The best Mexican restaurants in Miami to try right now

Cantina is the city’s answer to the spate of high-end restaurants you might find in Mexican City. The margaritas are stellar and the live mariachi band makes for a good time. The dishes coming out of the open kitchen represent Mexico’s regional dishes, many swathed in handmade tortillas and several smothered in house-made sauces made in a molcajete.

Los Félix takes its tortillas, and everything they do, very seriously. Consider: a carpaccio of beets looking like a springtime flower, a blue corn quesadilla with multi-colored squash blossoms fanning out from the opening, and pork cheeks stewed into the most tender of carnitas. All this care they’ve put into the food earned Los Felix a Michelin star, which also means you’ll pay a hefty sum for tacos, crudos and more (expect $100-plus per person). But the servers are knowledgeable and attentive, and the vibe is reminiscent of a Mexico City’s Polanco neighborhood transported into Coconut Grove.

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We’re in a time when some of the city's most delicious dishes can only be obtained by putting in some work. That’s true with The Wolf, popping up somewhere, sometime soon, maybe near you. As of this posting, The Wolf appears Tuesday nights at J. Wakefield and Fridays until early morning at Dante’s HiFi. For those willing to look, you’ll find tacos of the simple Mexican street food variety: tortillas, meat, cilantro, onions, salsa. Specials abound, though, including occasional birria numbers and collab menus with fellow local talents.

An outpost of the critically acclaimed Las Vegas eatery, Chica dropped into Miami’s historic MiMo district with a stunning vibe and a menu that’s Mexican-ish. There's a truffled mushroom arepa, Mexican "mezze" with pumpkin seed hummus and an Oaxacan rotisserie chicken with chintextle crema. The churros and tres leches continue the theme, with original takes on classics.

Taquiza is known for its organic blue masa tortillas, which are ground daily and supplied to a good deal of Miami restaurants. Get them as a standard soft taco or as crispy totopos with a side of guac. As for tacos, Taquiza serves theirs simply: topped with a protein or veggie and with optional cilantro and raw onions you add yourself. While the original South Beach location is no more, luckily the newer, slicker location in North Beach remains. What to order? Everything is good—yes, even the grasshopper tacos.

Wynwood’s answer to Tulum’s eco-chic restaurants is a stunner, featuring an expansive outdoor bar and dimly lit by strewn rustic lanterns. More is more at Bakan, where more than 200 types of mezcal line the walls. Once you land on one, follow the menu’s color-coded pairing guide to find its delicious taco match. Bakan also has another gorgeous outpost, KoKo by Bakan, in Coconut Grove.

This mercado-style spot inside Brickell City Centre goes beyond tacos with an exhaustive menu of shareable plates—from ceviches and an array of tostadas to quesadillas and veggie sides. There are a dozen different tacos to choose from, so order a bunch because you’ll want to sample as many as possible, especially the asado steak served rolled up in a shot glass and the blackened fish tacos on blue corn tortillas.

What makes the food at Coyo Taco so delicious? The attention to authentic, fresh Mexican flavors and ingredients—including the hand-pressed corn tortillas. It also helps that Coyo Taco is just plain cool, with an aesthetic as hip as the Wynwood neighborhood where it began. That’s probably why Coyo has grown so quickly, now with spots as far-flung as Paris and Portugal. At many Coyo locations, a pretty dope speakeasy hides in the back. But even with its trendy nightlife scene, Coyo sticks to its roots: made-from-scratch tacos stuffed with expertly seasoned ingredients and margaritas that are just $5.

This adorable, beachside cafe sits in the basement of the Stanton Hotel. Every inch of the space has chef/owner Richard Ampudia’s mark, from the kitschy wall art and traditional cantina decor to the menu’s (mostly) healthy spin on CDMX street food. Healthy options range from of-the-moment proteins like cauliflower—stuffed in tacos or served over nachos—to fresh seafood, from shrimp to octopus to poké.

Major Food Group’s first foray into Mexican cuisine took over a historic chateau on the south end of Brickell and decked it out with all the glamor-filled maximalism the group is known for – with a bit of salsa on the side. The dishes here are pretty straightforward Mexican and the menu is tequila-heavy, as there are about 1000 different bottles on hand to try. For dessert, choose from coconut tres leches, mango cheesecake and churros. 

This MiMo walk-up window on Biscayne Boulevard serves some of Miami's best birria tacos, paired with the perfect consommé dip for the meaty, cheesy filling. But the classics here really shine, especially the carnitas. If you're seeking something a bit more substantial, the steak burrito stuffed with crispy potatoes never disappoints, and the nachos with a generous side of melted queso mixto are truly addictive. The vibe here is highly casual, with outdoor-only seating on picnic tables and a smattering of high-tops.

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The bare-bones Little Havana dining room stays busy thanks to Rinconcito’s cheap, tasty eats. The heaping portions of delicious Mexican food served here are not just a bargain (you can easily feed a family of four for $20) but they’re also really, really good. The chorizo queso fundido is a bubbling, cheesy, meat-filled dream of a starter, while salad packs enough romaine to fill a garden.

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The best part about visiting Mexico is finding those taco spots on every corner, serving up what might be the best thing you've ever eaten in a tortilla. Tacos El Porky, a tiny fast-food-quick spot in downtown, is going for that vibe, as evidenced by its trompo, a towering triangle of al pastor pork that gets shaved onto tacos with pineapple, onions and a cilantro mayo (add cheese to make it a “gringa”). As the name suggests, there's more pork than just pastor, with crispy fried chicharron served up simply by their glorious selves or in one very porky taco.

Like everyone else in the middle of the pandemic, El Primo went nuts for birria tacos—so much so that the quick Downtown spot built a whole menu around them. Dress them up with cheese and guac, or opt for the birria-style tostadas, nachos, burritos and even a smash burger. What got them a lot of Instagram love early on, though, was the "birriamen," a heaping bowl of ramen noodles and fixings served in fatty, beefy birria drippings.

If you want the authentic taste of Mexican street food without having to eat it standing by the side of the road, Bodega’s got you covered. You’ll still place your order from a truck—except this one is permanently parked inside and afterward, you can select a seat at a high-top or picnic table, inside or curbside. Dishes include tacos, tortas, street corn and guacamole, to name a few. And because Miamians love a little club-door drama, Bodega disguises the entrance to its secret back lounge as a porta-potty.

From the Ortiz family, which pioneered authentic Mexican cuisine in South Beach with neighborhood favorite El Rancho Grande, comes Sunset Harbour’s Tequiztlan Tequileria and Cocina Mexicana. Much like its predecessor (Tequiztlan is an evolved, more refined version of El Rancho) the restaurant serves true Mexican cooking, only this time paired with a variety of top-shelf tequilas and mescals.

Tacombi arrived in the Miami Design District in December 2021 after spreading out around New York City like a hipster with a trust fund. But this is no Chipotle—Tacombi’s vibe feels somewhere between bustling Bronx bodega and a Little Havana house party. They’re going for legit Mexican street food, which is obvious by the rotating spit of al pastor pork spinning in the kitchen, topped by a pineapple that gets sliced atop the tacos. But the real headliner here is the Cali-style fish taco, a Twinkie-sized hunk of beer-battered cod with roasted poblano mayo and fat-cutting slaw.