Guadalajara, or GDL, as its airport abbreviation dubs it, is described by some as the most Mexican of the Mexican cities. Mighty Mexico City is cosmopolitan, international and refined, offering something for everyone in its traffic-filled expanse, but Mexico’s second largest city, GDL, is dense and expansive, yet more low-key and old world.
Though the city is increasingly offering world-class restaurants and bars, in many ways it remains soulful, rustic, and down to earth. It’s not a place for flash so much as quality and heart. Don’t mistake it, though: GDL knows what’s up when it comes to food and drink, marrying modernity with tradition at many bars and restaurants across a metropolitan area of over five million people.
When it comes to distilling, GDL’s home state of Jalisco is ground zero for agave. Jalisco is dominated by blue Weber agave, grown in the lowlands and highlands of Tequila, a region a short drive — but worlds away — from GDL’s bustle. King Tequila rules the state — and the world, in many ways — of spirits at large and of agave specifically. But Queen Raicilla has plenty to say, and its roots as “the other” great agave spirit of Jalisco spread far and wide. There are venerable raicilla brands like La Venenosa, La Tersa, and Pequeña Raiz, but much like mezcal, you’ll find small house stills all over the state making raicilla, from people’s yards to restaurants distilling their own.
Challenged by the global explosion of mezcal and the widespread respect for the category’s adherence to tradition, tequila is having a renaissance, bringing back ancestral methods like tahona wheels. Though all agave spirits are under threat with many issues, not the least of which is agave shortage, the number of smaller, additive-free, old world method producers continues to steadily grow in big business tequila, as has always been standard in raicilla and historically in the increasing big business of mezcal. Kudos go to Grover and Scarlet Sanschagrin, the brave couple behind Tequila Matchmaker, for bringing the additive-free, purity dialogue front and center in agave, though they do so to growing persecution from large tequila companies and beyond.
In this hotbed of agave, Guadalajara sits as a huge city filled with excellent food at every level and an increasing number of craft cocktail bars next to classic cantinas and agave spirits “libraries.” Covering the gamut, here are ten standout places to drink in GDL now:
Farmacia Rita Pérez
Farmacia Rita Pérez exudes Mexican cantina vibes down to its funky jukebox, vintage organ, yellow and teal tiles, low ceiling, and vintage Corona beer tables. Francisco “Pancho” Castillon and team keep it festive yet laid-back with warm hospitality that is full-on Mexico. Irresistible torta ahogada sandwiches, tacos, and snacks flow, while events like “The Raicillero Legacy” showcase another great Jaliscan spirit, raicilla, alongside tastings with Mexican distillers to support the industry and educate consumers.
Drink This: Well-crafted but unfussy cocktails are heavy on agave spirits but go beyond, too. Think El Mananera (Mexican Aconte white rum, mamey juice, distilled banana juice, lemon) or Peter Pancho (sotol, lime water, lemongrass syrup, lemon, Angostura bitters). Creative touches peek out on easy drinkers like Pan Puerco, a mix of Cascahuín Reposado tequila and citrus oils with mead and anise-cardamom bitters.
Bruna
Debuting in 2015, Bruna is on the The World’s 50 Best Discovery list for a reason. Certainly, it’s the expansive restaurant’s lush gardens, art gallery, tables, and flowing indoor-outdoor space set on black-and-white parquet floors. It is also chef Oscar Garza’s inspired modern Mexican cooking, starting with his brilliant platter of colorful moles artfully displayed in a wheel, showcasing the range of these complex sauces from various states of Mexico. His creative dishes — like laminated octopus carpaccio bathed in lemon chipotle sauce with red bell pepper — keep step with the innovative cocktails.
Drink This: Often presented tableside with flair, Bruna’s dramatic cocktails delight with culinary influence, whether white truffle martinis or the eight-day-aged, cold-smoked Mazamitla cocktail, smoking tequila with mesquite and pine wood. Even gin and tonics step it up with tableside infusions like Antartik Tonic. First, they infuse gin with cardamom and dill, then mix it with soursop liquor and tonic over ice and berries with a vanilla, patchouli, cedar-laced Lilith tincture added at the end. From whiskey to agave, Bruna creates some of GDL’s most ambitious cocktails.
