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Recommended Reviews - Restaurant Rio Grande
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I loved the food & loved the experience. The waiters catered to us and brought me sour cream tortillas hot salsa and anything I asked for. We ordered some yummy Guaynabo Argo Fresca's. Would've been the perfect experience minus one very important detail. I will always call it like I see it We had eaten at a very expensive restaurant a few nights before & came here to have more fish. This place should of been very affordable. The upsetting part was I sent my friends early & they ordered the zarandeado local fish for 3. I showed Up over about 10 minutes later they already had the guacamole on the table. I spend most of my time down here in Mexico and speak the language to a certain extent. My friends didn't. When I asked the waiter how much fish we were getting he said 3 kilos. I looked at him crazy. He said we only had big fish today. Alex you took advantage of my gringa friends, all 3 of the fish on the table had bones. So we were served 3 full fish for $1670 pesos. We should be been served 1.5 kilos for $840 & no more than 2 kilos for 3 people. We took home so much fish it was insane. What that means is the fish should've cost around $50 for three people instead it cost us 100. I'm sorry but this is unforgivable and I will not be returning to this restaurant. Which is very sad because it was a lovely meal and I will be spending much time in Puerto Vallarta in the future. I really hope the restaurant learns from this. It should be a five star review but I can't give it five stars when we weren't treated fairly. So fellow yelpers please learn from me, I'm not saying to not go. It's a definite for a local experience worth 5 stars . What I'm saying is when you go, be very specific about how large of a whole fish you want and discuss it on the front end. Had my friends done this we wouldn't have been caught up in it and by the time I got there the fish walked out three minutes later. So please learn from my mistake and please do go to this restaurants. it's been there for 30 years and it is a wonderful experience overall. There's very few places that you will get a whole fish in a local flavor that is done so well for a fair price. I forgot to mention they wrote on the check that they only took pesos that night & the sign on the door said visa.. Overall I am mad I didn't say thing & should of told them to take one of the fishes back. I can't stand when locals take advantage of visitors ignorance
Excellent service and delicious meal! The wood fired whole fish was delicious- great flavor and perfectly cooked. The server offered to cut it for us and remove the bones making it easy to serve and eat! Highly recommend.
In A Nutshell: -The Rio Grande Restaurant is a really good place to go find a whole red snapper cooked "sarandeado" style! -The red snapper you see in the photos below are enough to feed 3 to 4 people, but just two of us were able to devour it. -The flavor was awesome, I really loved the wood fired taste. -You get a small side of steamed veggies & Spanish rice too. -The restaurant is easy to find. Overall, this fish was $30, which isn't bad at all. I highly recommend going to grab a meal here especially if you are looking for red snapper.
We stumbled across this little hole in the wall and boy are we glad we did. We ordered 2 off the menu dishes recommended by our server and they did not disappoint! Every thing was cooked to perfection and bathed in a delectable garlic butter sauce. The meal is accompanied by a basket of freshly made garlic bread.
Popcorn shrimp is a must. It's a banger. If you don't get it while you're here, you might as well not show up. It was recommended by the Tasting Room and I have to say the only thing better than their cocktails was this recommendation. 10 out of 10 will be back next time in in PV. This will be a place I come back to over and over.
A little hard to find the entrance but once you do you'll be so glad you did. Tried the surf and turf and it might be one of the best places I've ordered surf and turf at. This place has the best service, great value, delicious meat and seafood flavor that you'll want to try every dish.
BEST seafood restaurant I've been to in a long time! I'm from the Seattle, WA. The service was excellent and they are honest. No up selling just good food!! We had the wood fire grill trout, octopus and shrimp. Everything taste so fresh!! Please ask for extra garlic and butter. Way to end my night when they all sang me a song. My 40th was complete and children was all happy. Must try if you are in Puerto Vallarta!!
Walked by this place and looked at the menu. Checked out Yelp reviews and decided to try it. What a GREAT FIND!! Ordered Whole Red Snapper Zarandeado cooked over a wood grill. Absolutely the best fish I've ever tasted. The shrimp cocktail we started with was good, not great but they made up for it with the main dish. Service was great as well.
Should it be one (service) or four (food) stars? I am going with one. Why? One reason I selected this restaurant is that Yelp showed "takes credit cards". When I asked for la cuenta it was delivered to me in a plastic folder with a prominent Visa logo. The waitress said "cash" when I produced my Visa card. I pointed to the logo and she said "cash only" again. I pointed to the logo and she begrudgingly took my card. It took her over 5 minutes to return with the charge paperwork. The tostados del pulpo were excellent. Three tortillas loaded with pico de gallo and pulpo. Two beers and a soothing relaxing lunch. Muy contento until... + Fans provide cooling breezes. + Soft music. + 6 hot sauces on the table. +/- Wi-Fi. They have it, but it is not connected to the internets. - Paper napkins. Cheap, thin and small. - Slow service. I had to flag her down multiple times. $195 for lunch for one. Includes propina.
