Where to Eat in Todos Santos: Check the Clock First

By Cabo Wander

The message I get most from friends heading up Highway 19 goes something like this. "We'll be in Todos Santos around noon, where should we eat?"

My answer is that you have two good lunches to choose between, and I'd choose before you leave Cabo. The first is a garden table at Jazamango at 1pm, which is the lunch I'd build the whole day around. The second is fish tacos, either standing up at Tacos George's before the fish runs out or sitting down with a beer at El Sinaloense. One runs somewhere around US$120 to $170 for two and the other about US$25, and I've driven home happy after both.

Here's what took me a few trips to work out about Todos Santos restaurants. They're split up by the clock much more sharply than the ones in Cabo. The taco stands are finished by mid-afternoon. The garden restaurant doesn't open until one. The best hotel kitchen skips lunch completely, and several of the dinners you've read about don't unlock the door until four or five. So if you roll in at 12:30 with a list from a blog, about half of it is shut. Then there are the closed days, which are scattered through the week and matter a lot in a town this small.

The other thing I'd want you to know early is where the disappointments are. They're in the middle. Spend very little at a stand or spend properly at Jazamango and you'll eat well. The let-downs I've had were in handsome rooms with so-so kitchens, and on the corner by the Hotel California, where the check is the thing you'll remember.

So this post starts with lunch, in the order I'd pick them, because that's the one meal a day-tripper gets. After that it's dinner and breakfast for anyone sleeping over, then the places I'd skip, and then a section on which day of the week you're going, which I'd honestly read twice. How the rest of the day fits around lunch is in my Todos Santos day trip post.

So let's get into it.

Jazamango

On the edge of town, a few minutes' drive from the plaza. Lunch and dinner from 1pm.

Jazamango is my number one, and it's the only lunch here I'd plan a whole day trip around. It's chef Javier Plascencia's restaurant, and you eat under a roof with no walls, right beside the vegetable beds, with a wood oven going.

Order the short rib empanada and the house ceviche the minute you sit down. The empanada is the plate I'd come back for. The aguachile is very good too, and the pizza from the wood oven is closer to a real Neapolitan one than I expected to find in a garden in Baja. On Sundays there's lamb barbacoa. Save room for dessert, which a lot of people skip here and shouldn't.

It isn't flawless, and I'd rather you heard that from me. Mains can take half an hour or more to arrive, which is why I get the starters in fast. I've had a dish that was swimming in butter, and a couple of plates that were fussier than they needed to be. In the warm months there are flies, because it's a garden. And the kitchen can close before the posted time, so I wouldn't show up late in the evening.

For two, plan on something like US$120 to $170 with a drink each, tax and tip. That's my rough number, so please treat it as a guide. Cocktails are where it climbs, and the fish mains can be a lot more than you'd guess, so look at the prices before you order.

Here's my tip, and it's the trade nobody mentions. Jazamango doesn't open until 1pm, so it can't be an early lunch. Seated at one, you're back in the car at about 2:30. In winter you need to be leaving the area by 4:15 or so to get home before dark, so that leaves you a short hour at Cerritos, or none if lunch runs long. The long lunch and the beach compete for the same afternoon. From May to July, with the long evenings, both fit easily.

It's closed on Tuesdays as far as I've ever found, so check before you drive. For a one o'clock table on a winter weekend, book online ahead of time. Out of season, the same week has been fine. They take cards and there's a parking lot.

It's also the easiest good dinner if you're staying the night. I'd go back every trip.

Tacos George's, with La Paceña

In the center, on foot. Mid-morning until the fish runs out. Cash only.

This is the cheap lunch, and it's the best use of fifteen minutes in Todos Santos. For me George's is still the best fish taco in town.

It's a cart under a tarp on Colegio Militar, which is the highway through town and sounds like it. The floor is dirt and there's almost nowhere to sit. The menu is battered fish and battered shrimp, and that's all of it. You get your tacos on a tray and dress them yourself at the bar with cabbage, crema, pico, pickled onion and a red and a green salsa. Then you eat standing up, in the sun, next to traffic. I love it, and I know that isn't everybody's idea of lunch.

