Restaurant in Mexico City, Mexico
Award-recognised Mexican cooking at a fraction of the cost.
Nicos has held an OAD North America ranking three years running and a Michelin Plate, all at a $ price point that undercuts every comparable option in Mexico City. Chef Gerardo Vázquez Lugo's kitchen has been executing traditional regional Mexican cooking in Claveria since 1957, and the service is practiced enough to justify the cost many times over. Book for Saturday lunch; Wednesday through Saturday are your dinner options.
Nicos is the right call for anyone who wants serious, award-recognised Mexican cuisine without paying the four-figure bills that come with Pujol or Quintonil. Operating since 1957 in the Claveria neighbourhood of Azcapotzalco, it holds a Michelin Plate (2025) and has ranked in Opinionated About Dining's Leading Restaurants in North America three consecutive years: #70 in 2023, #69 in 2024, and #94 in 2025. At the $ price tier, that credential-to-cost ratio is difficult to match anywhere in Mexico City. The trade-off is location: Claveria sits north of Polanco and the Centro, so factor in travel time if you are staying in the city's more tourist-facing neighbourhoods.
Walk into Nicos during a weekday lunch service and the kitchen sends aromas of toasted chile, simmering stock, and warm masa into the dining room before you have settled into your seat. It is the smell of a kitchen that has been doing this for decades, not one performing tradition for a new audience. Chef Gerardo Vázquez Lugo runs a program grounded in local sourcing and regional Mexican techniques, and the restaurant's longevity reflects the consistency of that commitment. This is not a place staging a revival of Mexican cooking; it has simply never stopped doing it.
For a special occasion, Nicos works well precisely because the format is relaxed rather than ceremonial. There is no tasting-menu obligation, no dress theater, and no ambient pressure to perform the occasion. What you get instead is attentive, practised service from a team that handles the room with the confidence of a house that has seen everything. That service style earns the price point decisively: at $ per head, the staff-to-experience ratio here would be considered a serious deal at twice the cost. If you are comparing this to the service formality at Em (which sits at $$$), Nicos is less polished in presentation but no less attentive in practice, and the gap in price is substantial.
The hours are worth understanding before you plan around a special meal. Monday and Sunday run shorter (closing at 6 pm and 5 pm respectively), while Wednesday through Saturday extend to 9 pm, making those evenings the natural window for a celebratory dinner. Tuesday closes at 6 pm, which limits it to lunch. The kitchen opens at 8 am daily, so a long, unhurried Saturday lunch is a legitimate option here and arguably the format the restaurant is leading built for. Mexican restaurant culture in this tier often treats the extended midday meal as the main event, and Nicos fits that frame well.
The 4.3 Google rating across nearly 4,800 reviews is a meaningful data point at this scale. A restaurant with that volume of opinions sustaining above 4.0 is consistently executing, not just occasionally brilliant. Combined with the OAD North America ranking maintained across three consecutive years, it suggests a venue that performs reliably rather than one riding a single season of press attention. For context, OAD rankings weight repeat visits and sustained quality heavily, so a three-year consecutive presence in the top 100 across North America is a harder credential to earn than a one-time placement. You can compare Nicos to similarly credentialed Mexican cooking across the country via our full Mexico City restaurants guide.
Booking is rated easy. For midweek lunch you are unlikely to need more than a few days' notice, though Saturday dinner during peak months warrants a week or more of lead time given the restaurant's following among locals and visiting food-focused travellers. There is no phone or website listed in the current record, so arrival in person or through a third-party reservation platform is the practical path. If you are visiting Mexico City as part of a wider trip through the country, Nicos sits naturally alongside other regionally rooted restaurants worth knowing about, including Levadura de Olla Restaurante in Oaxaca and Animalón in Valle de Guadalupe, both of which share Nicos's emphasis on local sourcing and traditional technique.
For the broader Mexico City picture beyond restaurants, Pearl's Mexico City hotels guide, bars guide, and experiences guide cover the city's full range. If you are building a trip around serious Mexican cooking specifically, the restaurant guide gives you the full competitive set with Pearl's booking difficulty and price-tier data alongside each venue.
Nicos is open Monday through Sunday from 8 am, with Monday closing at 6 pm, Sunday at 5 pm, Tuesday at 6 pm, and Wednesday through Saturday at 9 pm. The address is Av. Cuitláhuac 3102, Claveria, Azcapotzalco. Booking is easy relative to other OAD-ranked venues in the city. There is no phone number or website currently available in Pearl's data; plan via a reservation platform or an in-person visit. For international dining context, Nicos occupies a position in traditional Mexican cooking comparable to the kind of long-running institutional credibility you see at venues like Le Bernardin in New York, where institutional longevity and consistent execution are the story, not novelty.
Nicos is a neighbourhood institution in Azcapotzalco, open since 1957 and priced at $, so the dress code is relaxed. Clean, casual clothes are appropriate. This is not a white-tablecloth occasion venue; locals eat here on weekday lunches without dressing up.
The kitchen is known for traditional regional Mexican cooking with a strong focus on local sourcing, so dishes rooted in classic technique, chiles, and masa are the reason to come. Follow what Chef Gerardo Vázquez Lugo's team is running as daily specials, which typically reflect seasonal and regional ingredients. Avoid ordering to impress: the point of Nicos is depth in traditional formats, not fusion showmanship.
Book at least a few days in advance for weekday lunch, and further ahead for Wednesday through Saturday evenings when the kitchen runs until 9 pm. Nicos has held OAD Top 100 North America status three consecutive years (2023–2025), which means it draws visitors alongside locals. Same-day availability is possible for early morning slots, but don't rely on it for prime lunch or dinner times.
Yes, provided the occasion suits a casual neighbourhood setting rather than a formal dining room. The Michelin Plate recognition and three-year OAD ranking give it genuine culinary credibility, and the $ price range makes it accessible for a group meal without a big spend. If you need a grander atmosphere, Pujol or Quintonil will fit that brief — but neither matches Nicos for value or depth in traditional Mexican cooking.
Lunch. Nicos has operated as a lunch-led restaurant since 1957, and the kitchen's longest service window — Monday through Sunday from 8 am — reflects that culture. Monday and Sunday close at 6 pm and 5 pm respectively, making dinner impossible those days. Wednesday through Saturday dinner is available until 9 pm and worth booking if lunch scheduling is a problem, but the daytime service is the format this kitchen was built around.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
