We read so many positive reviews of this place that we wanted to give it a try. It was a huge disappointment. The steak was "chewy" to say the least. The duck was to take 15 minutes to prepare so we ordered drinks first, expecting to enjoy those until dinner arrived. We had no sooner received our drinks when the entrees arrived. That poor duck must have been under a heat lamp for hours. It was dry and tough. Service was o.k. but not exceptional. We've decided not to return and don't understand what people see in this restaurant.

My wife and I visited in mid-July 2009. We had a wonderful meal and great service. My wife had the Duck Carnitas, I had the Shrimp Chipotle, and both were excellent. We also ordered the signature margarita, and it was superb. The price including tip was around 500 pesos (which was $38 at that time). Would recommend this to anyone.

I used to live in Puerto Vallarta and never missed an opportunity to take visiting friends to El Arrayan. With the exception of one person over three years and many, many meals, everyone loved the place. Whenever we return to Vallarta, El Arrayan is our first stop for dinner. I told Carmen that I never liked Mexican food until I ate at El Arrayan. It is gourmet Mexican food at its best and most authentic.

BTW, spending 3+ hours enjoying live music, cocktails, three courses and a bottle of wine is not unusual in Mexico. The local trade keeps them quite busy in the off season when all the tourists who spend an hour "enjoying" dinner have gone back home.

I tried El Arrayan three times to give it a fair shake over a period of two years, and found the food to be just average, the service poor, and the prices way too high. Better and more authentic food can be found anywhere in the Pitillal at 1/4 the price. Their carne asada tacos in particular were tasteless and amazingly overpriced. Any stand in PV serves better tacos.

This is the type of Mexican restaurante i was looking for in vallarta. The Food is amazing, the goat cheese salad, the chile relleno with srimp wow!! and they make their own ice cream. if you visit Vallarta dont miss this place

We have been dining at El Arrayan since it opened and go at least twice during each visit. We have never had a problem with service and love the food. The plantain empanadas are fabulous especially with the 3 salsas. We order the duck confit at least once while there and the chilies en nogado are the best we have ever had in PV(or anywhere else for that matter). The owner, Carmen, uses recipes from her grandmother so the wonderful food is regional Mexican which is what we prefer. We have never had a bad experience or bad meal there.

After reading several good reviews on the internet and looking for a new place to dine, we decided to give El Arrayan a try. We would not, however, recommend it. It is way too expensive! The food is fine, but not in any way exceptional. The prices are similar to some of the finest gourmet restaurants in PV, but the menu items, presentation, ambience, etc. do not compare. (Actually we paid more for dinner at El Arrayan than we did at one of the finest establishments in PV.) In my opinion, it is just way over-priced and way over-rated.

Forget the fajitas, blended margaritas, burgers and fries, this place serves the real thing. Carmen, my sweetheart, hails from a mexico City family and she set up shop here preparing the old recipes and adding some newer twists, like Slow Food. I love this place. Try to go on a Sat. night for some live soft music while you dine around the arrayan tree.

garyrbeck from cafepress
/vallartaguide

We heard about this place in the article in Vacation magazine, put out by rci. We had a group of six. We were told that there was a special menu for the evening and it was $550 pesos per person and included one cocktail. We decided to go for it. We ordered drinks and the mango daiquiri was fabulous. We got our first course after about 20 minutes. It seemed to be held up by the film crew who was shooting at the waiter's station. The musicians came in and played and were very good. From here dinner slowed to a snail's pace. The dishes were tasty but it took us almost three hours to get through the meal. The film crew ate and left before we were done. Then they tried to charge us for the "included" drinks. They apologized and refigured the bill. We ended up paying for the water and iced tea that two people ordered in place of the free liquor. Food is good but don't expect much from the service. They seem to be too interested in being famous to pay attention to their clientele.

We had a charming experience and would recommend El Arranyan. Some details for your consideration:

*We arrived without a reservation on a Sunday evening between 8 and 8:30 and were seated immediately.

*The other diners appeared about half American/Canadian and half Mexican, although it seemed all but one table was fluent in Spanish. We sat near a family celebrating a birthday (locals by all appearance) and enjoyed a small boy entranced by the live music (also apparently a regular).

*The food reminded me of favorite places everywhere: Fresh, local, well-prepared with a combination of the classic and the adventurous. We chose all-of-the-above. Nothing blew me away but everything was very good, and we appreciated the local ingredients and traditional dishes.

*The service was friendly and attentive.

*The setting was a 10: Relaxed, beautiful, complemented by a lovely group of musicians who really had their groove on in a laid-back sort of way.

*We came relaxed and left the same.