Cancel

    Open app

    Search

    El Barracuda

    4.1 (228 reviews)
    ModerateSeafood, Bars, Mexican
    Closed 11:30 am - 12:00 AM (Next day)

    El Barracuda Photos

    EL BARRACUDA ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Casual
    Trendy
    Moderate noise
    Good for groups

    Recommended Reviews - El Barracuda

    Your trust is our priority, so businesses can't pay to alter or remove their reviews. Learn more about reviews.
    Yelp app icon
    Browse more easily on the app
    Review Feed Illustration

    Reviews With Photos

    Lysette R.

    This was a difficult one to review. While my meal was amazing, my mom's was probably the worst she's had in PV. The restaurant was an easy short walk from our hotel, which was nice. Pleasantly located right up on the beach, so we got a good view. Started with two margaritas. Nothing special. I ordered the steak and shrimp, medium rare. She ordered the ribs and steak, medium. My steak was very flavorful and cooked well. The shrimp was pretty basic, but still delicious. I enjoyed what the server called a chimichurri sauce, though I'm accustomed to chimichurri bring a green sauce. Either way, it was still delish. The fries were incredibly disappointing- they tasted worse than McDonald's fries, as they weren't even salted. This is an unfortunate aspect of the meal as it's incredibly easy to elevate the fries, even if they don't want to make fresh fries. My moms steak was inedible. It was extremely tough and difficult to chew. She couldn't cut through it so she eventually tried to bite it like a caveman. Still couldn't be done. She had the same cut as me. The ribs had a good sauce on them, but they were very tough and difficult to eat. Her fries were the same. The service was just ok. Felt like our server would quickly rush off when something was dropped off, so we had to very quickly ask for something before they sprinted away. I probably wouldn't come back here.

    Inside

    Yeah - this place on the beach has good food, drinks, views and vibes. Can't go wrong with a visit!

    Jared S.

    El Barracuda is the GOAT taco restaurant!!! I'm talking the BEST tacos and taco eating experience... PERIOD!!! Every time I come to Puerto Vallarta I make it a necessity to eat here at LEAST three times!! Oh how I DREAM of this place and their shrimp tacos...!!!! El Barracuda is located in the "Los Hoteles" area of Downtown Puerto Vallarta. It is specifically situated off Paraguay and Nicaragua, behind the Oxo that is located on Francisco Medina Ascencio. This restaurant is casual, but extremely welcoming and offers some stunning views of the Bay of Banderas. You have the option to sit on their patio or sit below on the beach! The views are absolutely incredible and the vibe is nothing short of pure relaxation! And staff are also always fantastic. Once seating I always ask for a Pacifico beer. There's nothing like a Pacifico with some lime on a warm day overlooking the water. Servers then bring over chips and a few types of "salsas." One is a typical "salsa roja" or red salsa, another is a spicier, habanero salsa, and third is a chopped onion salsa. The habanero salsa is my favorite but all are fantastic! Spicy and flavorful! And their chips are absolutely phenomenal as well! Barracuda has a ton of menu options, but they are best known for their tacos (especially their shrimp tacos). I usually order their shrimp tacos "Toreado" style, meaning coming with chopped serrano peppers, cilantro, and cheese. I also recommend their shrimp tacos "Al Pastor" style, but personally like them "Toreado" a hair more. When my tacos arrive I always squeeze lime juice and pour habanero salsa on them, then get to work (aka DEVOUR)! These are the BEST tacos!!! So fresh and flavorful with HUGE pieces of shrimp!!! Like nothing else! I savor every bite each time I come here! And am always sad when my meal is over! Just be aware that El Barracuda is CASH ONLY. So bring pesos! This place is incredibly reasonably priced and you will get your food quickly. Meaning this is more of a lunch spot than a dinner place (in my opinion). It also doesn't get terribly busy at lunch whereas at dinner you might not get the seating spot you want (they don't do reservations). In a nutshell, if you're in Puerto Vallarta and are looking for the BEST tacos in the game, look no further than El Barracuda. Just go!!!

    Steak and Coconut Shrimp combo
    Paul E.

