Has anyone been to Pitallal (suburb of Puerto Vallarta)? Saw some postings referring to it on another site but didn't have a lot of information other than to say that it's the "authentic Mexican" part of the city.

I've been. It's a nice local and yes authentic neighborhood. It's off the highway between the airport and downtown. It looks like El Centro with no tourists and a few decades back. You can take a bus, Pitillal is written on the windshield. Or taxi.

It's where most of the workers from Puerto Vallarta live. There is a really good restaurant in Pitallal and The name has just escaped me. It's by a big market. Suze mentioned it I think in another post. They have this same restaurant in Punta Mita.

The restaurant is Marisco's Tino's.

That's how I first got to Pitillal. We asked a local we'd befriended, where he'd go with his own family for a nice meal. So we all went to Mariscos Tino's together for lunch. His apartment was out that way too.

carolined- Are you thinking of it as a place to stay (i.e., find a hotel or apartment)?

I somehow think Mecales and Bucerias would be more to your liking. If you have a car you can visit all three in a day trip. Or you can visit all three by bus.

Thanks everyone for the great feedback! We've been to Puerto Vallarta before and love it there. This time around we're staying at Playa Los Arcos - it's our favorite area to stay. We've done a lot of the more traditional things and wanted to stray from that this time around. Pitillal sounds like the place!