Condesa
el ocho
This hip cafe has some good food and a pervasive retro look. Billing itself as a "cafe recreativo", it's got sudoku and word searches on the placemats, and pencils and scratch paper on every table; help yourself to the wall of board games and magazines.
Café La Glória
Reasonably priced Asian/Italian fusion with a Mexican touch, good bar and good coffee. The staff is laid back to the point of being unprofessional, don't worry about asking twice for your order. Try the pasta with chicken and sesame seed oil/soy sauce.
Casbah
Authentic Moroccan food, with the requisite atmosphere. Everything on the menu is good, accompany it with the house tea, and try the house dessert, if you have a high sugar tolerance. My wife and I ate here last night based on the above recommendation. The food was not as good or authentic as it should have been, given the prices. The starter we ordered were basically spring rolls with an unflavoured meat inside, and the chicken tagine was a big let down. That was basically a flattened chicken breast, served on a plate with a few olives in a bland sauce at a quality restaurant price. The bestilla was ok but the pastry was undercooked. EL JAMIL, a Lebanese restaurant in the same area, does far better food than this. It is also on Amsterdam but about 500 meters towards Alvero Obregon road.
El 10
Argentinian cuisine run by an Argentine owner, very good food at a very reasonable price. The bar is very popular at night.
Barracuda Diner
All-night hip diner with what might be Mexico City's only US-style diner food. Popular place to go after going out drinking. Reasonable, but not exactly low prices.
Litoral
Beautiful salads, pasta, seafood and meats done mostly in a "nuevo mexicano" way. Excellent selection of wines.
Parilladas Bariloche
This family-run restaurant is one of the cheapest places in the city to have good Argentinian/Uruguayan food. Start with some Provolone cheese and papas con amor fried potato wedges with the peel still on. If you're hungry, also try the filete bariloche for two people, about half a kilo of meat each, the bife bufalo or the arrachera.
Califa
A little overpriced, but very high quality tacos. The specialty is the gaonera try the one with cheese, a large, thin slice of tender beef, roasted and placed on a tortilla. The house salsas are also notable for being made with fried tomatoes. After dinner, try the traditional Mexican coffee with cinnamon, café de olla.
Familia Brito
Family-run Cuban restaurant, good food at reasonable prices. Menus include a generous main dish and a small dessert, drinks are extra. On Sundays, there's a sidewalk barbecue.
Frutos Prohibidos
This fast-food place serves rolled sandwiches using flat thin white bread. Wide choice of salads.
Hookah Lounge
Voted "best lounge" in Mexico City. The club serves Middle Eastern food as well as flavored tobacco "hookahs" at your table. The music selection is extremely good ranging from Electro-arabic, to house.
Bistro Mosaico
It is said that French people living in Mexico frequently dine here and highly recommend it. It is rather expensive and haute French cuisine. They also sell excellent European style bread over the counter..
Condesa has a developed restaurant scene, centered on a few blocks surrounding the triple-street intersection of Michoacán, Atlixco and Vincente Suárez, which can be pretty crowded during the day and very popular at night, especially on weekends. The restaurant area extends all along Michoacán from Tamaulipas to Mazatlan. You will find the majority of the restaurants listed below in this area.
Parrilla Quilmes
Authentic family-run Argentinian restaurant with wonderful meat, and good Italian pizza. Try the arrachera, and the four cheeses pizza. The Economist calls it the place where carnivores with good karma meet their destiny.
Roma
BB Kfe
This small cafe offers excellent food at very low prices until 6PM. A set dinner includes a soup, a salad, a main dish, a small dessert, fruit flavored water, and coffee. The pasta dishes are good and portions are abundant.
Sobrinos
Alvaro obregon 110 corner orizaba, 5264-7466. an offshoot of primos in condesa. this semi-upscale restaurant serves mostly mexican food, with interesting variations. they have a good brunch/breakfast too, and excellent coffee. average $200 per person.
Bistro 61
Obregon 61, corner merida. decent dinner and breakfasts, service at times disappointing enthusiastic but disorganized. solid and good-priced dinner specials, as well as pleasant open-air atmosphere can be chilly in coldest times of winter.
Mog
Obregon 40. tasty authentic japanese food at good prices in a very warm, randomly decorated place. a nice spot to hang out and have a drink or coffee/tea also. impressive tea selection.
Roma does not have such a well-developed restaurant scene, but there are still many places to eat. A few are listed here, but you will also be able to discover many others on your own.