Cheap Food in Cabo San Lucas: Where to Eat Without the Markup

Cheap food in Cabo San Lucas is easy to find and easy to get wrong. The restaurants closest to the marina are priced for people who will eat there exactly once. Walk a few blocks inland and the same plate of food costs a fraction of that.

Every place below is in Cabo San Lucas itself, sits in Google's $ or $$ price bracket, and holds a rating of 4.4 or better. We print the rating and the review count next to each one so you can check our work before you go. Places that are famous rather than cheap did not make the list, however good they are.

The two cheapest places worth your time

1. Mother Flower

Mexican, $ bracket, 4.9 stars from 439 Google reviews. That is the highest rating of any budget kitchen we track in town. It is downtown at Vicente Guerrero and Francisco I. Madero, well away from marina pricing.

2. San Lucero Restaurant & Wine Bar

Mexican, $ bracket, 4.8 stars from 880 reviews. A wine bar that still prices in the $ bracket is unusual anywhere, and rare here. Downtown, on Calle Cabo San Lucas between Revolucion de 1910 and Libertad.

Eight more that stay under the $$ line

3. Loretta Restaurant

Mexican, $$, a clean 5.0 stars from 85 reviews. The review count is small, so treat it as promising rather than proven. Callejon de las Pilas.

4. Rich Taste of India

Indian, $$, 4.9 stars from 884 reviews, and a women-owned kitchen according to its own Google listing. Downtown on Paseo de la Marina, next to La Pampa.

5. Casa Martin Restaurante

Mexican, $$, 4.9 stars from 495 reviews. Out by the Lienzo Charro, which is part of why it is priced for locals.

6. Tropical Kitchen Cabo

Mexican, $$, 4.9 stars from 381 reviews. Downtown on Venustiano Carranza between Zaragoza and Morelos.

7. Roasted Grill & Bar

Bar and grill, $$, 4.8 stars from 704 reviews. On Avenida del Pescador in El Medano, so you can eat well near the beach without paying beach-club prices.

8. Baja Brewing

Brewery, $$, 4.5 stars from 1,060 reviews. Callejon del Pescador in El Medano. Worth knowing about if you want a beer with the meal and still want the bill to stay reasonable.

9. Chubby Noodle Cabo

Pan-Asian, $$, 4.6 stars from 925 reviews. On Miguel Hidalgo just off Paseo de la Marina. Useful on the third day running when nobody wants another plate of tacos.

10. Mango Deck

Bar and grill, $$, 4.4 stars from 6,185 reviews, which is the largest review count on this list by a distance. Right on Playa El Medano. It is loud and it is busy, and it is genuinely in the $$ bracket.

Where the cheap food actually is

Downtown. Six of the ten above. This is where the price drops, because these kitchens serve people who live here and come back next week.

El Medano. Roasted Grill, Baja Brewing and Mango Deck. You can eat near the sand in the $$ bracket, as long as you pick the right door.

The marina edge. Convenient, and priced for it. Nothing on this list is there by accident.

Four ways to pay less for the same meal

Ask for the peso price and pay in pesos. If a card terminal offers to charge you in dollars, it is adding its own conversion on top. Decline it and let your bank do the maths.

Eat your big meal at lunch. The same kitchens often run a smaller midday menu.

Walk inland. Distance from the marina is the single best predictor of price in this town.

Check the rating and the review count together. A 5.0 from 85 reviews and a 4.4 from 6,185 are telling you different things.

Planning the rest of it

Our full Cabo restaurants guide covers every price bracket, not just the cheap end. If you are still deciding where to stay, the villa collection and our adventures pages are the two most useful next steps, and a kitchen in the villa is its own way to keep the food budget down.