La Palapa

Wow, PV has some great restaurants! Add them to the list.
ATMOSPHERE:
The open air beach house décor with ambient orange lighting, spreads out from the indoor dining area, to thatched huts, then onto the actual beach with tables. A live band sang really well. The bathrooms have a gorgeous tile counter!
MENU:
Salads, seafood apps, steak, fish, scallops, chicken. They were out of the yellowfin tuna, short ribs, lamb & goat cheese meatballs, and seafood cazuela. No biggie as we weren’t interested in them.
FOOD:
Manta Ray and Scalicornia Cake — Manta ray?! Of course I had to try it. The 3 cakes were in the shape of giant tater tots. The manta ray meat was similar in texture & taste to crab meat, but not as moist. The cakes were full of meat with no fillers, so it’s a heavy app. It came with a light yellow colored smoked oyster sauce for dipping, but didn’t taste like the dark brown stuff I’m used to. Scalicornia is simply a sea asparagus, only much thinner and with a slightly different flavor. Try it!
Jicama & Spinach Salad — The crispy jicama (similar to a radish) was thinly sliced and laid over the mound of spinach, accompanied with canned baby corn, crunchy tortilla strips, 2 little squares of panela cheese, and finished with a tequila citrus dressing. Delish!
Lobster Taquitos — My spouse’s dish. 2 taquitos were filled with small pieces of lobster meat which I couldn’t taste, and topped with papaya strips, pickled onions, with a drizzle of creamy chipotle dressing. Good but give me more lobster please.
Grilled Beef Tenderloin — I rarely order steak or meats when dining out because I can easily make them at home, but I was craving it. The small grilled filet was tender and nicely done with a savory brown sauce over mashed potatoes. The veggies of green beans, carrots, and zucchini were good.
Slow Cooked Salmon — The boring grilled salmon was brought back to life in this version, which was sitting in a pool of champagne sauce that is similar to a pink vodka sauce. Light, creamy, and highly recommended.
SERVICE:
Our male server was great. Professional and checked on us often.
OVERALL:
Nice ambiance, great food & service.

I went once for breakfast — and we could not stop raving about the chilaquiles — and once for lunch and the shrimp aguachile was one of the finest things I’ve eaten in Mexico. The motivation for eating here is location, location, location — their outdoor tables are IN the sand (still shaded) — although I’d suggest eating inside as the walking vendors will try to hawk their wares are you while you eat on the sand. But the place is so beautiful it could coast by on location and ambiance alone — except everything I ate here was amazing. For a cocktail I particularly recommend the hibiscus (jamaica) margarita. Dreaming of going back — it’ll be my zen memory for some time.

was looking for a great dinner experiece, & we found it!
quite a drive from the city. road were narrow made us think we were lost but real worth it!
table was off of the beach. sand on our feet. literally love the wound of the wave. perfectly lit. not too dark not too bright.
service was excellent. very friendly and most people know english.
food, came in a timely manner. warm and REAL good.
over all experience, it was an experience i would recommend my friends who would visit the place.

Came here to celebrate my 30^th birthday back in November! We were able to get a table on the beach which was perfect for sunset! I’m not too sure if it was their regular menu since it was almost like a restaurant week here in the US. The food was great, service was a tad slow but we didn’t care it was perfect out. The flaming coffee was really interesting and fun! Overall, we loved it!

We went to this resistant based on great Unilocal reviews and expecting to spend the whole day there on the beach as recommended in some of Unilocal reviews.
We got there around 12pm. I must say that their beach chairs are probably the nicest on the beach out of all restaurants. We were immediately welcomed and they even brought a stand for us for our stuff in case the water comes all the way to our beach chairs.
We were immediately pressured to order something. We were staying on the beach at other restaurants and didn’t get this pressure. I understand that it’s a nice restaurant — but so what? You charge the price and I relax.
I got full whole snapper for lunch. It was delicious and very nicely made — soft and flaky. We also got guacamole — it was also delicious. All the dishes were very nicely plated. The food experience was really great.
While we stayed on the beach, I also heard from our waiter not to leave my glass here or not to leave beer there. I know they were watching us probably to serve us better but we ended up having more restrictions than we wanted.
They also kicked us out at 3:30pm because they needed to prepare for dinner. Makes sense, but no other restraint did it. I walked all the beach area and everyone else was staying at their restaurant after lunch.
Overall, it’s a great restaurant with a great food. I highly recommend it for dinner. But it you want a relaxing day at the beach, pick another restaurant.

