Eat and Drink

El Farallón in Cabo: Is It Worth It? Once, at Sunset

By Cabo Wander

"Is El Farallón worth it?" usually reaches me as a text with a screenshot attached: lanterns, a stone ledge, waves breaking right under the tables. My answer is yes, once, for an occasion, at a table booked for the half hour before a winter sunset, with about US$500 for two set aside before you sit down.

Here's how I think about it. El Farallón has the best restaurant setting in Cabo, and I don't think that's close. The fish dinner that comes with it is good, and some nights it's a minute overcooked. About half the check is for the cliff. Every time I've left happy, I went for the place. The one time I left grumbling, I'd been adding up what the fish cost.

The answer flips if the cooking is what you care about most. The better kitchen is in the same hotel, at Don Manuel's, and the better value is ten minutes away at Metate. I'll get to both.

This is the close-up on the number two pick in my guide to where to eat in Cabo San Lucas, and on the splurge entry in the best restaurants in Cabo.

What You'll Love

The setting is the real thing. The restaurant is a set of open-air stone terraces cut into a cliff at the Waldorf Astoria in Pedregal, on the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas. The tables at the edge sit against a low wooden rail, and the surf breaks just below it. There's no roof. You hear the ocean the whole time, there's a guitarist or a violinist most evenings, and you can still talk without raising your voice.

Getting there is part of it. The road ends at a guard post in front of a tunnel that runs straight through a mountain, you give your name, the gate lifts, and you come out the other side at the hotel. It feels like a movie, and I say that as someone who has done it more than once and still enjoys it.

The staff are the second-best thing. They've been warm with me every time, they're careful with allergies and with anyone who's pregnant, and when it gets cold they bring blankets, sometimes before you ask. If it's an anniversary or a birthday, say so when you book. I've seen a toast show up, and a dessert plate with writing on it.

It's a setting with a restaurant attached, the same way Flora Farms is a garden with a restaurant in the middle. Go for the setting and you'll have a great night.

Is the Food Actually Good?

It's good. It's fresh fish cooked simply, and at these prices "good" gets judged pretty hard.

The red snapper is the main I'd order. It's the one that has been right for me most often. The Baja oysters and the seafood tower are both worth having if you want something from the raw bar, and the lobster mac and cheese is the side I'd add. It's about US$40 and it's big enough to share.

Now the part I wish were different. The kitchen overcooks things more often than it should at US$100 and up for a main. I've had sea bass that was dry, lobster that was tough and shrimp that had gone a minute too long, and a steak at the table come out the wrong side of what was ordered. Some plates have been heavy on the butter and light on flavor. The Brussels sprouts are the side I'd skip.

The service has a wobble too, and it's about pace. Most nights it's well timed. On a busy one I've waited a long time for the main and had to ask for water.

Bottom line: I'd call it a good dinner and a great evening. If you eat out a lot and compare kitchens, you'll notice the gap between the plate and the price.

The Two Ways to Eat Here

This confused me the first time, so let me lay it out. There are two ways to book, and they aren't the same dinner.

The regular reservation gets you the four-course dinner, and the price is set by the main you pick. A server brings a chalkboard with the day's catch, and there's a display of fish on ice with an old-fashioned scale. You choose a main (sea bass, red snapper, bluefin tuna, amberjack, shrimp, lobster, beef or surf and turf, depending on what the market had), and that one choice buys you a salad, two small appetizers the chef picks (one raw, one hot), your main and dessert. Bread shows up as well. Sides to share and anything from the raw bar are extra.

You'll read on other sites that you buy your fish by weight off the ice. That isn't how the dinner is priced. The scale is part of the show, and you pay by the main.

Here's my tip. Ask the server to walk you through what's included before you order anything. I once ordered appetizers on top without understanding that four courses were already coming, and most of that dinner went home in a box. It's a LOT of food. One night two of us asked to share a single four-course dinner and they said yes, so it's worth asking if you're light eaters. There's a vegetarian version of the four courses too.

The prepaid experience is a set menu you pay for in full when you book. It's a mixed grill: a tuna starter, a hot seafood appetizer, the catch of the day, then shrimp and steak, and dessert. The exact lineup moves around. It's about 3,800 pesos a head, around US$210, with tax and the hotel's service fee already inside it and drinks on top. You can get all your money back up to 48 hours before, and nothing after that.