The catch is the deadline. George's is open from mid-morning to about three and sells out well before that in high season, so I go by 1:30 at the latest. It also takes a day off. I've seen that day given as Thursday and I've never been able to pin it down, which is why I pair it with a second stand.

La Paceña is the same idea a few minutes back toward the center, on Márquez de León across from the bank. Look for a blue board with a giant orange shrimp painted on it. It has more choice than George's, with fish, shrimp, scallop and smoked marlin. It's closed on Mondays, it shuts when it sells out, and the hours you'll find online for it are wrong often enough that I just walk over and look.

If one of them is shut, the other usually isn't. Two of you will eat at either for roughly US$10 to $18. I don't have a current menu board to quote you, so that's my estimate. It's a little more than a cart in Cabo San Lucas and a lot less than anywhere with a host at the door. Bring pesos in small bills.

If stands like these are your favorite kind of lunch, the ones I'd send you to down south are in the best tacos in Cabo.

Tacos y Mariscos El Sinaloense

On Juárez at Ocampo, a few blocks past the busy part of the center. Late morning to 6pm, closed Mondays.

El Sinaloense is the lunch I'd send most people to, and it's the most dependable kitchen on this whole list. You get a table, shade, a cold beer and a card machine, and it's open right through the hours a day-tripper is in town, so there's no deadline to beat.

The battered fish and shrimp tacos are what I'd start with, and there's a toppings bar here too. Then get the shrimp and octopus ceviche, which is the plate I'd come back for. The portions are big. The passion fruit agua fresca is the drink to order if you're driving, and if somebody at the table doesn't eat fish, there are coconut and avocado tacos that are better than they sound.

I honestly don't have a complaint about the food, and I can't say that about anywhere else in town. It's family-run and you can tell.

What I'd change is small. It isn't on the pretty streets, so nobody finds it by wandering. And it shuts at six, so it's no help at dinner if you're staying over.

Two of you will spend about US$22 to $35 with beers. They take cards, and I'd bring pesos anyway.

Santo Chilote

On Juárez, about two blocks from the Hotel California. Late morning to 8pm.

Santo Chilote is my backup, and it's the taco for the day you got to George's too late. It stays open into the evening, which none of the other taco places do.

The coconut shrimp taco is the one to get, and it's been the one to get for years. There's a fish taco done pastor style, a breaded avocado taco if you're done with seafood, and you dress everything yourself. The margaritas are large. Three of us ate here with beers and sodas for about US$40, so figure US$22 to $30 for two.

It's the closest decent food to the Hotel California, which is the reason to know about it and also the reason it's busy at 12:30. I've had slow service when it was only half full, and a salsa bar that looked a little tired. I'd still pick it over anything on the corner itself.

I've seen it listed as closed on Tuesdays and I haven't been able to confirm that. Bring pesos.

Oystera

In the center, on Juárez. Open every day, mid-morning to 8pm.

Oystera is on this list for its oysters, its courtyard and its hours. Order a dozen and a glass of something, and then leave. I mean that kindly.

You walk through a gate on Juárez into a brick courtyard in the old sugar mill, with a few shops around it. A shucker comes to your table with a tray and tells you where each oyster is from, and they're all from Baja. They're excellent, raw or grilled. A dozen and two glasses takes about forty minutes and it's a lovely forty minutes.

The mistake is turning the page of the menu. Every time I've ordered past the oysters I've been let down. The shrimp tacos were dry, a risotto didn't taste of much, the steak was more fat than steak and the cocktails were weak. And the prices on that page are high. Oysters and a drink each is about US$80 to $130 for two by my rough math, and a full meal can run anywhere from US$150 to $300.

So why is it this high up? Because it's open straight through, every single day, and you can walk in. It's my answer on a Tuesday, when Jazamango is shut. It's my answer on a Monday, when two of the taco places are. And it's my answer when you got to town at eleven and nothing else has opened yet. That stretch between the stands selling out and the garden opening is real, and oysters fill it nicely.

They take cards and there's a parking lot.

Mejibó

In the center, on Calle Morelos. Morning to 9pm, closed Sundays.

Mejibó is the one I'd try if you want a sit-down lunch you can walk to and you'd rather not spend Jazamango money. It's a shaded garden in the center, it's open at noon, and I've seen a big group seated without a reservation.

