The 10 best Mexican restaurants in Chicago

This list ranks 10 sit-down Mexican restaurants in Chicago, from Michelin-starred tasting menus in River North and Uptown to Guerrero-style goat and venison in Little Village. The list is written for locals planning a celebration dinner and for visitors who want regional cooking, slow-built moles and coastal seafood rather than a quick taco.

The ranking favors kitchens that cook specific parts of Mexico: Oaxacan moles, Michoacán corn tamales, Veracruz seafood, San Luis Potosí enchiladas. Prices run wide. Topolobampo’s tasting menu cost $165 on weekdays and $185 on weekends in late 2025, and Cariño runs about $210, while most main plates elsewhere on the list fall between $20 and $45.

How we chose

Three things set the order. First came recognition from independent sources: stars and Bib Gourmand picks in the Michelin Guide’s November 2025 Chicago selection, James Beard awards, and the 2026 best-of lists from The Infatuation and Time Out Chicago. Next came how deeply each kitchen cooks a particular region, judged on the moles, masa and seafood on current menus. Longevity broke ties. Taquerias and counter-service spots were left out, including every pick on the Windy City Magazine tacos list, so this ranking sticks to places where you sit down for a full meal.

Hours and prices below come from each business and change without notice. Call ahead if you are making a special trip.

Topolobampo

Rick and Deann Bayless run their fine-dining room at the same Clark Street address as Frontera Grill, and Topolobampo is where their cooks push hardest. The tasting menu changes every six to eight weeks around one theme. The current one, Veracruz: Mountains and Sea, moves from dry-aged Gulf red snapper crudo to Maryland crab in huatape verde to Texas wild boar in mole de Xico. Chef de cuisine Meagan O’Connor leads the kitchen. A Michelin star plus a national James Beard win puts Topolobampo at No. 1. Add the agave pairing; the pours run deep into mezcal and raicilla.

Hours: Check current hours before you go.

Address: 445 N Clark St, Chicago, IL 60654

Why they made the list

• Topolobampo holds one Michelin star in the 2025 Chicago guide, one of two Mexican restaurants in the city with a star, WTTW reported.
• The James Beard Foundation named Topolobampo the Outstanding Restaurant in the country in 2017.
• The tasting menu cost $165 on weekdays and $185 on weekends before drinks, tax and tip in a December 2025 Islands report.
• Reservations go through OpenTable, and the restaurant says no dish repeats from one menu to the next.

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Cariño

Chef Norman Fenton spent years in Chicago fine-dining kitchens and cooked in Tulum before opening Cariño on Broadway in Uptown with co-owner Karen Young. The tasting menu calls itself Latin-inspired, but the spine is Mexican: a michelada oyster with Clamato pearls, huitlacoche ravioli with sweet corn and truffle, black cod in mole amarillo, a tostada of al pastor tartare. The cooking is playful and precise at once. A Michelin star in each of the restaurant’s first two guides earns second place. Ask about the chef’s counter, which puts you a few feet from the plating.

Hours: Wed-Sun 6 p.m. to midnight.

Address: 4662 N Broadway, Chicago, IL 60640

Why they made the list

• Cariño earned a Michelin star in the 2024 Chicago guide and kept the star in 2025, WTTW reported.
• The Infatuation puts the 11-course tasting menu at about $210 a person.
• The restaurant opened on December 28, 2023, in a space Fenton had already cooked in as executive chef.
• The Wilson Red Line station is less than a block south on Broadway.

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Mi Tocaya Antojería

Diana Dávila draws on family summers in Mexico and her roots in San Luis Potosí at Mi Tocaya Antojería, the Logan Square restaurant she opened in 2017. Plates come small, medium and large. Order the enchiladas potosinas, chile-spiced masa turnovers with lump crab in salsa verde, then a guiso of wild mushrooms stewed in pipián verde, then masa-battered enoki in mole manchamanteles. That freedom with tradition, backed by a 2025 Bib Gourmand, puts Dávila’s place third. Go on a Tuesday, when wine bottles are half off.

Hours: Tue-Sat 5 to 10 p.m.; Sun 5 to 9 p.m.

Address: 2800 W Logan Blvd, Chicago, IL 60647

Why they made the list

• The Michelin Guide listed Mi Tocaya as a Bib Gourmand in its 2025 Chicago selection.
• The aguachile de camarón with Sonoran shrimp costs $27, and the enchiladas potosinas cost $18.
• Wednesdays bring a burrito suizo, a steak burrito drowned in salsa ranchera and melted cave-aged Swiss cheese.
• Every check carries a 3% surcharge that the house matches to help pay for staff health insurance.

