10 Amazing Restaurants in Puerto Vallarta

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After visiting Puerto Vallarta again and again, and eating all over the city, I can say with confidence that these are some of the best restaurants in Puerto Vallarta.

Just thinking back to all of the amazing food we had in Puerto Vallarta makes me want to get back on a flight.

Not to mention the warm weather, the perfect sunsets, and the plethora of craft beer on offer. Puerto Vallarta had some of the best seafood I’ve had in Mexico (except maybe the restaurants in Ensenada) and I can’t wait to share all of my favorites with you in this article.

I was actually really surprised that when I searched for the best restaurants in Puerto Vallarta, there wasn’t much information out there. 

One of my favorite reasons to come to a beach town in Mexico is for fresh seafood. I love a cold ceviche, a spicy fish taco, and trying new-to-me seafood dishes like octopus or aguachile. There was definitely always plenty of that on our trips to Puerto Vallarta.

The majority of the restaurants on this list are either located in the 5 de Diciembre neighborhood or the Romantic Zone.

Both are chock full of restaurants and bars and it’s very easy to walk between the two neighborhoods which are connected via the Malecon (boardwalk).

Where to Eat in Puerto Vallarta

Pretty much every restaurant on this list is a budget-friendly seafood or taco spot.

I wasn’t consciously trying to avoid expensive restaurants, I just find that in Mexico, the best food is served close to the street in small family-style restaurants. That was certainly true in Puerto Vallarta.

My favorite restaurants in Puerto Vallarta usually had a street cart out front where the prep was done and none were too far a walk from the beach. Also, although all of these places are seafood restaurants, most had one or two options for people that don’t love seafood (not many were veggie friendly, though).

Map of the Best Restaurants in Puerto Vallarta

1. Tacon de Marlin

Honduras 145, 5 de Diciembre

Opening Hours: Daily 10:30am-7:30pm

This was one of the first places we tried in Puerto Vallarta and remains one of the best restaurants in Puerto Vallarta in my humble opinion.

It’s always one of the first restaurants I go to when I return to Puerto Vallarta and it’s inevitably the last one we head to because it’s delicious and they have a location right across from the airport.

There are a few locations, but the easiest one to get to if you’re staying in the downtown area is located in the 5 de Diciembre neighborhood. It’s mostly a lunch spot and I highly recommend getting here early because the tables fill up quickly, especially on weekends. 

The only thing on the menu is burritos, although they call them tacones and the best one to start with is the marlin.

It’s smoked marlin wrapped up with a few different sauces and salads inside. It is piping hot and the smoked marlin to salad ratio makes it so that it doesn’t feel like too much (if you’ve had smoked marlin tacos before you know what I’m talking about). 

It’s also a great option if you’re on your way to the beach – you can get a few of them to go and enjoy them with your feet in the sand.

In addition to smoked marlin, they also have crab (jaiba), shrimp (camaron), and octopus (pulpo). You can also mix the fillings if you want with up to three in one burrito. 

They cost 130 Pesos (about $6.50) and they are absolutely enormous and very filling.

2. Mariscos El Guero

Calle Francisco I. Madero 291, Zona Romántica

Opening Hours: Daily 12-8pm, closed Wednesdays

This is perhaps the most famous mariscos, or seafood restaurant in Puerto Vallarta romantic zone neighborhood. This local food tour company stops here and when you search for seafood restaurants in Puerto Vallarta, this is one of the first ones to come up in Google.

For good reason – they’re churning out fresh ceviche, two types of fish tacos (fried or grilled) plates of whole fish, and plenty of other seafood platter options. 

They also have a fridge full of ice cold beer, which goes perfectly with a few of their grilled shrimp tacos.

2023 Update: I revisited El Guero in December 2022 and it wasn’t quite as good as I remembered. There are better places on this list for both tacos and ceviche, but I still think that the service here is exceptional, the prices unbeatable, and the main plates like the whole fish or the cooked shrimp in the diablo sauce are incredibly good. But if you want fish tacos, this is not one of the best restaurants in Puerto Vallarta for that.

3. Mariscos Cisneros

Aguacate 271, Zona Romántica

Opening Hours: Daily 10am-8pm, closed Tuesdays

If you’re in Puerto Vallarta for long enough, you’ll probably notice that most mariscos restaurants in the city have pretty similar menus, but the preparation and quality can vary greatly.

I actually only ended up at Mariscos Cisneros because I tried to go to El Guero (above) and it was closed.

I’m SO glad that I stumbled upon Cisneros because the quality of their seafood and the way they cook their fish made it my favorite lunchtime spot in Puerto Vallarta.

The restaurant started out as a simple food cart that now sits outside of the main restaurant and you can still sit here and have your seafood lunch on one of their benches. However, they also have a back patio area if you want to sit outside in a little bit more comfort. 

It continues to be one of our favorite restaurants in Puerto Vallarta thanks to the seafood quality, excellent service, and their octopus quesadilla.

They also make shrimp and fish quesadillas which I highly recommend if you don’t love octopus. 

I’m not usually a huge lover of cheese with seafood, but the flavor was just right. They cooked up the seafood with onions and poblano chilis and served it all with a few different sauces to choose from. 

4. Mariscos La Tia

Calle Honduras 215, 5 de Diciembre

Opening Hours: Daily 10:30am-10:30pm, closed Wednesdays

If you’re staying in 5 de Diciembre you can’t miss out on this street stall. It is one of the best places to eat in Puerto Vallarta and as long as you don’t mind incredible street food at an even better price, then you’ll love this place.

They also have a restaurant inside, but the street stall outside is where everything is prepared.