Which one would I book? For a regular night out, the standard table, because you pick your own main and you can come in under the set price. For an anniversary where the table matters as much as the meal, I'd look hard at the prepaid one, and that brings me to the rail.

Getting a Table on the Rail

Not every table here is a great one. The terraces are tiered, most seats have a view, and a few are around the corner or next to a service station. I've been walked to one of those while tables at the rail sat empty.

Asking for the edge in your booking notes is a request. It isn't a promise. So do three things:

• Put the request in the notes and say what the occasion is.
• Ask whether prepaying gets you an edge table. The prepaid set menu has been described to me as the way to lock in the edge. I haven't been able to confirm that it works that way every time, so ask the restaurant directly before you pay.
• If you're staying at the Waldorf, have the concierge ask. That's the request that seems to carry the most weight.

The edge has a catch. You're close enough to the water that you'll get a little mist, and on a big-swell night it can be more than mist at the end tables. The swells are most likely from May to October. On a rough evening, ask where the dry tables are. The second row is a perfectly good place to be.

What It Costs

The restaurant doesn't publish a menu with prices, and I wish it did. So these are my own round numbers.

The four courses start at about US$100 on the menu and run to about US$150 depending on the main. Lobster and surf and turf are well above that, so ask what they cost before you order either one. Menu prices are before tax and before the hotel's service charge, and together those add about a third. A main listed at US$100 is about US$135 on the check, and one at US$150 is about US$200.

For the whole evening, I'd plan on this:

• One person, not drinking: about US$230
• Two people, light on drinks: a little over US$300
• Two people with a cocktail each and a modest bottle of wine: US$450 to $600
• The same, plus a glass each at the Champagne Terrace: US$560 to $800

That third line is the honest number for most couples, and it's a floor if you like wine. I've seen a check for two reach about US$1,100 with the wine pairing.

Wine is where it runs away from you. One bottle on the list at about US$95 was one I'd seen in a Cabo grocery store for under US$20, and the list goes up to several hundred. Ask for the less expensive end of the list. You can also bring your own bottle and pay corkage, and you'll need to ask what the fee is. Cocktails are in the US$20s before the third goes on, and bottled water is charged.

Read the check before you add a tip. The service charge is already on it, and the card terminal will offer you a tip line anyway. Anything more is up to you. If the check is in pesos, pay in pesos and say no when the terminal offers to convert it. Tipping and the rest of a trip budget are in how much Cabo costs.

So is it worth the money? As a seafood dinner, no. I've eaten better fish in Cabo for a third of the price. As one big evening on that ledge, I think yes, and I'd pay it again for the right occasion.

The Champagne Terrace

Before you get to your table, the host walks you to a separate terrace at the entrance with its own view and a list of about twenty Champagnes. This is where you wait if your table isn't ready.

You don't have to buy anything. It's a bar with its own check. A glass is about US$50 before tax and service, so two glasses come to somewhere between US$110 and $150. Bottles start around US$280. There's also a guided tasting you can prepay, an hour in the late afternoon with small seafood bites, at about 5,300 pesos a head, which is around US$290.

I'll be honest that the push is real. I've been steered through the bar on the way in and asked more than once about a tasting while I waited. It's polite, and it's persistent. "We'll just wait for our table, thank you" works fine, and you can still stand there and enjoy the view. If you do want a glass of Champagne with the ocean in front of you, it's a lovely place to have one. Some nights there's a free toast for an anniversary, so don't order until you know.

When to Go, and What Time to Book

Go between November and April, and book a table for about 45 minutes before sunset. That's the version in the photos.

The terrace faces the open Pacific, and in the winter half of the year the sun goes down into the water in front of you. In summer it sets farther north, so ask where the sun sets from the ledge before you book a table for it. You'll still get the color in the sky either way.

Sunset moves by more than an hour and a half across the year, and dinner doesn't start until 5. Here's the round guide:

• November to January: sunset is between about 5:30 and 6. Book the 5:00 opening.
• February and March: sunset is a little after 6. Book about 5:30.
• April: sunset is around 6:40. Book 6:00.
• June and July: sunset is just after 7. Book 6:15 to 6:30.
• September and early October: sunset is between 6 and 6:30. Book 5:15 to 5:45.

