Quintonil

<h2>Quintonil Reservations, Contact and Practical Details</h2><p>Quintonil's address is Av. Isaac Newton 55, Polanco IV Secc, Miguel Hidalgo, Mexico City, 11560. The restaurant phone number is <strong>+52 55 5280 2680</strong>. Service runs Tuesday through Saturday from 1 pm to midnight; the restaurant is closed on Sundays and Mondays. At the $$$$price tier, it sits at the higher end of Mexico City's contemporary dining bracket, comparable in positioning to <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/restaurants/pujol-mexico-city-restaurant">Pujol</a> and well above the mid-range creative kitchens such as <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/restaurants/em-mexico-city-restaurant">Em</a> or <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/restaurants/rosetta">Rosetta</a>.</p><h2>Arriving on Newton Street</h2><p>Polanco is Mexico City's most densely curated dining district, a neighbourhood where international hotel restaurants, French-influenced brasseries, and a concentrated cluster of serious Mexican fine-dining rooms compete for the same tables. On Avenida Isaac Newton, the approach to Quintonil is deliberately understated: a small greenhouse bearing the restaurant's name marks the entrance, the word itself a reference to a green herb common in Mexican cooking. That botanical detail is not decorative shorthand. It signals the kitchen's orientation before you reach your seat.</p><p>Inside, the space divides into two rooms. The entrance section is wood-heavy and more contained; the second opens into a brighter, art-filled room where Mexican artists' work lines the walls. Neither space reads as a set piece. The light, the art, and the materials function as context rather than theatre, which puts the focus squarely on what arrives at the table. For a practical overview of where Quintonil sits within the city's broader restaurant scene, see <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/restaurants/mexico-city">our full Mexico City restaurants guide</a>.</p><h2>The Counter and the Kitchen View</h2><p>Mexico City's leading contemporary restaurants have largely moved away from the formal dining room as the only mode of engagement. Counter seating, open kitchens, and abbreviated formats have become standard tools for expressing a kitchen's priorities without the full ceremonial overhead of a tasting menu. At Quintonil, the counter section operates on a shorter menu and provides a direct line of sight into the open kitchen. The dishes that define this format are among the most discussed in the restaurant's output: tacos based on insects, specifically grasshoppers and chicatana ants, that draw on pre-Hispanic Mexican culinary tradition rather than novelty. Across town, <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/restaurants/merotoro-mexico-city-restaurant">MeroToro</a> and <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/restaurants/sud-777-mexico-city-restaurant">Sud 777</a> approach contemporary Mexican cooking through different reference points; the insect preparations at Quintonil reflect a specific, archaeologically grounded choice about which traditions deserve continued presence on Mexico City menus.</p><h2>The Tasting Menu: Seasonal, Local, Herbaceous</h2><p>Mexico's Pacific Coast and central highlands produce an ingredient pool that rewards restraint. Quintonil's tasting menu has been noted for its herbaceous range, with the kitchen drawing on vegetables, fresh herbs, fruit, aromatics, and flowers across both meat and plant-based preparations. The menu changes seasonally, and documented examples include tamales of duck pibil with elote cream, braised oxtail in traditional black recado sauce, crème fraîche with melipona honey, and prickly pear sorbet. Many ingredients travel from an urban garden approximately 30 metres from the kitchen. That proximity matters less as a marketing point and more as a structural constraint: it limits the menu to what is actually growing, which in turn disciplines the creative range in productive ways.</p><p>Among Mexico's leading contemporary restaurants, the commitment to plant-forward cooking is notable. The kitchen is documented as accommodating fully plant-based requests when flagged at reservation time, which places it in a small tier of fine-dining rooms in the Americas willing to build a complete vegetable-only menu on request rather than offering a reduced or modified version of the standard format. Comparable ambition in the regional context can be found at <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/restaurants/le-chique">Le Chique in Puerto Morelos</a> and <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/restaurants/levadura-de-olla-restaurante-oaxaca-restaurant">Levadura de Olla Restaurante in Oaxaca</a>, though each operates within a different culinary register.</p><h2>Where Quintonil Sits in the Rankings</h2><p>The awards trajectory here is worth reading carefully. Quintonil first appeared on the World's 50 Best list in 2015 at position 35. By 2016 it had moved to 12th. After a brief drop it returned to the top 10, reaching 9th in both 2022 and 2023 before settling at 7th in 2024. The 2025 World's 50 Best citation named it the Leading Restaurant in North America. Two Michelin stars arrived and were retained through 2024 and 2025. La Liste scored it 97 points in 2025 and 96 in 2026. The Opinionated About Dining North America ranking placed it at 55th in both 2023 and 2024, then moved it to 41st in 2025. The restaurant also holds a Les Grandes Tables du Monde designation (2025) and a Pearl recommendation (2025).