Good morning everyone! We leave in 9 days for Bonaire for our second trip and we are so excited. We are taking our nephew out of the country for the first time in his life and really want him to enjoy himself. I have been following all of the food posts for the last month or so and thought it might be fun to try a positive thread on our dining experiences (plus I am trying to figure out where we will be eating for our trip ).

OK...here are the rules. You may select one and only one restaurant to rave about. Tell us which one is your favorite, why you like it so much, and which meal is best to be had at that establishment (lunch or dinner only please). I figure we can all benefit from the collective great experiences of the list. Happy posting and I hope many of you play along with us!

Hi Jeanine.

OK - here it goes.

Bistro de Paris
LATE LUNCH (so skip dinner)
Onion soup followed by the pastrami/brie sandwich on a fresh baguette (I think it's called the Bistro de Paris sandwich and it also has delicious roasted squash and peppers on it).
YUMMY !

Easy the Lost Penguin and Ton's Egg's Benidict, they are to die for. Three more weeks and I'll not be talking about it, but eating it.

I will ditto Cecil, but vote for the fish and chips AND the endless Ice tea. Heck, even the cole slaw is good. I believe we had lunch there three times our last visit and enjoyed each and every one of them.

It's Raining Fishes!

10+ for service and outstanding dinners for all of us both times we visited

our lamb chops, fish, steaks, shrimp, apps all perfection.

and

Salsa Restaurant

10 for dinners and 8 for service

Bistro de Paris!

We loved it there, the food was great quality, I had the best carpaccio I have ever tasted. I would go back to bonaire just to have another taste of that carpaccio.

very friendly people there too.

Have to go with Richards . Their steaks and fresh fish with baked potatoes are out of this world ! Also can't forget the Molten cake with ice cream for dessert . Yum

Also Donna and Georgios. Great Italian food and service is awesome

Mona Lisa's special with three kinds of fish (changes, but last time I went it was tuna, barracuda, and wahoo) in a yummy sauce, scalloped potatoes and veggies. Yummmmmm.

I have too many favorites to name just one!

Wil's Tropical Grill! We loved this place. The service was very quiet; not in your face or trying to be chatty. They were attentive without being obvious. The food was fantastic. We had chicken and chorizo empanadas for an appetizer. I can't remember what the sauce was but YUM! We had the fish special and the pasta special for entrees and both were great. Our only regret was that we ate too much and weren't able to have dessert. Next time!

I second Will's Tropical Grill... and third...and fourth.

The food is FABULOUS! You must try the crab dumpling appetizer, the ribs entree, and please, please, please do not miss the chocolate lava cake. Tip: order the cake with your entree as it is made to order and takes 20minutes to bake. I miss it so much.

Kirsten

Mona Lisa-all meals there were great, but the grilled shrimp is FANTASTIC! As was the barracuda, now that I think of it...

We just ate at Casablanca's last night. The service was unbeatable. The owner came by and even recommended the chocolate mousse and my husband said it was to 'die for'. I had the flan, and it was so good. The ribs were great, most I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned this, but they give you alot of side dishes, and their rice and potatoe salad were great! We're going to Richards tomorrow night, so I'm gonna search for reviews on them.

The Green Parrot...

'cause they'd make an "Elvis Burger" for me:
Big thick and beefy with bacon(double, double), peanut butter, tomato, smokey gouda, and a big slather of Marshmallow Fluff(tm), blackened under the broiler... hmm, blackened, hmmm. Gouda, hmmm, gouda.

Green Parrot, hmmm, Green Parrot.

Oh well, guess I'll settle for post-Lenny machinations from all the pretenders.

I thought the Green Parrot left town when LENNY came to vist Bonaire in 99? If I am wrong please dirrect me to their new location... Ron

Jon I'll have some of that your smoking.... :-)

I still have two, as yet un-worn, and as now, way too small for my fatness, Green Parrot 100% cotton staff bar shirts in my closet. eBay riches, here I come!

And Ron, I don't smoke my enjoyment, I tend to soak it in through the soles of my feet or sip from a straw... okay, I always sip it... er, gulp it.

Casablanca: Can't remember the name of the dinner we had but there was enough food to feed 4 people easily. There was 2 large pieces of sausage, chicken, ribs and steak this was accompanied by rice and potato salad. This is on the menu as a dinner for 2. We took about half of the dinner back to the condo and had it for lunch the next day and the price was not bad at all. It was under $50 for the drinks, dinner and tea with the meal, also dessert.

Jon, We used to walk over from Sunset Beach Hotel and get great dinners at the Green Parrot.... memories........ Ron

Bistro de Paris

Don't miss the onion soup. And the chicken with morels & mushrooms was exquisite.

Bistro De Paris is one of my new faves on Bon, but since so many others chose that, I'll go with an old favorite, Bobbejeans (pronounced Bobayawns). I'm a total rib freak and love peanut sauce (which they baste the ribs with), so that place ROCKS for flavor and the prices are SO cheap as to be unreal for the amount of food you get. Basket full of ribs and fries for like $7 I think?

