It’s tough for the small town of La Peñita de Jaltemba to
compete with the many quality restaurants in nearby Puerto Vallarta. But we're finding some excellent food here and real value! We spend
about half of our time in each city and have found that La Peñita has some
great restaurants, and the food and wine are about half the price (or less) as in PV.
These restaurants are our favorites so far. They aren’t listed
in any particular order, though La Vitola is our top choice at least once a
week. We're still discovering new favorites every month.
1. Las Koritas
Las Koritas is an expat favorite, especially the BBQ Rib Special on Wednesday and Sunday. Unfortunately, it’s only open during the high season. The food is delicious, the prices are low, and the service is excellent. It’s a BYOB restaurant, so plan to bring your own wine, beer, or other alcohol—that saves money! The servers happily open wine bottles and provide the glasses. Reservations are a must!
2. Hanami Sushi & Bar
Hanami is the best sushi restaurant we’ve found in La Peñita, though we have two more to try. The mixed tempura and sushi are as good as anything we’ve eaten in Puerto Vallarta. We prefer the sushi rolls to the 10-Piece Sushi plate shown below. They deliver locally. Air conditioning during the hot months keeps us coming back all year!
3. Julio’s Steakhouse La
Penita
We’re regulars at Julio’s. The menu includes many options besides steak. The Huicholes Shrimp is
outstanding! The name and ingredients are in honor of the Huichol natives from
Nayarit. Jon enjoys the Chicken Parmigiana. The service is excellent.
Note on Facebook From Julio’s Steakhouse 3/27/24: Ok, many of our dear customers who stay longer are calling wondering 'till when we Will be Open? here is the information about it...
April and May we will be Open with our regular menu and
starting June closed for one week and after Open for summer, only from Thursday
to sunday just with regular menu (no nightly specials)
4. La Vitola
La Vitola is our favorite restaurant in La Peñita. It serves delicious Italian food, including Salmon a la Toscana, New York Angus Steak, Lasagna, and Wood-fired Pizza. The Pizza at La Vitola is one of our favorites in town! The service and prices are excellent!
5. Cenaduría Lucy
(called Pizza La Lena on Google Maps)
Jonathan and I discovered another hidden gem of a restaurant in La Peñita! Cenaduría Lucy (called Pizza La Lena on Google Maps) is a wonderful family-owned restaurant serving Mexican food on some nights and pizza on others. I had the delicious Mexican Mixed plated tostada, enchilada, sope, and taco. Jon was so hungry he ordered a second order of three enchiladas and a lava cake. With all of that food, the bill only came to 302p, about $17 US! No alcohol is served, but you can bring your own, and they will provide the glasses. That’s one way we save money in La Peñita.
6. Restaurant Yesi and Grill
Yesi is open until mid-afternoon, so it’s great for breakfast and lunch. We especially enjoy the back garden with it’s water feature.
7. La Casita de Irma
It took us a while to warm to La Casita de Irma, but after five months in La Peñita, it has become a favorite, both for breakfast and dinner.
Recently at Irma's, I had the Shrimp Crepes, and Jon had fried chicken. The flan was the kind we love! I found that it was cheaper to buy a bottle of wine and take half home (or slightly less than half). The musicians were very good, so we tipped them and paid extra for one more song. Prices are excellent at Irma's.
8. Dera’s Pizza
I easily justify going out for dinner almost every night in
this small town—we get a walk to the restaurant and home, which is healthy. And
I can't prepare the food for that price! Oh, and I don't have to wash dishes.
Living half-time in La Peñita brings back good memories
of moving to Sayulita ten years ago when Sayulita was still just a fishing
village. La Peñita is real Mexico, where fishing is the main industry, not tourism. It has taken us
months to learn our way around the village on foot and to love it.
To read about some of our early times in Sayulita, I
recommend my book, Living In Mexico Lessons Learned: Healthy Living in Mexico eBook #3. The eBook is free with Kindle Unlimited on Amazon and available in all Amazon markets.
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there's a hole-in-the-wall restaurant called "El Veneno" with excellent pork tortas
ReplyDeleteThank you for the tip! I found it on Google. We'll give it a try--I've been craving carnitas.
DeleteLast year in La Penita we found a Japanese restaurant ( I think) that was the best I’ve ever been to. Wish I could remember the name. But there can’t be any more than one in La Penita! If any one knows. Please post! Thanks.
ReplyDeleteWe love Hanami, but now have found out there are two others we need to try. I hope you find out which one it was and let us know.
DeleteAntojitos Mexicanos "La Güera Linda" just one block from tikis. Best Tostadas! And if you ever get a chance ' la sierra' about 1 hour away, But amazing day trip and experience.
ReplyDelete