Puerto Vallarta

Our final leg of the trip was to the west coast at Puerto Vallarta. This was my favorite place of the whole entire trip. It had a nice combination of beautiful location and a real lived in feel. Walking around you see Mexicans enjoying themselves and you can tell people actually eat and live in this city - the boardwalk / night market rules. I never got that sense really in Playa Del Carmen. It's also very walkable which is a really nice thing...plenty of places to explore and plenty of places to eat.

Picnic - Recommended
Púlpito 154
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
(322) 223-2353

Basically Americanized food, but tasty. I know...not Mexican food, but it had a Mexican owner - does that count? We arrived at 2pm and were starving, so this was the best looking place in our area. BBQ sauce was uber flavorful and spicy. Chicken had a nice crust on it, but on the border between moist and dry. Very friendly service. We did get very good tortillas though with the chicken.

Our Menu
BBQ Chicken *
French Dip


La Palapa - Recommended (for view and service only)
Pulpito 103 and Col. Emiliano Zapata
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Phone: 52 (322) 222-522

Everyone recommended this place for the view, so we decided to check it out. Way over priced ($8 water!?!?), but definitely worth it since you eat food on the beach and have the perfect view to watch the sunset. Also, the service is great there. The lobster tacos were incredible - flavorful and great lobster flavor. All the rest of the dishes had good sauces and good cooking technique (moist, nice crust), but the fish/scallops were of poor quality - no real flavor at all. Still, Bourdain is right...food does taste better with sand between your toes.

Our Menu
Lobster Tacos **
Scallops
Sea bass


Marisma Tacos - Highly Recommended
320 Calle Naranjo at V Carranza
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Phone: 52-322-222-1395

This place is way out of the way from the hotels, but 1000% worth it. Chowhounders were spot on with this place. Shrimp tacos were sweet and juicy - like eating fried and battered lobster. Top it with the cilantro and lime juice salsa and it was amazing. By itself, it's equally ridiculous. The fish taco had very good flavor but was a letdown compared to the shrimp taco. The fish paired best with the ketchup and onion sauce. Without any sauce the fish is good, but not great. Both served with crunchy cabbage (not lettuce). Definitely my favorite tacos of the entire trip - so good we went 2x. Absolutely no gringos here - but they don't speak English...I got by with my terrible Spanish, but they also have a menu in English which I think you can point at.

Our Menu
Fish Taco *
Shrimp Taco ***
Smokey Marlin Taco **



Los Arbolitos - Not Recommended
Camino de la Rivera 184
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Phone: +52 322 3 1050

Heard about this place based on a lot of Chowhounder's reviews and this is a rare miss. The food served here is no better than Chi Chi's - all gringos too. Not necessarily terrible tasting food, but just nothing to go to Mexico for. Food was borderline bland and seasoned ok. My Mexican plate (recommend by the Chowhounders) was very average. The wife's steak tacos were good though, not great. Oh ya, there is absolutely no view of the ocean. I got that impression from the Chow reviews that you see the ocean, but all you see is a mountain. Nice, but you basically see mountains everywhere in Puerto Vallarta.

Our Menu
Mexican plate (Taco, Chile Relleno)
Steak Tacos *


Tacos El Cisne - Highly Recommended
On Panama Across from Pollo Feliz
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

Random tiny taco stand that serves meat - rare, considering just about every taco stand we saw served seafood tacos. Tasty stuff and good selection of meat and pork tacos. The chorizo was dyno-mite! Spicy, salty, porky...everything I want in a taco.

Our Menu
Abodabo *
Chorizo **




Pollo Feliz - Highly Recommended
AV. MEXICO # 171 (maybe at Panama)
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

Basically great fast food chicken at Pollo Feliz . The reason why we stepped in because the place was packed with all locals. Basically rotisserie chicken that's juicy , packed with flavor and a phenomenal price. Think the best chicken at a friend's NY area bbq (not smoked, but you know cooked on a grill). These are ridiculously better than that. Served with a side of roasted jalapeno and tortillas. Nuggets were also off the chain good. Crispy, great temperature and perfectly seasoned. Avoid the ketchup they provide you though, it's like gross sweet and sour souce. The wife enjoyed that with the nuggets though. Btw - they have Indio beer which I love...had it in Durango, Mexico but couldn't find it any where. One of my favorite beers.

Our Menu
1/2 pollo ***
9 piece nuggets **



El Arrayan - Recommended
344 El Centro
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
Phone: 52 (322) 222-71-95

Our last meal in Puerto Vallarta and we were very happy with it. Appetizers far outshined the entrees in my opinion, but we ordered lots o apps so that was ok. My first time eating insects (chaupulines are grasshoppers) and they were friggin tasty. Scary at first as I was expecting an explosion of guts with the first bite. Not so...crunchy, salty, earthy. Great stuff. The plantains were a big what the f moment for me - sweet, savory, gooey, cheezy. Cochinita Pibil was a tad dry which seemed to be a common theme with that dish every where I went - very flavorful though. Duck carnitas was tasty, but they describe it as duck confit. The images I have of duck confit are the french style, when you touch it with a fork it and it almost falls apart immediately...didn't get that effect. Regardless, this place is very tasty and definitely worth the visit...all gringos here also, but the food is very good.

Our Menu
Chaupuline Tostada **
Plantain Empanada (also stuffed with black beans, cheese) ***
Shrimp Pozole
Hibiscus Quesadilla **
Cochinita Pibil *
Duck Carnitas *