    Feb 2024 Update - Enjoyed another great meal at El Barracuda during my most recent trip to Puerto Vallarta. Food is always good where on this occasion I had the Steak and Shrimp combo. The steak was a tad tougher than I like but the flavor/taste was OMG sooo good and was cooked to perfection. The shrimp was exceptional as well where you have a choice of style where I chose coconut shrimp that came with multiple dipping sauces that took the flavor profile to the next level. My only gripe about this place is their liquor prices which are on the high side with the volume of the drink on the smaller size as well (think large whiskey glass). Lastly the view is amazing with a nice ocean breeze blowing through the restaurant adding to the rustic tropical vibe. Overall a great meal/venue where the four stars are a result of the high liquor prices and not the quality of the food. This place would have been perfection for me if they had offered a Happy Hour like most of the businesses do in the area. Still a must visit though if you are in the area.

    Our table and view. (We ate the food and drinks too quickly to take photos. Sorry.
    Guy H.

    Best margaritas, best service, and best food in Puerto Vallarta. We LOVE this place!! VERY reasonable prices and the view is perfect! Sunset drinks, view, people watching and food are what you want in a vacation. The "Seafood Dynamite" is literally to die for!! The tacos are amazing, the Garlic Shrimp, scooped with salted chips is my FAVORITE!! Stiff, delicious drinks. Our favorite place in Mexico.

    Various food ordered- more than enough for 3 people.
    Helene L.

    3.5 stars overall. First FYI: CASH ONLY. Sign in covered patio above, if you look left of host stand. 3 stars for food- nothing threw me out of the park. *ajillo octopus- YES- that was good, not normal flavors I eat. Sliced Octopus was so tender!! Comes with complimentary bread and butter. Bread is good to sop up the flavors. Recommend! * fried fish and fries- was delicious. Fresh mahi mahi with lovely panko coating. * grilled fish taco- mahi mahi topped with a dry cabbage salad. No sauces. Bland and dry DO NOT recommend this one. * tomato, watermelon, goat cheese and roasted pumpkin seeds was refreshing and good, but not amazing. I wouldn't mind eating this again. * barracuda ceviche- it was good, nothing amazing, would eat again. *burger with fries was fine, cooked to preference, medium was perfect. *complimentary chips and salsa. *cocktails- watermelon margarita and sangria- both were good, light, fresh, but light on the alcohol. Ambiance- 5 stars!! So lovely being on the beach with sunset. They have covered patio that is lovely too. Kids finished early and ran to play in the rocky beach, stacking rocks and chasing waves. When I looked around with those eating, it was not all Americans, so it was good to see locals(?). 70% of the beach tables were Hispanic. That was a good sign to me. Their was also a live band playing with was fun to watch, and the restaurant music in the covered patio. Service- we went end of June, my understand is low season. Staff spoke English and were lovely and accommodating. Timing of kitchen was good, didn't have to wait long for meal to arrive. Value- perspective, can be fair or expensive in my books. I love cheap taco joints- so in that sense expensive. Fair for being beach side dinner. Recommend- if you want a lovely ambiance with fair food, willing to pay higher prices in CASH- yes!

    May Y.

    Don't go there my whole group has food poisoning right after eating there. We had the mixto from the molcajete. The tacos tasted fine but the sauce from the mixto tasted funny like it's old. They also only accept cash so they up the USD and cad cash payment. They also took forever to bring things out. So travellers beware. We ate from taco stands and we never had this issue with food poisoning.

    Menu
    Carolina S.

    We came in with our 2 little kids and 2 friends, so we had a large party of 6. The hostess was super nice and told us she had a table inside, but that she would keep an eye out for a table down on the beach to be able to see the sunset snd fire show. Sure enough, within 10 minutes she moved our entire oarty down to the beach. The kids got to play in the sand while we waited for the food. The food was delicious and fresh with great flavors! There was a guy on the beach doing an amazing fire show! Overall this place was fantastic!

    Agua chiles
    Aserrado M.

    This place was in front of our beach front hotel in Puerto Vallarta. I didn't expect much because the back entrance looks like a bar. But after being sat immediately, we were brought our drinks. Great service! The food was pretty awesome, the drinks were flowing, and the scenery was pretty darn nice. If you are in the area, don't let the construction and ugly streets deter you. Just go here and order; let the food do the talking! Big kudos to this open air beach front restaurant with seating in the sand, and exemplary customer service!

    Steak + shrimp: not good
    Jennifer N.