We came here upon a recommendation from one of a tour agents a we were walking on the street after our lunch at Pepe's. We didn't buy a tour from the guy since we already bought the tours online but he was very kind and generous to suggest Rio Grande and handed us a coupon for free guacamole appetizer. The service was very friendly and another diner on the table next to us was a local and he told us how the food at the restaurant is authentic and delicious. I've been craving for some fresh seafood, especially a whole fish! but my new hubby wanted to stick with the usual from the land..so he ordered an entree of bbq chicken. The price was very cheap at 95 pesos as he got a good amount of chicken, veggies, baked potato with cheese and even a plate of condiments with his meal. I got the wood grill red snapper (pescado serendado) as it was what a reviewer raved on yelp. It took about 20-25 minutes for the whole fish to be cooked and prepared so I placed my order immediately as we continued deciding what else to order. The waiter came out with a fresh fish to show me and letting me know the size (it was about 1 kg) and the price for the fish was per kilo....He was going to give me a bigger fish but I told him it was only for myself as my hubby wanted to eat something else so he brought what I'm guessing the smallest fish he got. We also ordered melted cheese appetizer half/half shrimp/mushroom upon the waiter's recommendation. When the dish arrived, it was piping hot and cheese was so so so so good! We ate it with fresh warm tortillas, it could have been a meal and not an appetizer but we couldn't stop eating as it was just so so so good. The guacamole that came free with the coupon was just so so, a bit too much lime for my liking but it certainly was fresh. BTW, they also gave free tortilla chips and salsa for free. Hubby's bbq chicken plate was also very flavorful and delicious... the bbq sauce was a sweet and a bit tangy.. I tasted a bit of worchershire sauce in the mixture :). For 95 pesos it was certainly a steal for the portion. My snapper plate was generous too and came with stir fry mixed veggies and rice (hubby's plate came with the same stir fry and rice). The rice was a bit mushy for my taste and it didn't have enough flavor but mix it with the fix and it's all delicious! The fish was not fishy at all which means the fish was fresh. They didn't really clean the scales on the fish so I couldn't eat the skin (usually I eat fish skin, it's yummy) and I certainly wish there are a bit more flavors ..perhaps a bit of sweetness on the marinade will be nice...but for the freshness of the fish itself... I will say this was a good fish! They were very generous with the tortillas.. we didn't eat them all.. too much food but I guess in mexico, no tortilla means it's not a complete meal. We were the last diners and they were closing the restaurant (we arrived a bit before 9pm) but they were not rushing us at all. Our bill came out to around 400 pesos which is pretty cheap considering the amount of food that we had. Their famous dish here is the seafood combination that comes with lobster, shrimp, whole red snapper, etc but it's for 2. I would have ordered it if my hubby was feeling like eating seafood that night.. o well, we'll eat it another time :)
This is, hands down, the BEST seafood I have ever had. The service was amazing, and the restaurant was gorgeous. If you find yourself in Puerto Vallarta, this restaurant is a must. Only a little off the beaten path so it didn't seem touristy and we were the only people there dining. This place came highly recommend to us by a friend. We started with margaritas (warning: they are STRONG!) and chips and salsa. The salsa they brought for us was mild, so we asked for a spicier one and our server (the owner??) made us a delightful spicy/garlicy/fantasticly green salsa of sorts on the spot and it was to die for. We then ordered the seafood platter (and added pulpo) to share between three of us. We had some choices on how some of the items were prepared and ended up just choosing the butter and garlic option to satisfy everyone. I am not kidding you when I say this was the absolute best seafood I have ever had. I don't usually care for shrimp or lobster... but WOW. I also am hesitant about pulpo because sometimes it's just chewy and gross. Not here! Cooked to perfection. I even ate the eyeball out of the whole red snapper and IT was good! I've never eaten a fish eyeball before! I would come back to Puerto Vallarta just for this meal. I've been thinking about it nonstop for a week now. Do yourself a favor and eat here!!! read more
Came here our first night in PV because our taxi driver recommended it. Smaller place with excellent service and seafood was fresh and delicious. We each had a couple of cocktails, a marlin taco each, and I had the lobster and he had the special (lobster, butterflied shrimp, and fish). All was fantastic. The owner was really friendly and enjoyed having pics taken with his beautiful catch. He even gave us a small plate of delicious guacamole "on the house." We will certainly return. read more