</p><p>That combination of recognitions positions Quintonil within a very small group of restaurants operating at the intersection of fine-dining formalism, indigenous ingredient focus, and sustained critical consensus over more than a decade. In Mexico, only <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/restaurants/pujol-mexico-city-restaurant">Pujol</a> occupies a comparable position in the global ranking architecture. Across the Americas, peer restaurants in terms of ranking depth and critical engagement include <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/restaurants/le-bernardin">Le Bernardin in New York City</a> and a handful of others. For the broader Mexican regional picture, see also <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/restaurants/animalon-valle-de-guadalupe-restaurant">Animalón in Valle de Guadalupe</a>, <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/restaurants/koli-cocina-de-origen-monterrey-restaurant">KOLI Cocina de Origen in Monterrey</a>, <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/restaurants/lunario-el-porvenir-restaurant">Lunario in El Porvenir</a>, <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/restaurants/olivea-farm-to-table-ensenada-restaurant">Olivea Farm to Table in Ensenada</a>, and <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/restaurants/pangea-san-pedro-garza-garca-restaurant">Pangea in San Pedro Garza Garcia</a>.</p><h2>Chef and Team Credentials</h2><p>Jorge Vallejo studied management and culinary arts in Mexico, then worked in international contexts including Noma and Pujol before opening Quintonil in 2012 alongside Alejandra Flores. Flores holds a master's in hospitality management from Les Roches in Switzerland and previously served as operations and commercial director for the Enrique Olvera Group. Their combined background matters not as personal narrative but as evidence of what kind of institution Quintonil was always designed to be: a serious operation with formal hospitality training embedded in its management from the outset, not a chef-driven project that acquired professional infrastructure later. The Google review average sits at 4.4 across 2,767 reviews, a signal of broad satisfaction at volume rather than just critical acclaim.</p><h2>Planning Your Visit</h2><p>Quintonil operates at Av. Isaac Newton 55 in Polanco, one of Mexico City's most accessible upscale neighbourhoods with strong hotel supply nearby. You can find accommodation options in <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/hotels/mexico-city">our full Mexico City hotels guide</a>. Given its North America ranking and two Michelin stars, advance booking is advisable; contact the restaurant directly at <strong>+52 55 5280 2680</strong> to confirm availability and reservation requirements. The restaurant is closed Sunday and Monday, so mid-week and Saturday bookings are the only options. For drinks before or after your meal, <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/bars/mexico-city">our Mexico City bars guide</a> covers the Polanco area and beyond. Broader cultural and experiential programming in the city is mapped in <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/experiences/mexico-city">our Mexico City experiences guide</a>, and wine options across the region are covered in <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/wineries/mexico-city">our Mexico City wineries guide</a>.</p><h2>Frequently Asked Questions</h2><h3>What should I order at Quintonil?</h3><p>The tasting menu is the format that reflects the kitchen's full range, with seasonal dishes built around local vegetables, herbs, and traditional Mexican preparations including mole-based sauces, tamales, and regional proteins. Documented dishes from recent menus include duck pibil tamales with elote cream, braised oxtail in black recado, and prickly pear sorbet. If you are seated at the counter, the shorter menu includes insect-based tacos with grasshoppers and chicatana ants, which are among the most technically and culturally specific dishes the kitchen produces. With two Michelin stars and a World's 50 Best position of #7 (2024), this is a kitchen operating at a level where ordering broadly and following the menu's sequence is the right approach.</p><h3>What is the overall feel of Quintonil?</h3><p>The dining room splits into an intimate wood-panelled entrance section and a larger, brighter space hung with Mexican art. The tone is formal without being stiff; the service model reflects Alejandra Flores' hospitality training, and the room's energy tends toward focused and warm rather than theatrical. In the context of Mexico City's $$$$ tier, it reads closer to a serious culinary institution than a scene restaurant. For comparison, <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/restaurants/pujol-mexico-city-restaurant">Pujol</a> operates with a similarly controlled formality, while <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/restaurants/merotoro-mexico-city-restaurant">MeroToro</a> and <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/restaurants/rosetta">Rosetta</a> are set at a more relaxed register.</p><h3>Is Quintonil suitable for families?</h3><p>At the $$$$ price point and with a format centred on a multi-course tasting menu, Quintonil is oriented toward adult diners with specific intent. The experience moves at a considered pace, and the menu includes some unconventional ingredients (insects, offal preparations, fermented elements) that may not suit younger diners. Families visiting Mexico City with mixed-age groups might find a better fit at mid-tier contemporary Mexican rooms; see <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/restaurants/mexico-city">our full Mexico City restaurants guide</a> for a range of options across price and format.</p>

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  Price

  $$$$

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