    3.5 stars overall. Came in with high expectations cause of the ratings and forums. Complimentary chips and salsa was good. Nice spice level. Complimentary bread tasted kinda weird, almost like too plain? Soda bread maybe. The mocktails were pretty good though. I appreciate that they had so many options on that front. Molcajete: not the best we've had but good for PVR Steak + shrimp: Really should not be calling this ribeye steak. This is NOT ribeye, this was more like prime rib which are completely different cuts of meat. My bf asked for medium rare. It first came out rare, not even rare, maybe even raw cause it was cold. Asked them to do it again and came out medium well....at least the fries were good but that steak was so not worth it.

    Barracuda ceviche

    See all

    1 month ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    4 months ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    2 months ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    1 month ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of K J.
    55
    65
    9

    6 months ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    1 year ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 1
    Photo of Eric B.
    16
    62
    1

    5 months ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 1
    Oh no 0

    2 years ago

    Helpful 54
    Thanks 24
    Love this 51
    Oh no 0

    2 years ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Guy H.
    112
    28
    5

    1 year ago

    Helpful 3
    Thanks 2
    Love this 1
    Oh no 0

    1 year ago

    Helpful 3
    Thanks 0
    Love this 1
    Oh no 0

    3 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 1

    1 year ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 1
    Love this 1
    Oh no 2

    5 months ago

    Wonderful beach front views with delicious food great service one if my favorite restaurants in PV

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    4 years ago

    Helpful 2
    Thanks 1
    Love this 4
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Ken W.
    0
    26
    0

    5 months ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Jill S.
    224
    56
    28

    10 months ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Al H.
    0
    114
    1

    6 months ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    4 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    7 months ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    4 years ago

    Helpful 3
    Thanks 0
    Love this 2
    Oh no 0

    2 years ago

    Helpful 3
    Thanks 0
    Love this 1
    Oh no 0

    4 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 2
    Oh no 2

    5 years ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 3
    Oh no 0

    3 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    1 year ago

    Service and ambiance were worth the wait but the whole snapper was over cooked and nothing was special about the drinks and tacos.

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 1
    Love this 1
    Oh no 1

    2 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    4 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    1 year ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 1

    3 years ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 1
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    5 years ago

    Helpful 3
    Thanks 0
    Love this 1
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Josh T.
    660
    31
    12

    3 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 2

    2 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    3 years ago

    Helpful 2
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Lisa G.
    57
    21
    0

    6 months ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of K S.
    2
    25
    14

    2 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    5 years ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 1
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Jose L.
    52
    8
    13

    3 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    2 years ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    4 years ago

    Helpful 2
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    Page 1 of 6

    El Barracuda Reviews in Other Languages

    Review Highlights - El Barracuda

    We had the tuna sashimi and the Peruvian ceviche with the catch of the day, goldfish (not the aquarium kind).

    Mentioned in 9 reviews

    Read more highlights

    Verify this business for free

    Get access to customer & competitor insights.

    Verify this business

    Tuna Azul - Shrimp Ceviche

    Tuna Azul

    4.7(438 reviews)
    2.2 km
    $$

    So good we went twice! The tuna Classico, camarones cucarasha, camarones aguachile, all amazing!…read moreThe staff are very tentative and friendly, place is clean. I only took a pic of the tuna because we ate everything so fast!

    Food was fresh and tasty, I got Alfredo pasta with shrimp and the size of the shrimps were really…read moregood and juicy, service was really good as our drinks and food arrived in a timely manner. However, as me and my friends (it was 4 of us) were leaving the restaurant, our waiter chased us down claiming we did not tip enough. Here's a note from my friend detailing more of what happened: "It was 150 pesos which is a little more than 10% of the total. In Mexico, 10% is completely customary, especially for tourist. Locals will give even less and typically leave only about 50 pesos. I don't know if he was expecting for us to give him more just because we're used to giving 15 or even 20% at a time but I always do at least 10. If it's one of the really nice restaurants where they take care of absolutely everything then I do get more than that but this was just a normal place And I did fold the bills because I clipped it into the checkbook, so there is a chance he thought it was just 50. But to flip out and say it's not enough that he deserves more or just to take it away is crazy in my opinion." We may return, but this really turned a perfect visit into a not so great one in the end. The 3/5 is for food and service, would've been 5/5 had we not been stopped as we were leaving for not "tipping enough".

