El Dorado Restaurant — Restaurant in Jalisco

I am a resident of Puerta Vallarta and waited for a special occasion to visit this restaurant because it is pricey for Vallarta. What I wasn’t expecting is the awful experience we had. If it would have been bad enough however two of the guests that had fried crab cakes and the lobster tacos, ( surprise the menu doesn’t mention they are fried) came down with food poisoning. I cannot caution guest enough about this place because other reviews have also pointed out the problem. Then the issue of staff cheating customers has been reported since 2017 as evidenced in the many one star reviews. If the restaurant had any intention of stopping this practice it would have been accomplished during the last four years when reviewers started reporting it. I wish I would have read those reviews before booking. Let me share with you the equally outrageous behavior of the staff and manager even before I found out about the illnesses that resulted. Earlier in the day I personally delivered a SURPRISE birthday cake to the restaurant and spoke with the host and he noted my reservation with the details. The poor experience started with the vague drink pricing, once we didn’t fall for the bait and switch the sever lost interest in us although there were only twelve tables occupied and a large staff. At the end of the main course the waiter came to the table and started reading off the dessert menu. I told him the dessert was already pre-arranged but it tipped off the surprise and the special thought. At that point the reaction was chaotic and disappointing. The waiter had no idea who the cake was for, but instead of asking the manager or setting it on the table, and as luck would have it, he whispered into the birthday recipients’ ear “who’s this for”. When presented with the bill it included a fee for cake service which was never mentioned and I didn’t object other than they didn’t get it right. I went up and spoke to the manager about the non-existent service and the cake debacle and I let him know we wouldn’t be coming back. I handed him the bill with the amount due in cash and explained the tip was lower because the service we received was sub-par. Also I was disappointed with him dropping the ball and not getting the cake to the recipient, as instructed. I sat back down and after a few minutes we were ready to leave. Then waiter came back to the table with a refund for the cake service charge but said I was short paying him 500 pesos. I said no that’s not true it’s exactly the check amount including a 10% tip. When we got up to leave the manager, with two waiters by his side came up and he said you shorted the check by 1000 pesos. One of our guests sitting next to me spoke up and said the waiter said 500 and now you’re saying 1000. I told him they should get their lies straight and walked away saying they’ve done that before. Their routine and intimidation were polished except the manager didn’t know what the waiter had already said to us. After reading other reviews they confirmed my suspicion. Check the other 1- star reviews about this same issue and check your bill carefully! If you pay in cash, count your money out to the waiter to insure you don’t have this happen to you. I always tip between 20%-25% rounding it out to the easiest number. Had everything gone smooth I might not have been so careful counting out the bill and believed...

Was recommended to go try the food here and my numerous times I have been in PV I have never stopped in to eat. Went in on a Thursday night and requested to sit at one of the many open tables on the beach and was sat inside the restaurant. The hostess didn’t give me a reason why I could not sit out side the only thing I could think of is because I was just a party of 1 and you can sit a party of 2-4 outside on the beach and make more money. Who knows and I was not given a reason and before anybody says “well maybe those tables were reserved” they were not because when I left the same amount of tables were still empty out on the beach. I got the menu and looked it over, the selection of choices was a bit sparse, I know that three days prior I ate over at the La Palapa restaurant which both places are owned by the same company and there was a bigger selection of food choices. I had local beer and sparkling water. The beer was great, nice IPA! The bread was served and it was fresh and hot. For an appetizer I had the calamari which was really good and so were the dipping sauces. My main course I choose the seared tuna and I love seared tuna. My main course comes and it looks good, the goat cheese was good. The au gratin potatoes were good, could have used some seasoning. Now let’s get to the seared tuna l, to me when I have ever had seared tuna it means that each side of the tuna touches the hot pan for maybe 10-15 seconds to and the meat inside is somewhat raw. My tuna was cooked all the way through. I didn’t send it back because it wasn’t a horrible meal, this is my preference and how I have seen other restaurants I have eaten seared tuna cook the fish. I will also say that staff is friendly and attentive. My waiter Alan was so nice and I knew he...

This place has the worst service in PV. It’s been getting worse for years now, but today’s visit absolutely confirmed that we won’t be returning. The servers don’t seem interested in serving you AT ALL - this morning, we waited about 15 minutes to have our order taken after I had to wave down a waiter to get his attention (there were two other tables seated by the way, so the restaurant was basically empty). The food was decent, but not better than nearby options that actually take care of customers. Once we had finished, we waited about 20 minutes for someone to take our empty plates (again, I had to literally wave someone down, not something I consider very appropriate in a restaurant but I had to as the whole place was literally empty except for a bartender; no host, no servers, no one). After this, I AGAIN spent 10-15 minutes looking around for any server to ask them to have our server bring our bill. It’s disappointing as I used to love this restaurant, but do yourself a favor and go to La Palapa or literally any of the other oceanside options in the area - you’ll be glad that you did.

Edit: having read more of their reviews, I’ve noticed that the manager simply copies and pastes the same reply to everyone, regardless of the complaint. This is not an establishment that takes its reputation seriously and obviously doesn’t prioritize repeat business, relying instead on tourists that don’t know...