54 Best Restaurants in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

This midsize enclave is sure to satisfy anyone with a sweet tooth, particularly those fond of well-crafted French crepes. Try the orange-flavored Suzette or, if you're a chocolate fan, the full-on Tahitian with ice cream, chocolate, and whipped cream. They also have savory crepes and occasionally hold a moules et frites (mussels and french fries) night for seafood lovers.

Frascati is friendly and intimate while simultaneously sophisticated, with a lively soundtrack. Choose your pasta (several are house-made) and one of 12 toppings, including traditional sauces such as Bolognese, pesto, four-cheese, and pomodoro, or something chef-inspired like the Arturito, a sauce of fresh tomatoes, cream, chicken, and basil. The mixed seafood combo, served in an oversize martini glass, is a must-try. In addition to lightly battered and deep-fried denizens of the deep, the appetizer comes with batter-fried julienne zucchini and crispy fried parsley.

This small, no-frills restaurant offers what many claim to be the best tacos in all of Bahía de Banderas, but also the most expensive. The tender rib-eye meat that melts in your mouth is the secret to its success.

Although many have been drinking rather than eating at this local hangout for years, the restaurant serves dependable cuisine (fajitas, burgers, fries), with daily lunch specials and nightly drink specials. The bar has a friendly atmosphere; the interior is cool, dark, and informal. Service is generally attentive, although that doesn't mean the food will arrive promptly. This spot is party-hearty later in the evening, by 10 pm or so.

Barramar Beach Club is both the best beach club in town and one of the very best restaurants in the whole Barra de Navidad–Melaque area. Locals come for the swimming pool and stay for the seafood.

If you want to try birria de chivo, a delicious goat or beef stew very popular in Jalisco, Birriería Robles is the place to go. With four different branches in Puerto Vallarta, the Robles family has based its success on keeping the menu simple and focusing on serving the best birria in town.  

This trendy but casual café also offers lunch and dinner, but it's the breakfast people come here for. Patrons love the enchiladas, huevos al gusto, pastries, and good coffee, though the pizzas and salads served later in the day and into the night are also tasty. It's one of the few places that has a/c during the summer months. Did we mention they also have Italian-style ice cream?

Repeat visitors swear by the enchiladas and carne asada at this earthy restaurant. A large tree extends from the dining-room floor through the roof, local artwork adorns the walls, and salsa music often plays in the background. Note that as soon as Café de Olla opens for the season, it fills up and seems to stay full. You may need to wait for a table, especially at breakfast and dinner.

Originally a coffee-and-dessert stop and fashionable hangout for Mascotans, this snug little eatery serves big breakfasts and now main dishes at lunch and dinner, too. Sit on the small street-facing patio, in the small dining room, or facing the glass case featuring fantastic-looking cakes, pies, and tarts. You can get wine and beer as well as pizza, barbecue, spaghetti, and other Italian food.

Early risers and those heading off on fishing charters will appreciate the daily 5 am opening time. The café, which is filled with wonderful art for sale, has fruit smoothies, coffee in many manifestations, and tasty frappés with Oreo cookie bits or frosting-topped carrot cake.

Typical food of the countryside—enchiladas, tamales, pozole, beefsteak with beans and tortillas, and so on—is served in an equally typical family home that has been expanded to welcome guests. Straw-bottom chairs are comfortable enough, and the oilcloths shiny and new. The small bar is at the back behind the large, open kitchen. It's open for breakfast, too.

Fine Italian food can be found at any of the three locations of this well-known local business. Casual attire is expected, with the location in Nuevo Vallarta being somewhat fancier and ideal for either romantic dinners or family reunions.

This restaurant is an institution among locals and visitors who know that there's more than just all-inclusive hotels in Nuevo Vallarta. Eddie’s Place is one of the few expat meeting points in the area. Go for the company, stay for the food.

This Bucerías branch of El Brujo is located right on the beach but with the same food and generous portions as the original location in Puerto Vallarta. The molcajete—a sizzling black pot of tender flank steak, grilled green onion, and soft white cheese in a delicious homemade sauce of dried red peppers—is served with a big plate of guacamole, refried beans, and made-at-the-moment corn or flour tortillas. Try the breaded scallops, stuffed fish with shrimp and creamy huitlacoche (black corn fungus) sauce, or a grilled skirt steak with mushrooms and bell peppers bathed in tomato sauce. If you're into simpler fare, the unadorned grilled fish fillet is fresh and delicious, too.

Widely considered by locals as the best taco place in downtown Vallarta, El Carboncito offers the full taco experience with chairs on the sidewalk and plates covered with plastic bags. However, don't let the aesthetics and lack of amenities fool you—pretty much anything you'll try here is simply delicious.

