La Palapa del Guayabo

Address:  Paseo Ramon Corona #24
                Chapala, Jalisco
Phone:     376 765 4180
Hours of Operation:  Monday - Sunday; 12pm - 9pm
Webpage:  www.lapalapadelguayabo.com

Directions: From Walmart, head east on the Carratera towards Chapala, about 6 1/2 miles. Turn right at the stoplight, heading towards the lakefront. Take the next left, along the malecon. La Palapa del Guayabo is located at the end of the row of restaurants (under the big palapa) at the end of the market. There is limited parking in front of the restaurant, but ample parking along Paseo Ramon Corona.

First Impressions

La Palapa del Guayabo is in a huge, thatched roof building right at the end of the malecon in Chapala. It is the restaurant closest to the lake. Though we have been to Chapala to eat many times, we always preferred smaller, more intimate restaurants so had never tried La Palapa del Guayabo.

However, we were invited by friends who live in Chapala to try it with them, so we met on a Saturday night, before a huge fiesta and walked to the restaurant at the end of the malecon. The restaurant had very few customers, but enough to encourage the mariachis to play loudly and incessantly.

The best feature of La Palapa del Guayabo is the front seat view of the sun setting over Lake Chapala. Otherwise, it has the ambiance of a bus terminal.

Menu

The menu is in Spanish, with no English translation offered. This is okay if you have been in the area for a while, but hard for English speaking newcomers to decipher. This is the first restaurant, in our experience eating at lakeside restaurants, that has not offered a menu in English, or provided some sort of translation.

The menu has the standard dishes available at most of the restaurants in the area - arrachara, fish and seafood and some traditional Mexican plates. The waiter brought our drinks and a small serving of pico de gallo and chips to eat while we studied the menu.

We finally decided on the arrachara, a chilies rellano plate (stuffed with seafood) and molcajete de res (molcajete made with cheese, peppers, and beef) to split for two of us. The prices seemed rather high for a restaurant in working class Chapala, but it appears as though they cater mostly to tourists.

The molcajete arrived at the table bubbling hot and served with corn tortillas. The arrachara was served with french fries and a green salad. The chilies rellano was not breaded, but rather covered in a gritty cornmeal coating and baked. The seafood inside was not warm, and apparently had been prepared much earlier in the day. A small number of corn tortillas accompanied the molcajete, not enough for eating the entire bowl of meat and cheese, but we were not offered additional tortillas and could not get the waiter's attention to ask for more.

The restaurant offers a full bar, though we all drank soft drinks this evening. We inquired about dessert and the waiter told us that there was no chocolate cake, but seemed reluctant to bring the dessert menu, so we asked for the bill and had dessert at a local gelato stand. We were also not offered a way to take home the remaining molcajete.

Ambiance and Service

The best feature of La Palapa del Guayabo is its proximity to Lake Chapala. This is probably one of the best locations in Chapala for watching the sun set over the lake. The night we visited the restaurant, there were a small number of diners, but a large group of competing mariachis, who gathered around one table close to us and played all night.

They never came to our table, which seemed very odd. After a while, we felt like we had crashed someone's private party. It was so loud, that we were unable to carry on a conversation at our table.

We asked for a dessert menu, and the waiter informed us of a few choices, but he did not seem anxious for us to order anything more. I noticed that the waiters had begun to strip the tablecloths off the tables in the front of the restaurant. Our waiter was ready to go home. There was a festival in Chapala that evening and it seemed that everyone was anxious to leave work.

I did not check the restrooms at this restaurant. I have read other reviewers who commented, en espanol, that they are not in good shape, but I cannot verify that claim. It wouldn't surprise me to find that these writers are right. A place that does not care about its customers rarely bothers to keep the facilities clean.

Price

The bill arrived with a 10% propina already added and a charge for IVA (tax). This is the first time, since we have been living at Lake Chapala, that we have seen a bill with these charges added - especially for a table of four people. Our final bill, without alcohol or dessert and with two of us sharing the molcajete was
$663p, an outrageous sum, considering the quality of the food and the service that we received.