Barra Matilde Mi Amor
Barra Matilde Mi Amor has been one of the city’s best bars for years, housed on a rooftop lined with vivid green chairs, plants, teal accents, and wood tables. There is a covered and uncovered patio alongside a greenery-covered bar area, all open air. Co-owners Steffin Oghene of El Tequileño Tequila and Abraham Israel Delgado Flores oversee a tight, friendly team who know their Mexican spirits and craft creative, balanced drinks.
Drink This: Historically there are tiki-inspired drinks amid modern Mexican creations. There are historic house favorites like Amiga Date Cuenta, a tequila and mezcal cocktail lively with jamaica (hibiscus), vanilla, lemon, Himalayan salt, sesame oil, and aquafaba foam. Though heavy on agave cocktails, they also shine with whiskey, rum, gin, and beyond. Case in point: a French 75 twist, the Guanatos 75 combines gin, dry vermouth, lemon, grape, and thyme cordial with Cinzano Pro Spritz Spumante Dry sparkling wine
El Gallo Altanero
El Gallo is consistently on The World’s 50 Best Bars and North America’s 50 Best Bars lists, among other best-ofs, for good reasons. Inside an adobe building housing Cafe Fitzroy, head through a charming, open air courtyard. Upstairs you find a wrap-around perch gazing down over the courtyard below illuminated by a stained-glass window of an agave plant. There’s a secret, not-open-to-the-public, dank basement hiding a musty wonderland of rare spirits. All confirms owner and Aussie Nick Reed’s (also co-owner of Tromba Tequila) love of drink, creating a winning bar beloved by many.
Drink This: Rotating cocktails are all about seasonal ingredients, from watermelon to guayaba (guava). Yes, cocktails are heavy on agave spirits from tequila to raicilla, but you’ll see a range of spirits glorified in their accessible yet thoughtful drinks. You might sip the likes of a Jicama Sour with raicilla and Ancho Reyes chile liqueur. Or Malverde, a vegetal cocktail of blanco tequila, green Chartreuse, spicy tomatillo juice, cucumber, and agave syrup.
De La O Cantina
De La O Cantina is funky, eclectic, and welcoming with its Mexican retro feel and thrift store array of vintage radios, TVs, and paintings. Sit at the teal blue-tiled bar in a black swivel bar chair, or pull up to mid-century tables with friends for De La O’s popular “Guadalatiki” tiki-influenced cocktails. Think Pepita Tequila Mai Tais, agave and rum-centric drinks, and seasonal cocktails, all paired with tacos and tostaditos.
Drink This: Crowd-pleasers include the likes of a Cynar Daiquiri, Banana Colada, or a cardamom-ginger-spiced Masala Colada. Rum gets its due in drinks like La Cana del Caribe, stirring Jamaican rum with Ponche Pajarote Tamarindo Liqueur, vermouth blanc, grapefruit bitters and rhubarb liqueur. Regardless of what you drink, De La O is one of GDL’s most pleasurable bars for cocktail geeks that still feels like a chill local hang.
Alcalde
Alcalde is one of Guadalajara’s best fine dining restaurants and, alongside Allium, was among the top two restaurants that first showed me years ago GDL was progressing forward with restaurants competitive with the best in Mexico City. Alcalde has only gotten better with each visit, as its growing place on Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants confirms. Chef Paco Ruano cooked at international restaurant behemoths like El Celler de Can Roca, Mugaritz, and Noma, proving he’s here to play in a global way while showcasing the flavors and traditions of Mexico brilliantly and at an artfully delicious level.
Drink This: Cocktails are equally strong, elegant, and balanced, with plays on classics from a Paloma to a Paper Plane. Also expect robust house drinks like Vino de Tigre, combining mezcal, raicilla, and Cynar with green Chartreuse, a raspberry shrub, and saline solution. House shrubs in flavors like guava are vibrantly vinegary, showcasing fruit with acidic backbone.
