Description: Restaurant Le Gourmet is in the Hotel Posada Rio Cuale but is not just any old hotel restaurant. It is a Vallarta tradition. Before the town had such an abundance of nice restaurants, this was one of the few places to come for a special dinner and is still popular. It is also still very good.
Its located on the hotel patio next to the swimming pool. There are beautifully tended tropical plants all around, including a wonderfully fragrant frangipangi. At night the candlelight, the setting, and the heady tropical scent make this place very romantic. Le Gourmet is open from 8am to 11pm every day. Breakfast is my favorite meal here, but dinner is also exceptional. The last time I came here it was for lunch and I was very disappointed--I hope it was just an off day.
The breakfast menu offers some typical Mexican items, 11 flavors of pancakes and waffles for 37 pesos (US$3.70) and omelettes with many different fillings for 42 pesos (US$4.20). My favorite is the Heronio Omelette, stuffed with spinach, cheese, bell peppers, and mushrooms. The Monkey Business Pancakes are covered with bananas and nuts and topped with what looks like monkey turds. They are actually quite tasty. For lunch, soups, salads, sandwiches, seafood, and antojitos are served. The last time we were here I had the Enchiladas Suizas for 44 pesos (US$4.40). They were insipid and cold. A friend had the Chalupas (42 pesos), which were just as bad. Someone else ordered the club sandwich (47 pesos), which wasn’t very good either. My mom had the chicken salad (42 pesos), which was okay, and I started with the onion soup (37 pesos), which was actually very good.
Dinner is what this restaurant is known for. They offer a tasty assortment of appetizers and pasta dishes. For the main dish, they offer a little of everything and a lot of steak and seafood dishes. The Gourmet Medallions are wonderful--three steak medallions topped with three different sauces: brandy-mushroom, rich Italian and Béarnaise (157 pesos, US$15.70). The Fish Filet Rio Cuale is also excellent. It is a red snapper stuffed with spinach, shrimp, and almonds topped with hollandaise sauce and Parmesan. (126 pesos, US$12.60). Le Gourmet accepts Visa, MasterCard, and American Express.
Close