The cooking is Baja seafood with some sushi and tacos mixed in. The snapper with rice and the shrimp aguachile verde are the two plates I'd order, and there's a pecan pie for dessert. Dogs are welcome in the garden, and there's live music some evenings.

I'm keeping this one short on purpose. I know it less well than everything above it, and I don't have prices I trust. My guess is US$60 to $110 for two, and it really is a guess. I haven't had a bad plate, and I also haven't eaten there enough to put it ahead of the places I've known for years.

Barracuda Cantina, at Cerritos

At Cerritos Beach, about fifteen minutes south of town. Noon to 8pm, closed Wednesdays.

If Cerritos is part of your day, Barracuda is the only place there I'd send you to eat. It's a taco truck with a bar, about a three-minute walk back from the sand, so don't look for it on the beach.

The fish taco of the day is the order, and the fish is whatever came in. The grilled shrimp burrito could feed two people. There's a smoked fish quesadilla I like a lot, and the mezcal margarita is spicy and strong, so that one's for the passenger.

Two of you will spend something like US$35 to $60. That's another rough one, because I've never seen its prices described the same way twice. It's more than a stand in town.

It closes early when the fish runs out, which happens in high season, so I wouldn't leave it until five. Check the Wednesday before you count on it. The swimming corner, the surf lessons and the parking are in my Cerritos Beach post.

Dinner, If You're Staying the Night

Okay, here's the part a day-tripper can skip. The good dinners mostly aren't in the town. They're on the beach at Punta Lobos, or down dirt roads on the north side, and one of them is in a palm grove off a street in the center. That's great if you're sleeping here with a car, and no use at all if you have to be on the highway by 4:15.

Everything closes early. Almost every kitchen is done by nine, so I book for seven. Where to sleep so that dinner is close is in the best hotels in Todos Santos.

Benno

At Hotel San Cristóbal on Punta Lobos, a couple of miles south of town. Breakfast and dinner only.

Benno is the dinner I'd book first, and it's the most reliable cooking in the area. You don't have to be staying at the hotel.

The corn ribs are the plate I'd order before anything else. After that it's the sea bass, the ceviche with fried capers and the grilled octopus, and the carrot cake to finish. The service is lovely. The menu is short, and the one thing that's let me down was a mushroom risotto.

It's expensive. Cocktails are about US$20 each, so four drinks is US$80 before any food. My rough number for dinner for two is US$180 to $280, and I think the food is worth it more than the drinks are.

Please remember there's no lunch. I see Benno recommended for a day-trip lunch all the time. Breakfast runs early, until mid-morning, and dinner starts at five. I've seen dinner listed as off on Wednesdays and also as every night, so check that one. Book ahead.

You're there to watch the fishing boats and the sunset. Nobody swims at that beach.

The Green Room, and Caracara Next Door

At Villa Santa Cruz, about fifteen minutes north of town on dirt.

These two are on the same property, and I'd pick between them by what you want from the evening. The Green Room is the sunset, with tables in the sand, fire pits and the sun going into the Pacific at about 5:40 in winter. In January I've watched whales from the table. Caracara is the better kitchen.

At The Green Room I order the tuna tostadas and the house margarita with mezcal, and I order the drink the second I sit down. The service is slow, and the first round has taken close to 45 minutes on more than one visit. Two of you will spend around US$110 to $180. Bring pesos, because the card machine needs a signal and the beach doesn't always have one. Corkage is steep if you were thinking of bringing a bottle. It opens at one, so it does technically serve lunch, but the whole point is the hour a day-tripper should be driving home.

Caracara is dinner only, from five, and closed Tuesdays. The fresh catch sashimi is the best thing on the menu. The pizzas are about US$20 and the rib eye burger is under US$30, so two of you can eat well for about US$110. Go the full way with the catch of the day and the lobster risotto, which are around US$40 to $50 each, and it's closer to US$200. I haven't had a bad plate there, and it's good with kids. It's the nearest thing up here to the farm dinners outside San José, for less than the most expensive of those, and I compare them in Flora Farms vs Acre vs Los Tamarindos.