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Frontera Grill

Before Topolobampo, there was Frontera Grill, which the Baylesses opened in River North in 1987 after a long stay researching their first cookbook in Mexico. Nearly four decades on, the room still fills for regional cooking at mid-range prices. The enchiladas de mole come in a 27-ingredient mole poblano for $28, and the classic ceviche of pole-caught albacore is $20. On Tuesday through Thursday, a braised short rib in Oaxacan black mole runs $48. Consistency over that long a stretch keeps Frontera fourth. Happy hour runs 4:30 to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday.

Hours: Tue-Thu 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4:30 to 9 p.m.; Fri 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 to 10 p.m.; Sat 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 to 10 p.m.; Sun 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 to 9 p.m.

Address: 445 N Clark St, Chicago, IL 60654

Why they made the list

• The James Beard Foundation named Frontera Grill its Outstanding Restaurant in 2007, as Chicagoist reported that May.
• The Michelin Guide listed Frontera Grill as a Bib Gourmand in its 2025 Chicago selection.
• Handmade tortillas use heirloom corn grown on family farms in Oaxaca and made into masa in Chicago.
• Reservations are on OpenTable and Resy, and the restaurant seats guests on a heated patio as well as indoors.

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Kie-Gol-Lanee

The cooks behind Kie-Gol-Lanee moved to Chicago in 2004 from Santa María Quiegolani in Oaxaca, worked in an Andersonville kitchen for years, and opened their Uptown restaurant under their hometown’s name in September 2016. The menu stays close to home: tlayudas on 10-inch handmade tortillas, chapulines with lime, plantain-leaf tamales in green, red or yellow mole. Order the gallinitas al horno, a roasted Cornish hen under dark, faintly sweet mole and sesame, for $34. A single-state focus and years of Michelin notice put the family fifth. Pay cash if you can; cards add 3%.

Hours: Mon and Wed-Fri 3:30 to 10 p.m.; Sat-Sun 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; closed Tue.

Address: 5004 N Sheridan Rd, Chicago, IL 60640

Why they made the list

• The Michelin Guide lists Kie-Gol-Lanee as a Bib Gourmand for 2025, and the restaurant says the kitchen has held the distinction since 2020.
• A tlayuda with grilled skirt steak costs $32 and is sized for sharing.
• A second Kie-Gol-Lanee operates at 2901 W Diversey Ave in Logan Square.
• The Uptown location sits a short walk from the Argyle Red Line stop.

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Sol de Mexico

Juan Carlos Tello grew up around his family’s breakfast stall in a Ciudad Hidalgo market in Michoacán and learned mole from his mother-in-law, Clementina Flores. At Sol de Mexico, on Cicero Avenue in Belmont Cragin, those moles are the draw. The borrego en mole negro, a lamb rack in Oaxacan black mole built on chilhuacle chiles and 28 spices, is $30. The menu rotates every three months to spotlight different states, while the moles stay put. Strong sauces at Northwest Side prices land the restaurant sixth. Start with uchepos, fresh-corn tamales under roasted chile cream, for $11.

Hours: Wed-Sat 4 to 10 p.m.; Sun 1 to 8 p.m.; closed Mon-Tue.

Address: 3018 N Cicero Ave, Chicago, IL 60641

Why they made the list

• Sol de Mexico is a Bib Gourmand pick in the Michelin Guide’s 2025 Chicago selection.
• The pollo en mole rojo costs $25 and comes with rice and sweet plantains.
• Tello trained under chef Geno Bahena, who now runs Manchamanteles, No. 9 on this list.
• The restaurant recommends booking ahead and takes reservations online.

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Mariscos San Pedro

Pilsen gained a serious Mexican seafood restaurant in June 2024 when Mariscos San Pedro opened on 18th Street under chefs Oliver Poilevey, Marcos Ascencio and Antonio Incandela. The raw bar handles oysters, aguachile negro with citrus-cured scallops and a tuna tostada with salsa macha. From the wood fire come octopus with mole for $48 and a whole dorade in red and green adobo for $45. Groups should look at the $95 seafood tower. The youngest restaurant here ranks seventh because the cooking already matches the older names. The room shares a building with a busy concert hall, so book early on show nights.

Hours: Mon-Thu 5 to 9 p.m.; Fri 5 to 10 p.m.; Sat 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 5 to 10 p.m.; Sun 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 5 to 9 p.m.

