24 Best Restaurants in Los Cabos, Mexico

This large, casual, sportfishing-oriented cantina, just around the corner from the Tesoro Los Cabos Resort, draws crowds with its all-day drink specials. Boasting a top marina location near L-M-N Dock, an excellent view of the sportfishing and mega yachts, $2 cervezas all day, affordable eats, and American sports on multiple TVs, it's a favorite of the sportfishing deckhands and boat captains. You can enjoy a Captain's breakfast special for under $8, a budget-friendly afternoon appetizer menu, or splurge a bit more for daily seafood and steak specials. Most meals can be had for under $20. Saturday night is Ladies' Night—ladies drink free from 8 to 10 pm—and if you stay late, you'll catch the live DJ and dancing. Free Wi-Fi is accessible throughout the restaurant.

In addition to its great selection of beer and wines, as well as organic and frozen foods, healthy and low-calorie offerings, and cheese, this corner shop carries familiar products and brands from the United States. A second location has been added at The Shoppes at Palmilla.

Lobster's the thing here, but daily specials like surf-and-turf combos round out the list. Open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, this typical Mexican sit-down locale has a happy hour that runs from 8 am to 6 pm—and prices are super cheap. You can get a lobster tail with rice and beans for 14 bucks; El Charro tequila shots are a mere 20¢; and Don Julio tequila shots are less than $3. As you sit under the open-air palapa enjoying this feast fit for a king, strolling mariachis will pass by, providing your dining soundtrack.

One of the more upscale choices near hectic Médano Beach, Edith's is the sister restaurant to popular The Office on the Beach. The Caesar salad and flambéed banana crepes are prepared table-side at this colorful and popular restaurant. Wally's Special, which includes lobster, shrimp, and fish, is also a popular menu item. The focus here is on Mexican ingredients—quesadillas feature Oaxacan cheese and are filled with seasonal zucchini flowers; meat and fish dishes are doused in local chili or tropical fruit sauces. Edith's air-conditioned wine room offers a large selection of domestic and imported wines and is ideal for hosting small intimate dinner parties of up to 10 people. Families dine in early evening, so come in later if you're looking for a less crowded experience.

The original Bismark is a bit out of the way, but it attracts families who settle down for hours at long wooden tables, while telenovelas (Latin American soap operas) play on the TV above the bar. Tuck into seafood cocktails, enormous grilled lobsters, or carne asada served with beans, guacamole, and homemade tortillas. Seafood tacos and micheladas are specialties at the malecón location, called Bismark-cito.

This two-story palapa restaurant, named “The Drunken Sailor,” is always packed with locals and tourists alike. It’s no wonder: the location across from the marina is the perfect spot to watch the sunset while enjoying a ginger mint mojito or tamarind margarita. Several dishes feature unexpected Vietnamese and Costa Rican influences, such as the panko-crusted fish taco with ginger cream and the shrimp enchilada with coconut pineapple sauce and fried plantains. The shrimp burger on homemade bread comes with chili lime fries and pairs well with an ice cold michelada (salt-rimmed Mexican beer with lime, spices, and hot sauce). Timid palates must overcome any hesitation and try the best dessert in Los Cabos: the avocado-lime chocolate cream pie on graham cracker crust.

It's well known that Las Ventanas is one of the best hotels in Mexico, and the on-site dining likewise does not disappoint. A diverse Mexican menu pays homage to the country's culinary traditions, with a focus on family recipes. Highlights include seared octopus with mole chichilo, poblano chili stuffed with seafood, and kurobuta pork with puréed corn. For a social appetizer, start with the "Taco Experience," a customized taco bar for two served on a rotating turntable. If you haven't already blown through your dinner budget, order the tiramisu, eclair, or mango crumble. There's live music nightly, and private cooking demonstrations in the Rosewood herb garden (by reservation).

If you're looking for some entertainment to go along with your tacos or tortas (sandwiches), listen for the blaring Beatles' tunes at Gordo Lele's, then watch owner Javier Reynoso don his Beatles wig and sing along to "I Want to Hold Your Hand" or "Let It Be." The walls here are filled with Fab Four photos and album covers. Javier's tacos and tortas are made with loving care, and his fans can have two or three ham-and-cheese tortas for what would be the price of one anywhere else, plus an assortment of generously sized tacos.

