Cocina Herba — Restaurant in Oaxaca

Cocina Herba instantly became my favorite breakfast place in Oaxaca -- and one of my favorite restaurants of all time.

The food is outstanding, even by Oaxaca's high standards. The menu includes more and better versions of traditional Oaxacan dishes than you'd expect from a small cafe. The owner told me that the recipes they use are from her grandmother, who started Cocina Herba over 70 years ago. The food is prepared with love and care, the plating is beautiful. and prices are very reasonable.

The atmosphere is simply lovely -- like an oasis away from the hubbub on the streets. This is the perfect place for a quiet start to the day, an afternoon break with your travel companion, or to just sit and read. Go up the small staircase and you find yourself on a clean, tiled balcony. The cafe is well protected from sun and rain, but still gets pleasant breezes and has a nice, open feeling. The view of the street is screened by beautiful foliage, including an enormous Plumeria.

The service is outstanding as well. The wait staff are kind and patient, and they manage to find that perfect balance of being available and attentive when needed, and somehow invisible otherwise.

There is no restaurant in Oaxaca that I recommend more strongly than Cocina Herba. Put this restaurant at the very top of your "must...

This should be 5 stars. This is the first time I’ve reviewed a restaurant and I have to say it was a wonderful experience. Everything was homemade on our “menu día”. Perfect amount of food for a mid evening meal. The service was great, the food was simple but beautifully presented. I don’t know how to change the star rating and feel bad that I pressed the wrong star. I would recommend this restaurant but it’s somewhat difficult to find because of...

It’s a small place and it was full when me and my friend got there and the problem was that we waited awhile but no one came to help us, to tell us how long was the waiting or if we could make a reservation or something, because the wasn’t even a place to wait , so we left feeling awkward like that if we had entered to a stranger...