Palapas seafood bar — Restaurant in Lewisville

We do not deserve this place here in Lewisville. But I am utterly THRILLED that it's here, and I hope the community will step up and swarm this place with business consistently. Previous restaurants in this space have struggled, and I don't understand why. The indoor/outdoor concept is amazing, tons of folks live within walking distance, and it's on the fringe of historic downtown, which couldn't be lovelier.

I'm familiar with this restaurant from their Dallas location, which has always been THE best place for Mexican seafood in the metroplex, period. When I saw they had opened in the old Baja Rita's place, I IMMEDIATELY grabbed a small group to dine there that same evening.

Happy to say, this location has the same impossibly fresh seafood, prepared ONLY after you order, with spectacular flavor and presentation. I honestly don't know how they do it. Every single item we ordered was prepared to the pinnacle of perfection. (And as a fine dining chef...I can have some unreasonably high standards.)

We started with the chicharron de dorado...extremely crispy nuggets of mahi mahi, yet somehow incredibly moist, despite frying the outside to almost a tortilla-chip-crunch. (How do they do that? Mahi overcooks if you look at it the wrong way.) Served on a generous pile of freshly-made guac.

Next was the Maleficio: shrimp, oysters, and scallops marinated in a black sauce that was strongly Asian influenced (soy and maggi, I think). This dish was transcendent, maybe my favorite of the night. The raw seafood was impossibly fresh, and the marinade intensely savory and slightly effervescent so it tingled the tongue. I've never had anything like it.

Their version of leche de tigre came hot, which was a neat surprise. Shrimp gently poached in a light, yet complex tomato seafood broth in a pint jar. The shrimp were not overcooked (hard to achieve, virtually EVERY restaurant overcooks their shrimp) and the broth was so luscious we kept sipping it from the jar long after the shrimp had vanished.

Mariscoco was an artfully presented mix of raw shellfish and perfectly-tender octopus marinated in a young coconut, with the coconut water offered on the side. So chic.

And we finished with a whole butterflied snapper, grilled to utter perfection. With their seafood mains, you can choose between a variety of sauces, and we picked Veracruz (sweet peppers, olives, and tomatoes, and presented on the side you so you can sauce to your own perfection.) I was uncomfortably stuffed, but was still picking tender, moist bits of buttery snapper meat off the bone, never wanting it to end.

Cocktails are great, if a bit on the sweet side for my taste, but an unfortunate necessity for luring the masses who will keep the bar busy on summer evenings. Apparently, there's also karaoke, and lawn games out back.

There's a LOT to love here, and this restaurant will appeal to a big variety of customers...Latin American folks looking for authentic mariscos, foodies chasing the freshest seafood and most unique preparations of such, sushi fans who want to try Sinaloa's take on raw fish, woo-girls who want to chug margaritas at a cool indoor-outdoor bar, dudes who wanna sip cold beer and impress woo-girls with their cornhole skills... PLEASE keep this place in business, folks. This is the caliber of restaurant that lures central Dallas folks to our awesome little downtown. We NEED...

WOW....Five Stars is NOT enough for this restaurant. Tonight was our first visit there (after driving by it several times). I was not expecting much, as I thought it would be another fried seafood place, but I told my wife we could give it a try. I am glad we did. We were greeted right away, by the owner & he seated us and made sure a server came to our table. The server came with menus, chips & salsa and took our drink order. First thing we noticed was how fresh & delicious the chips & salsa were. Chips were thick & crisp and the salsa had a great flavor & an excellent spice/heat to it. I was told that they make both the chips & salsa in house. The menu was not what I expected (it had many great choices) & as we were reading it, the owner came back to our table to see if we needed any help with the menu. I asked for recommendations, he led more toward their scallop dinner (part of their Mariscos Al Gusto dinners) with Al Mojo De Ajo (garlic sauce) & I added some shrimp to it, as he said the shrimp were almost as good as the scallops. My wife wanted Salmon (also part of their Mariscos Al Gusto dinners) but she could not have the garlic sauce or the "normal" sides that accompany it. He told her they would prepare with a sauce of lemon, cilantro & a few other spices (I forgot what they were) & she also added some shrimp. When our food was delivered, we were impressed & it did not disappoint. Everything on the plate was fresh, well seasoned & cooked to perfection. The scallops & shrimp in the garlic sauce were phenominal and my wife said her salmon was delicious. The sides that we each had were also very good! Great Food, Excellent Prices and wonderful service from the owner & every employee we interacted with. We will DEFINITELY be going back. This place needs to be a #1 location in Lewisville for not only seafood but they also have some mexican dishes (tacos, enchiladas, etc) and steak on their menu, which I am sure is just as good as the seafood! Try it, you will not be...

I really wanted to like this place. The silos that have been re-purposed as individual intimate dining areas have all the potential for fun dining with friends. The chips and salsa were good. The positives of our experience end there. The fact that there were no cars in the parking lot at 7 p.m. should have been a big tell, but like I said, I wanted to like it. We were the only ones in the place. It was a nice evening, so we sat outside. Big mistake! Flies everywhere! We asked if they would turn on the outdoor fans thinking it might help, but only two were working, and it didn't help. We gathered up our food and finished eating inside, which brings me to the food. Nothing seemed fresh. The vegetables were undercooked, and the shrimp was overcooked. The food, except for the salsa, was devoid of flavor. The prices were definitely high for what we were getting, but truthfully, I wouldn't spend any amount here in the future. We couldn't finish and leave fast enough. We didn't get upset with anyone, after all, they just worked there. It didn't seem like ownership was present. I did notice they had a Karaoke sign, so maybe this is a place to come to drink and sing in the...