According to their website ~

"Every wednesday enjoy "mexican nights" : a fabulous dinner that includes a souvenir yard with a drink of your choice,live mariachi and round trip transportation from and to you hotel. Tickets are $35.00 U.S. "

Has anyone done this? With the R/T included it sounds like a good deal.

Thanks.
Linda

First let me tell you I am not a fan of the place, that being said....the dinners aren't fabulous, the staff is far from attentive( they do shots while they work), the plastic yard glass can be bought at the gift shop there if you HAVE to have it....I could think of 30 more places to eat and drink than this dive...my own personal advise, and again, its personal, is to find another spot. Everyone has their own likes and dislikes, this happens to be mine. Sorry if I offended anyone out there...............

Thank for the advice.

The main reason I was looking into them was we don't plan on renting a car - except for one night to drive to the flying fishone. We will be staying in the high rise area & thought the R/T transfer would get us into town.

Can you recommend a dining place close the high rise?

Thanks again!!
Linda

By bus from the high rise you can get to Rumba and El Gaucho which are both downtown.

But you can probably walk to Amazonia, Texas de Brasil, Fishes and More, Hooters (well), and Salt and Pepper.

Aruba Trip Reports

We actually enjoyed our lunch at Carlos and Charlie's while we were there. Yes it is a "party place" and if you don't enjoy entertainment and drinking it's probably safe to say it's not the place for you. The staff was excellent when we were there and I can say I never once saw the staff doing shots, rather the staff was walking around giving out free shots to the patrons. It has recently received a shady rep. with the whole Natalee Holloway incident but if you go to a bar expecting something other than dancing and drinking then you should probably stick to the other restaurants. I think the Mexican Night sounds like a great deal and would probably take advantage of it if we were going to be there on a Wednesday. If your interested in partying and having a good time then it's the place to hit, not necessarily the "dive" it's potrayed as.

I would agree with you on that, but then again it would be my personal opinion as well.
For transportation you may call taxi 242, Charlie, at 964-1918. Or take the bus to down town which is quite cheep. Once down town you can go to the different restaurants like Cooks Restaurant, El Gaucho, La Fondu, Driftwood, Iguana Joey's, etc.

If you are in the mood for steaks El Gaucho and Cooks Restaurant would be my choices.
If you are in the mood for anything you would like to cook or grill at your table La Fondu and Cooks Restaurant would be it on the island.
For great seafood Driftwood and I heard Cooks Restaurant also have great seafood in that area, maybe a few other members would help me out with this for the downtown area.
For a better Mexican food than Carlos and Charlies to my opinion it would be Iguana Joe's and again Cooks Restaurant would be my two choices. If there are more members who know of other restaurants that serve Mexican food as well in the area, please let us know so I can also try them. The reason why I said Cooks as well for Mexican food is because I went there last week when they had their Mexican Night. They had great fajitas. The Mariachi was a good touch to it. When the Mariachi took a break they continued with Mexican music on screen. Margaritas were perfect and kept on flowing. I'm starting to like this place more and more with each visit.

I have to agree with you on the point that it is a party place. The food would suffice to the concept of partying. If you are looking for a more relaxing and higher quality food I think there are more places other than that. As for the staff taking shots, I saw that as well when we were there.

This is all great info.

Especially knowing there are good places to eat near the high rise area. Having never been to Aruba & "seeing" that the high rise area is pretty far from the downtown area - I assumed (yeah, I know - never assume) there were few places to dine/shop. Which is why I thought the R/T transfer to down town was a good deal.

Thanks!!
Linda

We definitely would not recommend this place. The food was awful. If you want to go to a frat party it's fine.
Otherwise try Rumba's like previously recommended. Good prices, excellent food.

Joe B

just take the bus into town i believe it's $2 round trip per person..iguana joe's and mambo jambo's has better food and drinks anyway..if you want go into carlos and charlies for a drink..their food is ok nothing fantastic..just check out one of the restaurant magazines at the concierge at your hotel for a vast array of great restaurant's on the island..