How to Eat Well in Oaxaca
Fancy isn't always best
Even in Mexico, absolutely stuffed with incredible food, Oaxaca is famed. In large part this is because of Oaxaca’s native dishes and ingredients, which are unique, delicious, and very reflective of the landscape and culture here. But I also believe people love the food in Oaxaca because, generally, the quality of ingredients is high, cooks, chefs, and bakers are skilled and knowledgeable, and hospitality here is excellent.
But, as with anywhere, it’s not a guarantee every meal will be incredible. Not every restaurant always does their best, not every cook or server is paying complete attention, and sometimes a gorgeous dining masks a kitchen without direction.
Regardless of whether you’re someone looking for attentive table service at one of the city’s more prestigious restaurants or if you’re a person who likes to scarf down tacos curbside while sitting on a plastic stool, the following list of tips should help you maximize your time eating in Oaxaca.
General Dining Tips For Eating in Oaxaca
Oaxaca has two primary meals: alumerzo (lunch), which is usually eaten around 11:00 and comida (which just means “food”), which is typically eaten at 2:00 or 3:00. Because of this meal cycle many restaurants may close at around 6:00 or 7:00 in the evening. But, in Oaxaca city’s Centro neighborhood most restaurants will stay open for dinner (cena) to cater to tourists and younger (and/or richer) Oaxacans who have adopted American/European customs.
Google Maps tends to be unreliable in Oaxaca. Don’t trust locations are where the map says they are and be especially wary of listed hours.
Virtually every meal will be punctuated by people saying either “buen provecho,” or simply “provecho” to you. It translates essentially as “enjoy your meal” and is considered to be a basic, very commonplace courtesy. It is most likely people will say provecho to you after they have completed their meal and are walking past your table as they leave the restaurant. Try it out yourself on people you pass in restaurants!
Tap water isn’t typically an option available in Oaxaca, but that’s ok. Unless you’re in a fancy restaurant bottled water will be inexpensive, around a dollar a bottle. Ordering “agua mineral” will get you sparkling water, typically from brands like Topo Chico, Peñafiel, Ciel, or Garci Crespo. Menus will typically indicate which brands they have available, and at what price, or your server will tell you what they have. Ordering “agua de fruta” will get you a glass of filtered water mixed with puréed fruit, herbs (“hierba buena”, mint, is common) or some sort of grain such as avena (oatmeal) or amaranto (amaranth). If you want a drink that’s a bit more familiar, limonada or naranjada—exactly what they sound like—are always delicious choices.
Tortilla chips are called totopos. Some restaurants, especially those which are tourist-facing, will include guacamole and totopos or guacamole and tostadas on their menu, but it’s not a guarantee. It’s possible a restaurant may give you a complimentary basket of totopos or tostadas along with a little salsa, but don’t expect it.
“Salsa” just means “sauce” and there are countless variations in Mexico, so if you’d like to order a particular kind of salsa in a restaurant you’re going to have to be specific. In the Valles Centrales in Oaxaca the version you’re most likely to see as a table condiment is salsa macha, which is a fragrant, moderately hot, bright red chile oil containing peanuts or almonds, sesame seeds, ground up dried chiles, salt, and sometimes dehydrated fruit.
Many Oaxacan restaurants, and especially those that are either fancier or which serve food that is more specifically indigenous, will have dishes made with insects, either as an ingredient or as a topping. It’s never a secret so you don’t have to worry about them appearing unexpectedly in something you’ve ordered, but if you’re not interested in eating insects it’s a good idea to keep a close eye on your menu. “Chapulines” are toasted grasshoppers and “gusanos” (the generic word for “worms”) will be maguey worms, which live inside of agave plants.
Oaxaca has truly wonderful bakeries, ranging from everyday places selling types of pan dulce (sweet breads eaten with coffee) to more modern, progressive bakeries selling sourdough bread, French-style pastries, and much more besides. Some of our favorites are Pan con Madre, Boulenc, and Onnno.
Oaxaca has a huge variety of wonderful coffee shops, and coffee here is prepared at a very high level. This is in part because Oaxaca is a coffee producing region and farmers will sell their coffee directly to shops and local rosters without going through a middle person, resulting in coffee shops having nice, fresh beans. And, in addition to espresso drinks and pourovers you can find the far more traditional “cafe de olla,” which is prepared with sugar and spices. Oaxaca also has a tradition of drinking hot chocolate prepared with either milk or water.
Coffee beans for sale at the local market. Oaxacans love pizza and burgers, and you’ll see a great many restaurants selling them. The burgers, in our experience, are better than the pizzas.
Restaurant Tips for Oaxaca
Oaxaca has a huge number of restaurants, ranging from comedors (casual restaurants which may or may not have a permit to operate) to splendid, visibly fancy restaurants catering to tourists and economically privileged Oaxacans. But as with restaurants anywhere, it’s possible to both “order wrong,” and to miss out on the best things a menu has to offer.
Fancy isn’t always best. Some of Oaxaca’s most upscale and expensive restaurants actually serve food that is pretty lackluster, for the same reasons many expensive restaurants elsewhere in the world often kind of stink: once you hit a certain level of expense it becomes less about the food and more about the service, environment, and exclusivity. Don’t expect the city’s fanciest, most prestigious, most list-friendly restaurants to have the best food.
Don’t order street food at fancy restaurants. It may be tempting to see what a tlayuda, one of Oaxaca’s most inexpensive and most quintessential street foods, may be like from a white tablecloth restaurant, and the answer is that it will likely be uninspired. Street food vendors have a lifetime of experience making those dishes and you’re better off ordering from the experts.
