Marlene and I usually crave Italian food at some point on our Puerto Vallarta vacation. La Piazetta has been around for over 15 years; it’s a few blocks south of Daiquiri Dick’s in the Romantic Zone. We'd walked past it umpteen times over the years, but had never dined there. This year, we did. We walked to La Piazetta after exploring the downtown art galleries which were open for Puerto Vallarta's weekly Wednesday evening ArtWalk. When we arrived, the restaurant was crowded and bustling, but we had no trouble securing a table in the large covered outside seating area.
La Piazetta is regularly voted the best Italian restaurant with the best pizza in Puerto Vallarta. They have an extensive menu, with 24 different pizzas. They offer antipasti, salads and pastas, plus traditional veal, chicken, beef and seafood dishes. After ordering a nice bottle of wine, we tackled the menu.
We shared three courses – a salad, a pasta and a pizza. We started with the Caprese salad. The plumb tomatoes were fresh and tasty, as was the mozzarella. A good start.
There was a long delay before our penne all' arrabiata arrived. The tomato sauce, with garlic, bacon and chili pepper, was very good, but the pasta itself was average boxed, at best.
Our pizza came out quickly, before we had finished our pasta. The "Forte" pizza, with tomato sauce, mozzarella, salami, pepperoni and oregano, was nicely presented, but it tasted on par with an average frozen pizza. The cheese was OK; the meats were tasteless.
We were served a great complimentary after-dinner drink of vodka, coconut, cinnamon, cream, and Kahlua; we were served a lot of after-dinner drinks on this vacation.
We enjoyed the bustling ambience of La Piazetta. Perhaps we'll give it another chance next year; the antipasti looked good. Or perhaps we'll seek out another restaurant to satisfy our Italian craving. As we walked back along the Malecón that evening, we were surrounded by hundreds of bike riders. On our taxi ride to the Fiesta Americana, our driver told us that every Wednesday evening, Puerto Vallarta's mayor sponsors a bike ride along the Malecón to promote physical fitness. It was a remarkable idea and a remarkable sight.
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