Xokol
Industrial-chic Xokol boasts black earthen tones, a wall lined with house drink infusions, and a striking mural of an older Indigenous woman under a ceiling from which corn cobs hang over a communal table. This confirms a restaurant centered around native Mexican corn varieties. Xokol is the kind of place where ancestral dishes get modern, creative treatment while remaining true to history and roots, thanks to talented young chefs Óscar Segundo and Xrysw Ruelas Díaz.
Drink This: From infusions to house cocktails, Xokol’s drinks educate as they delight. Sip the likes of fresh corn (maiz) water while you peruse a menu of cocktails featuring ingredients from seaweed to soursop. Expect traditional drinks like colonche, an alcoholic red drink made of tuna fruits of the nopal (the Opuntia cactus). There is no separate bar space, so you have to dine in to experience the unique drink offerings. Xokol is a welcome opportunity to dive into historic Mexican drinks and rarely seen traditions in the glass as on the plate.
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La Occidental Cantina
The neighborhood cantina you didn’t know you needed. I learned about La Occidental Cantina from local tequila distillers. This all-day cantina near the Nine Corners and Guadalajara’s Centro neighborhood certainly comforts with good food, beer, and tequila alongside live music or rousing mariachi or cumbia.
Drink This: Cocktails are classic and straightforward — from margaritas to sangria, even Brazilian caiprinhas. But there is also fresh (natural) and curado (“cured” with additives like fruit or nuts) pulque, a deliciously sour, milky beverage from the fermented sap of the maguey or agave plant. This classic Mexican drink is usually found roadside, served fresh — in fact, it’s illegal to export to the States given its fermented-fresh, short shelf life. Though opened in 2013 by Álvaro Dorantes and team, Occidental feels as if it has been here for decades, lovingly worn and chill, whether you’re solo or a festive group. From the blue exterior to traditional Mexican equipale chairs and tables, the space is heartwarming, inviting, pure Mexico.
Pare de Sufrir Tome Mezcaleria
Pare de Sufrir Tome Mezcaleria is a World’s 50 Best Discovery-named bar that honors one thing: mezcal. Sure, they offer Coronas and boozy ponches (punches) on the chalkboard in changing flavors like jamaica (hibiscus), tamarindo, or cacao. There are even some lovely raicillas to sip neat. But this is a casual temple to all things mezcal, with the bar’s name meaning “to end suffering, drink mezcal.”
Drink This: Lively murals and string lights play backdrop to DJs and a thoughtful selection of over 70 mezcals all bottled under the Mezonte label, a nonprofit that owner and filmmaker Pedro Jiménez formed to promote small producers making agave spirits the ancestral way. In 2012, he directed the documentary Viva Mezcal and founded Mezonte. Here you can drink small producers under threat from the globalization of mezcal. Supporting such producers is one small way to stand up to agave shortages, exploitation of workers and other issues. Jiménez’s selection offers a diverse taste of Oaxaca as he tries to fill in the gap for mezcal in GDL. Ending suffering, indeed.
PalReal
Since 2013, Café PalReal is rightly known for its top-notch brunch and its coffee. Brunch is the ideal time to pull up to the low breakfast counter bar on a yellow swivel chair or grab a seat in the covered garden patio. Take in the bustle as quality local coffee and espresso drinks are prepared in forms from Chemex to V60, alongside chef Fabian Delgado’s well-loved chilaquiles or enmoladas (a Oaxacan mole breakfast dish). From lonche de pancita sandwiches to vegan dishes, the laid-back but buzzy restaurant serves heartwarming food and drink all day.
Drink This: Though their coffee greatness centers the drink menu, PalReal offers simple but well-made cocktails and local spirits behind the bar. Think French 75s, coffee Old Fashioneds, Carajillos, Whiskey Sours, and Mexican Paranubes rum Daiquiris. Happy lighter sips that work all day include a Cynar and soda or Vermut Tonico (vermouth and tonic).
