Restaurants, hotels, bars and wineries in El Paso from the En Primeur Club guide.
Accolades in El Paso
Cafe Central in downtown has an exceptional wine program and a Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence. Ámbar and Ristorante Casanova, both in Downtown El Paso, each have a wine list.
Cafe Central is a downtown fine dining restaurant with an exceptional wine program and a Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence for 2026. Its list runs to 1,500 selections across 14,000 bottles, with depth in California, France, and Italy, alongside a Contemporary American with Southwestern Twist menu.
Ámbar is a Downtown El Paso restaurant built around wood-fired modern Mexican cooking and a wine list. The room also carries more than 1,100 tequilas, mezcals, sotols, bacanoras and related spirits, giving its drinks list a strong agave focus.
Ristorante Casanova in Downtown El Paso is an Italian-American fine dining bar with live music, house-made pasta, classic cocktails, craft cocktails, and a wine list. A sister rooftop bar is part of the venue, and the atmosphere is family-style.
El Paso’s drink scene also includes a historic bar, a brewery, and the city’s only vineyard. The Tap Bar & Restaurant is in El Centro District, DeadBeach Brewery is in Union Plaza, and Zin Valle Vineyards is in Canutillo.
The Tap Bar & Restaurant in El Centro District has been a historic dive bar since 1956, with weekly live jazz. Craft beer and classic cocktails are poured there. Nachos from the bar are featured on multiple national best-of lists.
DeadBeach Brewery in Union Plaza is El Paso’s longest-running craft brewery, known for beers such as DeadBeach Lager and Abuelita Stout. The brewery occupies a converted space on Durazno Avenue and adds a beer-focused stop to the city’s bar list.
Zin Valle Vineyards in Canutillo is El Paso’s only vineyard, with estate-grown wines from Zinfandel and other varietals. It sits in the Mesilla Valley on the western edge of El Paso County and brings a wine-producing setting into the guide.
Cafe Central in downtown is one of 5 exceptional wine programs citywide in our guide, with 14,000 bottles, 1,500 selections, and depth in California, France, and Italy. Ámbar and Ristorante Casanova in Downtown El Paso each have a wine list. Cafe Central holds a Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence.
El Paso has no Michelin-starred restaurants in our guide. Cafe Central holds a Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence for 2026, with wine-list depth in California, France, and Italy.
In our guide, 3 venues hold a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence and 4 hold a Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence, both counted citywide. Cafe Central in downtown holds Best of Award of Excellence. Its wine list has depth in California, France, and Italy, and the menu is Contemporary American with Southwestern Twist.
The listed rooms here run a la carte and small plates. Cafe Central is a la carte. Ámbar is a la carte, small plates, and family style. Taconeta is a la carte and small plates. ELEMI is a la carte and small plates.
By Emmett Haley · Updated October 8, 2026 · Editorial standards
El Paso
Selected entries from the current guide for El Paso.
El Paso, United States
Cafe Central occupies a historic address on North Oregon Street in downtown El Paso, running an American-French menu through lunch and dinner with among the more substantial wine programs in the region: 1,500 selections across 14,000 bottles, with depth in California, France, and Italy. A 2023 Opinionated About Dining recommendation for Gourmet Casual Dining in North America gives it a clear position in the city's serious dining tier.
El Paso, United States
Taconeta sits at 311 Montana Ave in El Paso's central corridor, where the city's deep Borderplex food culture shapes everything on the plate. The address places it squarely in a neighbourhood where Mexican and Texan culinary traditions overlap, making the surrounding context as instructive as the food itself. For visitors mapping El Paso's taco scene, it belongs on the same circuit as the city's other Montana Ave operators.
El Paso, United States
Ámbar sits in downtown El Paso’s hotel-adjacent dining circuit, a category where location, sourcing discipline, and the border city’s produce-and-protein economy matter as much as menu labels. With no public awards or chef attribution attached here, its appeal is better read through the room’s urban setting and its place in a compact restaurant scene shaped by Texas, New Mexico, and northern Mexico.
El Paso, United States
Gwada Soul brings Caribbean-inflected soul food to El Paso's east side, operating out of a suite on Trawood Drive that has quietly built a following among residents seeking something outside the city's dominant Tex-Mex register. The kitchen leans on tradition-rooted cooking where the sourcing story behind each ingredient carries as much weight as the technique applied to it.
El Paso
Selected entries from the current guide for El Paso.
