Our Favorite Mid-Priced Restaurants in Aruba

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Our Favorite Mid-Priced Restaurants in Aruba

Our Favorite Mid-Priced Restaurants in Aruba

Recently my husband (Dave) and I visited Aruba, “One Happy Island”. Before our trip, I spent some time researching the restaurants in the area. I gathered the opinions of friends on Facebook, but more importantly, I used Tripadvisor to find highly rated mid-priced restaurants. Tripadvisor breaks down the restaurants by rating and by price range, which is important to this budget friendly traveler. Overall, I think the reviews on Tripadvisor were accurate, and I’m glad I spent the time to research before we left. Although, Aruba is the happy island, it is also very expensive as everything is shipped in from other countries. If you are looking for other tips to save money while visiting Aruba, please visit my blog post entitled, Exploring Aruba on a Budget. 

Our List:

Chihuahua’s Fiesta and Grill – This was our favorite restaurant for both the food and service. Chihuahua’s serves Mexican cuisine with a bit of flair! We were lucky to have one of the owners, Petro, as our server. He treated us like family before we even walked in the door! He was friendly, enthusiastic, fun, and attentive. We couldn’t have asked for better service.

The food was fabulous from the salsa and chips to the free shot at the end of our meal. Their pico de gallo was some of the best we’ve ever tasted – big chucks of tomato, onion, and other veggies and unbelievable flavor (hubby wants to know their secret). We must have eaten three bowls with our fresh tortilla chips (which are included with your meal). We also loved their beans which are fantastically different. For our main entrees, my husband and I ordered Chicken Enchiladas, he had red sauce and I had green. Both sauces had a unique taste and both were very delicious. I know hubby preferred the red, but I had a harder time deciding. They offer a plate with both red and green sauce and that’s what I’ll be ordering if I have the chance to go back. To end our meal, Petro brought us out a shot of tequila with lime. That was the little bit of sweet we needed to finish off a perfect meal! This restaurant comes highly recommended by myself and my husband and we give it 5 stars!!!Chihuahua's Fiesta and Grill

The Dutch Pancake House – The Dutch Pancake House offers a wide selection of Dutch pancakes, poffertjes, eggs and other delicious menu items such as special dinner pancakes, schnitzels, and desserts. Being that Aruba is a Dutch Island, I thought we should try a Dutch pancake, so why not the award-winning Dutch Pancake House. A dutch pancake is made with eggs, flour, sugar and milk, but it’s the toppings that really make it tasty! When it came to ordering, my husband was immediately drawn to the savory pancakes, whereas I was drawn to the sweet pancakes. We decided to order one of each to share and both were so delicious! The Milano was topped with salami, cheese, bell peppers, onions and oregano herbs. Kinda reminded me of a thin crust pizza with amazing flavor!

For our sweet pancake, we ordered the Fruit Delight which was a pancake topped with banana, strawberries, blueberries, whipped cream and powdered sugar. One thing about The Dutch Pancake House is they don’t hold back on the toppings. Delish!!

My husband and I give The Dutch Pancake House 4.5 stars! We would also dine there again if we were in Aruba. 

Pizza Bob’s – I know, pizza in Aruba? Remember, we were trying to save money and we looked for restaurants that were rated well. Pizza Bob’s allowed us to enjoy a good meal (with leftovers) at an affordable price. Pizza Bob’s has happy hour specials from 5-7 pm on both pizza and drinks. Pay for a medium pizza during those hours and they convert it to a large pizza. Half-off drink specials are also available from 5-7 pm. Dave and I thought their pizza was very tasty. It is a thin crust pizza made to order with fresh ingredients and cheese imported from Wisconsin. We choose a 14-inch triple meat pizza which had italian sausage, ham, and pepperoni. Their sausage has really good flavor, so I recommend it! Because there was only a couple of dollars difference between a 12-inch pizza and 14-inch, we ordered the 14-inch to have leftovers. We ended up eating 4 meals from our pizza (2 each) – a real money saver! We give Pizza Bob’s 4.5 stars!

The West Deck – The West Deck view makes this restaurant unique. The restaurant is set on a large wooden deck over the white sandy beach by the water’s edge. All the tables have spectacular ocean views and view of landing planes. 

 

The West Deck offers half-off drinks during their happy hour, so this would be a nice place to go for a drink along with an early dinner or appetizer. This was the only restaurant where Dave ordered fish. He chose the Balashi Grouper Fingers from the appetizer menu. He said they were very good (I am not a fish eater). I choose the Sticky Glazed BBQ ribs from the appetizer menu and they were delicious! So tender and the tangy fruited BBQ sauce was just the right touch of sweet and spicy. I also enjoyed the sauce with the sweet potato fries that Dave and I shared. We give The West Deck 4.5 stars. 

 

Iguana Joe’s – Iguana Joe’s is a Caribbean restaurant that features fresh mahi-mahi, coconut shrimp, chicken enchiladas, island jerk fire-roasted chicken, and world-renowned Argentine grass-fed filet mignon. My husband and I had different experiences at the restaurant. I really enjoyed my Chili and Chicken Wrap which was stuffed with Joe’s meaty chili, sliced chicken breast and melted cheddar cheese inside a warm soft tortilla and served with pico de gallo and sour cream ($12.95). Dave on the other hand choose a hamburger, which was nothing more than ordinary. In fact, he wasn’t impressed at all. Because of our two different opinions, we give this restaurant a 4. There are plenty of other menu items, just steer away from a burger. I noticed the Fajitas were very popular. 

For more information about these restaurants, click on the name of the restaurant and you will be taken to their website or Facebook page. 

Have you been to Aruba? If so, what was one of your favorite restaurants? 

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