Address: 1227 W 18th St, Chicago, IL 60608

Why they made the list

• The opening drew coverage from WBEZ in June 2024.
• Oysters of the day cost $22 for six with passion fruit mignonette.
• Time Out Chicago and The Infatuation both include Mariscos San Pedro on their 2026 lists of the city’s best Mexican restaurants.
• The tostada mixta called La Chingona piles spicy tuna, shrimp and octopus over salsa negra for $26.

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Chilam Balam

Bring a bottle of tequila to Chilam Balam, a small BYOB room on Broadway in Lakeview where every plate is built for the middle of the table. Owner Soraya Rendon comes from Mexico City, and executive chef Natalie Oswald interned at Frontera Grill and Topolobampo in 2006. The kitchen cooks seasonally: beef short rib in pumpkin mole for $41.95, chile en nogada with walnut and goat cheese cream for $29.95, Brussels sprouts dressed like elote. A Bib Gourmand and the easy, shared format earn eighth place. Bring cash or use Venmo, since cards are not accepted.

Hours: Tue-Thu 5 to 9 p.m.; Fri-Sat 5 to 10 p.m.; closed Sun-Mon.

Address: 3023 N Broadway, Chicago, IL 60657

Why they made the list

• The Michelin Guide listed Chilam Balam as a Bib Gourmand in its 2025 Chicago selection.
• Guests may bring only beer, wine and tequila, limited to one 750-milliliter bottle or one pack of beer for every two people.
• Reservations are taken by email at info@chilambalamchicago.com and are not final until the restaurant confirms.
• The restaurant says most dishes on the menu are gluten free.

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Manchamanteles

Mole is the life’s work of Generoso “Geno” Bahena, who trained in Rick Bayless’s kitchens, and Manchamanteles in Bucktown is where he cooks now. The kitchen keeps five moles going, including a nut-free black mole, and grills meats over mesquite and oak. The borrego en mole negro, New Zealand lamb rack in a black mole made with chilhuacle chiles, is $43, and pollo en mole manchamanteles with grilled pineapple and plantains is $34. A mole trio with chips at $14 is the cheap way in. Five moles kept going at once earn the spot, and a sprawling menu in a huge room keeps Bahena’s place at ninth.

Hours: Wed-Thu 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Fri-Sat 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sun 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; closed Mon-Tue.

Address: 2009 N Western Ave, Chicago, IL 60647

Why they made the list

• Mole turkey for four cost $185 in November 2025, when WBEZ listed Manchamanteles among Chicago’s Thanksgiving options.
• A four-course Día de los Muertos tasting menu runs October 30 through November 1, 2026.
• Saturday margarita classes cost $55 a person, with sessions on October 17 and October 24, 2026.
• Bahena teaches private two-hour mole cooking classes for groups of 10 to 20 at $110 a guest.

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La Casa de Samuel

Samuel Linares opened La Casa de Samuel on Cermak Road in 1989 to cook the Mexican dishes he felt other restaurants ignored, and his children Arturo and Maribel run the Little Village restaurant today. Corn tortillas are pressed by hand and sent to the table hot. Go for the Guerrero and Monterrey plates: cecina de venado for $22.95, grilled cabrito estilo Monterrey for $34.95, or bull’s testicles in garlicky ajillo sauce if you are curious. Frog legs and baby eels sit among the starters. More than three decades of game and goat land the restaurant 10th. The doors open at 8 a.m. every day.

Hours: Sun-Thu 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Fri-Sat 8 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Address: 2834 W Cermak Rd, Chicago, IL 60623

Why they made the list

• Linares ran the restaurant until his death in December 2020, the Sun-Times reported.
• The parrillada de carnes for three, with cecina, short ribs, chorizo and criadillas, costs $76.95.
• Pollo en mole estilo Guerrero, chicken in the house mole, costs $16.95.
• The restaurant takes reservations online and books live Latin music.

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Also worth knowing

Carlos Gaytán, born in Huitzuco, Guerrero, named Tzuco in River North after his hometown and cooks Mexican food through French technique at 720 N State St. Gaytán held a Michelin star at his previous restaurant in 2013 and 2014, according to Tzuco. Weekend brunch brings quesabirria for $20 and a lobster tostada for $24.

Emidio Oceguera’s Cerdito Muerto at 1700 S Halsted St in Pilsen seats about 30 and pairs cocktails with dishes like duck carnitas nachos, a $25 plate that made the Sun-Times roundup of the best things eaten around Chicago in 2025. A $120 Día de los Muertos prix fixe dinner is set for October 31, 2026.

See a place we missed or a detail that has changed? Send us a correction.