Bonaire dining question

[Doctorfish]

The food on Bonaire is ok but not great.
We dine out every evening and tend to eat at local joints like Mi Banana, Eddies, Rummrunners, Bobby Jans, El Fogon Latino.
All are inexpensive, casual and in my experience, reliable.
We do not particularly like It Rains Fishes, Wils, Capriccio. They are overpriced, pretentious and not worth the cost or the long waits for service.

Donna and Georgio's is very good for eat in pizza at lunch time, but they had a more formal dinner menu when we were last there. in the evening, the pizza was take away only.
D And G is small so reservation required.

Pasa Bon is so so, the pizza is better at Donna and Georgio's and Rumrunners.


Have never tried Mona Lisa.


Richard's unfortunately is closed.
There is a new restaurant at the Old Lion Dive site at Buddys, Plan to try it out next month as the menu looks interesting and the views are spectacular.
Anyone been there yet?

 

[t4e]

I was on Bonaire two years ago, ate out lots. IMO the best food and pricing was Captain Dons Habitat. We never made a reservation and got seated quickly. The outdoor restaurant was nice, great views out to the ocean while eating. If you like Gelato, there is a good Gelato shop downtown. I used Buddy dive for my diving/tank rental, they were nice.

i am going to disagree with the "best food and pricing was Captain Dons Habitat", especially when the daily special is $25, nothing fancy just fish and chips, unless "daily special" doesn't have the same meaning as in NA
for that price i want steak and lobster lol


anyway, to the OP's question, picnic between dives is what we did, always had sandwiches made in the morning
we had bbcue and full kitchen where we stayed so we made dinner at "home"

 

[Mike]

Seven weeks and counting until our first trip to Bonaire! Not that I'm excited or anything. I have a non-diving question. I have noticed in several trip reports and comments references to making restaurant reservations before even arriving on the island. We thought we would have breakfast at Buddy's (as part of our package), lunch either in our room or picnic between dives, and either eat dinner in our room, at Buddy's or go out for dinner, depending on what we feel like doing at the moment. In the opinion of those who have been on the island, is this not a workable plan? Does one need to make restaurant reservations ahead of time or are the posters on the forum uber-planners? At all restaurants or just certain popular places?

Your plans are sane and will work.

There are no restaurants on Bonaire that require reservations weeks in advance that I know of.

HOWEVER,

Reservations are an expected custom in many cultures outside the United States. Just as you'd try to observe other local customs you should observe the local custom on Bonaire of making reservations. You can make them 20 minutes before getting there and they will be just as appreciated if you made them 2 days ahead of time. It's courteous and respectful to do it. You may not get into some of the more popular restaurants during high season calling 20 minutes ahead, some you will, some you won't it all depends on timing, so plan accordingly. But I have no idea why anybody is making reservations weeks in advance.

 

[tstormdiver]

Sounds like it is going to be interesting for the group I'm going with. We have 37 people. I know some in the group will want to do their own thing, however, most will likely want to eat as a group.

 

[gbf]

re: group of 30

make reservations.

Nowhere I've been on Bon can deal with a walk-in group that size, and it will be a circus with reservations.

I'd head out on my on. And if I was on my own and walked in just ahead or just behind a group that size I'd pick up and move on.

And I'd also agree with the "OK but not great" observation above. But it is Bonaire. Have another toddy and enjoy it.

 

[Joe K.]

As a group of 6 we did not have any issues finding a table without reservations, except for the Friday BBQ at Buddy's which is pretty full and required a reservation ahead of time. If your group is >6 I think it would be wise to make a reservation, if only as a courtesy to let the restaurant know in advance.

 

[drrich2]

Sounds like it is going to be interesting for the group I'm going with. We have 37 people. I know some in the group will want to do their own thing, however, most will likely want to eat as a group.

A lot of places in Bonaire don't have the walk-in capacity of an O'Charley's or Applebee's back home. Not only are recommendations practically a necessity with those numbers, I'd suggest making a list of places you're interesting in and either phoning or dropping an e-mail to get a feel for whether they can handle that size group.

Richard.

 

[Alvida]

Thank you, everyone, for your input. My expectation is we will be eating dinner in our apartment most nights (because I'm cheap and we'll be there for two weeks), but I'm sure there will be some evenings when we simply don't feel like cooking and we do want to try some local restaurants. I appreciate the tip that making reservations is a courtesy within the local culture, and as we will apparently be there in the low low season (who knew?!) it does make sense that it helps local restaurateurs plan their staffing with at least some notice.

 

[Diving Canuck]

I was there in January. I was surprised at how good the restaurants were on the island. I would recommend going out to the restaurants at night since the food is very good.
We usually made reservations just as we were getting ready to head out that evening. We only had one place where we could not get in because of not having a reservation. I would proceed on the basis of reservations recommended, but not necessary. I do not think you need to make reservations before you arrive on the island.

 

[tkaelin]

We have been to Bon three times. Never made reservations prior to arriving. The only place we have made reservations while on the island was Mona Lisa and Dominic and Georgios. When the mood struck us to go out, we have never had a problem finding a place to eat without having reservations.