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Farallon Restaurant & Burros Bar (El)

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Andariega
Andariega
First Reviewer
3 out of 5
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1
Review
4
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El Farallon Restaurant & Burros Bar

  • May 5, 2008
  • Rated 3 of 5 by Andariega from Boca de Tomatlan, Mexico
El Farallon Restaurant & Burros Bar

The Burro Bar has the absolute worst service in Vallarta. If you want a waiter to notice he has people at his station – do not come here. If you want to order a drink without bellowing and doing aerobic arm flailing – do not come here. If you want to order lunch before dinnertime - do not come here. I love this place.

What I love.
1 – The location - on the beach. You can get bad service while wiggling your toes in the sand.
2 – The setting – under a large palapa, or one of the personal sized ones, surrounded by palm trees and tiki-donkeys.
3 – The food – not fancy but consistently good, filling, and reasonably priced.
4 – The beer – sold by the bucketful, making the bad service less important. The extremely inebriating coconut drinks are pretty good too.

Our last visit to the Burro Bar was pretty typical. We arrived, looked for a waiter near the table we wanted, ordered a couple of buckets and sat down. Our beers were quickly delivered and we asked for a menu before the waiter has a chance to run off. We sat around, drinking our beers, watching the beach, gossiping. We planned to spend the whole day at the beach. A half hour, forty five minutes later, the waiter showed up with the menus. We ordered some more beer, which was quickly delivered on the fly by a running waiter. (We don’t know where he was running. It couldn’t possibly have been to take an order.) About an hour later we ordered some nachos. They were great, as usual. As the afternoon wore on we chased the waiter down to get more beer. Close to evening we ordered shrimp cocktails. Also good. Eventually we caught the waiter and asked for the bill, and asked for the bill again, and asked once again. We got our things, headed for the door and the bill appeared. It had been a perfect day on the beach.

A word about the food – I have eaten here many times over the years and here are my recommendations. From the breakfast menu I am partial to the chicken enchiladas which are three corn tortillas rolled around mounds of shredded chicken topped with a tasty but not hot tomato sauce then covered with oodles of melted cheese and served with refried beans. The Campechana is also very good. It is a shrimp and octopus cocktail served the Mexican way, in the broth the seafood was cooked in with diced tomato, onion, cucumbers, cilantro and avocado with catsup, hot sauce, Worcestershire, magi and lime to add at you discretion. From the lunch/dinner menu I also have my favorites. For a snack nothing beats their nachos. They have six different varieties to choose from – plain nachos with just beans and cheese, supreme with beans, cheese, chorizo, ground beef, tomato, onions and peppers; deluxe with beans, cheese, shrimp, mushrooms and bacon; by the sea with beans, cheese, shrimp, tomatoes, onions and peppers; meat-lovers, topped with beans, cheese, ground beef, chicken, chorizo and bacon; nacho fajitas, with beans, cheese, chicken, tomato, onions and peppers. They all come with salsa and jalapenos on the side. My favorites are the plain nachos. For a light meal I like the the burrito – a choice of shrimp, chicken or steak (I always get steak) wrapped in a flour tortilla and not much else, with salsa and jalapenos on the side. My friends swear by their burgers. I’m not a big fan but the breaded fish fillet burger can be pretty good. It comes served with French fries and coleslaw. For a real meal I like the Boca del Rio shrimp but most adults I know do not. It is advertised as shrimp in a sweet and sour sauce but it tastes an awful lot like catsup to me. It comes tossed with bacon and covered with white and American cheese. It may be an acquired taste. Another favorite is the Mexican plate - with a steak taco, a chicken enchilada, a chile relleno, a quesadilla, beans and rice.

Tip – after you finish your bucket of beer and are looking around, don’t panic, there are bathrooms. Go out the front door, across the promenade, up a couple of stairs into the building, look at the end of the room to the right. Other than the sand customers track in the bathrooms are usually clean.

El Farallon Restaurant & Burros Bar, better known as the Burro Bar, is in Puerto Vallarta’s Romantic Zone. The great location, food and beer, not to mention the atrocious service with a smile, are the reasons I recommend it.

Sails said, "WAITER, HELLO, WAITER!!!!...another bucket of beers please. Thank the Gods we’re on the beach."
The Irishman said, "I like it here. They leave me alone"
Pablo said, "I don’t mind waiting. A lot of pretty bikinis walk by."

sample menu
Chicken Enchiladas............80 pesos/US$7.60
soft rolled corn tortillas filled with chicken,
covered with mild tomato salsa and topped
with melted white cheddar
Campechana............90 pesos/US$8.60
cold shrimp broth with octopus, shrimp,
tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, avocado
and cilantro
Super Burrito............130 pesos/US$12.40
giant flour tortilla filled with grilled flank steak,
grilled shrimp, bacon and cheddar cheese
Shrimp Quesadillas............90 pesos/US$8.60
flour tortillas filled with white
cheddar cheese and shrimp

The Burros Bar is open daily from 9:00 am until midnight. The kitchen is open until 10:00 pm. Credit cards are not accepted.

Directions
The Burros Bar is on the beach at Lazaro Cardenas. From the parking/plaza Lazaro Cardenas head toward the beach. Look to your right.

From journal Romantic Beach Dining

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