Bonaire Restaurants?

[Martha]

Our favorite is It Rains Fishes. Pasa Bon Pizza is always on our list too, not only is the pizza really good, but my husband LOVES their lasagna. We've never had any problems with bad service or a bad attitude from the owner. We ate at Wil's Tropical Grill on one of our trips and both our meals were terrible. We've never tried them again. The only good thing was the homemade breadsticks.

 

[MIwreckdiver]

Casablanca.........AWESOME Argentinean style steak house..they have a Sunday evening (Ithink) sampler all you can eat of their grilled meats..not to be missed

Richard's........excellent food a bit pricier than others but with an unbeatable atmosphere

Chibi Chibi.....house restaurant of the Divi resort.. the only memorable thing there is a Friday night all you can eat BBQ buffet good value for that

Donna and Giorgio's........Italian food with a Carib flair most of your favorites at a fair price

Zee Zischt.....Continental/German style cuisine....good food...good value.. not the most scenic local


Have not truly had a bad meal on Bonaire in 20 sum visits

Mike

 

[ShoeAddict]

IMHO: (Scale of 1 to 10; 10 being best)
Richard's: Outstanding view! Great service, Delicious Food and dessert. We will return here in future visits. Love the charming chalk board menus. They are working on the sidewalks on the street in front but don't let this deter you! Fabulous. Score: 10

Casablanca- Probably should have started our visit with a dinner here... so much food. Very good food and service. Both my husband and I liked it better liked it better than Patagonia's. (My husband would have preferred the meat to be cooked a little longer so the Score: 8.)

Patagonia's- My husband's paella came out nice and hot but the only thing on my plate that was hot was the french fries. The sauce on the mahi special did not add anything to the fish. Friendly staff but still Score: 4

Will's Tropical Grill- At first glance I wasn't sure if we should try this restaurant -- I wondered if people liked it because of its convenient location in town, but a few above reviews pushed me past my hestitation and I was delighted that they recommended it. Despite having a small menu with between 8-12 items in each section (Appetizer/salads) and "entrees", the decision was very difficult because so many options sounded appealing. The outdoor garden setting is romantic and charming. There is some minimal street noise if you are sitting closer to the street but not enough to disturb conversation and dinner enjoyment. My dinner the special of7 bean BBQ Mahi Mahi was delicious YUM. (I got the better dish that night- my husband's mixed seafood pasta was very good.... Nice and Hot.. but not as good as mine.) Score: 8

Mona Lisa-- Unfortauntely-- we never got a chance to try this restaraunt. It was on my list of places to go for our last night in Bonaire, when I realized that they are closed on Saturday's and Sunday's. therefore-- my advice to all is to check when restaurants are open and closed... Another example-- we almost tried to drive to pasa bon pizza for lunch between boat dives.... (They are only open at 5 PM for dinner)
The sample menu for Mona lisa in a local guide looked wonderful so I will add it to the future "must try list."

Lion's den: Very good Large menu with lots of variety. Lots of people. Great View. Score: 7

Rose Inn in Rinchon-- nice to say I ate cheap local fair and lots of it... a stop on a tour of the North End of the island but I wouldn't insist we make a return visit. Service is very slow, such to the point that you wonder if you are intentionally being ignored. Score: 5.

The Reef: We stayed at Den Laman condos so we had several lunches here --> so convenient. Good: fish sandwiches, Caesar salad with grilled shrimp, chicken club and quesadillas. Chicken satay appetizer-good but too small. Next time, I would Pass on the Ceviche...good flavor but I like more variety in my ceviche, this had one shrimp and lumps of the same type of fish (maybe it said this in the menu description but I can't remember.) It was served ina pretty cocktail glass but I would rather a simple plate with more seafood variety. We did not try any of the dinner entrees. Not including the ceviche- Score: 7.

So many other places we wanted to try, I had PBD (post bonaire depression) as soon as the first alarm clock of the week woke us to go tot the airport.

Can anyone comment on lunch at Jibe bar?

It was a very cool setting.... with greater than 40 windsurfers flying back an forth, but we weren't ready to eat lunch at 11:30 and we wanted to tour more of the island.

 

[Waterskier1]

Just got back from Bonaire last week. Papaya Moon is open, and was our favorite place. We ate there more often than any other place, both last year and this time. The service is fantastic, and the food excellent. I don't care for City Cafe. We had to almost wait on ourselves. The service was nonexistent and the food only average. If you like to drink and party, and watch people, it is good for that.

Pasa Bon Pizza quoted us over 2 hours to be seated. Not sure if they take reservations.

Many of the group had great meals at Bongo's at Eden Beach - the catch of the day was raved.

The rib factory was okay, and I have given up on trying to get a good steak there. They might be had, for a price, but I can live without while there, and get a great one when I get back home, for a reasonable price.

 

[reefdiva]

Pasa Bon Pizza quoted us over 2 hours to be seated. Not sure if they take reservations.

Yes, Pasa Bon Pizza does take reservations.

 

[Bosun]

We are here for 17 nights and have three nights left. So far we have eaten at the following.

Mona Lisa excellent meals, make sure you book in advance.
Bambu twice again fantastic food well presented, near the South Pier
La Guernica, Great setting and good food again busy so book ahead
It Rains Fishes - new owners, great setting and presentation good food, book ahead
Rum Runners 3 times, fantastic setting, we love their Catch of the day (mine blackened) well presented.
El Fogon Latino, the fish chowder - wow. Good low prices and strong flavours.
Palitza Limena Great flavours and massive portions really good food, going back again tonight.
La Flamboyant French style, good service, resaonable meal.
Wil's Tropical Grill, nice setting, good flavours and great food last night.
Warung Louise. Indonesian but where are the flavours? Limited menu but good service.
Rose Inn Local Local food, slow service. OK meal.
Vespucci, Great location, fast service and very good food.

 

[Bosun]

Well we ate at Plazita Limena again tonight and what a fantastic meal. I had the Spicy Shrimps (from Bonaire) and the Pescado Il Macho. I asked for it to be served with just fish and shrimps. It came with Baked potato with garlic butter and a timbal of rice. Wow such fresh flavours and spices, one of the best meals of our holiday.

 

[dhunteriii]

For lunch Papagayo's has fantastic burgers! My favorite is the fish burger. Others in my group swear by the Papagayo burger and the steak burger. Also you have to try the Bitterballen they are out of this world. On my last trip about a month ago I ate lunch there 4 times!

 

[Andy_G]

Lunch at Jibe City is a great way to finish off a mornings diving on the south side of the island - the food is basic but great quality and the atmosphere is so laid back it's almost horizontal!! Sorry to here the earlier poor comments re Patagonia I 've been there several times (including during the busy regatta period and always had great food and good service - maybe you caught it on an "off day"

Back to Bonaire in 10 days .....can't wait to get wet!

 

[lmorin]

Having just returned from Bonaire and benefitted from the all the opinions, let me say thanks to everyone for all the input. And, let me add that we thoroughly enjoyed Pasa Bon Pizza. Felt that Bobbi Jan's was so-so with not particularly large portions of ribs. The owner of the Bistro de Paris was kind enough to stay open late to give us onion soup and a salad after we had arrival problems with lost luggage. The salad was large (we had the leftovers for lunch the next day) and very good, but the soup was mediocre. We were taken to Mi Banana by folks who moved recently to Bonaire and who had just eaten there a few days earlier themselves. It is a plain, unpretentious, local place, but the food was quite good (my wife had a chicken breast filet; I had a fish filet) and inexpensive. About $12-15 pp, incl. a beer each and a split dessert. It's a little out of town.