With Mexico Metropolis to the southeast and Puerto Vallarta to the west, Guadalajara has traditionally been an afterthought for a lot of worldwide vacationers. But with the city of Tequila close by to function a draw for drinks-focused vacationers, its quickly rising fame as a culinary and cocktail vacation spot has given the town a vibrancy and power that needs to be skilled to be understood.
Like several massive metropolis, Guadalajara has plenty of neighborhoods, every with its personal distinct vibe and elegance. The guts of the culinary and bar scene is Colonia Americana. Positioned close to the middle of the town, it’s completely teeming with locations to eat and drink, in addition to a number of the greatest preserved examples of the faculties of structure that flourished within the Twenties and Thirties as the town grew and rebuilt after the Mexican Revolution.
Guadalajara can be a late-night city, with many bars and eating places serving effectively into the early hours of the morning, and revelers profiting from the heat and temperateness to show a dinner out into a celebration, any night time of the week.
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For these on their strategy to GDL, listed below are a number of the greatest locations to drink and eat proper now.
The Finest Bars in Guadalajara
El Gallo Altanero
Whereas the pedigree of Freddy Andreasson’s extremely acclaimed El Gallo Altanero — it’s No. 8 on North America’s 50 Finest Bars 2025 and No. 48 on the World’s 50 Finest Bars 2024 — may make you assume a level of seriousness and solemnity, that false impression is shed nearly the second you stroll in. Now, the drinks are positively critical, however the vibe is way extra full of life and party-oriented than many different bars of its ilk. On the loud, open-air spot, it’s not till you’re taking a sip of the beautiful Negroni Tropezado, made with raicilla, Aperol, and recent pineapple, or the justifiably well-known Paloma that you just understand simply what good fingers you’re in.
De La O Cantina
One of many bars that helped propel Guadalajara’s culinary and bar scene ahead, De La O highlights two distinctive expressions of fermentation in Mexican tradition: tepache (fermented pineapple) and pulque (fermented agave), typically mixed with tequila or different agave distillates. Get the Tepache Jaibol or La Buena Yerbabuena, and snack on the chicharrón tacos. The bar additionally pays homage to the larger historical past of the cocktail renaissance with a web page devoted to cocktails created by Phil Ward.
Farmacia Rita Perez
It’s becoming that what would in any other case seem to be an unassuming dive bar affords not simply an unimaginable choice of tequila and different agave spirits, however a number of the greatest aguachile that Guadalajara has to supply. Actually, that’s the place Farmacia Rita Perez co-owner Francisco “Pancho” Castillon received his begin within the hospitality biz, making aguachile, the favored Mexican ceviche dish, for bars throughout city. Now, he’s one thing of a legendary determine in Guadalajara, with undefined (to VinePair, a minimum of) roles in lots of the metropolis’s prime bars. Catch him on the best day and he may pour you a thriller spirit from a transparent, unlabeled plastic bottle, or educate you his private methodology for having fun with the final bits of your aguachile (we received’t spoil it for you). Even when you don’t meet Pancho, the jukebox and the wealth of agave spirits are effectively price a go to.
Previous Peter
It might share a constructing with Farmacita Rita Perez, however Previous Peter is a decidedly totally different bar and vibe. A bit clubbier and moodier, the cocktail program highlights gin cocktails alongside the extra anticipated agave and whiskey drinks, with the properly balanced Aviation being a specific standout. The again bar additionally affords a bigger assortment of the botanical spirit, together with plenty of Mexican renditions.
Matilde Mi Amor
Owned by business veterans Gina Castillo and Steffin Oghene, this rooftop bar highlights inventive craft cocktails, agave, and a contemporary tackle Mexican delicacies. With Castillo and Oghene having deep histories within the American spirits and cocktail business, it’s a bar that blends one of the best attributes of the native tradition, delicacies, and substances with a sensibility that resonates with vacationers and vacationers accustomed to American bar experiences.
Mezonte
Much less a bar than a library of types, Mezonte is a gap within the wall that focuses on preserving and defending the historical past of fermentation and distillation of agave in Mexico, together with these from the pre-colonial interval. The chance to style distillates from numerous states, made in small portions, from a variety of species of agave is a outstanding one, and effectively price in search of out for the really passionate.
The Finest Eating places In Guadalajara
Xokol
Corn isn’t just the centerpiece of this outstanding restaurant, it’s the raison d’être for cooks Óscar Segundo and Xrysw Ruelas Díaz, making a mechanism to not simply discover the crop’s many sorts, manifestations, and makes use of inside native and indigenous delicacies, but additionally the very historical past of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, and Mesoamerica. Whereas the menu adjustments incessantly, preserve a watch out for his or her model of burrata, constituted of an Oaxacan-style cheese and aged cotija. The eating expertise is darkish, moody, and communal: Come curious and go away sated.
Nejayote Molino
As if to show that siblings may be wildly totally different, Nejayote, additionally from Segundo and Diaz, is a vibrant, breezy, informal affair that also showcases blue corn tortillas made to order in entrance of you. To name the area cozy could be understating it, however with dishes pretty much as good because the huevos enhojados (eggs cooked on prime of hoja santa leaves) or the lengua tacos, you received’t thoughts the dearth of private area.
Alcalde
Whereas maybe greatest identified for an elaborate and immersive tasting menu, don’t sleep on Alcalde’s à la carte choices, which draw on chef Francisco Ruano’s Jaliscan heritage and international expertise to deliver out really distinctive flavors. Astonishingly skinny and flavorful air-cured beef, or stunningly tender octopus spotlight that blend of native substances with a playful, flamboyant model of presentation and plating.
El Farallón de Tepic
Certainly one of Guadalajara’s most traditional eating places, El Farallón makes a speciality of Zarandeado-style fish and seafood, a technique of preparation the place the fish is break up after which grilled over scorching coals in a wood-fired oven. Its reputation with locals signifies that the environment is at all times full of life and frenetic in the very best means. Standouts embody the chipotle octopus and the Matanchén ceviche.