In November, December and January, the opening tables are the sunset tables, and there are only so many of them. That's why winter is the hard time to book. A 7:00 or 7:30 table in January means the sun set more than an hour before you arrived.

Leave yourself that 45 minutes, too. Expect to be seated late. Fifteen minutes is common, half an hour happens, and I've had it run a lot longer. If you book the exact minute of sunset, you can end up watching it from the bar.

After dark it's still a nice place to be. You get the sound of the waves, a floodlit patch of surf, lanterns and stars. It's a different evening from the one in the pictures, though, and I don't think it's worth the same money.

Dress for the Pacific side. It's cooler and windier over here than on Médano, most of all from late winter into June, and I get into why in my guide to the Pacific side of Cabo. The temperature drops once the sun is gone, and I've been glad of a blanket in May. From mid-December into April you may spot whales offshore while you eat. One evening a server brought binoculars to the table. If that's a big part of your trip, the boats are in whale watching in Cabo.

Late summer is the easy time to get a table and the least comfortable time to sit at one. In August and September it can be close to 90 degrees on the terrace until the sun goes down, with no fans, and one June evening the mosquitoes found us. There's no roof, so rain is a real possibility in storm season. The months are compared in the best time to visit Cabo.

How to Book

You don't need to be a hotel guest. Book online through the restaurant's page, by phone at +52 624 163 4300, or by email at SJDWA.Restaurants@waldorfastoria.com. Online you'll see both the regular table and the prepaid experience, so check which one you're choosing.

For a sunset table between December and April, I book as soon as my flights are booked. I can't tell you exactly how many weeks out those tables go, so ask if your dates are close. In the slow months it's much easier.

A few things I'd ask when you book, because I can't pin them down for you:

• Whether a card holds a regular table, and what a late cancellation costs.
• Whether you can order a main or raw bar plates without the full four courses.
• What's on the menu for kids, if you're bringing any.
• What the set menu and the price are on a holiday. Christmas, New Year's and Valentine's Day almost always run differently.
• Whether a group needs a set menu and a deposit. There are set menus for larger parties.

The hotel hosts private events on the terrace, so I re-confirm the week before. And dinner is served from 5 every night, with a daytime seafood and Champagne menu earlier in the afternoon. The start time for that earlier menu has been listed a few different ways, so check it if that's your plan.

Getting In

From the marina or Médano this is a short ride, five to ten minutes. I'd expect a taxi to be about US$10 to $15, and I'd agree on the fare before getting in. The driver takes you to the guard post at the tunnel, you give the name on the reservation, and you're waved through.

From a Corridor resort it's a different bill. One ride cost me about US$55 each way, so ask the fare before you commit. The rest of the options are in getting around Cabo.

Two things to ask the restaurant when you book. First, whether an Uber can bring you through the gate and, more to the point, whether one can come in to collect you afterward. I wouldn't count on it. Before you leave your table, ask the host to call a taxi. Second, if you're staying near the marina and thinking of walking, ask whether a dinner guest can walk in through the tunnel. The tunnel mouth is about ten minutes on foot from the marina, and the streets around it are in my Cabo San Lucas guide, but I can't promise the guard will let you through on foot.

The other half of the trip is inside the hotel. From where the car drops you, it's a real walk down to the restaurant, with stairs and uneven stone. If anyone in your group is unsteady on their feet, ask for a golf cart. There's valet parking if you drive.

What to Wear, and Who to Leave at Home

The dress code is resort casual. In practice that means a collared shirt and nice pants or smart shorts for men, and no flip-flops or sleeveless shirts. A long dress works well for women. Nobody is in a tie.

Three things matter more than the dress code:

• Flat shoes. The floor is uneven stone, there are stairs, and you'll walk back up in the dark.
• A real layer. A wrap or a light jacket, even if the afternoon was hot.
• Nothing floaty or short. It gets windy on that ledge.

After dark the tables are lit by lantern, and the menu is hard to read. A server may light it with a flashlight. I read the menu on the hotel's site before I go.

