Layla's

TripAdvisor lists Laylas's as #5 of the 719 Puerto Vallarta restaurants it follows, with glowing comments like, "truly a special meal," "a hidden jewel," and "no one has a bad meal at Layla's." We have.

Layla's is a family owned Mexican restaurant, two blocks north of the Malecón. There are four levels, with lots of stairs to climb. The kitchen is on the ground floor, and everything is hand carried up. The seating adjacent to the kitchen looked rather claustrophobic, plus it was warm. We were hoping to sit higher up.

When we gave our name, they couldn't find our reservation, but after displaying an email confirmation, a table on the top floor quickly materialize. We climbed up to a rectangular room, with seating inside and on a small balcony, overlooking the city; we were seated inside at the end of the room opposite the balcony. There were two ceiling fans which blew hot air around. It was very warm.

We ordered a bottle of Pinot Grigio, which took awhile to arrive - there were lots of stairs to climb. When it was finally served, we drank it like water.

The staff was uniformly friendly, helpful and attentive. I planned to order the skirt steak as my entrée, but the waiter warned it was small and made alternate recommendations. He also advised Marlene that the trout was better than the salmon she had planned to order.

We started with the crispy fried oysters and the cornbread. The oysters were recommended multiple times on TripAdvisor (yeah, I know); Marlene had eyed the cornbread as it was served to another table.

The oysters were deep fried with a thick batter, and placed back atop their shells with a dollop of pico de gallo. The oysters were mushy; all we could taste was the batter. I tried a spoonful of the accompanying black beans that propped up the shells; they were rocks. Not a good start.

What Marlene thought was cornbread was an Italian-like cake bread served to every table, with a balsamic and oil dipping sauce, which we received along with the cornbread. The cornbread came covered and swimming in a "buttery" garlic sauce, which tasted more like corn soup. The cornbread itself was indeed very corny. We each forced down half a piece.

I ordered the pollo asado as my main course, as recommended by our water. The chicken was very good in its spicy habanero sauce, as were the accompanying peppers and potatoes. The leg still had its bone, but the rest was indeed boneless. A nice dish with a nice kick.

Pollo Asado - half chicken without bones, peppers, potatoes, in habanero sauce

The poached trout Marlene ordered instead of the salmon was bland and tasteless, although the lime cream sauce was surprisingly light, and the shrimp, asparagus and mushrooms were quite tasty.

Lemon Trout - stuffed with shrimp, asparagus and mushrooms, in lime cream sauce, with green rice

Layla's website states they want every "visit to be magical and an unforgettable experience." I'll probably not forget eating rocks, but beyond that our meal was indeed forgettable. The service was very good, as was my chicken entrée. But the rest of our food was mediocre, at best, and the heat put a damper on everything.

After dinner, we found Roberto's on the Malecón and shared a rich coffee gelato. Easily the pick dish of the evening!

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