Aug 2019 · Feb 2023 · verified July 2026

Mexico City

Everywhere Alex actually went, across two trips — then checked, place by place, against what’s still standing. Two he loved have closed. Those are gone from this list. The ones he wrote something about are quoted in his words.

Map of central Mexico City, from Polanco east to Centro Histórico and south to Coyoacán

Basemap © OpenStreetMap contributors, © CARTO

Two that closed

Mari Gold shut in April 2025; Masala y Maíz, from the same chefs, is where its people went. Elly’s is gone too. Both still read as open on the usual sites.

Book these or lose them

Quintonil, two to three months. Handshake: OpenTable only, slots drop at midnight local exactly fourteen days ahead and vanish in minutes. Esquina Común takes reservations by Instagram DM. Casa Azul is timed-entry online, with no door sales at all.

Beyond this map

Basílica de Guadalupe, north of Centro — free, daily. Teotihuacán, about eighty minutes by bus from Terminal Norte; you can no longer climb the Sun, and the Moon gives you its first 47 steps. Arca Tierra, breakfast on a chinampa farm in the Xochimilco canals — the opposite of the party boats. Book direct.

A note on manners

Roma and Condesa saw protests in 2025 over Airbnb and displacement. It isn’t a safety problem, but it is real. Tip well, keep your voice down on residential streets, and a hotel draws less resentment than a short-term rental.