What are some good restaurants to eat at?

[josh2503]

Suggest a few...

[Andrea J.]

check out the site below
http://www.aruba.com/ThingstoDo/restaurants.aspx

my favorites in no particular order
Madam Janette
Amadeus
B-55
Lindas Pancakes (more like crepes and also have meals)
Wacky Wahoo

take your time and go thru as many threads in this category as your eyes can handle before all goes blurry.
folks will recommend very passionately places and to name a few:
Madam Janettes, Flying Fishbone, Passions, Windows on Aruba, Driftwood, Pinchos, Matthews, Marandis.

The HUGE problem with traveling to aruba is .....................too many wonderful restaurants and not enough time to enjoy them all.
welcome to the forum

[jeffnev]

Originally Posted by Andrea J.

check out the site below
http://www.aruba.com/ThingstoDo/restaurants.aspx

my favorites in no particular order
Madam Janette
Amadeus
B-55
Lindas Pancakes (more like crepes and also have meals)
Wacky Wahoo

take your time and go thru as many threads in this category as your eyes can handle before all goes blurry.
folks will recommend very passionately places and to name a few:
Madam Janettes, Flying Fishbone, Passions, Windows on Aruba, Driftwood, Pinchos, Matthews, Marandis.

The HUGE problem with traveling to aruba is .....................too many wonderful restaurants and not enough time to enjoy them all.
welcome to the forum

Andrea,

I agree that you would need at least a month to eat at all of the places that are interesting...and would need a large wad of cash too.

[anh_phil]

My husband and I ate at Anna-Maria's yesterday and the food was the best Italian we've had on the island. It's actually at someone's house. From the Marriott Surf Club, the taxi ride is about 6 minutes or $8.

Ambiance: Italian music softly plays in the back. Beautiful garden and very intimate. Clean facility. Meals are cooked in the owners' home. Christian and Anna-Maria cook the meals.

Food: Fresh, fresh, fresh. I ordered the Frutti de Mare (liguini) and my husband had linguini with clams. We also had the tomato mozzarella appetizers and house chardonnay. I cannot emphasize freshness enough. You can really taste the flavors. Menu had great variety and prices very reasonable. Other than Driftwood for its great seafood and Texas de Brazil for the novelty of all you can eat red meat, Anna-Maria's establishes itself as fresh and fabulous Italian food.

Service: Excellent. David (their neighbor) was the waiter. He was charming, funny, and kind. Took time to explain the restaurant to us how he makes the drinks. I was actually a little ill (NOT BECAUSE OF THE FOOD) from activities earlier in the day and David took time to write a remedy for me to take the my hotel bar. Did that and have been feeling better. Christian actually called us at the hotel today to make sure I was okay!!

We met Christian 6 years ago on the island and have kept in contact with him. He exudes a sense of kindness, honesty, and confidence in his knowledge of the locals and of the island. I'm just glad that he was able to open his restaurant to share the same spirit through his food and customer service. I can't wait to make our return in 2 years to eat at the restaurant.

ADDRESS: KAMAY 25 M. Phone 586-2833.

[longislandmike]

We love:
Madame Janette's
Wacky Wahoo
Chalet Suisse
Gianni's
Driftwoods
Flying Fishbone
Marandi's
Smokey Joe's
Matthew's

[sunnysmiles]

Madame Janette's is always at the top of our list!
We have many to try yet and we've spent a total of 4 weeks there.

[Ahh-ruba]

I would like to add Windows on Aruba

[Windy]

First three choices, by vote of four of us:
1. Papiamento -- for overall atmosphere, service, quality of food! (went twice!)

2. Chalet Suisse (our 1st time, a pleasant surprise!) -- excellent food,
wonderful waitstaff! (went twice!)

3. Mirandi's (clean, awesome atmosphere, good food and service)
and The Flying Fishbone (every bit as good as 3 yrs ago -- awesome
location, great food) Both are not as windy as Pincho's and Passions.

Also went to (in no particular order of preference):
Pincho's - fun location, very windy, good food, waiter not very attentive
Passions -- also fun location and very windy, good food, great waitstaff
Texas de Brazil -- expensive ($45 each plus drinks), great waitstaff, meats
tasty and so tender! Easy to eat too much!
Fishes and More -- easy to get to at High Rise, great food
Wacky Wahoo's -- small and noisy, the Wahoo was excellent!
Sunset Grille -- typical higher end Hotel restaurant (but we ate inside) Just Ok
Smokey Joe's -- yes, they have the best ribs!!