Celebrity chef Tadd Chapman and partner Miguel Guerrero joined forces to re-launch this traditional Mexican restaurant in its new location and with fresh new culinary techniques. Opt for lunch specialties of octopus tacos and black scallop ceviche, and for dinner, try the seafood risotto, or the grilled NY strip with habanero chimichurri. Exceptional breakfasts—ranging from stuffed French toast to eggs Benedict prepared five ways—are served from 8 to noon for about $10.

Massive globes of 15 types of margaritas and a Mexican guitarist singing American covers makes this a magnet for tourists, but it also draws locals. If you're looking for cheap and delicious Mexican food, you've come to the right place. Tacos stuffed with chorizo, marinated pork, and flank steak pervade the menu, though it's the quesadillas, with fillings like pumpkin flower, poblano pepper and onion, and pork skin that shine. Chilangas, or fried, folded-over quesadillas with melted cheese, also merit the trip, while the volcanoes (hard-shell taco cups filled with cheese and your choice of meat) are not to be missed. The outdoor-garden setting of Las Guacamayas is kitschy, with trees sprouting up from the floor, and Christmas lights strung from branch to branch. Painted murals run along the walls, and wooden chairs surround tables with plastic coverings.

Locals swear by the mole poblano and chiles en nogada at this pleasant outdoor restaurant. The menu is ambitious and includes several organic, vegetarian options—rare in these parts. At night the place sparkles with star-shaped lights. Take a stroll through the adjoining landscaped desert garden while you wait for your food.

A former sugarcane mill dating back to 1888, this quaint restaurant is surrounded by farmland that provides organic fruits and vegetables to many of Cabo’s top eateries. Wildflowers in Mason jars and hand-painted clay dishes set the scene at this rustic spot where the menu is based on the season’s harvest. Start with heirloom-tomato soup and a microgreen salad with tamarind vinaigrette. For something fresh and innovative, try the shrimp tacos on thinly sliced jicama (instead of tortillas) topped with a pineapple salsa. A selection of pizzas, and slow-roasted meats like the pork shank with green mole and baked eggplant, are cooked in a wood-fired oven. One of the secrets to the fine flavors is the homemade herbal oil that is dribbled on breads and meats. A cooking class takes place at 10 and 5, by reservation only.

Claiming to have "the best damn breakfast restaurant in the entire country," Mama's is a casual, lively, indoor-outdoor spot in Cabo San Lucas that serves bountiful plates of omelets and poached eggs with avocado and ham, and finger-licking fried potatoes. Mama's lives up to their claim of having the "World's Best French Toast"—a treasure stuffed with cream cheese, strawberries, mangoes, bananas, and pecans, and topped with orange liqueur.

One of Cabo San Lucas's top restaurants is in a cobalt-blue adobe building painted with murals. Interior decorations range from Day of the Dead statues and silver crosses and hearts, to T-shirts and tequilas. The place seats up to 550 and is often full of tourists, but the menu is muy auténtico and filled with regional Mexican specialty dishes. Standouts include the molepoblano with chicken topped in a sauce made from dried peppers, seeds, spices, and chocolate; and chiles en nogada, poblano chilies stuffed with a meat-and-fruit mixture and covered with white-walnut sauce and sherry cream sauce. The tortilla soup is also recommended, as is the oven-roasted spare rib in chili and tamarind adobo. Mi Casa offers a variety of different fruit-flavored margaritas, and a wine list focused on Mexican, California, and South American wines. The large back courtyard glows with candlelight at night, and mariachis provide entertainment.

Deliciously prepared chiles rellenos are the attraction at Miguel's. The sign out front says so, and so does a faded New York Times article, which proclaims them the best in all of Baja. If you're skeptical, owner Miguel Torres will be happy to show you a framed copy of the story. The hearty peppers come in cheese, shrimp, vegetarian, and other options, but the signature version is made with shrimp and scallops. Don't confuse this semi-outdoor place on the edge of town with Michael's, the Asian restaurant several blocks away near the church.