    Photos
    Tuna Azul
    Tuna Azul - Marlin quesadilla

    Marlin quesadilla

    Tuna Azul - Fried shrimp tacos

    See all

    Fried shrimp tacos

    Barcelona Tapas Puerto Vallarta - Mixed paella

    Barcelona Tapas Puerto Vallarta

    4.7(534 reviews)
    0.7 km
    $$

    I went to Barcelona Tapas each time I visit Puerto Vallarta. I made reservations for 6:30, so I…read morecould experience the sunset. It did not disappoint. It is outdoor seating. I was placed by the glass for the view. (It can be requested, but not expected.) The martinis were great. I got the fried goat cheese and the ham & chicken croquettes. My party of 3 went to just me, so that was enough. It would have been nice to try some other things, but it was my last night in PV and what I got was satisfying. Live music was playing throughout my evening. First, just a guitarist and then, 2 others joined him. Great vibe and wonderful food. Just right for my last night.

    This was my favorite place in Puerto Vallarta! The view, the ambience, the service, the food, they…read morehave it all here! We came here as a party of 4 for my friend's 40th birthday around 6:30 and caught the most amazing sunset. They had a professional photographer take a complimentary photo for us. The service was impeccable, so welcoming and sweet! All of our dishes were so good. We ordered: octopus, seafood croquette, egg potato, potatoes brava, asparagus, white sangria. The octopus was so tender (maybe the best octopus dish that I've had) and the seafood croquette just melts in your mouth. There was not a dish that I did not like. For dessert we got the orange flan which was so yummy and delightful. and the chocolate lava cake. The sunset view was gorgeous! And the price was very reasonable - we got drinks, dinner and dessert, and the total came out to be $44 per person. I hope to be back!

    Photos
    Barcelona Tapas Puerto Vallarta - The view, Sunset at Christmas Eve 2023

    The view, Sunset at Christmas Eve 2023

    Barcelona Tapas Puerto Vallarta - Saffron rice with seafood

    Saffron rice with seafood

    Barcelona Tapas Puerto Vallarta - Stunning view of the city.

    See all

    Stunning view of the city.

    Pepe's Taco - Carne asada

    Pepe's Taco

    4.6(619 reviews)
    0.2 km
    $

    Pepe's Tacos are literally the best in PV. I got the Al Pastor tacos and some carnita taco and they…read morewere the best. The smokyness of the taco was very good. This is a must try restaurant if you go around Puerto Vallarta. :)

    There are places that simply serve food--and then there are places that become part of your story…read more Pepe's Tacos is exactly that for me. Having come here since I was 10 years old, this iconic taquería isn't just a local favorite--it's a timeless institution that continues to define what truly exceptional tacos should be. Since 1987, Pepe's has built a reputation that extends far beyond Puerto Vallarta, and one visit is all it takes to understand why. The star of the show--their legendary tacos al pastor--is nothing short of extraordinary. The pork is expertly marinated and cooked to perfection, resulting in meat that is incredibly juicy, tender, and bursting with deep, savory flavor. Each slice is carved with precision and layered onto warm tortillas, creating a perfect foundation for what comes next. What truly elevates these tacos is the balance of toppings. The sweetness of the pineapple and the sharpness of the fresh onions cut through the richness of the meat beautifully, enhancing every bite with contrast and complexity. It's a masterclass in simplicity done right--every ingredient playing its role to perfection. Beyond the food, the experience itself is just as memorable. The service is impressively fast and efficient, especially considering how popular this spot is, and there's an undeniable energy in the air that makes it feel alive at all hours. It's the kind of place you can count on for a late-night bite, where the atmosphere is casual, vibrant, and always welcoming. Pepe's Tacos isn't about reinvention or trend--it's about consistency, tradition, and delivering excellence time and time again. Decades later, it still holds its place as one of the best taco spots in Puerto Vallarta, and for good reason. Some things never change--and when they're this good, they absolutely shouldn't.

    Photos
    Pepe's Taco - @endoedibles on Instagram 10/11/24

    @endoedibles on Instagram 10/11/24

    Pepe's Taco - Al pastor! Killed 21 of these and 3 carne asada for 3 people!

    Al pastor! Killed 21 of these and 3 carne asada for 3 people!

    Pepe's Taco - Cebollitas Asada - delicioso

    See all

    Cebollitas Asada - delicioso

    El Barracuda - seafood - Updated June 2026

    Loading...
    Loading...
    Loading...