Jazmin's Restaurant

For years, locals asked for a Mexican meal in San José del Cabo have named Jazmin's, on Calle Morelos one block behind Plaza Mijares in the historic center. It's open all day, every day, from 8 AM to 10:30 PM, which makes it easy to fit into a day of wandering galleries and shops. There's an air-conditioned dining room for the hot months and outdoor tables for the rest of the year. The decor is colorful and crowded with folk art, and nobody is pretending this is fine dining.

Go for the traditional plates. Reviewers most often name the cochinita pibil, the mole, carne asada a la tampiqueña, chiles rellenos and the tres leches cake, and those are what we'd order too. Breakfast is a good time to come if you want a quieter table, and the Sunday buffet (8 AM to 1 PM, no reservation needed) rotates weekly and comes with handmade tortillas. Tell them if someone in your group has a birthday: they decorate the table and bring a dessert on the house.

Tuesday and Thursday evenings are the busy nights, when there's a folkloric dance show with a singer and a saxophone player. Thursday doubles up with the San José del Cabo Art Walk in season, so dinner at Jazmin's and a walk through the gallery district afterwards is an easy plan for a family or a group that doesn't want anything formal. Book on OpenTable for those nights; the rest of the week you can usually walk in.

We wouldn't make the 35 to 40 minute drive from Villa 1 just for Jazmin's. But if you're already in San José for the Art Walk, the mission church or the farm restaurants up the valley, it's a reliable, reasonably priced meal. It's also a good choice for groups with kids or picky eaters, since the menu covers international dishes as well as Mexican classics. If you want a more polished, dinner-only night on the same block, look at Don Sanchez or Mi Cocina at Casa Natalia.