[Arubalisa]

If you had to pick three... ( 1 2)
If you had just one restaurant ( 1 2)

Among some of our favorites in no particular order, including some of our reviews:

Screaming Eagle http://www.screaming-eagle.net/

At the suggestion of a friend who has similar tastes as dh and I; we decided to try this restaurant. Bully picked us up as we had prearranged, at 8:15 p.m. and as soon as we walked in, we knew we had made the right choice. We were extremely pleased and look forward to returning. The ambiance is very contemporary. Because of the heat, dh is a little hesitant to dine outside at night during the summer, unless like at Passions, you are out in the open wind. Seeing the ambiance of their patio was, next time I definitely would like to sit outside.

There were seemingly endless choices on their menu so after much perusing; we were finally ready to order. Dh, the daring epicurean in the bunch, chose the “Carte Blanche”, described as the chef’s daily changing 3 course surprise menu. This night for an appetizer it included Lobster cappuccino- lobster bisque with frothed milk served in glass goblet accompanied by crab claws and tuna tartare on a bed of sea weed salad garnished with hard boiled quail eggs. This was followed by an entrée of duck breast and seared duck liver served over sauerkraut mashed potatoes. His dessert was served similarly to his appetizer, a slice of lemon pie accompanied with lemon sorbet and a goblet of a chocolate mousse.

Dd and I ate a bit more “plainly”. Dd had the lobster bisque while I had the Alaskan snow crab meat and claws on salad ‘a la grecque’ with light tazaziki (sp?) dressing. For a salad we shared their “traditional” Caesar. Our entrees consisted of my grilled sea scallops served with hollandaise sauce, sautéed herb artichokes and sun dried tomato risotto and dd’s beef tips “stroganoff”, which were grilled tenderloin beef tips, pommes lyonnaise and sugar snaps. Both were absolutely delicious. After all of that food, only because it included chocolate, dd still had room for dessert. It was a “trilogy” of chocolate mousse consisting of layers of dark, white and milk chocolate mousse with summer berries ice cream.

Chef’s Table http://www.chefstablesaruba.com/

We loved everything we ate here and this restaurant was another hit with us. It was nice that we were given the choice of eating outside in the courtyard or inside in the air conditioning. Again, being summertime and seeing that the courtyard was a bit “close”, even though we were offered a fan for our table, we chose inside dining.

Appetizers consisted of Shrimp Tempura– three jumbo shrimp fried tempura style and served with a sweet & sour sauce, “A pair of tuna”- yellow fin tuna tartar and tuna "tataki" style served with wasabi mayonnaise & teriyaki sauce and goat cheese- goat cheese & honey served warm with a small salad and apple honey mustard dressing.

Dd and I split the Apple & Blue cheese salad- fresh salad topped with blue cheese crumbles, fresh apple and walnuts served with a apple, honey mustard dressing and dh had the home smoked Carpaccio salad - home smoked beef served on a fresh salad with Parmesan cheese, bacon bits, pine nuts and pesto dressing.

For dinner we had Grouper Napoli- fillet of grouper topped with fresh tomato, buffalo mozzarella and basil pesto, served with a tomato sauce, grouper cheese crust and white wine sauce- grouper filet topped with herb cheese & Parmesan from the oven served with potato mash and fresh vegetables and a Mediterranean style fish pot- with grouper, shrimp, calamari & mussels prepared with fresh garlic, green herbs and tomato sauce.

Desserts here at the Chefs Table are very unique. They are a number of “tapas” selections. We chose five of them: Ponche Aruba- with white chocolate chunks, Hazelnut-chocolate mousse - with frangelico, Banana split- home made ice cream with banana, chocolate & whipped cream, Coffee Amaretto ice cream, and Dame blanche- vanilla ice with chocolate sauce & whipped cream.

