Los Machetes - ZIHUATANEJO

Nice little restaurant run by three generations of the same family. All food is fresh, home made, and prepared to order while you watch. They were using a machete in their food prep, which I'm guessing is the genesis of the name. We ate there three times and would have done so more often had we found this gem earlier in our stay. It was hands down the most affordable place we found. No, it does not have a fancy view or tourist feel. Instead, it's a small sit down restaurant on a quiet street with none of the aggressive waiters or peddlers you find closer to the beach. Food prices were in the same range as the lowest cost street food and/or mercato food stalls, which was 10x cheaper than our hotel. Service was great and the bill was accurately calculated. I would suggest trying their quesidillas if your are thrifty (15 pesos for a serving large enough for most adults). Each quesidalla is much larger than the typical fare, so you should start with one or two unless you have a huge appetite. These are freshly made corn tortillas and then the shell is deep fried to give some crunch. The chicken quesidillas were pretty killer. If you are there at noon, you might see local school children in uniform grabbing lunch. Part of the charm of this place is that it is on a street which is relatively quiet and less touristy. You get a chance to have a taste of how local people really live. We also tried the alambre camerones (shrimp fajitas with fresh flour torillas) and it was excellent. The owners make an effort to speak English and we were able to communicate in spite of not speaking any Spanish. They were very accommodating and you could likely custom order almost anything. Drinks were a bit limited, but included bottled beer, pop, and the like. They had a large container of what appeared to be fresh squeezed lime juice on the counter. It was quite refreshing and they left a pitcher at our table. Our youngest son wanted french fries. I was happy to see that they had papas fritas. We were amazed to see them slice a potato and make the fries from scratch exactly the way he wanted them. We were staying at playa madera. Taking the boardwalk towards downtown eventually leads to a bridge across the canal just before playa municipale. Cross the bridge, turn right heading north. Cross the street and follow Leon Felipe north until it intersects Nicolas Bravo. Turn left on Nicolas Bravo and it will be on the opposite side of the street just up the block.

Nice little restaurant run by three generations of the same family. All food is fresh, home made, and prepared to order while you watch. They were using a machete in their food prep, which I'm guessing is the genesis of the name. We ate there three times and would have done so more often had we found this gem earlier in our stay. It was hands down the most affordable place we found. No, it does not have a fancy view or tourist feel. Instead, it's a small sit down restaurant on a quiet street with none of the aggressive waiters or peddlers you find closer to the beach. Food prices were in the same range as the lowest cost street food and/or mercato food stalls, which was 10x cheaper than our hotel. Service was great and the bill was accurately calculated.I would suggest trying their quesidillas if your are thrifty (15 pesos for a serving large enough for most adults). Each quesidalla is much larger than the typical fare, so you should start with one or two unless you have a huge appetite. These are freshly made corn tortillas and then the shell is deep fried to give some crunch. The chicken quesidillas were pretty killer. If you are there at noon, you might see local school children in uniform grabbing lunch. Part of the charm of this place is that it is on a street which is relatively quiet and less touristy. You get a chance to have a taste of how local people really live. We also tried the alambre camerones (shrimp fajitas with fresh flour torillas) and it was excellent. The owners make an effort to speak English and we were able to communicate in spite of not speaking any Spanish. They were very accommodating and you could likely custom order almost anything. Drinks were a bit limited, but included bottled beer, pop, and the like. They had a large container of what appeared to be fresh squeezed lime juice on the counter. It was quite refreshing and they left a pitcher at our table. Our youngest son wanted french fries. I was happy to see that they had papas fritas. We were amazed to see them slice a potato and make the fries from scratch exactly the way he wanted them. We were staying at playa madera. Taking the boardwalk towards downtown eventually leads to a bridge across the canal just before playa municipale. Cross the bridge, turn right heading north. Cross the street and follow Leon Felipe north until it intersects Nicolas Bravo. Turn left on Nicolas Bravo and it will be on the opposite side of the street just up the block.