One of my favourite restaurants to visit in Puerto Vallarta. Have dined here numerous times.
I prefer their lunch service, as one can see the sea and what is happening on the beach. One can dine right on the beach, but, I actually prefer to be seated in their shaded dining room, with a stable table, chairs, etc.
Some of my favourite dishes to include the Sopa La Palapa, Aguachile de Camarón, or, Tartar de Salmón to start, followed by Tacos de Pescado, or, Arrachera de Res. Wine list features many Mexican bottles, as well as quiet a few from Argentina, and Chile (a few bottles from France are available).
Finally, the service as of late has been a little up-​and-​down. Hopefully, this straightens out, and they get back to offering the best service in town.

ENVIRONMENT
Beautiful beachfront restaurant that comes highly recommended by residents. There’s both indoor seating and seating on the beach, in the sand available.
DRINKS
Lots of great margarita options such a pineapple/​Serrano/​cucumber, cranberry/​basil, apple/​ginger, and pomegranate/​hibiscus and more. Everything else also.
APPS
Oyster Rockefeller — Tasty, but bad presentation. They come out on an oversized plate sliding around.
Oysters — Great! The oysters are huge and come with a garlic sauce and balsamic vinegar.
ENTREE
Surf n’ Turf — Your choice of streak and either fish, scallops, or shrimp. I went with scallops. All the dishes weren’t very warm.
Lobster — Huge piece! Like our other dishes, came out cold and a little chewy and might be on the dry side.
FIVE STARS FOR THE DRINKS, LOCATION, SERVICE AND EXPERIENCE, BUT THREE STARS FOR THE FOOD QUALITY. So four starts to meet in the middle.

This restaurant again did not fail to meet the highest of expectations. Arrived without a reservation during peak times and was ushered to bar area until a table was ready. Waiter appeared instantly and took a drink order. Ordered the sangria which was incredible and I highly recommend.
We were seated under the time estimate provided and our waiter appeared with menus and asked for a drink order. We refilled our sangrias and was served three types of bread. The cheese filled bread was amazing and the other two types were just as fresh and warm.
We ordered two appetizers. The muscles in a crème sauce and the duck enchiladas with almond mole. Both appetizers were delicious tho the muscles were a bit on the small side this time.
For our entrees two of us ordered the scallops in a mango reduction sauce and another order included the pork tenderloins. Both meals were presented professionally with an artistic flair. The meals themselves were out of this world. The pork tenderloins were absolutely delicious. The scallops were cooked to perfection and nearly melted in your mouth.
Finally for desert we had their «sexy Mexican café» and flan. Out of this world. The preparation and presentation for the coffee is something worth paying for. BEST restaurant in Puerto Vallarta — Hands down.

Every morning we get up and head over there for our morning coffee and warms treat — it is wonderful for our family in the the kids can play in the sand and ocean while we drink a cup of coffee — the service is good and all of the food we have tried we have enjoyed — this is a great place to start your day

Fine dining, Puerto Vallarta style. Lovely décor and setup. Epic location, with the beach doubling as patio seating. Extremely friendly service. Coconut shrimp appetizers were perfectly crispy and in keeping with PV standard of seafood, tasty, tasty shrimp! I had the red snapper. Hearty portion of well cooked, delicious fish made even better with the side of chorizo. My wife had the tuna and that too was a big hunk of fish steak!

This place in Puerta Vallarta gets an A+ for setting and ambiance. We were seated at a table on the beach at the edge of the ocean, overlooking Banderas Bay. Mariachi bands strolled by and played any tunes you requested for a tip. We watched the sun set and the sky turn into a million hues. This is as romantic a setting as it gets. The food was decent but not as excellent as the view.

Great food, great service, great ambiance! Fish tacos were solid — tasty and flavorful in each bite; the sauce/​cream on them was savory, perfect amount of toppings and cabbage, and the fish was fresh. Chips and guac were A+. Server was very friendly and helpful. Ambiance is beautiful — right on the boardwalk and facing the beach. Did not get drinks so can’t comment on those.
A little expensive for Mexican food, and despite us being some of the few people in the restaurant, it took much longer than expected for our food.

We came here during our week-​long stay in PV. We had been stuffing our faces with 10 peso tacos all week and were kind of guilted into having at least one nice meal in PV before we left. Enter La Palapa!
The atmosphere is very lovely. Unfortunately we were not able to snag a seat outside on the beach due to a wedding reception. However, the inside is very lovely and breezy enough for anyone.
We ordered a variety of appetizers since they seemed to be more interesting than the entrees. We ordered the grilled octopus salad (standout of the meal. Would have loved to order this if it was more of an entrée size), lobster taquitos (lovely crunch, but eh), duck enchiladas in mole sauce (disappointing and I ended up eating only the inside of the enchiladas), tuna tataki (good but not exciting), and seafood stew (wish there was a description underneath it like all of the other items on the menu. It tasted like a seafood tom yum soup. Heavy on the octopus and not much of the other seafood).
Overall, we spent almost 1,000 pesos when we wished we had just spent the night eating 10 peso tacos from our taco lady. While the octopus salad was truly delicious, everything else was meh.

