Roma Norte Brings Standout Cocktails and Mexico City Chic to San Diego

The downtown nightlife scene is getting a boost with the arrival of Roma Norte, a sophisticated cocktail bar that transports a touch of Mexico City to the Headquarters at Seaport where it’s located across from Puesto. The space, and its food and drink menu, clearly pay homage to its namesake neighborhood in Mexico’s capital, known as a bustling culinary and arts district with world-class cocktail culture.

At 2,000-square-feet with a capacity for 60 guests, Roma Norte’s dark, moody interior, illuminated by the backlit bar, creates an intimate yet social atmosphere. Under a canopy of soft lights and greenery, bar-height tables encourage mingling while cozy two-tops flank the walls.

Led by vice president of bar and spirits Beau du Bois (Marisi, Meadowood) and director of bar logistics Derek Cram (Puesto, PDT), with chef Erik Aronow (Puesto, Destroyer) providing a menu of Mexico City-style bites, Roma Norte aims to be a beacon for both locals and travelers.

Forging unforgettable experiences through exceptional drinks and unparalleled service, du Bois and his team are confident their bar will become a fixture for those seeking something beyond the Gaslamp’s offerings.

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With over 70 cocktails, Roma Norte’s menu showcases both creativity and precision. The habanero margarita is vapor-infused with habaneros to capture the chili pepper’s floral essence without the heat, a process that takes 30 minutes to distill a single drink. It comes with a dropper of capsaicin shrub, allowing guests to customize the drink to their preferred spice level.

And the deceptively simple Sex on the Beach involves a multi-day process of melding and clarifying ingredients, then force carbonating the mixture before layering it over cranberry juice and Dell’Etna Pesca, a high-quality peach liqueur.

“Talented chefs take every opportunity to layer in additional depths of flavor as well as improve the texture and appearance of their dishes. We take the same approach with our cocktail program. If we can make a drink better with a longer process, we will” states Cram.

“At Roma Norte, we’re executing the most ambitious cocktail program we’ve ever created,” explains Cram. “Not only is the menu much larger than at Puesto and Marisi, but virtually every cocktail has one or more labor-intensive sub-recipes. Scaling up these prep-intensive drinks has been challenging.”

Non-alcoholic options are crafted with equal care. Unimpressed with current NA offerings, the Roma Norte team makes many in-house, like the NA mezcal with tea and eucalyptus. The Nadachelada features alcohol-free Corona with a house-clarified michelada mix.

The staff is comprised of trained bartenders, so some of the city’s rising bar stars like Alyssa Ellis (Animae) may be serving your cocktail or the one making it. “We all have a hand in creating, preparing, and delivering our technique-driven, elevated, cocktails, and we can all speak to them passionately, as we walk you through our menu,” explains assistant general manager Edwin Vergara.

Open until 2 a.m., Roma Norte plans to cater to a diverse crowd, from industry professionals to nearby hotel guests. “It’s a place, like The Lion Share,” adds Vergara, “where you can enjoy a cocktail after a night out on the town or where you can start off with a cocktail before dinner.”

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“Now that Roma Norte is open, we have a long way to go,” says du Bois. “Planting our flag and being open until 2 a.m. is going to require patience and unmatched hospitality. The good news is, we have such an incredibly dedicated bar team that understands the assignment.”