Restaurante Barcelona Tapas Puerto Vallarta — Restaurant in Jalisco

We were welcomed as we arrived, and took the elevator up to the restaurant which has a beautiful view, especially at sunset. When we arrived, live music was being performed which was very nice. However, it was very loud and made conversation difficult. ( dialling down the mic would have helped ). Beer, wine, Cadillac Margarita, the Extracto Pepino were our drinks ( the Pepino was lacking on gin content, based on taste. ) Our server seemed to be in a great rush to have us order food, before we had barely had time to start our drinks. As there were 6 of us, we decided on a selection of tapas and our server told us that we had to get the board of ham as it was very good. It was very good, but 600 pesos. Very expensive. Seemed a bit of an up-sell. We had two tapas of bacon wrapped dates, one mushrooms, one eggplant, one short ribs and a steak ( special ). We also had the large seafood paella which indeed was full of seafood. The food was all very good quality and taste, but again, was rushed as the tapas were arriving too quickly in succession before we had time to eat the previous ones. As well, we felt that the dessert menu was pushed upon us and when we expressed that we wanted time to enjoy our wine, again we were pushed to make a dessert selection. Taking time to enjoy a meal in Mexico is one of the attractions; eating quickly to make room for later guests is not. We were not at a fast-food restaurant. It was an enjoyable but expensive meal as our bill came to just under 8000 pesos before any tip or ( cash ) discount.

A walk up a long run of steps took us to the restaurant. We were checked in at the reservation desk where a young lady checked with the upstairs restaurant to confirm our arrival. We boarded the elevator to the 4th floor where the kitchen and bar are located. We were seated near the bar and got our drinks: Porter for me and a bottle of white wine for the girls at 475 pesos. After we had sat awhile we noticed two empty double tables at the railing and thought wouldn’t it be nice to sit there. Then the lady in charge came by and asked us if we would like to move there. Sure! And we did. Great view of the bay and the city below. The meal: we started with homemade bread and a half tapa of potato salad. Then we ordered 5 tapas. Mushroom/Chistorra, eggplant parmigiana, a beef plate, a beet salad, bacon wrapped dates. They came in succession and were all very good. Next we ordered a Calamari tapa and an asparagus tapa. Though we liked them all, the calamari came in last. For dessert, my wife ordered a Mexican tequila/kahlua coffee. My buddy ordered a sort of chocolate lava cake and ice cream, I ordered a Trio of homemade ice cream with hot caramel sauce. We all shared the desserts. It was a wonderful evening that lasted till 10:00, with our reservation at 7:00. We’d stayed a little longer to watch the fireworks from the pirate ship below. We also had our photo taken by the in-house photographer and he gave us the photo. Tipping the photographer is optional. A round of tequila cream, complimentary, ended our evening. The evening was not inexpensive, 3300 pesos including the tip. But, converted to CAD or USD and taking into consideration alcohol consumed, it was well worth every peso! You couldn’t have this meal, service and location back home...

Barcelona Tapas is expensive and has some high quality sides, but it's really geared towards tourists and it's just not as good at some things as many mom-and-pop shops you can find all over Puerto Vallarta.

Quality: 3 Value: 3 Service: 5 Ambience: 5

We went here for our Big Fancy dinner while in town, after hearing many good things. The view and the service and ambience was great!

Unfortunately, the food just wasn't that good, especially at this price point. Our sides were great but the main entrees were middle of the road; almost everything was lacking in salt and acid. Below is what we had. as a note, the portions were actually HUGE. One or two dishes per person would be plenty.

GAZPACHO (Cold Veggie Soup): Gazpacho was hands down best dish we had. It was truly unique, packed with flavor, full of texture and surprises. I'd come back just for their gazpacho.

SIDE SALAD: The salad was extremely fresh, great use of goat cheese and different veggies and herbs.

BAKED GOAT CHEESE: They gave us a half pound of goat cheese! It was baked, with some sauce, with bread to dip in. It was good...but goat cheese is just good? It was underseasoned.

PATATAS BRAVAS (Spicy potatoes): These were barely salted at all. The spicy sauce on top itself was good, and the mayonnaise/aioli with it was decent, but I expected more flavor and more crunch/crispiness.

POTATO OMELETTE: This was interesting, almost like a potato and herb quiche, but it also was severely under seasoned / lacked salt / lacked acid / was bland. We doused it in hot sauce and that made it much better.

GARLIC SHRIMP: The shrimp were severely overcooked. It's common for restaurants to have trouble cooking shrimp just right, but somewhere this fancy and expensive, you expect the shrimp to not be tough.

BASIL ICE CREAM: This was the other Best Thing We Ate Here. I would also come back just to eat this and enjoy the view. I had never had basil ice cream before and it really defied preconceived notions of what an herbaceous ice cream / sweet dessert can be. It was on par with mint in terms of brightness and palette cleansing, but obviously with a much different...

Barcelona Tapas is tucked away on a narrow cobbled street several blocks above the Malecon in Old Town Puerto Vallarta. After a friendly greeting by a hostess on the otherwise empty ground-level floor, an elevator delivered us to a lovely open terrace overlooking the neighborhood. The atmosphere was comfortable and casual.

We were warmly greeted and escorted to a comfortable table. Our waiter, Juan, explained the tapas concepts and gave us a quick tour of the menu. Because we wanted to try one the restaurant's several paella offerings, Juan recommended choosing just two or three of the tapas while waiting the 45 minutes needed to prepare the made-to-order paella.

The restaurant has a full bar and a wine list featuring a range of domestic and imported wines. Because our tapa selections were primarily seafood, we chose a white wine, Senorio de Sebral Albrino from Spain, to accompany our meal. It turned out to be a perfect choice, similar to pinot grisio, and perfect for seafood.

We started with a lovely salad of mixed greens with blue cheese, pistachios, raisins, and bacon dressed with raspberry vinaigrette. The large portion easily served the two of us. We followed the salad with a delicious, beautifully presented tuna ceviche that clearly reflected the chef's experience working at sushi restaurant. In no time at all, our seafood paella arrived. This sumptuous paella featured large shrimp, baby octopus, scallops, and white fish all resting on a generous bed of saffron rice. As Juan had warned us, the portion was easily large enough for three; we could not finish it. We finished the meal with cappuccinos and a light dessert, creme brulee for myself and ice cream with caramel sauce for my husband.

I highly recommend...