The ambience at this patio restaurant facing the boats and the marina is casual and festive; the crowd hums with contentment while other restaurants nearby seemingly have been drained of clientele. There is live music (mainly mariachi) most days.

"The Blacksmith" will win no awards for cuisine (or, for that matter, decoration), but it's often filled with families of pilgrims, and the locals recommend it, too. The menu offers mainly meat dishes, including burgers with fries, plus antojitos, gorditas, and sopes (all cornmeal-based, fried concoctions stuffed with meat or beans and, in the case of the latter, topped with beans and salsa), pozole, and quesadillas. The tortillas are made fresh at the back of the restaurant. Half orders are available, and there's a bar serving national booze and beer.

El Patio de Mario serves traditional Mexican food in a clean, calm environment with a gorgeous open patio and friendly staff. Forget what you know about Mexican food; come here and try their birria or menudo, exquisite soups of pre-Hispanic origins. Open for breakfast or lunch, it also sells raicilla to go.

For an informal bite on any given evening, there's nothing like Food Park PV. Here you'll find a variety of snacks, beer, live music, and good vibes, all in a refreshing outdoor atmosphere.

Even in low season, Fredy's, next door to the Hotel Posada de Roger, is packed full of Mexican families, gringo friends, and local businesspeople. Your mug of coffee will be refilled without having to beg; service is brisk, professional, and friendly. Breakfast is the meal of choice, with pancakes and waffles, Mexican specialties, omelets, and eggs Benedict with thick slices of ham. The lunch menu is abbreviated but offers soups, salads, burgers, nachos, and quesadillas. Eat on the pretty covered patio, or inside, where big plate-glass windows let you keep an eye on busy Calle Basilio Badillo.

Near the malecón's north end, this world-famous franchise restaurant with a fun-loving atmosphere has a bit of a sea view from its second-floor dining room and a Caribbean flavor. Like its Havana namesake, La Bodeguita sells Cuban rum and cigars, and the music (canned during the day, live at night)—like the cuisine—is pure cubano. Try the mojito, a signature Havana drink of lime juice, sugar, white rum, and muddled fresh mint leaves.

Everyone loves "Grandma's House," which is conveniently open all day (and evening), every day, starting at around 8 am with breakfast. In addition to beans, rice, carne asada, and other recognizable Mexican food, there are backcountry recipes that are much less familiar to the average traveler.

La Cascada y Bosque, simply known in town as “Cascada,” is a wonderful place for breakfast or lunch even when the waterfalls are just a water drop. The jungle setting here is spectacular and begs for a stroll before or after your meal. For breakfast you can choose typical Mexican dishes or the American-style breakfast with bacon and eggs. For lunch, you should try their fish and empanadas.

This restaurant, part of a small inn, might look like just another Mexican restaurant from the outside, but there is more than what meets the eye. The cuisine is mostly international, with Greek dishes like gyros.

Locals come for the Naples-style pizza, cooked in a brick oven and with a crust that's not too thick, not too thin. There's also great pasta and a good variety of entrées, like salmon with caviar, and lemon and broccoli with fettuccine in cream sauce served piping hot. For appetizers try the tomato-topped bruschetta toasts or steamed mussels with lemon, parsley, and butter. A new location has opened in the residential district behind Costco and the northern hotel zone.

Right on the beach just north of the pier at Playa Los Muertos, Langostinos is a great place to start the day with a helping of Mexican rock music, cranked up to a respectable volume. For lunch or dinner, the house favorite at this professional and pleasant place is surf and turf (called mar y tierra), and the three seafood combos are a good value. The kids can play on the beach while you linger over coffee.

The locally owned bakery Los Chatos sells cakes, tarts, and house-made gelato. They have expanded to new areas, too, in Bucerías, the Marina, and more.

You can spend the whole day here on loungers enjoying the beach, the ocean, delicious food, and refreshing micheladas. They specialize in seafood, pescado zarandeado, ceviche, and obviously coconuts, but you can order absolutely anything and won’t be disappointed. You can also rent a kayak or play beach volleyball. The owner, Oscar, is always ready to help. No stress, no pressure.

Los Conos Restaurant and Bar serves Latin and Mexican dishes and drinks and specializes in seafood. Their tasty lemonade or cold beer will save your life if you decided to hike to Las Ánimas from Boca de Tomatlán. Their fresh sierra ceviche is highly recommended, and shrimp come in very decent sizes (try the coconut ones). The waiters are attentive but not imposing, and the place is really neat and clean.