🍽️New to Us: Balmori Roofbar in Roma Norte

Balmori Roofbar has a cozy rooftop setting, friendly and attentive waitstaff, terrific cocktails, and a diverse menu that should meet anyone's needs

We first visited 📲Balmori Roofbar back in January--with 📲Nadine of Substack fame--and then returned this week ahead of potentially adding this restaurant to our book, 📲Eternal Spring: Our Guide to Mexico City. This is how we do things: Nothing we recommend in the book is based on a single visit, and many are places we visit again and again.

Does Balmori make the cut?

Well, let's see. We had very similar experiences both times: Balmori Roofbar is, as its name suggests, a rooftop bar and restaurant, and it features a sectional retractable roof to account for poor weather, a cozy atmosphere, friendly and attentive waitstaff, terrific cocktails, and a diverse menu. We arrived during the daylight on both visits, but as the sun sets, lights dim, and more customers show up for the standard late (to us) local dining time.

It's a pretty spot day or night, a nice, plant-lined terrace with ample seating, elegant place settings, and a view of the north-central Roma Norte neighborhood it's in.

The meal starts off with some cut pitas, a smoky frioles (bean) dip, and some salsa. Then, you have a chance to order from Balmori's extensive cocktail list, which includes house specials, classics, and non-alcoholic options. There's also a surprisingly small but nicely curated wine list on request.

I can't recall which cocktails we tried in January, but this week I had a whiskey sour.

And Stephanie got the pink, a gin and strawberry concoction garnished with a raspberry. Both were terrific.

The menu offers several appetizers, entrees, pizzas, and taquitos, the latter of which are large rolled soft tortillas, rather than the small rolled hard tortillas we see in the U.S. And there are gluten-free and vegan options across the menu. There's also a really nice seasonal specials menu. This week, Balmori is offering jugo de carne (steak in its own juice), pizza mortadella, albondigas de Wagyu (using American Wagyu, oddly, and in what we assume is a soup/meatball dish), and a short rib sandwich (yes, named in English).

On our first visit with Nadine, we shared two appetizers, an elegantly presented flores de calabaza (squash blossom).

We also got the esquites, a Mexican sweet corn dish that Balmori serves with mayonnaise in almost a soup.

Inspired by the pizza oven in the corner of the terrace, I tried a pizza 4 quesos (four-cheese pizza) on that first visit, which was excellent and served with a light salad.

Stephanie had the taquitos de patos (duck confit taquitos) both times, so she's obviously a fan. There are also rib eye taquitos and, for vegetarians and vegans, a taquitos jamaica al pastor that's built around grilled pineapple and is gluten free.

On the second visit this past week, I had the fried chicken sandwich, which, yes, is named in English. It came with a choice of fries, and I chose the truffle fries. Both were excellent.

We also selected a red from the small wine list--a Chateau Domeq Tinto from Valle de Guadalope in Baja California. It's a nice mix of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Nebbiolo, and Balmori correctly served it chilled, which we love to see. It, too, was fantastic.

📺We're having a tough rainy season here in Mexico City this summer, so the sprinkles started just as it began getting darker. But this gave us the chance to see the motorized retractable roof in action, and the waitstaff had it closed within seconds.

We had skipped the appetizers on this recent trip so we could try a dessert. There were three choices, and several gelatos. We had the cheese cake de guayaba (guava cheese cake), which was exquisite.

The prices are reasonable given the value. Appetizers range from $90 to $185 MXN, entrees are $220 to $440 MXN (with a 600g rib eye at $990 MXN), pizzas are $140 to $290 MXN, and the taquitos are $130 to $290 MXN. The desserts ranged from $110 to $150 MXN, with gelatos sencillo (single scoop) at $90 MXN and doble at $165 MXN.

We were impressed with Balmori Roofbar on both visits and will return. Everyone we interacted with was friendly and welcoming, and the service was fast and never interrupted us during discussions. The big draw, of course, is the al fresco setting and the terrific drinks and food. I feel good about recommending this restaurant, and we'll likely add it to the book soon.