This tiny restaurant on Roma’s outskirts is only open from Thursday to Sunday with limited hours, but it’s worth adjusting your plans and making a reservation via Instagram. It excels at well-executed Mediterranean-Mexican small plates for lunch or dinner. Here, the beauty is the simplicity of each dish—they take a handful of ingredients and make them shine, like their famous avocado tostadas topped with just furikake and homemade salsa matcha.

At this Pacific Northwest-inspired restaurant, all of their meat is farm-raised, most of their produce is sourced locally, and just about everything on the hearty menu will be cooked in a wood-fired oven and come out nice and smoky. Their cocktail menu is impressive, but we usually stick with one of the many hard cider options, which go great with all that char.

This probably isn’t the first time you’ve heard of Contramar, and it won’t be the last. It’s legendary for its seafood-focused menu, and you should absolutely make a point to come here for the tuna tostadas and whole fish covered in red and green sauce. Make a reservation for lunch, when the sprawling dining room becomes an all-out party. If this is your first time in CDMX, a meal at Contramar is essential dining.

The step-above-casual date night spot in Roma is Pigeon. It’s an energetic cafe on a charming corner in Plaza Río de Janeiro, and is a cozy, classed-up setting with mid-century modern decor, leather booths, and dim lighting. For a place this nice, it’s surprisingly always easy to walk in and get a table. The menu uses Mexican ingredients like zucchini blossom, avocados, and local seafood and mixes them up with a European flair.

Dooriban’s Korean homestyle cooking took the city’s Korean food scene by storm after the chef started making “Kimchi Mama Park” out of a ghost kitchen in Colonia Juárez. (Now, it’s a proper restaurant in Roma.) The kimchi bokkeumbap—bacon fried rice with that excellent fermented cabbage—is the main event, but it’s nearly eclipsed by the Korean fried chicken wings served in a delightfully messy gochujang sauce.

Chicken is something that Mexico excels at, especially when you consider that it’s a key ingredient of enchiladas, mole, and chilaquiles. So a restaurant entirely focused on poultry is a welcome addition to CDMX. The options here are varied: you can get a Middle Eastern-inspired grilled flour tortilla sandwich slathered with labneh and shredded chicken, as well as the city’s most famous dish, tacos al pastor (with chicken subbed in for pork, of course).

Orinoco has some of the best tacos in town, and prioritizing it for a late-night meal is always a great idea. Definitely get a round of the tacos de chicharrón—instead of crispy, potato chip-like slices of fried pork rinds, Orinoco’s are soft on the inside and seared on the outside, resulting in a fun mix of textures. And, yes, you should also go for their tacos al pastor, which are arguably the best in all of CDMX.

Rosetta is a beautiful restaurant inside a townhouse, with a menu that’s predominantly Italian with a Mexican touch. Expect things like pillowy ricotta-stuffed ravioli covered in a creamy lemon sauce, and tagliatelle punched up with some chile de árbol. Our favorite time to be here is lunch when the room fills with light, but if you’re looking to enjoy a romantic night out, dinner at Rosetta should be at the top of your list. (And yes, you should definitely go to Panadería Rosetta for pastries.)

El Hidalguense should be your tacos de barbacoa stop on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday—and that’s because those are the only days they’re open. These are hands-down the best slow-cooked lamb tacos in Mexico City. Their only location is intended to look and feel like a country ranch in the state of Hidalgo, and is most busy in the mornings (barbacoa is one of Mexico’s most beloved hangover cures) so come closer to lunch to avoid the crowds.

Máximo Bistrot is a restaurant that’s kind of French, kind of Mexican, and one of the best spots in town for a hot date or group dinner. It’s a fun atrium-like space with great cocktails made of out-there ingredients, and they do really delicious spins on dishes you’ve seen before, like a caesar salad with headcheese. They also have a great wine list, including some Mexican choices, and operate a breakfast/brunch spot called Lalo! that’s just a few blocks away.