My friends and I stumbled upon this restaurant after returning from our ATV excursion and I'm happy we did! We had the restaurant to ourselves and our waiter was very attentive and friendly. The food was great and the prices are reasonable. We ordered a little of everything. The coconut shrimp is so good. It is SO GOOD. It makes me want to return to Puerto Vallerta just to have it again. I had the lobster & steak surf and turf with shrimp and it was a lot of bang for my buck. My friends and I split a pitcher of strawberry something (maybe frescas?) that was very rich and milky. This meal put me to sleep! read more
9 months ago
2 years ago
I loved the food & loved the experience. The waiters catered to us and brought me sour cream tortillas hot salsa and anything I asked for. We ordered some yummy Guaynabo Argo Fresca's. Would've been the perfect experience minus one very important detail. I will always call it like I see it We had eaten at a very expensive restaurant a few nights before & came here to have more fish. This place should of been very affordable. The upsetting part was I sent my friends early & they ordered the zarandeado local fish for 3. I showed Up over about 10 minutes later they already had the guacamole on the table. I spend most of my time down here in Mexico and speak the language to a certain extent. My friends didn't. When I asked the waiter how much fish we were getting he said 3 kilos. I looked at him crazy. He said we only had big fish today. Alex you took advantage of my gringa friends, all 3 of the fish on the table had bones. So we were served 3 full fish for $1670 pesos. We should be been served 1.5 kilos for $840 & no more than 2 kilos for 3 people. We took home so much fish it was insane. What that means is the fish should've cost around $50 for three people instead it cost us 100. I'm sorry but this is unforgivable and I will not be returning to this restaurant. Which is very sad because it was a lovely meal and I will be spending much time in Puerto Vallarta in the future. I really hope the restaurant learns from this. It should be a five star review but I can't give it five stars when we weren't treated fairly. So fellow yelpers please learn from me, I'm not saying to not go. It's a definite for a local experience worth 5 stars . What I'm saying is when you go, be very specific about how large of a whole fish you want and discuss it on the front end. Had my friends done this we wouldn't have been caught up in it and by the time I got there the fish walked out three minutes later. So please learn from my mistake and please do go to this restaurants. it's been there for 30 years and it is a wonderful experience overall. There's very few places that you will get a whole fish in a local flavor that is done so well for a fair price. I forgot to mention they wrote on the check that they only took pesos that night & the sign on the door said visa.. Overall I am mad I didn't say thing & should of told them to take one of the fishes back. I can't stand when locals take advantage of visitors ignorance read more
2 years ago
Excellent service and delicious meal! The wood fired whole fish was delicious- great flavor and perfectly cooked. The server offered to cut it for us and remove the bones making it easy to serve and eat! Highly recommend. read more
4 years ago
In A Nutshell: -The Rio Grande Restaurant is a really good place to go find a whole red snapper cooked "sarandeado" style! -The red snapper you see in the photos below are enough to feed 3 to 4 people, but just two of us were able to devour it. -The flavor was awesome, I really loved the wood fired taste. -You get a small side of steamed veggies & Spanish rice too. -The restaurant is easy to find. Overall, this fish was $30, which isn't bad at all. I highly recommend going to grab a meal here especially if you are looking for red snapper. read more
1 year ago
2 years ago
We stumbled across this little hole in the wall and boy are we glad we did. We ordered 2 off the menu dishes recommended by our server and they did not disappoint! Every thing was cooked to perfection and bathed in a delectable garlic butter sauce. The meal is accompanied by a basket of freshly made garlic bread. read more
3 years ago
Popcorn shrimp is a must. It's a banger. If you don't get it while you're here, you might as well not show up. It was recommended by the Tasting Room and I have to say the only thing better than their cocktails was this recommendation. 10 out of 10 will be back next time in in PV. This will be a place I come back to over and over. read more
3 years ago
A little hard to find the entrance but once you do you'll be so glad you did. Tried the surf and turf and it might be one of the best places I've ordered surf and turf at. This place has the best service, great value, delicious meat and seafood flavor that you'll want to try every dish. read more
2 years ago
2 years ago
BEST seafood restaurant I've been to in a long time! I'm from the Seattle, WA. The service was excellent and they are honest. No up selling just good food!! We had the wood fire grill trout, octopus and shrimp. Everything taste so fresh!! Please ask for extra garlic and butter. Way to end my night when they all sang me a song. My 40th was complete and children was all happy. Must try if you are in Puerto Vallarta!! read more
2 years ago
Walked by this place and looked at the menu. Checked out Yelp reviews and decided to try it. What a GREAT FIND!! Ordered Whole Red Snapper Zarandeado cooked over a wood grill. Absolutely the best fish I've ever tasted. The shrimp cocktail we started with was good, not great but they made up for it with the main dish. Service was great as well. read more
