smoked fish, battered fish, and an order of guacamole. Two of us loved the smoked fish tacos, and two of us loved the battered fish tacos. I was on the battered fish side, but I’m a texture person. My boyfriend loved the smoked fish, so I definitely recommend trying it!
Most people visit La Parrilla Mixteca’s for it’s signature al pastor offerings. If you haven’t heard of al pastor, it’s an absolute must try in Mexico. Thinly sliced pork is marinated for hours in a mixture of spices, pineapple, and achiote paste, and then spit roasted with a pineapple, schwarma style. There are also other meat options besides the traditional pork, if chicken or beef are more to your taste.
There’s a half dozen different options for how the al pastor is served, we tried the corn tortilla tacos and the tlayudas. Tlayudas are native to the Oaxaca region, and are similar to a large crispy quesadilla usually filled with refried beans, meat, cheese, and topped off with a variety of salsas and veggies. At Taqueria La Parrilla Mixteca all meals are served with an army of house made salsas on the side. You cannot go wrong with a meal that costs 100 pesos for 2, (including the cerveza)!
If you’re going to eat one taco in your life, make it a taco from Pepe’s. The most amazing fish and shrimp tacos I’ve had in my entire life. It’s worth searching across Puerto Escondido for, which you will probably end up doing. Pepe’s is infamous for being difficult to locate and changing locations frequently, and we put in a solid search effort to find him. After reading a few blogs and asking around town, we wandered the streets a bit north of La Punta on the hunt.
Thankfully after searching for close to an hour, a guy walking down the road was obviously used to confused people wandering the area looking for the ellusive Pepe’s. Our walking angel told us that Pepe had once again moved, and pointed us in the right direction. He told us that we’d know we were close when we heard the music, and he was spot on.
Approaching we heard some bangin’ beats that definitely didn’t fit the low key setting – a cute backyard garden with communal picnic tables strung with cafe lights. But the music doesn’t matter when it’s the best tacos ON THE PLANET. There are no menus since Pepe sticks to three offerings; fish, shrimp, and veggie tacos. You can choose how you want them cooked, but just go for the breaded coconut, always.
Gigantic portions of whatever you order are battered in coconut, and served with a mountain of slaw and pineapple salsa, and there’s an array of salsas on the table (cilantro crema, yaaaaas). Two tacos were more than filling. Pepe himself does all the cooking, and two women help him out taking orders, etc. Pepe also makes sure to visit everyone that’s eating to have a chat and ask how they like the food. We had ordered coronas with our meals, and I’m assuming they didn’t want to tell us they were out – because five minutes later a motorbike pulls up, dropping off a dripping bag of coronas. I seriously cannot rave about this place or the service enough.
Bikini bar is a cute little cabana on the main street in La Punta, with bar top swings and a back seating area that spreads out onto the beach. Home to what might be Puerto Escondido’s best happy hour, it’s 80 pesos for a heavy-handed fresh pina colada served up in a pineapple, and then 25 pesos for refills. We may have spent a couple hours here drinking one too many…
Bikini bar is the sister restaurant of Palapa Bar in Zicatela, and the same happy hour specials are offered in both locations!
I think it’s a very good sign if you visit a restaurant twice, and both times you space on taking a photo because you’re too excited to eat. Amoki serves up burritos the size of my forearm (for reference, it’s a regular sized arm), tacos, quesadillas, and all the other delicious Mexican norms. I had a chorizo and a chicken burrito, and both were unreal. Everything is big enough to share, so keep that in mind if you’re travelling with somebody! So much easier to sample everything on a menu when you’re willing to share.
A breakfast staple in La Punta, there was a lineup for a table at Cafe Ole every morning when we walked by. The crepes are massive, we split one crepe and a watermelon juice and it was the perfect size breakfast for two. I can’t be the only person who prefers lots of tiny meals so I can try more food, right?
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