La Hacienda

Jan. 14, 2012

Neuvo Vallarta, Mexico

Occidental Grand Neuvo Hotel

La Hacienda

This week we are on vacation in Mexico. Wonderful place to be at this time of year.

We had dinner last night at the La Hacienda at our hotel. Our package includes two a la carte meals, one Italian and one Mexican. Tonight was the Mexican. For my appetizer I had a grilled vegetable and cheese plate. The presentation was lovely. I can`t say the vegetables were grilled very well but the cheese was nice and fresh and topped with something that made it quite flavourful. I did find the wait very long though before we got the appetizers. Trevor had burritos for his appetizer. It was a little much for an appetizer and not presented as nicely as mine. He said the burritos were nice but nothing special.

Trevor also had a seafood soup with tomato broth including tomatoe , carrot and pepper. It was mostly shrimp but it was very nice and he did enjoy it.

My main course was rack of lamb with pureed sweet potatoes. They called it a rack of lamb although it was only two small slices but for me the serving size was perfect and the meat was tender and juicy and the potatoes were nice. It`s more just a matter of improper wording on the menu. Some chefs are a bit sticky about wording when they are out eating.

The main course Trevor had was Beef tenderloin. It was slivers of beef but a good size portion. It was accompanied by fried peppers and onions with a Serrano pepper sauce. We found that his beef was a little bit tough. We believe that the reason for that is because they do not actually prepare the beef right there and when they carry it from the main kitchen in a container sealed the steam that produces causes the beef to be tough. The sauce on the beef was very tasty and the vegetables were satisfactory, however not overly memorable.

For desert we chose a mille feuilles. It didn`t look like what we expected it to look like. But this was the Mexican version. It however was very tasty.

Overall the experience was positive other than the long waits between courses. I definitely cannot complain about the servers though. They are very attentive and aim to please.