Should it be one (service) or four (food) stars? I am going with one. Why? One reason I selected this restaurant is that Yelp showed "takes credit cards". When I asked for la cuenta it was delivered to me in a plastic folder with a prominent Visa logo. The waitress said "cash" when I produced my Visa card. I pointed to the logo and she said "cash only" again. I pointed to the logo and she begrudgingly took my card. It took her over 5 minutes to return with the charge paperwork. The tostados del pulpo were excellent. Three tortillas loaded with pico de gallo and pulpo. Two beers and a soothing relaxing lunch. Muy contento until... + Fans provide cooling breezes. + Soft music. + 6 hot sauces on the table. +/- Wi-Fi. They have it, but it is not connected to the internets. - Paper napkins. Cheap, thin and small. - Slow service. I had to flag her down multiple times. $195 for lunch for one. Includes propina. read more
4 years ago
4 years ago
We came here upon a recommendation from one of a tour agents a we were walking on the street after our lunch at Pepe's. We didn't buy a tour from the guy since we already bought the tours online but he was very kind and generous to suggest Rio Grande and handed us a coupon for free guacamole appetizer. The service was very friendly and another diner on the table next to us was a local and he told us how the food at the restaurant is authentic and delicious. I've been craving for some fresh seafood, especially a whole fish! but my new hubby wanted to stick with the usual from the land..so he ordered an entree of bbq chicken. The price was very cheap at 95 pesos as he got a good amount of chicken, veggies, baked potato with cheese and even a plate of condiments with his meal. I got the wood grill red snapper (pescado serendado) as it was what a reviewer raved on yelp. It took about 20-25 minutes for the whole fish to be cooked and prepared so I placed my order immediately as we continued deciding what else to order. The waiter came out with a fresh fish to show me and letting me know the size (it was about 1 kg) and the price for the fish was per kilo....He was going to give me a bigger fish but I told him it was only for myself as my hubby wanted to eat something else so he brought what I'm guessing the smallest fish he got. We also ordered melted cheese appetizer half/half shrimp/mushroom upon the waiter's recommendation. When the dish arrived, it was piping hot and cheese was so so so so good! We ate it with fresh warm tortillas, it could have been a meal and not an appetizer but we couldn't stop eating as it was just so so so good. The guacamole that came free with the coupon was just so so, a bit too much lime for my liking but it certainly was fresh. BTW, they also gave free tortilla chips and salsa for free. Hubby's bbq chicken plate was also very flavorful and delicious... the bbq sauce was a sweet and a bit tangy.. I tasted a bit of worchershire sauce in the mixture :). For 95 pesos it was certainly a steal for the portion. My snapper plate was generous too and came with stir fry mixed veggies and rice (hubby's plate came with the same stir fry and rice). The rice was a bit mushy for my taste and it didn't have enough flavor but mix it with the fix and it's all delicious! The fish was not fishy at all which means the fish was fresh. They didn't really clean the scales on the fish so I couldn't eat the skin (usually I eat fish skin, it's yummy) and I certainly wish there are a bit more flavors ..perhaps a bit of sweetness on the marinade will be nice...but for the freshness of the fish itself... I will say this was a good fish! They were very generous with the tortillas.. we didn't eat them all.. too much food but I guess in mexico, no tortilla means it's not a complete meal. We were the last diners and they were closing the restaurant (we arrived a bit before 9pm) but they were not rushing us at all. Our bill came out to around 400 pesos which is pretty cheap considering the amount of food that we had. Their famous dish here is the seafood combination that comes with lobster, shrimp, whole red snapper, etc but it's for 2. I would have ordered it if my hubby was feeling like eating seafood that night.. o well, we'll eat it another time :) read more
4 years ago
Definitely a restaurant I plan on returning next time I'm in Puerto Vallarta. The whole fish wood grilled is a great dish but it is large so unless you have many people to eat it, it may be difficult to finish. Not sure where else you can get such fish. Enjoyed the surf and turf dish also. read more
4 years ago
We did have a pescado zarandeado. It was good, but it could have used a little more seasoning. I did feel a little rush to order. I wished the dish would of came with more side dishes. The server was attentive as well. read more
7 years ago
Easy to miss on the street but worth the stop. Food was excellent and portions huge. Service was great. Seafood fresh and delicious read more
3 years ago
9 years ago