Book either one. The road out is rough washboard dirt and you drive it back in the dark, slowly. On a basic rental policy the tires and the underside of the car are usually yours to pay for, which I explain in renting a car in Cabo.

Don't try to do Benno and The Green Room in one evening. They're at opposite ends of town, down different dirt roads.

Düm

In the center, on Calle Centenario. Dinner from 4pm, closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Düm is the tasting-menu night, and I'd save it for a two-night stay. You walk in off an ordinary town street and you're in a palm grove, at a table on a wooden platform at the end of a sand path. The menu changes with every new moon.

The setting is the best in town and the cooking is serious. The beet salad and the chocolate soufflé are the two things I still think about. The portions are small, though, and I've left a little hungry. You can order à la carte, though the set menus are what the room is built around, so expect to be steered toward one.

Plan on roughly US$260 to $330 for two. I don't have a firm price for the regular tasting menu, so that range is loose. I've also seen its opening time listed as noon, and I'd trust four.

Its big advantage is that you can walk home from it to a hotel in the center. None of the other serious dinners can say that.

A Few More for Overnighters

Hierbabuena. This is the garden dinner in Pescadero that people who live here name first, and I'd only go when it's open. It takes a long break in late summer and it's closed on Tuesdays. In season it opens in mid-afternoon, and from 1pm on Sundays, and it doesn't take reservations. The wood-oven pizza with smoked fish and the garden salads are the order. Message before you drive down.
Landi's. A dinner the locals like, in a backyard in Las Tunas. It's evenings only and closed Sundays, and you need a car. It moved out of the center a few years ago, so don't trust an old address. The same goes for Caffé Todos Santos, which has moved too.
5 Tacos and a Beer. It sells five tacos and a beer, for somewhere around US$11 to $13 a person. It's out in Las Tunas near the turtle camp, and it's the cheap dinner for the night after an expensive one.
Meat tacos. When you're done with fish, Tacos El Poblano on Colegio Militar does al pastor and asada from morning into the evening, and El Pastorcito is the late one.

Breakfast and Coffee

For a day-tripper who gets in at 9:30, Taller 17 is the stop. It's a bakery in the center on Calle Centenario, and the cinnamon roll and the cold brew are what I get. There are only a few tables, so most people take it to go. Get there before nine and you'll usually beat the line. It's pricey for a bakery, and I pay it anyway.

For a sit-down breakfast, La Esquina is the one. You eat under a palapa, the chilaquiles and the fresh juices are both good, and there's a play area at the back for kids. It's on the other side of the arroyo from the center, so I'd drive, and I'd go before noon because it's a morning place.

If you're staying at Punta Lobos or you're an early riser, breakfast at Benno on the beach is the nice one. It's early, so from Cabo you'd have to leave around seven.

For coffee, Doce Cuarenta is a roastery in a warehouse at the edge of town, down a dusty road, with a huge cinnamon roll and café de olla. It's where everybody with a laptop ends up. And Baja Beans in Pescadero is still where I stop on the way up from Cabo. The garden is quiet, and the service can be slow, so I don't go in a hurry.

Breakfast for two at any of these is about US$25 to $45. That's my estimate, and the coffee alone can be US$6.

After lunch, Nevería Rocco on Hidalgo has paletas and an avocado ice cream that I'd try once.

The Main Corner

The two restaurants facing each other at the Hotel California are the first ones every visitor sees, and I wouldn't eat lunch at either.

The hotel's dining room is fine. It's a nice courtyard, the food is ordinary, and it costs three or four times what the taco places charge two blocks away. Lunch for two on this corner runs about US$60 to $100. From about eleven to two, the tour groups are in there eating the set lunch. Have a margarita in the courtyard if you'd like to sit in the famous building, and then walk to Santo Chilote.

Tequila's Sunrise is across the street, and somebody will call you in from the sidewalk. I'll say what's good first. The shrimp chile relleno is a good one, and the margaritas are the size of a fishbowl. If that's what you came for, you'll enjoy it. Just go in knowing three things. It's cash only, and the nearest ATM isn't close. It charges main-corner prices. And things have a way of arriving at the table that you didn't order, so ask what anything costs before you say yes to it, and read your check before you pay. It's closed on Sundays.

Bottom line: the corner is for the photo, and the lunch is a few blocks away in any direction.

