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“Had to Respond, Liked it a Lot”

El Palomar de los Gonzalez
Ranked #55 of 1,951 Restaurants in Puerto Vallarta
Certificate of Excellence
Price range: $15 - $90
Cuisines: Mexican, International
More restaurant details
Restaurant details
Good for: Local cuisine, Special occasions, Large groups, Romantic, Business meetings
Dining options: Late Night, Dinner, Delivery, Reservations
Reviewed November 3, 2009

We had a wonderful experience at this restaurant. Not just a 'view" restaurant. The food the drinks, the service and even the music were just top notch. Thank you for a beautiful experience from seasoned travelers and diners.

Thank TSlick
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviews (1,230)
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1,094 - 1,098 of 1,231 reviews

Reviewed October 19, 2009

My husband got a recommendation for this restaurant. Its set up really high in the hills with the most beautiful views of Puerto Vallarta. Its romantic and pretty- and thats where it ends. Our waiter pushed us to have the seafood special- mussles, lobster, calamari, mahi-mahi and so on. We were silly enough not to ask the price, but as most entrees are around the 250-350 pseos mark, we reconned around 500/600 pseos for our big entree. It was terrible. The lobster was not fresh and had been frozen. I lived in Boston for 2 years and know how fresh lobster is supposed to taste like. We asked the host on our way out if it was frozen and she said 'yes', but then our waiter overheard the conversation and said that it was fresh! The calamari was like rubber, it was really really horrible. The fish was just such poor quality and we were really disgusted with the food. The waiter was rushed, I had to shout out my order to him as he was walking away while I ordered. Really this place just has the view- fine for drinks, but a total rip off. If you want the view, I would rather go to Le Kliff which has both the view, and amazing food.

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4  Thank dee2072
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed October 11, 2009

This restaurant created an incredible memory for us as the night could have been a disaster. El Palomar is located immediately next to the Vista Grill. We had previously made reservations at the Vista Grill for the final night of our vacation and had even been re-confirmed but as the taxi pulled up to the Vista Grill it was CLOSED??? We saw several workmen painting or fixing the front door. No signs were posted and the place was black. So here we are stuck on a friday night, our last night of our vacation to find a place to eat since the place we had chosen was closed without notice. Our cab driver pointed out that next door was El Palomar and at the time I was not familiar with it but we decided to take a chance.
Turns out it was great for us and very bad for the bone head owners of Vista Grill who couldn't take the time to notify us that their restaurant was going to be closed.
We were warmly greeted and sat at a fantastic table with a beautiful view of Puerto Vallatra, the ocean, and Vista grill next door. Our waiters were awesome and never rushed us at all as we pondered the wine list. After choosing a bottle and just relaxing and enjoying the view ,the host, Mauricio, greeted us warmly and inquired about how we found out about the restaurant. We told him the story and then asked him to take some pictures of us and the wonderful view. Just as he was doing this he noticed our camera was out of film and immediately had a busboy go to the corner store and buy us a new disposable camera. That was just pure top notch customer service.
As we were dining all of the tables were soon full and other diners who had also made reservations at the closed Vista Grill relayed their stories. I still wonder if the management has any clue that you just don't do that to your customers as bad reviews travel fast.
Our dinner was excellent from the spicy scallop appetizers to the wonderful steak & shrimp entrees. Oh the table side made to order caesar salad was excellent as well.
During our dinner and as we chatted with a couple next to us, another bottle of wine was ordered, and then a mariachi band came and played for us. We got up from our table and danced to beautiful romantic songs and then had sexy coffee and chocolate cake. The original owner's grand daughter stopped by our table to chat and bought us each a hibiscus margarita (delicious) and a shot of almond tequilia ( also delicious).
When we returned to our hotel bar to meet up with other couples at out hotel we told them of Vista being closed but to pass them by and visit El Palomar for a fun evening of dining, drinking, and dancing. We will definitely tell everyone about your first class service and we thank you for making our last night in Puerto Vallarta a truly memorable one.

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3  Thank DanDonna
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed July 21, 2009

Group of 4 visited in mid-July 2009 for a late evening dinner. Fantastic view, but disappointing food. Of the 4 meals, 2 were "the worst food ever received at a restaurant". The grilled shrimp dish and the grilled steak dish were charred beyond recognition and tasted like charcoal. Another steak dish and the surf/turf were average. We expected much better. It was as if the chef had gone home for the night and the dishwasher was cooking - and he was cooking in the same lighting conditions we had at our table (total darkness).

2  Thank swatts5883
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed May 24, 2009

This hillside, family-owned establishment is always on our must see list.
I love the view and the food is consistently good. they don't vary the menu much but there is nothing that you can pass up on the menu. The view is to die for and the service makes you feel like you are a member of the family. Later diners are generally treated to music. On one level is a foutain and a small pool.
This lovely resturant should not be passed up by anyone visiting PV.

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1  Thank Bonanzagirl
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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