La Palapa has been around for over 50 years; it was the first beachfront restaurant in Puerto Vallarta. It's located in the Romantic Zone, not far from Daiquiri Dick's. While it consistently gets good reviews, the two times we dined there – once by ourselves and once with our children – we found the food to be mediocre, at best. But recent reviews declare it to be "hands down the best restaurant South Side and one of the best city wide," so we decided to give it another chance.
La Palapa has a relatively large inner dining area, with candlelit tables, which overlooks a myriad of candlelit tables on the beach. The hostess showed us to an inner table, overlooking the beach, which she "had saved for us." In truth, the beachside tables were all taken.
La Palapa's menu is relatively large, with Mexican and international cuisine. We ordered appetizers and entrées, and were enjoying our Coronas when, within minutes, our appetizers arrived – not a good sign. Marlene ordered the oven roasted beet salad, with pecan crusted goat cheese, arugula, jicama, agave honey and ancho chile vinaigrette. This was our best dish of the evening.
I ordered the Asian tuna stack, with sushi rice, three sauces, and a crispy won ton. The quality of the tuna was far inferior to Daiquiri Dick's, there was a layer of tasteless white "Minute Rice" on top, and the sauces must have been added as an afterthought. It was not a good dish.
We both ordered the same entrée – the sautéed Baja shrimp with guanábana and tequila sauce, served with corn and potato purée, and crispy parmesan cheese. It is truly difficult to serve tasteless shrimp in Puerto Vallarta, but La Palapa succeeded handily. The sauce didn't work with the shrimp or the heavy purée, and the entire dish was a gloppy mess.
After our entrées were cleared, our waiter offered dessert menus, exclaiming this was the best part. We believed him, but decided to pass. La Palapa has a nice enough ambience and pleasant service, and it certainly has longevity on its side. But it's ultimately a "tourist spot" for the less sophisticated palate. We do not recommend it and we will not be returning. After dinner each night, we take the same mile-long walk on the Malecón that we take after lunch. It's often more crowded at night; many of the strollers are Mexican families.
We finish our walk, we take a taxi back to the Fiesta Americana, we sleep to the sounds of the ocean . . . and then we wake up and do it all again. Copyright © 2013 TwoForTheTable.com |
