La Rustica

Cinco stars, mi amigo!
Yes — it’s pizza and pasta.
Yes — it’s not Mexican food.
Yes — you’ll think you’re in a restaurant that’s a bit of a cultural clash with the indigenous… the uh, you know — the locals.
But — you will probably love it, if you like pizza and pasta — and if you don’t, you may not be human.
Yes — you’ll spend thrice more than you would at Ivan’s, at least (more if you imbibe or if you appetize).
But what you’ll get for that extra dinero is a brief culinary respite from the native cuisine for your taste buds, some uptempo musica (even live classical guitar), and the cleanest baños this side of your hotelito.
Look for the steady stream of rented golf carts and you’ll know you’re not far away. Try the gluten-​free pasta if diet or allergy so dictates (I did), and crème brûlée — once you get past the idea that you’re neither in Italy nor France (though is anyone ever actually anywhere? I digress.) — and you’ll be glad you did. Makes a great meal for your last night in town when your taste buds (and other organs) may be ready for a break from spicy pica muy caliente.

Love the feel and décor of this place. Amazing 5 spice margaritas and wood-​fire pizzas. Everyone was super friendly.

On our very last night in Mexico, we decided to head over to la rustica for a non-​Mexican night out.
Let me start off with service. This place, as with many other restaurants nearby have great service. Always attentive and quick. 5 stars for great service.
We decided on calamari, Cesar salad, and a pizza… La princesa, one of the vegetarian options.
The calamari was slightly rubbery, but the amount of batter on it was good. Flavor was okay, though it was slightly lacking. For calamari to be perfect, it should have good flavor, a nice crunch, then finally a tender middle. The calamari itself. La rustica’s calamari is a ³⁄₅. Good potential
Next is our caesar salad. Caesar salad is caesar salad, there really isn’t much to mess up here. It was romaine lettuce with 2 grape tomatoes sliced in half, with a little too much dressing and Parmesan cheese. It was missing croutons! 3.5÷5 for this one. Put some croutons on this basic, classic salad. And some real Parmesan cheese, please.
Oh, the parm… Let me get off on a tangent here. The parm is what appears to be pre-​shredded Parmesan. For an Italian place of this reputation, I expect freshly grated Parmesan. The calamari was also topped with this pre-​shredded parm. Not impressed, here.
Last is the la princesa pizza. It is a pesto based pizza with spinach, olives, fresh and sundries tomatoes, onions, mozzarella, and goat cheese, topped with a balsamic glaze. I wish I took a photo of the pizza, but i will tell you it was covered in this balsamic glaze. So much so, that I could not taste much of the other elements of the pizza. As you all know, balsamic glaze has a very intense flavor and should be used sparingly. Needless to say, it did ruin the pizza for us. Luckily, it was unevenly spread out, so we could enjoy a couple of slices that were not 90% covered in balsamic. We had to scrape that stuff off! I will give credit where it is due, and the crust deserves some credit. It was nicely done and the wood fire oven helped as well. It is a good effort and has the base down, it’s just that the proportions need to be thought out. If we had gotten a different pizza, perhaps my rating would have been better.

We go to Sayulita often and always enjoy going to Rustica. The food is phenomenal, you cannot go wrong with anything on the menu. The staff is incredibly professional and kind. This is hands down the best pizza north or south of the border. The crust is perfect, the ingredients are fresh, it really doesn’t get any better!

This place was packed on a Friday night and looked very cute. However, both my fiancé and I got the worst case of food poisoning we have ever gotten after ordering the calamari, a caprese salad, and a pizza, and I ended up in a hospital the next day to receive IV fluids and antibiotics after being ill for an entire 12 hours. This is one place I will never go again.

Like Sayulita in general, this place blows the conventions of Mexico away and offers something entirely different.
Excellent pizzas with thin crispy crust are complemented by a nice selection of craft beer and top notch service.

Amazing service is what really distinguishes this place. Very friendly and quick to explain the menu. We had excellent pizzas (my kid’s arrived almost instantaneously) and really good margaritas as well. Very much enjoyed the Cesar salads as well as the calamari.

