La Belle Epoque

What La Belle Epoque is

La Belle Epoque is a contemporary French restaurant at Avenida Oaxaca 80 in Roma Norte, Mexico City. It opened on 30 April 2026, which makes it one of the newest fine dining rooms in the neighbourhood, and it takes its name and its look from the French belle époque.

The design is deliberately theatrical. Red walls and heavy curtains, white tablecloths, mirrors, marble and a large crystal chandelier over the room, with the kitchen visible behind glass so you watch the line work while you eat. There is a private dining room, and Thursday to Saturday a late speakeasy service runs from 22:00 to midnight after the dining room closes.

The cooking is French canon executed straight rather than reinvented: onion soup, escargots, foie gras, a filet au poivre, a beef Wellington. What is modern is the plating and the sourcing, not the repertoire.

Who cooks here

Max Righi runs the kitchen, and he was 24 years old when the restaurant opened, which is why the Mexican press keeps calling him one of the youngest chefs to open at this level in the city. He graduated with honours from the Culinary Institute of America and is a certified sommelier, so the wine list is his as much as the menu.

His training reads like a tour of the restaurants that define modern fine dining: Tegui in Buenos Aires, Pujol in Mexico City, Osteria Francescana in Modena, FYN in Cape Town, and Eleven Madison Park, Per Se and Estela in New York. He came back to Mexico City to open his own room.

The night I filmed he was in the dining room himself, checking tables and, by his own account, having the tablecloths pressed before each guest sits down. That level of floor presence is the difference you feel here.

Awards and press

• No Michelin distinction. The restaurant opened after the 2026 Michelin Guide Mexico selection was published, so it has not yet been eligible.
• Time Out México reviewed it and gave it four stars out of five.
• Quién covered the opening on 19 June 2026.
• Food and Pleasure, Men’s Health Latam and The Happening all ran pieces within weeks of opening.
• Marco Beteta, the Mexican restaurant critic, reviewed it and included it in his round up of the best beef Wellington in Mexico City.

How the menu works

Service is à la carte, with a raw bar, a weekend brunch card and a separate wine list. The house puts its cellar at around 480 bottles, and imported labels are available by the glass as well as by the bottle.

• To start: foie gras inside a macaron with red berry compote, oysters with mignonette, escargots à la bourguignonne, beef tartare, and a fennel salad with grapes and Comté.
• Soup: French onion soup, served under a puff pastry cap you break into the bowl.
• Mains: beef Wellington for two, filet au poivre, steak frites, a French dip, scallops with beurre noisette and potato foam, and ricotta gnocchi in a Marseille sauce.
• Sweet: tarte Tatin, apple tart.
• Brunch, weekends: croissants, pain au chocolat, pain aux raisins, œufs brouillés royale, croque madame, forestier madame, and a salmon imperial tower with optional caviar.
• Drinks: a French leaning wine list, plus house cocktails including the Estragón and the Betabel.

What I ate

The dishes on my table, in order:

• Foie gras served inside an almond flour macaron with a red berry sauce.
• Onion soup under a pastry cap. I normally avoid onion in any form and finished this one.
• Escargots in parsley sauce, with sourdough to mop the butter.
• Beef Wellington for two, cooked accurately, with mashed potato, sauce and ratatouille.

The Wellington is the dish the kitchen is building its reputation on, and it is worth bringing someone who wants to split it. The menu is longer than this list and changes, so read the current card.

What it costs

Neither the restaurant nor any review I could find publishes an average spend, so here is what can be said honestly.

Item	Price
À la carte dinner	Fine dining bracket for Mexico City, no published average
Beef Wellington	Priced and served for two people
Wine	By the glass and by the bottle, imported labels
Service	Not included, 10 to 15 per cent is standard

Current à la carte and wine lists are published as PDFs on labelleepoque.mx, and that is the only source I would trust for a figure. Brunch is the cheaper way into the room, and the speakeasy hours are drinks rather than a full dinner bill.

How to book

• OpenTable: search for La Belle Epoque, Ciudad de México.
• The restaurant’s own site, labelleepoque.mx, links the booking form and both menus.
• Email: info@labelleepoque.mx for the private room, large tables or events.

Book ahead for Thursday to Saturday evenings and for weekend brunch. Tuesday is the closed day. The private dining room behind the curtains has to be arranged in advance, not asked for on arrival.

Getting there

• Address: Avenida Oaxaca 80, Roma Norte, Cuauhtémoc, 06700 Mexico City.
• Metro: Insurgentes, Line 1, about a ten minute walk.
• Metrobús: Durango or Álvaro Obregón on Line 1 along Insurgentes.
• Landmark: five minutes on foot from the Fuente de Cibeles roundabout, in the middle of the Roma Norte restaurant cluster.
• Parking: street parking in Roma Norte is difficult in the evening. A ride app is the simpler option.

Before you go

• Dress for the room. There is no published dress code, but red velvet, tablecloths and a chandelier set the tone. Smart is safer than casual.
• Bring a second person for the Wellington. It is sold for two and it is the reason most people come.
• Ask about the private room early. It is behind the curtain at the back and is booked, not requested.
• Use the late hours. Thursday to Saturday the speakeasy runs to midnight, which is useful in a neighbourhood where kitchens close at 22:30.
• Pair it with the same street. URSO sits a few doors along at Oaxaca 89 and is the opposite register, wood fire and share plates under a glass dome. See my URSO review.
• Check the hours before you go. The hours on this page come from the venue’s public listings, which drift, so confirm on Google Maps or the venue’s own channels before a special trip.

Watch the visit

The reel above is the short version of this dinner, course by course. For everything else I have filmed in the city, open my map or browse the rest of the Mexico City recommendations.