MACARENO — Restaurant in Jalisco

We had the opportunity to try quite a few restaurants while staying in Puerto Vallarta for a month, and although we loved so many places, Macareno might be my ride or die. Macareno is family-owned and operated in a lovely space. There’s an open kitchen where you can see the chefs preparing delicious food, an airy interior with fans to keep the heat at bay, and plants to add a sense of lushness. The value for quality (including friendly service and the option to pay via credit card) that you get at Macareno is incredible!

Regarding drinks, we found ourselves constantly torn between the agua frescas of the day, cafe de olla (served with cookies!), and jugo verde. They’re all delicious and balanced in terms of sweetness—follow your heart, you can’t go wrong. The food is outstanding too. It’s colorful, aesthetically plated and tastes even better than it looks. We’ve tried huevos rancheros, huevos divorciadas, burritos, and huevos a la Mexicana. If you eat meat, don’t miss the chance to add pollo con tinga or pollo con mole to your dish. Also, I’m wholly devoted to the spicy, fresh ranchero sauce you’ll find on the chilaquiles (and on a few other dishes). I never understood the hype around chilaquiles until I tried them at Macareno, and now I’m obsessed. They’re crunchy, covered abundantly in the aforementioned heavenly ranchero sauce, and topped with fresh cucumbers, pickled red onions, queso fresco and sesame seeds. I swear no one paid me to wax so passionately rhapsodic over this restaurant; I just love it that much (which is saying something because I’m from Austin and have spent most of my life...

We came right before the pandemy to a taqueria in Puerto Vallarta at a street corner with chairs on the sidewalk, upon arrival again in 2023 we went almost desperate to eat again there, sadly it was nowhere to be found. Roaming the streets we found this location and food was amazing, we came back every evening for dinner and it was after the 6th day we talked to a nice lady,Tia Martha, in the kitchen and told us something surprising!!!! It turned out they were that taco stall in the corner, her sister "La Güera" (Blondie) bought the house they grew up as kids and upgrade the food street stall into this beautiful restaurant without compromising on the prices. Food and drinks are delicious, staff ultra friendly and accommodating . You can order anything, you won't regret it. Try a local specialty, huarache de nopal, taco filling on an edible cactus "leaf" (yeah, cactus don't have real leaves) really try it, is amazing. And you get also, complementary, a tray full of sliced radishes, cucumber and limes, a plate of fried and crunchy onion parts and 6 different delicious mildly hot salsas, you won't burn your tongue, 3 in different green tones with very specific flavors and 3 red ones, each one also better than the other. I just found out they also serve brunch! Can wait to go on Tuesday, it's Sunday today, Monday is rest day for the hard working staff, they deserve it! ❤️ I think they use the name for brunch "Macareno" and for dinner taqueria "Las Güeras". Ruben and Gert-Jan from...

Very disappointed. The waiter was a nice kid but he lost our order and came back to take it again. The same thing happened an hour later with 2 guys at a different table. We waited 30 minutes for our drinks (lemonade and orange juice). It took another 20 for food. Many people were ahead of us and the plates came out slowly, one at a time, even for the group of 6. A dish was dropped off at their table that no one ordered, but since the service was so slow and everyone else was waiting to start eating, that dish was eventually eaten. We received the wrong food as well but ate it so we could get out of there. Another patron was served her food and it was also not what she ordered. My omelette was supposed to come with potatoes but instead came with chiliquiles. In all a very strange experience. This place is very poorly run and there is just one woman making everything. It cost 300 pesos for nothing special, kind of a headache, and a dish my partner didn't want and had trouble digesting (she's lactose intolerant and her dish was...