Casablanca - great food, good service, reasonable price, large portions, wide variety of food choices, great wine, nice location.

Bobbejeans has a steak that you can truly cut with a fork...... Very good food but only open long weekends :-( Ron

Capriccio
Nice dining atmosphere with AC, complimentary Mimosa, great Carpaccio and homemade pumpkin mousse pasta! Make reservations!

Stiflers Bar & Grill,
Huge portions, nice mexican/caribbean ambiance and probably the lowest prices on the island.

Carib Inn gazebo

BYOB, S, F, W, G&T, whatever

Bring Your Own Burger, Steak, Fish, Wine, Gin & Tonic or whatever.

Get the grill going and enjoy the green flash with everyone! I can't think of a better place to spend the evening. (Especially if someone else does the dishes!)

Doc

I don't disagree with any of the above; of those I've been to, I've had great food (especially Wil's) but according to the rules I can only rave about one, so I will about La Guernica, on the water in Kralendijk. We went twice last winter, and had great tapas both times. Ate outside on the patio, green flash and all the local flavor you could want along with creative drinks and sharing small plates. Had a great view of the Queen Mary II leaving one evening, and spent a spectacular rainy New Years eve there with great island and visitor friends.

Andy and Dave that would be the "mixed grill" from Casablanca. My wife and I order that early on when we go to Bonaire and eat it for lunch a couple of times during the week.......MMMM'MMM'GOOD


JIM

Places I like to eat are:

Rum Runners (habitat)
Lost Penquin
Lions Den (Buddy Dive)
Mona Lisa

We really must try Bistro de Paris in Sept

Our favorite restaurant for the past 9 trips is "Richards". We always make it a priority to go there every year. Great food and service! and the "happy hour" is pretty reasonable too!

Bistro de Paris
1) Onion Soup 10+
2) Creme brullee 10+

The Mixed Grill at Casablanca is $33 US for 2 people, small surcharge per additional diner.

C

I agree with Mark on La Guernica. I also love Gibi's!!!

I have never had a bad experience dining on Bonaire!!!!

Carl, you can get almost the same thing at lunch now for $11.00 and you can also get it as "take away"/to go. Lunch is fabulous at Casablanca as well as dinner. You definitely don't leave there hungry! Doggie bags for everyone for days. Good stuff. I don't eat a lot of red meat throughout the year but when we are on Bonaire I definitely make certain we go to Casablanca a couple of time.

Reservations for dinner is highly recommended now as it has become so popular with everyone. You KNOW it's good there with the crowds trying to get in. Even with the larger structure it is still filled to capacity.

Hi to Patty! Carole

PS There as sooo many great places to dine/eat on Bonaire that it is hard to pick just "one"! cb

We just returned from a week in Bonaire, and had to report on our best meal anywhere, anytime. I had read somewhere that 2 of Rum Runners chefs have represented Bonaire at international chef competitions this year, so chose them for our 18th anniversary dinner. I made arrangements by email before we left. We arrived about 30 minutes before sunset to find a fresh damask tablecloth, fresh flowers, and candle at our table right by the seawall. From the table we could see 2 large tarpon, parrotfish and other reef fish. The sunset was beautiful. The service was gracious and attentive. But by far the best part of the evening was the FOOD. We opted for leaving the entire dinner in the chef's hands, described only as "special dinner". We started with an appetizer size cup of tomato basil soup with shrimp cappucino cream, followed by steak tartar with drizzeled horseradish sauce and centered around a scallop and fresh cilantro garnish. The entree was too complex for me to describe in more detail but included wahoo, shrimp, and tuna that each had been marinated separately, or was presented with an extremely tasty but not overpowering sauce. Vegetables in a separate dish were also astoundingly tasty. Presentation was extremely attractive, and portions were just right to be filling but not overwhelming. Desert included a tray of small piece of carrot cake(icing not TOO sweet), mango sherbet, and something I forget, AND a separate bowl of a special creme brulee(had some kind of afterdinner liquor flavoring, but I forget which one), presented with Happy 18th Anniversary Gerry and Martha written in chocolate around the rim. We have eaten in a lot of fine restaurants in a lot of places, and consider ourselves reasonably good judges of fine food. Suffice it to say that about half way through we began reminiscing about other favorite meals and comparing notes. By the end of the evening it was clear to both of us that this meal was the absolute best food ever, and the setting and service just made it that much more memorable. Our "runner up" dinner cost over $100 for the 2 of us in 1985, and this one(with 3 drinks between us) cost about $95. Did I mention the food was the best ever, anywhere, anytime?

Just returned last week from a 2 week trip to Bonaire. While we were there we celebrated our 13th anniversary(Aug 1).

We looked at each other and said, "where should we go for our anniversary?"

We both said, "Capriccio's of course".

As always, Lola did good. It was wonderful and has been every time we have been there.

Hi to all!
We're two Italian girls, we spent one great week in Bonaire; it was our first time, but for sure not the last. We felt in love with this island.
We went often to casablanca and rib's factory and focon latino. Very good food, cheap price. Don't miss them while you stay on Bonaire.