Tarantella — Restaurant in Nayarit

Three of us went there tonight for dinner. We didn't have a reservation, yet as the night progressed I would recommend reservations if you're arriving after 1830! The place gets busy.

Ambiance as daylight decreased and night increased was simply amazing. If you had the right spot, I might even say a bit on the romantic side.

Ordered the caprese to share with the group - it was pretty good. The tomatoes weren't really ripe and a bit on the hard side. I would have liked more pesto as well.

For our main course, the three of us all ordered different menu items - lasagna, gnocchi with pesto, and spaghetti alla tarantella. The flavors in all three dishes were well-balanced and flavorful. Nothing was left on any of our plates.

Dessert was ordered - panzerottino di nutella and cannoli siciliano. First thing I noticed when presented at the table was "wow, the plates are huge for the portions." I know it's an odd thing to notice, yet to me, the size of the plate overshadowed the dessert. The dessert wasn't the main focus, nor did it scream "Put me in your belly." For the price of the desserts, to me, the desserts should scream "Eat me!"

After the amazing main course, I was expecting to be overwhelmed with the flavors and an "OMG, that was the best way to end such a fabulous meal" and I just wasn't. I didn't taste any citrus essence and nor did I have any chocolate chips. A bit of a downer for me as I rarely eat dessert.

Reasons for the 3 stars - dessert was a disappointment, it's loud (most of the seating is outside and it's right on a busy street), we seem to have been a forgotten table, started off with one server, then had another, then back to the original, then...we weren't asked how our meal was until we paid, no one checked on us to see if we needed anything additional as we worked our way through the dishes.

Will I be back for another go? Yes, I surely will. I'm hoping to change my review :-) Although, I won't be...

These folks work really hard to provide excellent service. Santiago was our waiter and was top notch, and when our poor Spanish made no sense to him, he had the common sense to bring over the manager who is fluently bilingual. FWIW Santiago understood us correctly, but he exhibited the attention to detail typically found at very high end restaurants (and often they don’t hit Santiago’s level of performance).

The food was classic Italian. We have been to Tarantella many times and have ordered the salmon because it is prepared perfectly and comes with mash potatoes and veggies. This is comfort food for Western Canadians like us living in Mexico.

Now, the surprise tonight was when we ordered dessert. We typically don’t have dessert at Tarantella as we normally have their appetizers and main course then a bottle of wine. Today, we skipped the appetizer, and oh La La!!! Wow!

These desserts are one of THE BEST in the bay. I feel a little bad saying this since our friends at Mikoh in Bucerias may get jealous or Meet Meat or Le Bistrot…..but, yikes! We sampled the Nutella Cannoli, it was SPECTACULAR. The Tiramisu was lovely, fresh and well presented. The ice cream was fresh and creamy (dreamy creamy - very high quality ice cream, but fresh and clean…likely no fillers)

We keep coming back and these folks keep getting better. We eat our 5-6 days a week and these folks are now in our regular rotation of fovourites.

Now, is this a place to have a super romantic evening? No. But is an excellent restaurant for a date night or a group who wants excellent food with...

This 1 star goes to the server (we believe he is the sommelier) who was very personable at first, but ended our dining experience incredibly foul.

At the end of our meal, the server asked us how the food was and told us if we liked it we should leave a review. We responded with an enthusiastic yes and said we’ll do it later. He then pulled out his phone and showed us a QR code to the restaurants Trip Advisor listing and he said to please leave it on Trip Advisor to which we said okay again. But he then continued to pressure us by telling us to scan the QR code now and was handing it to one of my friends to scan it. At this point we didn’t appreciate his forced request to do this and already made us feel upset. Then the bill came around and he brought the machine over, before we see the machine or could input anything he asks “And 15% tip?”. We were shocked because we felt again pressured to add 15% which some would just agree to pay because they might feel uncomfortable to decline. We declined and only gave 10%.

It’s a shame, we actually enjoyed our experience at this resturant prior to this servers rude demands. The other servers are kind, they have amazing live music, and the atmosphere is perfect for any get together.

We hope the restaurant can take this as constructive feedback to improve the experience for others who dine here...