Marina Pirata- lovely setting, when the fishing boats pull up to the kitchen door and allow the cook to hand picked the fish being held up by the tail, you know the fish is fresh

Another night, because we had the rental vehicle, we chose to visit another restaurant we had not visited in a few years. With a location in Savaneta, as lovely a setting as it is, the taxi fare from any of the resorts is very expensive.

Marina Pirata http://www.marinapiratarestaurant.com/ to its credit has not changed one single bit and we still love it every bit as much as the first time we had dinner there. Whenever you walk into a restaurant in Aruba and see a bunch of locals dining, you can pretty much be sure it is a diamond in the rough.

For those who have never been, the restaurant is set on the water with most tables on a dock set out over the water. There are lights on the water and invariably the fish come up to the top looking for scraps. Our friends joined us for dinner this evening and the three girls were kept quite busy guessing which fish was going to take their scrap.

Everyone ate fish and we also had some appetizers. All in all we dined on fried calamari, calamari in garlic sauce and onion soup for appetizers. Our entrees included amberjack with Creole sauce, grouper and shrimp combo and mahi mahi. Diners are given a choice of having their fish grilled or pan fried and is accompanied by fried plantains, and a choice of rice, French fries, funchi, fried funchi or pan bati. No one needed dessert; we all left with full bellies.

Passions- romantic dining on the beach with your toes in the sand

Passions http://www.passions-restaurant-aruba.com/ on the beach at the Amsterdam Manor Beach Resort had been recommended to us by a friend and my parents last year. We thought it would be the perfect spot at which to celebrate our wedding anniversary. It was so wonderful last year that we returned again this year for our anniversary.

It is very easy to imagine how beautiful a spot this is watching the sunset over the ocean while sipping your pre-dinner cocktails. We usually end up staying on the beach or at happy hour until at least 6 p.m. so prefer to eat later. Even after dark, with the stars over head and the Aruban tradewinds, this spot is a gem.

Upon arriving, Humphrey the maître d' greeted us immediately. From the ambiance to the food to the service, we again had a perfectly relaxing evening seated at table set under a palapa whose trunk was decorated by mini white lights surrounded by some torches. Our server Daniel was exceptional. Daniel even went above and beyond by jotting down some words in German for our very curious daughter.

For appetizers I again ordered the oh so delicious Caribbean Crab Salad, dh had Cold Strawberry Soup and dd, the seafood lover, ordered the Aruban Seafood Soup. Dd and I shared a Caesar Salad while adventurous dh, sampled the Tropical Watermelon Salad. Entrees were the oh so tender Filet Mignon for myself and dh and dd each ordered the "Get Together" with grouper and shrimp in a creamy spicy sauce. Dd is not fond of spicy so Daniel offered to instead top it with Mango-Passion Fruit Chutney. I am not crazy about Mango and even I thought it was yummy!

Passions has placed a portable rest room on the beach for their guests so Dd checked it out and gave it her approval.

Dessert again was amazing. Dh and I shared the Passion Surprise! For two which included Cheesecake, Tiramisu and Passion Fruit Mousse and dd had the Chocolate Brownie Sundae. Need I say we are looking forward to returning again next year for our anniversary?

Windows on Aruba- fine dining

Upon arriving and having a reservation we thought it a bit odd that we were asked to have a seat at the bar while our table was readied. There were plenty of open tables. After about 10 minutes we were led to our window side table. That was what the wait for and it was worth it. We had a table overlooking the Divi Link’s island green as well the swimming pool. The entire restaurant is very elegant with beautiful floor to ceiling windows, large elaborate armed chairs and granite topped tables with linen tablecloths or linen runners.

Our dinner consisted of Tuna and teriyaki...Tuna tataki with seaweed, curry mayonnaise and teriyaki sauce as well as two orders of Scallops and mango...Grilled scallop, gratinated scallop and pan fried scallop with sea weed salad and mango papaya chutney. Entrees were two orders of Sea bass and risotto...Atlantic sea bass fillet, jumbo shrimp, spinach risotto and white wine sauce with flying fish caviar and Tenderloin and beans...US black Angus tenderloin, mashed potato, spring vegetables and a port sauce. Everything was delicious and beautiful arranged.

I don’t remember what dessert consisted of, but I am sure dh and dd had something chocolate.

[Terry Joz]

Madame Janettes
Wacky Wahoo
Mirandi
Chef Table
Suise Chalet