Quintonil
“Two stars and third place on the 2025 World's 50 Best. Book Quintonil over its louder rivals for the deal that matters.”
About Quintonil
Jorge Vallejo cooked at Pujol and at Noma before opening Quintonil with his wife Alejandra Flores in 2012, in a quiet Polanco house at Newton 55. The name is a wild green used in milpa cooking, and the menu keeps that promise: herbs and vegetables from an urban garden thirty metres from the pass, insects treated as delicacies rather than dares, and a charal tostada or duck pibil tamal built with more precision than most French kitchens manage. Flores runs the floor, and her room is among the warmest at this level in the Americas.
The scoreboard is hard to argue with. Two Michelin stars in the 2024 inaugural Mexico guide, held since. Third place on the World's 50 Best list in 2025, the highest ranking any Mexican restaurant has achieved. The tasting runs MX$4,950 before drinks, with pairings from an MX$1,800 zero proof route up to an MX$7,000 rarities cellar. Signatures rotate with the seasons, but the braised oxtail in recado negro and the huitlacoche courses show the register: deep, dark, native flavours plated with restraint.
Reservations open on a rolling two month window and behave like Pujol's: prime dinners gone in minutes, lunches and early weeknights gettable with modest planning. The dining room seats around forty in pale wood and linen, quieter and less theatrical than its famous Polanco neighbour, which is exactly why regulars prefer it. Service, led by Flores, remembers allergies, occasions and faces from one visit to the next. Plan MX$8,000 a head with a pairing, and give the meal three hours.
The Room
Pale wood, white walls, greenery and about forty seats in a converted Polanco house. The room is bright at lunch and hushed at dinner, with spacing that lets a table talk terms without leaning in. Dress smart casual; the crowd is Polanco professional rather than performative.
Why book it, occasion by occasion
Match the night to the room and the bill stops mattering. These occasions fit Quintonil best.
For the negotiation that needs quiet confidence
Quintonil's room is the quietest of Mexico City's flagships, and the service reads tables well enough to vanish during the hard paragraphs of a conversation. The tasting paces to roughly three hours; ask for a corner table and the staff will hold courses on cue. When the deal closes, the mezcal list supplies the toast without anyone moving venues, and Polanco delivers everyone home fast.
For the guest who tracks the World's 50 Best
Third in the world in 2025 is a fact your client can repeat in their next meeting, and it lands harder than any star count. The urban garden thirty metres from the kitchen turns the meal into a story, and staff share it gladly when asked. Book lunch for visiting executives; the afternoon light in this room flatters everyone and the booking window is meaningfully easier.
For couples who would rather eat than pose
Quintonil celebrates without a single sparkler. Flores' team asks the right questions at booking, seats couples along the garden side, and paces the menu so the evening breathes. The zero proof pairing at MX$1,800 is genuinely composed, not an afterthought, which matters when one of you is toasting and the other is flying at dawn. The close is warm, personal and quiet.
What to order
One tasting, big drink decisions, and a garden worth asking about. These are the calls.
- The braised oxtail in recado negro
The dark Yucatán spice paste turns oxtail into the deepest plate on the menu and the one guests remember by name.
- The huitlacoche course in season
Corn fungus is the great Mexican luxury ingredient, and no kitchen handles it with more respect. If it is on the card, it is the course of the night.
- The standard wine pairing
It leans on Mexican wineries you cannot try at home, matched course by course. The MX$7,000 rarities route is for collectors; the standard tier is the smart order.
- Ask about the garden
When service allows, the team walks guests through the urban garden thirty metres from the kitchen. It reframes every herb on every plate that follows.
Practical
- Address
- Newton 55, Polanco, Mexico City
- Reservations
- Own website · rolling two month window
- Tasting
- MX$4,950 before drinks
- Pairings
- MX$1,800 zero proof to MX$7,000 rarities
- Hours
- Monday to Saturday, lunch and dinner
- Seats
- About forty
- Dress
- Smart casual
- Dietary
- Vegetarian tasting with notice · insects avoidable
Questions diners ask
Is Quintonil worth it?
Yes, and for many it beats Pujol. Two Michelin stars since the 2024 guide, third on the 2025 World's 50 Best, and a MX$4,950 tasting that undercuts comparable rooms in the United States by half. The service, led by Alejandra Flores, is the best in the city. Value score seven; the rarities pairing can double the bill.
Quintonil or Pujol?
Book both if the trip allows; they are ten minutes apart in Polanco. Choose Quintonil for warmth, vegetables and quiet, Pujol for theatre and the mole madre. Business favours Quintonil's calmer room; first visits to Mexico City often favour Pujol's icon status. The rankings currently side with Quintonil: third in the world in 2025.
How hard is it to book Quintonil?
Comparable to Pujol. The rolling two month window opens on the restaurant's site; prime dinners go inside fifteen minutes, but lunch and Monday to Wednesday dinner hold for days. Set a reminder for the release morning, Mexico City time, and check for returned tables midweek. Parties of two move easiest.
What does dinner at Quintonil cost?
The tasting is MX$4,950 per person before drinks. Pairings run MX$1,800 for zero proof up to MX$7,000 for rarities, so a realistic all in figure is MX$7,500 to MX$12,000 a head, roughly US$410 to US$660. Lunch prices the same, but the room feels brighter and the window is easier.