Sunset Monalisa

Sunset Monalisa is the restaurant people mean when they ask where to watch the sun go down over Cabo. Its terraces are stepped down a cliff above the bay, looking straight across the Sea of Cortez to the Arch at Land’s End, and few tables in Los Cabos have a better claim to the view.

The site has a long history. Giorgio Battaglia and Cristina Bremer Rodríguez opened a restaurant here in 1991; it was rebuilt after a hurricane and reopened in 2004, and has welcomed guests to these cliffs for around two decades since. CNN Travel has named it among the world’s most romantic restaurants, and it is a favourite for proposals and weddings.

The cooking is modern Italian, centred on handmade pasta and honest, seafood-friendly flavours. Domenico Stile, chef of the two-Michelin-star Enoteca La Torre in Rome, advises the kitchen, working with director of gastronomy Emanuele Olivero and executive chef Héctor Morales, who has cooked here for close to twenty years.

What to expect

There are two distinct moods. The first seating is all about the sunset, timed so the sky changes colour over the bay while you eat. The second is a later, livelier dinner under the stars, with a live Cuban band. The à la carte menu is served across the terraces, while the Front Row area hosts the Chef Experience, a tasting menu curated by Stile.

The restaurant also hosts weddings, small celebrations and corporate events, with several terraces of different sizes.

Good to know

• Setting: Km 6 on the Carretera Transpeninsular at Misiones del Cabo, on the Tourist Corridor just outside Cabo San Lucas.
• Hours: open daily from late afternoon through dinner.
• Reservations: essential for sunset tables; book online or message the restaurant on WhatsApp.
• Dress: smart casual.
• Best time: the first seating, for the light over the Arch.
• Best for: romantic dinners, proposals and first-time visitors who want the postcard view.