If you're there Sunday morning, definitely try the brunch at Lion's Dives'
Restaurant Nemo.
On the same road as Lion's Dive (MLK Blvd), try
Surf and Turf. It's a good seafood restaurant right next door to The Dive Bus. Not the larger, fancier (???) place (Seaside Terrace, I think it's called) but the 'dive' right next to The 'Dive' Bus. TDB's 'loo is in the side of Surf & Turf's building. Don’t let the looks of the place fool you, I've paid 4x as much for lobster that wasn't as good as what they serve.
A couple of kilometers north toward "the ring" (away from the beach) in Salinja is
The Ribs Factory. On Curacao, ribs are a sacrament and these are the best ribs I ever et, here or anywhere else. Just up the hill from there you'll find
Larry's Neighborhood Bar and Grill, which looks suspiciously like an Appleby's. Their ribs, chicken, burgers and nachos all come highly recommended.
A few more km east from there out Caracasbaai is
Il Forno, an Italian place that cooks in a wood-fired oven. This is my favorite restaurant on the island. DO NOT eat their
Spaghetti a la carbonara without also having a glass of wine. Otherwise all that cream might clot in your arteries and you'd keel over dead before you get the chance to enjoy your dessert. Their
Lasagna Bolognese is excellent, too. And they have gourmet pizzas, if Pizza Hut and Domino's aren't your style.
Less than 2 km beyond Il Forno on Caracasbaai is
Equus, an Argentinean steak restaurant that only is open on Fridays (first right turn past the Caribbean Movers compound). The first seating is at 6pm and the food will arrive 7-7:30. Be there by 5:30 to guarantee a table. Sound extreme? Yeah, but so is the food. The only choices (apart from beverages) are steak, chicken or both. The meat is cooked on 3-foot skewers that are brought sizzling to your table and suspended from hooks beneath your umbrella. There is no china and no flatware. I say again, there are no forks, knives or plates. You'll be provided a basket of sliced fresh-baked bread you can use to grasp the hunk of meat to slide it off the skewer. Or just use your fingers. Argentinean tradition demands the last morsel of meat must be pulled off, not with your fingers, but with your teeth. No, I am not making this up.
Back in Salinja, enter "the ring" road between KFC and Mickey D's and turn
right. On the left in three or four kilometers is the Promenade Mall, home to
Craving Sushi, which AFAIK has the only Kobe beef on the island.
Enter "the ring" road between KFC and Mickey D's and turn
left and watch for
Rodeo Steak and Ribs on the right while going up the first hill. Try their steaks. Tuesday night is "All-You-Can-Eat".
There's also a number of decent restaurants in nearby Otrabanda. And it has a Haagen-Dazs and a Subway. You can get to Otrabanda either by driving over the Queen Juliana Bridge (
really big bridge across the Schottegat) or by driving to Punda (5km from Lion's Dive down MLK Blvd), parking and walking across the Queen Emma foot bridge. At the opposite end of the bridge you'll see
La Bahia (atop one of many casinos), which serves decent seafood and good steak. Take a table near the rail and watch the boats sailing past in Saint Annabaai. Further to the right you'll see
El Toro which, as you might expect, is a steakhouse.
Turn left exiting the bridge and walk to the Riffort (trust me, you can't miss it). It contains
Bistro Le Clochard (a French bistro),
Steak and Ribs,
The Anchor seafood (say 'hello' to Chaya for me) and
India Spice restaurants, among others.
I’ve eaten at all the above and lived to tell the tale, and I’ve noted the ones I was most favorably impressed with. All except the ones in Otrabanda are no more than a 10 minute drive from Lion's Dive. If you run through this list,
let me know and I'll fan out a bit more and give you some choices in neighborhoods that are farther from your hotel.
