Roma Norte is a grid of trees, low buildings, and more good food per block than a visitor can honor. Treat it as a walk with stops, not as a list of restaurants to conquer between museums. You can spend the whole day inside the neighborhood and still feel you have been in Mexico City, provided you also sit in a park and do nothing for twenty minutes.
Start with coffee and a concha or a more substantial breakfast if you skipped the hotel. Then walk toward Plaza Río de Janeiro, which is the neighborhood’s front room. From there the streets reward drifting: bookshops, a gallery, a torta when you are actually hungry rather than when the itinerary says so. Lunch is the meal to take seriously. A long comida — the afternoon meal — is more local than a 19:00 dinner forced into an American clock. Make a reservation if the dining room is small. Walk in if the place is a fonda with a daily menu on a board.
What to order without performing
Salsa is not a single flavor. Taste it before you cover the plate. Tacos al pastor are a nighttime food in many parts of the city; at midday look for guisados, soups, and the comida corrida if you want to eat the way offices eat. Quesadillas in Mexico City are often filled and may not include cheese unless you ask. Elote and esquites from a street cart are a right answer when you want something between meals. Buy them where there is a line of locals, eat them while they are hot, and keep walking.
Dinner can be lighter if lunch was the point. A wine bar, a slice of something sweet, a second coffee you do not need. If you want a celebrated restaurant, book it for a different night and let Roma be the day you did not optimize.
Getting there and staying there
The neighborhood is walkable once you are in it. Use a rideshare or the metro to arrive, not a plan that involves driving and parking for every stop. Evenings are lively and generally easy to walk; use the same judgment you would in any large city. Stay in Roma, Condesa, or the edge of Juárez if this walk is the trip’s center. A hotel in Polanco is a fine hotel and a different day.