You may feel like you discovered a well-kept secret when you find this palapa-roof house with adobe walls, just a few blocks off the main strip and around the corner from the Mar de Cortez Hotel. Sit on the front patio or in a backyard hut strung with weathered lanterns and photographs of the Mexican Revolution. Menu highlights include camarón coco (coconut shrimp with mango sauce), and catch of the day "Veracruz" style, meaning wrapped and steamed in its own juices with olives, capers, tomatoes, onions, garlic, peppers, and herbs. Close to a dozen pasta dishes are also available, including sautéed shrimp and sausage diablo.

Owner Juan Calderoni has an enormous collection of tequilas, and an extensive knowledge of the stuff. His restaurant is something of a tequila museum, with a colorful array of hundreds of the world's top tequilas—many no longer available—displayed behind the bar. Sample one or two of the nearly 300 labels available, and you'll appreciate the rainbow-colored Oaxacan tablecloths, murals, painted chairs, and streamers even more than you did when you first arrived. Hungry, too? Try fresh local seafood and regional specialties like tortilla soup, chiles rellenos, or grilled pork shank in salsa borracha. For larger appetites, the Pancho's combo, which includes steak, quesadilla, chile relleno, and a chicken enchilada, is the way to go. Pancho's offers special and private tequila tastings, which will give you a greater appreciation of this piquant liquor from Jalisco.

Everything is delicious, and prices are reasonable at this cheerful little restaurant painted in bright yellow and orange. Meats are the specialty here, but just about everything on the menu is good and choices are abundant. The tacos de arrachera, a kind of beef taco, are particularly tasty. You can pop in anytime, day or night, since this restaurant is open 24 hours.

La Paz has plenty of great taco shacks, but none are better than the small stand owned by the González brothers, who serve hunks of fresh fish wrapped in corn tortillas and offer bowls of condiments with which to decorate your taco. The top quality draws sizable crowds.

Don't be fooled by the bare-bones atmosphere: Tacos Rossy serves some of the best tacos in San José. Fish tacos are the thing at this no-frills joint brimming with local families who munch on everything from peel-and-eat shrimp to ceviche and chocolate clams. Served breaded and fried, the shrimp, scallop, and fish (flounder) tacos here are cheap and delicious. Dress them up however you like at a condiment bar that offers avocados, chilies, cabbage slaw, onions, and an assortment of sauces from tomatillo to habanero.

By day it looks like a hole-in-the-wall, but when the sun goes down, the rummage-sale-meets-taco-stand atmosphere of this open-air local favorite truly comes to life. Get beyond the ghoulish silhouette logo—ahorcado means "hangman" in Spanish—and you'll find that the food is pretty good. One of the few area restaurants open late, it's packed until closing, usually around midnight. Old pots, baskets, antique irons, sombreros, and other tchotchkes hang from the walls and rafters. Quesadillas come with vegetarian fillers such as flor de calabaza (squash blossom), nopales (cactus), and rajas (poblano chilies), while meatier house specialties include beef tongue tacos in mustard sauce, cochinita pibil tacos, Cantonese-style beef rib tacos, and cuchiviriachis—a tostada filled with cheese and meat and roasted for a perfect melt. This is the place to get a chilled Corona for a handful of pesos.

At least once during your visit to Los Cabos, you should visit The Office, the original breakfast spot on Médano Beach's sandy shore. The Office screams "tourist-trap," bedecked with tiki torches and colorful tablecloths, but it's all in good fun, and it's always packed with revelers enjoying the near-perfect views of El Arco. Start your morning with a shrimp and cheese omelet, fresh-fruit smoothie, and powerful cup of Mexican coffee. The French toast is another favorite. Service is super-friendly but the menu is a bit expensive. Later in the day, decent, if not stellar, ceviche, nachos, fish tacos, seafood, and burgers are served in large portions that justify the high prices. Dinners of grilled shrimp or fish with garlic, and steaks are popular, especially when paired alongside cold beers and goblet-sized margaritas.