 

Our Recommendation **

Seriously? You can't find anyplace else in Chapala to eat?

Okay, we did not get sick from eating at this restaurant, and that is our standard for completely panning a place. You can eat here and not die. The view is very good. If, in the end, you must eat here as a sort of punishment to your guests whom you never care to see again, at least order the molcajete. Ask for extra tortillas, even if the waiter glares and grinds his teeth at you. Otherwise, there are many, many nicer places to eat along the malecon in Chapala, where you will be treated well by the wait staff, can eat great food, and pay much less for the experience.

Mario's Restaurant Familiar

Address: Ramon Carona #132,  San Antonio Tlayacapan
Phone: (376) 766 1452
Hours of Operation: Tuesday - Sunday 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.; Closed Monday

Directions: From Walmart, head east on the Carretera, approximately 1/4 mile. Turn right on Calle San Jose. This is the right turn just before Superlake. Drive toward the lake for two blocks. Turn left on Ramon Carona. Mario's Restaurant Familiar is about 1/2 block on the left. It you reach the intersection by the plaza, you have gone too far.

First Impressions

Mario's Restaurant Familiar is located less than half a block from the central plaza in the small pueblo of San Antonio, Tlayacapan  It is the first place we eat that was recommended to us by a long time resident - our landlord. We ate there on our second day in the Lake Chapala area. We stopped into meet her at the real estate office and when we inquired about a really good restaurant for lunch, she suggested Mario's - in fact, she said she would take us there herself.

"Get in the car," she insisted, "I know a really good place for lunch." And off we drove, the wrong way down one way streets, weaving, whistling and talking the entire way. We pulled in front of a place that, had I not been introduced by Beverly, we might never have tried on our own. The restaurant looks very simple and rustic from the outside, with a sliding screen door and the name of the restaurant painted on the wall. I already suspected that Beverly was a little crazy, so was not sure what we would find inside.

But, to my surprise, the restaurant was clean and  pleasant and the owner and staff friendly and welcoming. We were off to a good start.

Menu

A daily lunch menu offers a large variety of dishes that includes seafood and beef dishes and salads. The daily specials are written on a white board - in Spanish. The waiter will gladly translate.

For lunch, we had Arrechera, recommended by our host, and fried shrimp with mango sauce.  The shrimp may just be the best I have had since arriving in town. It was a memorable meal. Our lunch was accompanied by fresh corn tortillas.

Other items on the menu included hamburgers and French Fries, shrimp cooked in a variety of ways, pescado (fish) dishes, and salads. A breakfast menu is available before noon.


So, a week later, we decided to return to Mario's Restaurant Familiar to try some of the delicious looking items on the  breakfast menu. This time we sat in the back of the restaurant, in an open courtyard behind the kitchen.

We ordered Huevos Rancheros and were treated to a feast that began with chips and salsa presented in a stone molcajete. The Huevos Rancheros were served with beans and freshly made corn tortillas.

We also had fresh squeezed orange juice and coffee.

 

Ambiance

Mario's Restaurant Familiar is a neighborhood café. It is not a place that is easy to find for first time visitors to Lake Chapala, but it is worth the journey into the small pueblo of San Antonio, Tlayacapan to experience a taste of authentic Mexican cooking.

The restaurant is simple, but clean and inviting. There is a very pleasant open dining area surrounded by green plants, reached by walking through the kitchen area.

Service is homey, friendly, and personal. After all, this is a family owned business.

Price

The price range for breakfast is between $50 and $95 pesos. Dinner entrees are also moderately priced. Two can have a filling seafood lunch for less than $240 pesos, about $18 dollars at the current exchange rate.

Our Recommendation ****

If you want a taste of excellent, authentic, Mexican cooking in a family owned restaurant, make the effort to find Mario's Restaurant Familiar. Try the shrimp with mango sauce. You will not be disappointed.