La Vita Bella — Restaurant in Jalisco

I hate to say it but you need to skip this restaurant! We live here in Raquet club and even though we love their view and really like the owners..this place can NOT be counted on for service or food! We called for reservations several days ago but were told no reservations for Saturday's. So..we winged it and showed up at 5:05pm. We were celebrating a wedding anniversary and a couple of birthdays. There were 7 of us. When we arrived there were only 3 occupied tables. We could see they had set up for a couple of groups..one looked to be no less than 30 people. They had a special on fresh lobster for $1800.00 pesos (about $90.00 u.s.) First we were told they had only 1 left. I claimed it immediately! Then..they took me inside to select my lobster (there were at least 6). Our table ordered drinks and our order was taken around 5:30pm. We never saw a waiter or food until 6:30! Of course the table of 30 was being served and they had arrived around 20 minutes after us. Initially we were all congratulating ourselves on getting our orders in before their arrival..but NOPE! Finally my husband went inside and complained and they quickly showed up with our food (still no drinks, water or anything else). The lobster was absolutely cold and undercooked. We sent it back once and it came out "hotish"..but still cold shell. One of our friends is a retired Chef and very quickly we knew it wasn't going to be edible. At some point I just started eating my husbands pizza (excellent as always) and. the salad was also great. Our other friends salmon was not cooked correctly either. We asked for our check at 6:50pm and by then the staff had already started clearing all our glasses (including wine glasses) from the table . Frankly, it seemed they had run out of glasses for their other parties. Yes, we did get a table visit from someone in the kitchen after the lobster went back twice. He just said 'not problem, have a nice evening". We do really enjoy their pasta, salad and pizza..but you need to prepare yourself for abysmal service (always the case) and if you are a non-smoker..plan on a smoker sitting next to you! This is a spectacular, beautiful spot but it has never been predictable in the last 3 years. A side note: as soon as we entered we told the staff that we were celebrating an anniversary and birthdays! No...

I hate to say it but you need to skip this restaurant! We live here in Raquet club and even though we love their view and really like the owners..this place can NOT be counted on for service or food! We called for reservations several days ago but were told no reservations for Saturday's. So..we winged it and showed up at 5:05pm. We were celebrating a wedding anniversary and a couple of birthdays. There were 7 of us. When we arrived there were only 3 occupied tables. We could see they had set up for a couple of groups..one looked to be no less than 30 people. They had a special on fresh lobster for $1800.00 pesos (about $90.00 u.s.) First we were told they had only 1 left. I claimed it immediately! Then..they took me inside to select my lobster (there were at least 6). Our table ordered drinks and our order was taken around 5:30pm. We never saw a waiter or food until 6:30! Of course the table of 30 was being served and they had arrived around 20 minutes after us. Initially we were all congratulating ourselves on getting our orders in before their arrival..but NOPE! Finally my husband went inside and complained and they quickly showed up with our food (still no drinks, water or anything else). The lobster was absolutely cold and undercooked. We sent it back once and it came out "hotish"..but still cold shell. One of our friends is a retired Chef and very quickly we knew it wasn't going to be edible. At some point I just started eating my husbands pizza (excellent as always) and. the salad was also great. Our other friends salmon was not cooked correctly either. We asked for our check at 6:50pm and by then the staff had already started clearing all our glasses (including wine glasses) from the table . Frankly, it seemed they had run out of glasses for their other parties. Yes, we did get a table visit from someone in the kitchen after the lobster went back twice. He just said 'not problem, have a nice evening". We do really enjoy their pasta, salad and pizza..but you need to prepare yourself for abysmal service (always the case) and if you are a non-smoker..plan on a smoker sitting next to you! This is a spectacular, beautiful spot but it has never been predictable in the last 3 years. A side note: as soon as we entered we told the staff that we were celebrating an anniversary and birthdays! No...

Update for 2024: Service is still a clownshow of wrong orders, missing items, and "Sorry, there's no regular coffee, only decaf."

Food is mediocre at best, and prices are predictably steep.

If anything, this place has deteriorated.

Like I said before: "Come here to have a drink and enjoy the fantastic location. Then go eat somewhere else."

Original 2021 Review:

Fantastic location, great atmosphere, sloppy service, mediocre food

Easily boasting the best views of any restaurant in the area, La Vita Bella is let down colossally by disorganized, inefficient service and mediocre, overpriced food.

I checked this place out as part of a group of five.

Drinks orders took over ten minutes to be taken, despite the restaurant not being in the least bit busy, and we actually had to flag down a waiter twenty minutes later to take our food order... at which point he took orders from two of us before wandering off. We had to flag him down a second time to take the other three orders.

The meals then arrived in stages, with ten minutes between the first two servings and the last three.

And while the presentation was excellent, the Argentinean beef was tough as shoe leather.

It's a shame, because this place could be utterly spectacular.

Pro-Tip: Come here for a pre-dinner cocktail. Enjoy the antmosphere and views, and then go eat at one of the many superior restaurants...