Las Mañanitas has been the special-occasion restaurant of Cuernavaca since the 1950s, and it delivers a scene that has barely changed: tables set on a terrace overlooking deep green lawns, peacocks, cranes, and flamingos strolling between the sculptures, and white-jacketed waiters moving at a processional pace. The kitchen does refined versions of Mexican classics — sopa de tortilla, chiles en nogada in season, cecina de Yecapixtla — and a long list of Mexican wines and cocktails best taken in the garden bar before dinner.
It is attached to a small luxury guesthouse, but the restaurant and its gardens are the reason to come, and non-guests are welcome. Prices are the highest in the city and the cooking, honestly, is not always the most interesting in town — you are paying for one of Mexico's great dining settings, and on that measure nobody leaves disappointed. Book ahead for Sunday lunch, when Mexico City families make an afternoon of it. Smart casual is the safe dress code.