Do order fish in restaurants in Oaxaca. The Oaxacan coast is quite close to the Valles Centrales (a 25 minute flight, or a 3 hour drive using the newly opened highway) and as a result it’s not hard to find fresh, high quality fish. You’ll see a great many restaurants serving ceviche or mariscos (which just means seafood) and typical options will be dorado (aka, mahi-mahi), ostiónes (oysters), pulpo (octopus), and camarones (shrimp). Seafood will typically be fried, grilled, or “cooked” in lime juice, which is how ceviche is made. Barring unforeseen circumstances (or a crappy restaurant) the seafood here will be fresh, safe, and delicious.
Seafood tostadas from a food truck on the side of the highway close to our home. Some restaurants may be labeled as a “comedor,” which translates as “dining room.” A comedor is typically a more informal restaurant catering to locals which serves common Oaxacan dishes. Comedors often offer great food at quite low prices, but as they tend not to be tourist-facing it’s very unlikely anyone will speak English.
It’s very easy to eat inexpensively in Oaxaca, but remember that economic accessibility is relative. The city’s most costly tasting menu restaurants may come to approximately $80-100 per person, not including beverages, and for someone from a major city like New York that may offer great value. Bear in mind, though, the wealth gap in Mexico, and especially in Oaxaca, is enormous, what feels like an incredible deal for you may represent an astronomical amount of money for someone local.
Street Food and Market Tips for Oaxaca
Some of the best food in Oaxaca comes from either street vendors or from large markets and how those businesses operate will vary. Some street food vendors will sell food out of the back of a car, some have a sort of hybrid vehicle combining a bicycle with a mobile kitchen, some have an American-style food truck, and others may have a more permanent setup on a corner or in a parking lot with tables and chairs. Markets also take various forms and can be large, permanent structures made of concrete, temporary pop-ups appearing on specific days of the week underneath hanging tarps, or collections of vendors existing underneath metal-roofed sheds with no walls.
If a vendor has lots of customers, it’s a good sign. Conversely, take it as a warning if, when set up amongst a multitude of other active vendors, one place seems to have no customers. This same rule is also reiterated below in Food Safety Tips.
Pay attention to signage, as many street food vendors may specialize in one particular type of food, be it carnitas (chopped up deep fried pork), tlayudas (large, Oaxacan-style crispy tortillas topped with pork lard, cheese, cabbage, and grilled meat), memelas (thick tortillas with raised edges with a wide variety of toppings), tacos, or even hamburgers (beloved in Oaxaca). Typically signage will clearly indicate if there’s a specialty of the house.
If a vendor sells more than one type of dish and you’re not sure what to order, ask for advice! It’s very unlikely you’ll be upsold on anything and the recommendation of the cook/owner should be solid.
You will almost certainly be asked if you’d like more to eat once you’ve finished whatever you’ve ordered. If you’re still hungry, don’t be shy and order more! It’s common for people to place a second order.
Speaking generally, people in Oaxaca are both welcoming and curious about visitors. If you’re seated at a communal table and someone tries to engage you in conversation it’s worthwhile to speak with them, even if your Spanish isn’t very good. It will likely be a nice conversation, and a great memory to look back on.
Food in Oaxaca, and especially street food and market food, is inexpensive and vendors typically will not expect a tip, even from travelers. Tip anyway, and tip often and generously. The positive impact tipping makes far exceeds whatever you’ll spend, and even a tip of just 15 or 20 pesos can make a big difference for people.
Food Safety Tips for Oaxaca
Conventional wisdom says one reason people get sick during travel is because their gut biome hasn’t had an opportunity to adjust to the local bacteria. There isn’t enough information to really prove that, though, and it’s far more likely the dreaded TD (traveler’s diarrhea) results from either something that was improperly washed or refrigerated, or perhaps something that had begun to spoil.
So here’s what you really need to know: when it comes to food poisoning, what will make a traveler sick will also make a local sick. No amount of local gut flora will protect you from salmonella poisoning. But that’s not a bad thing! It means that simply being attentive will cut down on the odds you’ll be confined to your bathroom.
It’s always a good sign when a spot is crowded with happy locals having a meal. It’s a bad sign when a restaurant (or street food spot) is empty. This is especially true if one spot is empty while being surrounded by busy spots. Locals know!
Check the seal on any bottled drinks you buy, and particularly bottled water. Whether it’s in a restaurant or on the street, if you order a drink poured from a bottle people in Oaxaca will open the bottle in front of you. If a bottle is handed to you unsealed and you didn’t see someone open it, ask for a new one. If a bottle of water looks cloudy or gritty, don’t drink it. This same rule applies to anywhere else in the world, too.
Tourists are often told to avoid getting drinks with ice, but my experience is you don’t need to worry about that in Oaxaca. Drinking water here is either filtered or comes from large jugs, and ice is made from that filtered water. Ice machines in the United States are notoriously filthy, so it’s not like the ice you’re getting back home is necessarily any cleaner.
Really, use your best judgment and try not to worry too much. Sometimes our ideas about what is clean and what is not can be tied to our preconceptions, and (as any restaurant worker can tell you) a great many restaurants in the U.S. that seek to broadcast how clean they are are actually secretly filthy. So have a great time and eat broadly!
Great write up! It’s cafe de olla, though 😉
2025 will see my second trip to Oaxaca, are you anywhere near Puerto Escondido, to give me specific recs?