El Paso, United States
A 1930s Art Deco skyscraper in downtown El Paso, The Plaza Hotel Pioneer Park earned a Michelin 1 Key in 2024, placing it among a small tier of historically rooted hotels that trade equally on architectural character and contemporary comfort. At $246 per night across 130 rooms, it sits at a considered price point for the region, with Juarez-inspired dining on the ground floor and a 17th-floor rooftop bar above.
El Paso, United States
A Michelin Selected property on Sheldon Court in downtown El Paso, Hotel Paso Del Norte sits within one of the city's most architecturally significant buildings. The Autograph Collection affiliation signals a commitment to place-specific character over chain uniformity, and Michelin's 2025 selection confirms its position at the summit of the local hotel market. For travellers arriving at the Texas-Mexico border, it is the reference address.
El Paso, United States
Stanton House occupies a restored address on N. Stanton Street in downtown El Paso, earning MICHELIN Selected recognition in 2025. The property sits in the compact tier of design-conscious independents that have reframed what a stay in this border city can mean. For travellers who use El Paso as a serious destination rather than a stopover, this is the reference point.
El Paso
Selected entries from the current guide for El Paso.
El Paso, United States
Sazon by Chef Rulis sits on North Mesa Street in El Paso, a corridor where the city's cross-border culinary identity is most legible. The restaurant draws on the deep Mexican-American food traditions that define this region, positioning itself within a small tier of El Paso spots where technique and cultural specificity carry equal weight. Visitors coming from central Texas or New Mexico will find the address direct to reach.
El Paso, United States
China Town on Paseo del Norte occupies an interesting position in El Paso's drinking and dining circuit: a bar and kitchen operating in the northwest corridor where concept-driven venues are fewer on the ground. The cocktail programme anchors the experience, drawing from pan-Asian flavour references in a city whose bar culture is defined more by border tradition than East Asian technique.
El Paso, United States
DeadBeach Brewery occupies a converted space on Durazno Avenue in El Paso's lower valley, where the border proximity and industrial surroundings shape the brewery's character as much as its beer. It sits in a small but growing tier of Texas craft producers operating outside the state's major metropolitan corridors, drawing a local following that treats it as a neighbourhood anchor rather than a destination novelty.
El Paso, United States
L & J Cafe on East Missouri Avenue occupies a position in El Paso's drinking culture that rewards those who pay attention to neighbourhood character over hype. Situated in a city where the bar scene ranges from craft-focused breweries to longstanding cantina formats, L & J Cafe represents the kind of address that local regulars return to for consistency rather than novelty.
El Paso, United States
Old Sheepdog Brewery occupies a spot on Rosa Avenue in El Paso's west side, operating as the kind of neighborhood brewery where the pint is the point. The setting and tap list reflect the city's working-class border character more than any curated craft-beer aesthetic. For El Paso drinkers, it functions less as a destination than as a regular stop.
El Paso, United States
On South El Paso Street, where the downtown grid meets the older rhythms of a border city, Ristorante Casanova occupies a spot that rewards those paying attention to El Paso's quieter dining corners. The address places it within walking distance of the city's historic core, and the Italian name signals an ambition that sits at an angle to the tex-mex dominance of the surrounding scene. For those tracing the full range of what El Paso pours and plates, it belongs on the itinerary alongside the city's more established venues.
El Paso, United States
Rosa's Cantina sits on Doniphan Drive in El Paso's upper valley, a stretch of the Rio Grande corridor where the border's agricultural rhythms and Mexican culinary traditions have shaped how the city eats for generations. The cantina format here draws on that cross-river sourcing culture, placing it in a distinct tier of El Paso dining where provenance and locality carry more weight than polish.
El Paso, United States
The Tap Bar & Restaurant occupies a corner of downtown El Paso's San Antonio Avenue, a stretch where the city's border-town energy and its emerging bar scene converge. The format sits squarely in the tradition of dual-identity venues that anchor a neighborhood's social rhythm, holding ground as a place for both a proper drink and a proper meal. For context on the wider El Paso scene, see our full city guide.
El Paso, United States
Zin Valle Vineyards sits in Canutillo, on the western edge of El Paso County, where the Rio Grande valley floor gives way to desert terrain and a wine scene operating well outside the Texas Hill Country mainstream. The property represents the quieter, agriculture-rooted strand of Texas viticulture, drawing visitors who seek a regional perspective on southwestern grape growing rather than a polished tasting-room circuit.
El Paso
Selected entries from the current guide for El Paso.
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