Two More I Didn't Rank

Tenoch, at Paradero. This is the restaurant at the design hotel in the fields south of town, and the food is very good. The soft-shell crab taco is odd and delicious, and I'd get the chocolata clams too. It serves lunch every day from noon, people who aren't staying can book, and it's adults only. I'd still leave it to hotel guests. It's behind a gate, a couple of miles off the highway, and the drinks are priced in dollars at US$15 to $30 a cocktail, so lunch for two is past US$200. If you do go, book it, and call to confirm before you drive in.

Cocina de Campo by Agricole. It's right on the highway in Pescadero, on a working farm with a shop attached, so it's the easiest stop on the route. I know it less well than the places above, which is why it isn't ranked. If you stop, the wood-oven pizza and the duck confit tacos are what I'd order, and I'd check its hours first, because I've seen three different versions.

Which Day Are You Going?

Now the part I'd read twice. In a town with this few kitchens, one closed sign can take out your whole plan, and the closed days are different for nearly every place. Here's what I've found, day by day. Please treat all of it as "check before you drive", because hours here change and nobody rushes to update them online.

Monday. El Sinaloense and La Paceña are closed. Jazamango, Oystera, Mejibó and George's are open, so it's a fine day for the long lunch.
Tuesday. This is the worst day. Jazamango is closed, and so are Caracara, Düm and Hierbabuena. Santo Chilote may be too. What's left is Oystera for oysters, El Sinaloense, Mejibó and the stands. You'll eat, but you won't eat the lunch this town is known for.
Wednesday. Barracuda at Cerritos is closed, Düm is closed, and Benno may not be serving dinner. Lunch in town is fine.
Thursday. Everything on this list is open, with one question mark over George's. If the cart is shut, walk to La Paceña.
Friday and Saturday. Everything is open. Book Jazamango.
Sunday. Mejibó, Tequila's Sunrise and Landi's are closed. Jazamango has the lamb barbacoa, and Hierbabuena opens at one when it's in season, so it's a good day for a long lunch and a poor one for wandering in somewhere.

So if you can choose your day, go Thursday, Friday or Saturday. If you can't, and it's a Tuesday, I'd make it a taco lunch and go on purpose.

The time of year matters less than the day, with one exception. In August and September the small, owner-run places and the garden restaurants are the ones that take a few weeks off, and they don't always tell the internet. The bigger names have mostly kept cooking through the summer when I've checked. Either way, in late summer and early October I message a restaurant before I drive an hour to it. From November to February it's the opposite problem, and the stands sell out earliest and the one o'clock tables go first. The rest of the calendar is in the best time to visit Cabo.

What It Costs for Two

Prices are the thing I'm least sure of in this post, and I'd rather tell you that than hand you numbers that look exact. Very few places up here post a menu with prices, so most of these are my own rough arithmetic for two people with drinks, tax and tip. The two I'm most confident in are the sit-down taco places and Caracara.

Tacos at a stand: about US$10 to $18 (rough)
Tacos at a table, with beers: about US$22 to $35
Breakfast at a café: about US$25 to $45 (rough)
Barracuda at Cerritos: about US$35 to $60 (rough)
Mejibó: maybe US$60 to $110 (a guess)
The main corner: about US$60 to $100
Oysters and a glass at Oystera: about US$80 to $130 (rough)
Caracara: about US$110 to $200, depending on how you order
The Green Room: about US$110 to $180
Jazamango: about US$120 to $170 (rough)
Dinner at Benno: about US$180 to $280 (rough)
Düm's tasting menu: about US$260 to $330 (rough)

Todos Santos is not the cheap alternative to Cabo, and I wish it still were. The sit-down places charge about what I pay in the gallery streets down south, where the same US$20 cocktail shows up in the best restaurants in San José del Cabo. The stands are the exception, and they're the best value in town by a mile.

Drinks are what move you up the list. Two rounds at Benno or Tenoch cost more than a whole taco lunch for four.

Where a day like this sits in the budget for a whole trip is in how much Cabo costs.