Amazing combination of flavors, excellent ambient great location.
Ceviche is fantastic — super fresh. Fresh fish filet is the way to go — food porn!
I’m from New York, and NYC restaurants you got some homework to do!
A little pricy for Mexico standard but in the end this is PV
Totally recommended

Very long wait to get in and once you order there is another very long wait for the food. So, be prepared to wait a 2 hours from the time you get here to the time you eat.
The food itself was good. Nothing exceptional and nothing was bad either. We hd a couple of their fish entrees and the guacamole. No complaints. Rich flavors, decent food, very slow service.

We found La Palapa as one of the highly revered restaurants on Unilocal,so since we were already walking down El Malecon, decided that we’d try this venue as it’s along the boardwalk. We were seated with an ocean view, absolutely gorgeous. For appetizers, we started with the coconut shrimp and lobster rolls. Both, very flavorful with beautiful textures. I led in with the red snapper filet for my entrée; presentation was spot on, fish was cooked perfectly, and they provided a piece of fried tempura that complented the fish well with a little crunch. Definitely one of the must-​dine places in Puerto Vallarta, you will not be disappointed! Make sure to stop by Langostino’s after to get some fresh coconut =) Thank you PV for the amazing experiences!
Best,
Charlie

Our first night in town we went here for birthday dinner.
We had a lovely table on the beach with candle light. Our server was fast and friendly.
We all ordered drinks, which were good and came quickly.
The menu is simple, well thought out and kept to a prefect amount.
The food came in good time with a friendly smile.
I had the scallops with a roasted red pepper risotto. This was by far the most perfectly cooked scallops I have had. They were golden on both sides and still soft in the middle. The risotto was a wonder pairing! The texture was creamy and had a balanced flavor.
I’m very very impressed.

We loved this place. Definitely pricer if you disregard drink costs (Specialty Margaritas was at least ½ the bill I think) but worth it. The coconut shrimp was awesome, the market fish was awesome, the lava cake was awesome, even the tortilla soup was awesome. The view is great since you are literally on the beach and they had live music playing. What was a bummer was that the rain came and sent mini rivers through the tables so we moved inside by the end of dinner but it was nice to enjoy the bar area and the musicians.
This was high quality dinning experience (lots of wait staff attention) so 5 stars means 5 stars at a high class place. Have the local food, but then also come here for your romantic time.

Everyone told us that this place is amazing for dinner, and from what I can tell it is. The location is beautiful. The structure alone is quite impressive.
This was a short trip and we only had time in our schedule to have breakfast at La Palapa.
It was a beautiful morning but we opted to sit under the palapa and out of the sand. The service was fantastic and the food was very good, but not stellar.
We will definitely return next trip.
Highly recommend!

This is probably the most upper-​scale restaurant on the beach strip in the old part of the city. It’s been around for over 50 years, and it has an excellent reputation… well-​deserved, I must add!
On our trip to Puerto Vallarta, we actually visited La Palapa three times! #dontjudge =) We went for lunch our first day, breakfast on another day, and a 3^rd time for late night dessert. My advice is to stick to breakfast and late night dessert. Both of those experiences for us were amazing. Lunch was just alright to me (but perhaps it was what I ordered).
Stand out menu items for breakfast included the Enfrijoladas (kind of like breakfast enchiladas), the Shrimp Omelet (it was a special that day), and the Playa de Sol (a breakfast platter w/​eggs, sausage, pancakes, etc.). Also very tasty during breakfast is the tray of pastries the servers bring around (choose any that are cream cheese filled). I’m not a giant fan of sweets for breakfast, but these were out of this world.
Stand out lunch items included the Shrimp Guacamole and the Coconut Shrimp. The Avocado Soup with Chicken was just okay (it was a little bland). Tony ordered a veggie sandwich because he wasn’t feeling well. I tasted it while he wasn’t looking, and it was just okay for me.
Earlier, I mentioned that we returned to La Palapa for dessert one night of our trip! What a treat! Tony and I got two desserts to share and both were spot on! I think their dessert menu changes; however, if they have the South African Brown Sugar Cake when you visit, you should definitely order it! The Coconut Cake dessert was also super tasty!!! (See my pics on Unilocal!)