While on vacation with friends over the Thanksgiving weekend I wanted to eat a local dish "pescado zarendeado" (wood-fire grilled fish). After a thorough search I found the restaurant Rio Grande in Puerto Vallarta and was not disappointed. Not only did they make the grilled fish they also made an incredible whole fried fish. The best thing is you can see the fish before they cook it. This is my new favorite seafood restaurant. Not only is the food great but the service is friendly and attentive. I'm sad that it's not located closer to me in San Diego. I will be back! read more
9 years ago
This restaurant was just blocks from our hotel. On our last night in PV I was looking for a local place with red snapper. This place was wonderful. The owner tried to tell me the red snapper they had was too large for me but I wanted it anyway. They grilled the fish and my husbands chicken in an oven built into the side of the building right in the sidewalk. It was excellent. With a slight charcoal flavor and moist and very fresh. I will be back read more
3 years ago
For some reason, I thought Rio Grande was going to be an Americanized eatery. I guess that's because It's not too hard to find a Mexican restaurant in the States with "Rio Grande" in the name. I was very happy to be wrong! This is a great little family owned restaurant with friendly service and large portions of fresh local seafood. We were greeted warmly at the door and promptly given a basket of chips with both red and green salsa. Both salsas were yummy but tomatillo is always my favorite. As we studied the menu, our wonderful server came by to tell us all about the evening's specials. He also basically told us that we could mix and match any of the menu items and they could be prepared any way we wanted. Then he came back with more chips and complimentary guacamole. We were intrigued by the seafood platter, especially after the waiter stopped by our table to show us one that just came out of the kitchen for some other guests. It was a ginormous platter filled with a whole red snapper, six baby lobster tails, four large butterfly shrimp, two Oysters Rockefeller, a pork skewer, steamed veggies, and rice. We chose to have our platter cooked on the signature wood fired grill. Everything was delicious and we were so hungry that we ended up eating almost every bite. We had to roll ourselves out of there but it was so worth it. The owners sat at a table across from us and visited with some friends who stopped by. It definitely seems like they have some strong roots in the community. We had a really fun meal for our first night in PV and we will definitely go back next time we're in town. I'm so happy we found this little local gem! read more
12 years ago
Traditional, fresh, and masterful cuisine of Vallarta! I tried this place with my parents while on vacation in P.V. My mom asked to be seated "where it's cool", so the server turned on the air conditioner and gave us the table nearby. This is NOT one of the tourist-targeting restaurants on the beach -- it's a few blocks inland, and the place is well maintained (clean tables, clean bathrooms, etc.). It definitely feels like a family restaurant. The other diners were all Mexican, looking to have a nice/upscale meal. I had a list from my roommate (who's from neighboring Nayarit state) of local specialties to taste. I mentioned a few of these to our server (who spoke excellent English). One dish "camarones a la momia" (large shrimp with a little cheese, wrapped in bacon) was not on the menu, but he said they could prepare it for us. My dad ordered the "huachinango" (red snapper). We also wanted to try the "diabla" sauce and garlic sauce, and our server volunteered to bring us a side of each of these. Before the food arrived, we enjoyed the complimentary fresh totopos (tortilla chips) with three salsas (mild-medium red tomato, mild green tomatillo, and spicy chile de árbol), which were top notch. Then the food arrived all at once -- overwhelming! They also brought soft tortillas and garlic-butter bread, making it feel like a feast. The chef is clearly a master of his/her art! Each dish was spectacular. The diabla sauce had really deep flavor from great ingredients and technique. My dad wasn't sure how to dig into the whole fish, so the server graciously stepped in to cut perfect morsels from the spine, with no bones. My mom raved about the "crema de camarón" soup. All shrimp dishes were VERY generous with their portions, and the shrimp was absolutely fresh. The restaurant is 30 years old, and clearly still vibrant and passionate about delicious food and excellent service. A true highlight from our family vacation. read more
5 years ago
4 years ago
8 years ago
I love coming here when visiting. It's a must. Amazing red snapper. The workers are all nice. The place is air conditioned. read more
8 years ago
If you are looking for some tasty lobsters, this is the place to go when visiting PV! We stayed at the Hilton Resort and took a quick 8 min Uber to this restaurant. The staff was very friendly and our server brought out a special serrano salsa that was super spicy! We started off with the oyster Rockefellers and each ordered a kilo plate of butter roasted lobsters. Everything was very fresh and cooked to perfection! read more
4 years ago
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More info about Restaurant Rio Grande
México 1175
48350 Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco
Mexico
Directions
322 222 0095
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http://www.riograndemexico.com
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