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For such a small town San Pancho has a surprising number of excellent restaurants, many of which are vegetarian friendly, ranging from simple taco stands to gourmet bistros. The range of veggie street food isn’t as diverse as in big cities like Mexico City and is usually limited to cheese quesadillas, so to avoid boredom vegetarians need to spend a bit more on some of the other restaurants in town, or cook for themselves.
Although we didn’t try every restaurant in town we did make it to most of them and the ones listed here are our favourites, ordered roughly from cheapest to most expensive with some sweet treats at the end. Many restaurants close in San Pancho during the May to October low season, or keep sporadic hours—we had to be flexible and not have our hearts set on eating at a particular place as chances are it could be closed. Most restaurants are on the main street Avenida Tercer Mundo, or just off it—everywhere in San Pancho is easily walkable.
Delfines
A popular inexpensive taco place with plastic chairs on the side of the main street. Vegetarian options are limited to cheese quesadillas or sopes but they have an extensive salad/salsa bar where you can add things like beans, roasted chiles, cucumber, onions, and a range of fresh and cooked salsas.
Avenida Tercer Mundo
Los Tacos con Eva
Eva’s is similar to Delfines but I prefer it as there is an option of a mushroom, onion and cheese quesadilla, they serve them with grilled onions on the side, and the salad bar is just as diverse.
Calle Egipto con Asia
Baja Taqueria
It’s really hard to find a vegetarian taco in Mexico but Baja Taqueria has a delicious veggie taco stuffed with grilled vegetables sautéed in garlic with melted cheese and topped with cabbage, tomato and their tasty salsas. They also have a cheese quesadilla and some nice salads. At 27 pesos ($2) per taco it’s more expensive than the first two options but the quality is higher and the restaurant is a bit more upmarket (i.e the chairs aren’t plastic!).
Avenida Tercer Mundo
Entre Amigos
The only 100% vegetarian (actually vegan) restaurant is inside the Entre Amigos community centre. There are a few things on the menu like breakfasts, juices, burgers, and a tasty vegan Spanish tortilla but they also have a 50 pesos ($3.70) set lunch that changes each day. The food is healthy and flavourful but I’m not a big fan of seitan which they use a lot.
Avenida Tercer Mundo (nearer to the highway than the beach)
Dolce Amore
An Italian restaurant with a simple menu of pasta dishes. The portions come in huge bowls, enough to serve two so at around 100 pesos ($7.40) a dish it is pretty good value when shared. We had pasta with pesto and although I enjoyed it and it satisfied my pesto craving it tasted like jarred pesto and wasn’t anything special.
Avenida Tercer Mundo
Darjeeling
Darjeeling is a cool laid-back place with friendly staff and an interesting mix of gourmet teas, delicious wood oven pizzas, and the best live music in town (go on Friday nights to see Dos Bertos y Las Musas). There are lots of veggie pizzas but our favourite was the San Pancho with four cheeses and rocket (arugala).
Avenida Tercer Mundo
Maria’s
We went here occasionally for lunch to satisfy our sandwich craving with the vegetarian baguette with fries, or the pretty decent nachos. Portions are massive so although 60-80 pesos ($4.50-6) a dish seems a bit expensive they are big enough to share. I also liked their green juices and Simon likes the pancakes. Some digital nomads in town say it’s one of the best places to work.
Avenida Tercer Mundo
Cafe Arte
Cafe Arte is pricey but we’ve found it to be worth it. The fresh pastas are delicious and we loved the caprese panini, although it is inconsistent—it was made and presented differently the second time we went there but we still liked it. Pasta dishes come with their tasty homemade bread.
Avenida Tercer Mundo
Bistro Organico
Our favourite restaurant in town is a gourmet organic restaurant inside the boutique hotel Cielo Rojo. The courtyard setting is lovely and the food is made with love. Full meals here are expensive—we spent about $50 on a blow out three course meal with cocktails—but breakfasts are more affordable (around 80 pesos ($6) a dish) and just as delicious.
Everything we ate here was wonderful including the freshly made rosemary bread with olive oil that came before our meal, the unusual hibiscus flower sopes, the goats cheese and spinach salad, and the amazing berry cake. There are only two mains for vegetarians (pasta and lasagna) but the salads are half the price and was enough for me with dessert. The breakfast menu is almost entirely vegetarian. I loved the Tuscan sandwich on wholemeal bread with goats cheese, pesto, tomato and avocado (I skipped the egg), served with rosemary potatoes. Calle Asia
La Patrona
La Patrona is the fancy polo club where you can enjoy a meal while watching the action on the field. It’s expensive and there aren’t many vegetarian options at dinner but brunch is better although still expensive at 1,100 pesos ($50) for all you can eat/drink including mimosas. It’s a decadent way to spend a Sunday morning.
Calle Ceilan
Sweet Treats
Cafe Paraiso
Cafe Paraiso is the only coffee shop in town but luckily it’s a good one with an extensive menu including Simon’s favourite mocha frappuccino and some delicious homemade cupcakes (try the coconut), banana bread, and brownies.
Avenida Tercer Mundo
French Place
The “French place” only opened in April 2013 and doesn’t have a sign so we can’t remember the name. It’s down near the beach which is the perfect location to pick up one of their excellent gelatos (the coconut is so good). Meals aren’t very veggie friendly and although they do have crepes they had always run out when we went there. They also sometimes have baguettes and pastries from the French bakery in Sayulita, which would be amazing but they freeze them.
Avenida Tercer Mundo
There are a few places that Victoria at Bridges and Balloons writes about in her reasons to love San Pancho post that we didn’t manage to make it to before they closed for the low season including Casa Emilia for breakfast and Cafe Mañana for cakes and coffee.
For a better idea of which dishes to look out for see our Vegetarian Survival Guide to Mexico.