Kids are allowed, and nobody has published an age limit. I'd still leave anyone under ten with a sitter. It's two to three hours at the table, there's an open cliff edge, you're paying adult prices, and the couple next to you is probably on their anniversary.

If Not El Farallón

A few of you should book somewhere else, and that's fine.

Don Manuel's is the first one I'd look at. It's the Waldorf's other restaurant, a short walk from El Farallón, with a Mexican menu in a hacienda-style room and live music at dinner. I think the cooking and the service are both better, it's far easier to get into, and dinner for two is roughly US$250 to $400. You go through the same tunnel. You just don't get the cliff. The rest of the hotel is in my list of the best luxury resorts in Cabo, and if you're choosing a place for the trip of a lifetime, the Waldorf is also in the best Cabo honeymoon resorts.

Metate is what the same money buys elsewhere. It's a wood-fire Mexican restaurant on a garden patio in El Tezal, about ten minutes from the marina by car, at US$120 to $180 for two. One dinner at El Farallón is about three dinners at Metate.

Nicksan, on the marina, is the pick if what you wanted was excellent seafood and you don't care about a view. It's indoors, and two people spend US$180 to $300.

Sunset Monalisa is the other famous sunset table, on the bay side, looking across at the Arch. It's calmer and warmer than the Pacific ledge. I think it's the weaker dinner of the two, and I'd use it for a drink. The rows and the fees are in whether Sunset Monalisa is worth it.

A drink at El Farallón's bar is the least expensive way to see the cliff at night. One drink is about US$35 to $75 with tax and service, depending on whether it's a cocktail or Champagne. Ask when you call whether the gate will let you in for the bar without a dinner booking, because I can't confirm it. Don Manuel's breakfast buffet, at about US$85 to $90 a head, is the other way through the tunnel.

If the sunset is the point and dinner isn't, you could also watch it from the water, and I compare the boats in Cabo sunset cruise. And if the whole trip is about eating, the dinners where the cooking carries the night are mostly on the other side, in the best restaurants in San José del Cabo.

The Verdict

El Farallón is worth it once, for an occasion, on a winter evening, at a table booked before the sun goes down. Decide ahead of time that you're paying for the ledge and that dinner comes with it, and US$500 for two will feel like money well spent. Judge it as a fish restaurant and it won't.

Here's who I'd send:

• An anniversary, a proposal, a honeymoon or a big birthday: yes. This is what it's for. Tell them the occasion.
• A first trip, with room in the budget for one big dinner: yes, once, November to April.
• Guests of the Waldorf: you'll go anyway, and the concierge can ask for the rail.
• A group of six or more: it works. Expect a set menu.

And who I'd send somewhere else:

• You compare restaurants on the plate: Don Manuel's, or Metate.
• You have kids under ten with you: another night, another table.
• You're unsteady on stairs and stone: think twice, or ask for a cart both ways.
• You're on a budget and just want to see it: one drink at the bar, then dinner in town.
• You're coming in August or September for the romance: the view is the same and the comfort isn't.

I'd go back, for the right occasion, and I'd order the snapper again.

Here's how I'd text it to a friend: Farallón, yes, once. Winter, table 45 minutes before sunset, and they'll probably seat you late. Ask if prepaying gets you the edge. About $500 for two with wine. Order the snapper, share the lobster mac, ask the lobster price first. You can say no to the Champagne. Service is already on the check, so read it before you tip. Flat shoes, bring a wrap... and if you care more about the food, book Don Manuel's next door.

Quick Answers

Is El Farallón worth it? Yes, once, for an occasion and for the setting, at sunset between November and April. As a seafood dinner judged on the plate, it isn't worth this price.

How much is dinner at El Farallón? Plan on US$450 to $600 for two with a cocktail each and a modest bottle of wine, tax and service included. The prepaid set menu is about 3,800 pesos a head, around US$210, before drinks.

Can you eat at El Farallón without staying at the Waldorf Astoria? Yes. Book a table, then give your name to the guard at the tunnel gate.

Is the Champagne Terrace required? No. It's a separate bar where you wait for your table, a glass is about US$50 before tax and service, and you can politely say no.

What time should I book for sunset? About 45 minutes before it. That's the 5:00 opening from November to January, around 5:30 in February and March, 6:00 in April and 6:15 to 6:30 in summer.