Marina Bar & Grill by Oso's — Restaurant in Nayarit

I have just arrived early afternoon for lunch. I am staying in Bucerias but wanted a bit of an adventure today so i took a day trip to La Cruz De Haunacaxtle. Long name for a town but it was a nice drive and only 15 minutes from Bucerias. Upon arrival at the Marina Bar & Grill (interesting name for what is essentially a seafood place) I was greeted by friendly, helpful staff. The tables by the windows are for six people but they are not busy at the moment so they allowed me to sit here. You can see the stunning views in my attached pictures (The marina is beautiful).

Interior of the restaurant is minimalistic and quite nice. Basic tables and chairs, polished concrete floor and a beautiful thatch ceiling. Light mexican music playing in the background. Overall a nice spot. Prices are reasonable for the location. I am having the spicy mussels. I actually wanted to try oysters for the first time as this is a seafood bar after all but oysters are out of season at the time of this review. Although it is a "Bar and Grill", there are not a lot of options for meat or veggies. Mostly seafood.

So far I am impressed....then the food comes out.

First thing to arrive are chips and in-house made salsa. Chips are hot, (temperature wise), freshly made and crispy. The salsa is amazing. Great flavour with a slight kick of heat. Keeping in mind that I love and have a very high tolerance to very spicy foods, some people might find it too hot. But if you like a bit of heat you will enjoy it. Definitely worth trying though. I don't know if they serve it as a starter with every meal but you will find out. I just want to keep eating it and make it my entire meal.

So, so, soooo glad I didn't make the salsa my entire meal. The mussels are awesome. A slight kick of heat. I was hoping for more heat considering they are called spicy mussels. Oh well, can't have everything. However, the flavour is right on point. They are cooked perfectly and juicy. The sauce is light and bursting with flavour. My only complaints are there are only ten mussels. They are large mussels but still only ten. The bread the serve with the mussels is hamburger buns and was only lightly toasted rather than grilled.

Ok, so that sums it up. I would recommend the restaurant if you are in the area and enjoy seafood. The location, service and flavours will not disappoint you.

Stay...

I really want this restaurant to succeed. I remember when it was vibrant and thriving. But now it’s like a forgotten corner of La Cruz. We had a typical whale watching tour and came in for lunch. Since there was almost no one in the restaurant we figured it wouldn’t take too long to get lunch. But OMG we were wrong. We got our order in and began waiting. And waiting. We waited one hour and 20 minutes for our food. While we were waiting, we noticed three tables that came in sometime after we arrived. They were all wearing blue shirts and receiving excellent service along with their food. It was obvious our order had been moved to the back burner while they took care of this Group of local employees. When our food finally came out four people got their food, but two did not. We finally had to ask for our food to go because we had a dentist appointment that we were now very very late for. It’s sad to see this restaurant continue its descent into a slow death. I do not recommend this...

Our party of 5 spent a lovely evening at Marina Bar and Grill. On a Saturday evening it was not busy and we were seated next to the open windows with a view of the marina. The place has a nice, relaxed vibe with its grass roof and exposed wood. Service was friendly and attentive. The food was excellent. The guacamole was probably the nicest I have had in Mexico, the shrimp tacos al pastor were amazing, the ceviche verde was fresh and very tasty, and the margaritas actually had tequila in them. I would love to visit again if we come...