Super great service and food. The pizza was amazing. I love the crust !! We also had mussels that were nice !! Busy place, but we didn’t wait too long and it was worth the wait.

Okay, I have to admit… This place got my heart when I had a crisis trying to get the key to work in our condo. The servers and the hostess were kind, compassionate and helpful. I was in a complete panic and they did all they could to ease my craziness. That was the first day in town. So the next night we went there to eat. The hibiscus margarita is a must!!! My 4 cheese pizza was a treat. Ma had the wine (?) salad… Anyway, it was really good. The servers are attentive, the atmosphere is delightful and all in all this is a definite must when in town.

Had a really good pizza here and great app. Wonderful staff that where very attentive, and recommend awesome wine. Really enjoyed our night here.

The food and drinks were great, but most impressive was their fast and professional service!
Our server ran to the icecream shop next door to make an affogato for us (which was not on their menu)! It was a perfect finish to an awesome meal.

My family of 15 came here for dinner during our vacation and we really enjoyed it. They have lots of delicious options of salad, pizza, and pasta. We found the pizza to be much better than the pasta although the pasta was still pretty good. We also got a few cesar salads which were very good as well. This place is a great way to get away from the Mexican food and handles groups pretty well. I will warn that we made a reservation for 7:30 and didn’t sit down until 8:30 but that is to be expected in Mexico. Once we sat down they were somewhat fast. They have the seating to handle groups but maybe not the speed. The design of the restaurant is also pretty nice. I would definitely recommend the pizza!

If you’re looking for a break from the routine in Sayulita La Rustica has some of the best wood-​fired gourmet pizza anywhere.
A modern and expanding open air design they are one of our favorite regular spots when we’re in Sayulita or San Pancho.

Tired of tacos? Great pasta and even better pizza from their wood fired ovens. Vegetarian friendly. Chief local but Italian trained.

The pizza was good, definitely made the kids happy. However, my favorite was the freshly made pasta and seafood plate. Worth deviating from street tacos for one night. Fun atmosphere as long as you have some flexibility. We found the wait staff very nice and suggestions on the cocktail of the night was superb. Finish the evening with a stop for ice cream or a frozen hibiscus popsicle next door.

Buen servicio. Los tragos muy ricos. Las palomitas de camarón, altamente recomendadas.

Not just delicious thin crust pizzas but perfectly prepared pastas and salads as well. For breakfast I ordered the half eggs Benedict on a homemade biscuit with savory sautéed creamed spinach, roasted tomato, crispy bacon and perfectly poached egg topped with lemony hollandaise sauce. Super delicious. Best restaurant in town so far. I will be back for sure.

We have eaten at La Rustica many times. It has to be some of the best wood fired, thin crust pizza I have eaten anywhere in the world. Everything we have tried from pizza to salad to pasta has been top quality and fantastic.

I know you’re wondering why one would eat wood-​oven pizza in a Mexican beach town, and so am I, but we did. Eventually. The pizzas were quite tasty, and on a par with the 80^th percentile of wood-​oven pizza in a major U.S. city. But it took them over 30 minutes to arrive, with virtually no communication with our waiter in that time. Indeed, somebody else brought the food and I don’t think we ever saw him again.
I know it’s Mexico, and it’s vacation, but when I’m hungry at 9:15 pm on vacation, I am still hoping to eat.

Really great, wood-​fired gourmet pizzas. We got 2 large pizzas for 2 people, which ended up being way too much food but it was so good that we finished both of them! We had the «meat-​lovers» (not sure exactly what it was called, but it basically had all of the meats on it) and the seafood pizza (which was amazing!!!).
The service was fantastic and the owner even came to chat with us and ask us where we were visiting from. He even shared with us how much his business has grown thanks to word-​of-​mouth, so I hope this review helps as well.

Great wood oven pizza right off the square. Attractive, modern design, an open counter and tables in the street. Thin crust, fresh vegetables. Try the one with shrimp and bacon!
Also, they deliver by scooter in case you’re staying cozy at home.
Wa Kika is right next door for desert!