Cash, Cards and Booking

Carry pesos, even if you plan to pay by card. The stands are cash, Tequila's Sunrise is cash, and I've been told two different things about Santo Chilote. Out at The Green Room the card machine depends on a phone signal. The sit-down places in town all take cards, and I pay in pesos when the terminal asks.

I'd book Jazamango for one o'clock on a winter weekend, The Green Room for sunset, and Benno, Düm and Tenoch any time. I can't give you an exact lead time. A few days has been enough for me out of season, and I'd go earlier for a weekend between November and March, and earlier still for the week in January when the music festival fills the town. The taco places, the cafés and El Sinaloense don't need a reservation, and Hierbabuena doesn't take them.

One more thing. Don't trust the hours on your phone's map for the small places. They're wrong often enough that I check in person, or send a message the day before.

The Verdict

Todos Santos eats really well for a town of about 7,000 people, and not quite as well as you've read. The top of it is real. There's one very good garden restaurant, one very good hotel kitchen on the beach, a serious tasting menu in a palm grove, a handful of fish taco places I'd eat at any day, and a bakery with a line. Around those is a layer of pretty rooms charging California prices for uneven food.

What I'd do is decide the meal by the clock and the day before I left Cabo, and then either spend very little or spend properly.

If you only have time for one, book Jazamango for 1pm, any day but Tuesday. If lunch is just fuel for the day, El Sinaloense, any day but Monday.

Here's what I'd pick for you:

Day trip, and lunch is the event: Jazamango at one, booked. Empanada and ceviche first.
Day trip, and lunch is fuel: George's or La Paceña by 1:30, or El Sinaloense for a table.
You got to town before noon and you're hungry: a dozen oysters at Oystera, or the stands.
It's a Tuesday: El Sinaloense, or oysters at Oystera.
Cerritos is the main stop: Barracuda Cantina, any day but Wednesday.
One night, one dinner: Benno. The Green Room if the sunset matters more to you than the food.
Two nights, and you came to eat: Jazamango, Benno, then Düm or Caracara.
You have kids with you: El Sinaloense, Santo Chilote, Caracara, and La Esquina for breakfast.
You don't eat meat or fish: Jazamango, El Sinaloense for the coconut and avocado tacos, Santo Chilote for the breaded avocado one. George's is fish and shrimp only.
You're on a budget: the stands, and 5 Tacos and a Beer at night.
You came for the Hotel California: a margarita in the courtyard, then two blocks to Santo Chilote.

And who shouldn't make this drive for the food? If you have four or five days and no car, I'd eat down south, where the lists are longer and you can walk. Those are in where to eat in Cabo San Lucas, with both towns together in the best restaurants in Cabo. If you're here for a week, a night up here is a lovely second base, and it's the only way to get one of these dinners. I plan that split in my 7-day Cabo itinerary.

Here's how I'd text it to a friend: go Thursday or Friday. Book Jazamango for 1, get the empanada, it's closed Tuesdays. Or just do fish tacos at George's before 1:30, cash only, and if it's sold out walk to the blue sign with the orange shrimp. El Sinaloense if you want a chair and a beer, not on a Monday. Oysters at Oystera and NOTHING else on the menu. Benno has no lunch. Skip the corner by the Hotel California... and check the day before you drive, because half this town takes a different day off.

Quick Answers

What is the best restaurant in Todos Santos? For one meal, Jazamango, the garden restaurant on the edge of town, open from 1pm and closed Tuesdays. For dinner if you're staying over, Benno on the beach at Punta Lobos.

Where should I eat lunch on a day trip from Cabo? Fish tacos at Tacos George's or La Paceña before 1:30, El Sinaloense if you want a table, or Jazamango at one if lunch is the point of the day. Oystera is open every day and works at any hour for oysters.

Is the Hotel California restaurant any good? It's fine and it's overpriced. Have a margarita in the courtyard and eat lunch a couple of blocks away.

Which restaurants are closed on which days? As far as I've found, El Sinaloense and La Paceña on Mondays, Jazamango, Caracara and Düm on Tuesdays, Barracuda and Düm on Wednesdays, and Mejibó on Sundays. Thursday to Saturday everything is open, and I'd still check before driving.

Do restaurants in Todos Santos take cards? The sit-down ones do. The taco stands and Tequila's Sunrise are cash only, so bring pesos in small bills.