I absolutely loved their aguachile, a spicy shrimp sort of ceviche dish (read more about traditional Mexican food here). It was salty and fresh and served with plenty of avocado and tostadas. 

They also made one of the best octopus tacos I have ever eaten, not only from restaurants in Puerto Vallarta, but from restaurants anywhere in Mexico.

They simply cooked up the legs with a little bit of onion and a few spices and served it in a tortilla which you could then fill with sauces of your choice. It was simple, but really allowed you to enjoy the texture and flavor of the octopus.

5. Mariscos El Jefe

Rep. de Chile 167, 5 de Diciembre

Opening Hours: 11am-7:30pm, closed Tuesdays

This little food stall is another of the many fantastic places to eat in Puerto Vallarta. 

It’s similar to La Tia in that it is basically a food stand with a small restaurant inside. However, you can just as easily enjoy the fresh seafood streetside.

They have a wide selection including fish tacos, ceviche, grilled and fried fish and shrimp, octopus tacos, and aguachile. 

6. El Barracuda

Paraguay 1290, 5 de Diciembre

Opening Hours: Monday & Tuesday 1-10pm, Wednesday-Sunday 12pm-12am

If you’re looking for a place that’s a little more upscale (while still being incredibly affordable), then you can’t go wrong with Barracuda. Barracuda is one of the most popular restaurants in Puerto Vallarta, so be sure to make a reservation, especially on the weekends.

Several people who live in Puerto Vallarta all told me that this is the best place for a really good seafood meal and they were right.

I have been here now on every single one of my trips to Puerto Vallarta and we usually save it as our last dinner. It’s a nice way to say goodbye to Puerto Vallarta; delicious food, incredible cocktails, all with our toes in the sand.

They serve a lot of their dishes in sizzling pans and my personal favorite is the garlic shrimp. The shrimp are cooked to perfection and that garlic sauce may not be a great option for a first date, but it tastes incredible.

I have also sampled the casserole which has fish, octopus, shrimp, and scallops in a really delicious chili sauce. The octopus with Spanish chorizo also deserves a shoutout if you love spicy food and octopus.

There are tables inside, stools at the bar, and plenty of seating outside along the beach. Just a word of warning, if you are dining on the beach at night, it can get pretty dark out there. There isn’t enough light coming from the restaurant to light up the tables, so if you’re dining later in the evening, try to grab a table inside.

7. Rico Mac Taco

Av México 1139, 5 de Diciembre

Opening Hours: 24 hours a day

I had to add at least one non-seafood restaurant in Puerto Vallarta to the list.

This is one of my favorite late-night spots to eat in Puerto Vallarta. They make one of the most delicious birrias I’ve ever had (it’s made with beef here, not goat like it is in Guadalajara). I had it both in a taco as well as in a burrito and both were absolutely delicious.

Their suadero and pastor tacos were also worth having. They serve beer, cold agua frescas (I especially liked their jamaica), and sodas. If you want to brush up on your tacos, check out this guide to the types of Tacos you’ll find in Mexico.

8. Marisqueria Los Lirios

Aguate 395

Opening Hours: Daily noon-8pm, closed Tuesdays.

I only discovered this place on my most recent trip to Puerto Vallarta, but I went enough times on that trip to confirm that this is indeed one of the best restaurants in Puerto Vallarta.

In fact, and I promise I’m not exaggerating when I say this, the ceviche at Los Lirios is the best ceviche I have eaten in Mexico.

The problem with ceviche in most places in Puerto Vallarta is that they make it the “Vallarta” way, which is to very finely chop up the fish and mix is with tomatoes and cucumbers and onions.

But sometimes you want nice chunks of fish, to really taste the fish, to enjoy the texture of the cured fish. That is exactly what you get with the ceviche en cuadros that is served at Los Lirios.

This family-run seafood restaurant is quite literally operating right out of their house.

There are only a few tables outside, so you usually have to wait, but it is well worth it for the quality of not only the ceviche, but the aguachile, the octopus tacos (again, some of the best I’ve ever eaten), and all of the other seafood dishes on the menu.

9. La Casa del Ceviche

Venustiano Carranza 329

Opening Hours: Daily noon-7pm, closed Mondays.

Another family-run seafood spot that you don’t want to miss (although its easy to with only a small sign). Head up the metal steps to this open-air kitchen and dining area and enjoy some of the most interesting ceviche restaurants in Puerto Vallarta.

I ordered the aguachile in salsa verde which was exceptionally delicious. I also had the tuna in the aguachile sauce which may have been even better. 

I also had the tuna ceviche and topped it with their housemade chile-infused soy sauce and the mixed ceviche which was good, but not anywhere near as good as the other three.

I would 100% come back here and try more of their ceviches and re-order the two aguachile dishes. They also make a seriously good limonada (lemonade).

10. Tacos El Moreno

C. Fco. I. Madero 304

Opening Hours: Daily 9am-midnight, closed Thursdays.

This all-female team is turning out the best late-night tacos in all of Puerto Vallarta.

This is a street stall that is open most days of the week from morning until midnight. They have everything from grilled beef to marinated pork topped with pineapple (the pastor taco!). 

They hand-made all of the corn tortillas to order and you can either have a small taco, a large taco, or a quesadilla.

If you arrive late at night when they are getting ready to close, they may not have any more corn tortilla dough, so come early enough to enjoy it, the tortillas might be the best thing about this place.

My personal favorite is the asada taco, which is beef that has been grilled to perfection and sliced up into bite-sized pieces.

If you’re feeling extra hungry, you can also sample their birria (slow-cooked beef) and they even have a consomé or beef-soup that they’ve made during the cooking process that is utterly delectable.