Daniel's Steak and Chop — Attraction in Aruba

It is rare for me to post a review

Typically I only review if my service was exceptional or very sub par. In the case of Daniel's, I had both instances happen.

In the review Im going to do everything I can to excuse any issues that can be brought on by either a staffing issue or supply issue. As both of those can very much be attributed by COVID.

My party and I (two of us) showed up around 6:50 to the restaurant. We were seated almost immediately with no wait on this Thursday night. This place came highly recommended from a peer. I have been to the island many times (15-20) however, I have never been to this restaurant.

The wine selection was on par with most restaurants of this stature. The house red (Cab) had too much bite, but the wine list has something on it for everyone. I ended up ordering 2019 Pizzerlla Malbec (off menu) and was happy with the palate. Dark fruit forward with a quick dry finish.

Bread was brought to the table (not warmed) and my appetizer (Ceaser Salad) came quickly.

Next came the main course. I order the Australian Lamb Chops. I am a huge fan of Lamb and any respectable chef will want it ordered either rare or medium rare. So with lamb, I always ask for it to be prepared as the chef recommends it. I found out later on, that way is medium rare.

When our main courses came to the table, I was pleasantly surprised with the portion size of my lamb (Eight bones).

This unfortunately is where much of the contentment of the evening ends.

The lamb came out medium well to well done. Not how it is normally recommend. I ask the waiter what the chef recommended. Once I found that to be medium rare, I made him aware of the issue. He of course apologizes seeing the kitchen error for himself and recalls the dish.

No more than 6 minutes later another rack appears. This time only 6 bones and all have been pre-cut. The waiter explains that this was done so the meat could cook quicker. ( I have no problem with this response).

However, after cutting into the biggest of the bones, I find the meat is absolutely raw!

The waiter again apologies and I ask for a 6 oz filet instead so I could eat more than my salad that night. It was cooked to a perfect medium rare. The quality of meat was however how I would expect from an island restaurant. Not terrible, but didn't cut like butter. Just good enough.

Now to end this review with a positive note.

The waiter we had was Russel. He was absolutely stellar. He was attentive, accommodating, and apologized on the kitchen faults. Taking them as his own. I reiterated multiple times that they weren't his fault but I appreciated his help.

At the end of the night I received one glass of wine on the house and the insisted request for me to pick a dessert on the house as well. I declined.

Based on the experience I can't recommend the restaurant based on their lack of care for the lamb, but if you go, I highly recommend Russel as a fantastic addition to your evening.

I left full enough and gave a sizeable tip (over 40%) and a note to Russel thanking him for his...

Daniels Steak and Chop has been one of my favorite places to visit on Aruba. I have recommended this restaurant to every person that has told me they are coming to Aruba but tonight I was completely let down after looking forward to coming here all trip. After making a reservation for our large group of 12 people for 8pm, we were seated at 8:20pm which was an inconvenience but not the end of the world. We enjoyed all of our appetizers and the freshly baked bread with butter but everyone who ordered a coke was given one that was flat. When requesting one from a can, the same exact result happened with a flat beverage. Moving to the main entree, this is where I was truly disappointed. I was planning on ordering a cowboy ribeye but was told they were sold out as we were ordering. We settled on 2 porterhouses and 2 filet mignons for those eating steak cooked medium well. The steaks came out a while later and were cold, dry, and extremely distasteful. Our waiter offered to heat it up again but this did not resolve the poor steak that was made. I truly felt embarrassed as I had been talking about this meal to our friends who had joined us on our trip to Aruba but instead we all were very disappointed. Those who ordered the fish and prime rib were happy and the sides were very tasty but too small! Lastly I thought the night could be made up with a yummy dessert but even the cookie and cheesecake that were ordered were terrible. The cookie had too much baking soda in it and the texture of the cheesecake was so liquid. Overall, I am sad to say but my highly esteemed view of the best restaurant in Aruba has come to an end. I will say that our waiter Yohny was fantastic and the most polite waiter I have encountered but I only wish the food was of the same level of Service that my family received. I am sad to say I spent so much money for a meal that has ruined my view of...

It’s a flip of a coin on a good or bad experience and I don’t want to flip the coin trice as this place is expensive.

The first time I came here the steak was AMAZING AND DELICIOUS with excellent customer service! I got the bone-in dry aged rib eye medium rare (special of the day) and it tasted so good.

So a week later, I brought my entire family to try this amazing steak (8 ppl). It was raining and we arrived on time for our reservation but they did not have our table ready…. My whole fam had to stand in the middle of their outdoor seating because it was raining outside. Took around 20 mins for us to get our table. Customer service was not as good as the first time, waiter didn’t tell us the special of the day and we had to prompt them( which is what i got last time and will tell my whole family to get)

Appetizer was amazing! (Get the tuna tartare and beef carpaccio! Crab cake was lackluster and expensive)

Almost Everyone ordered what I got previously : the bone-in dry aged ribeye special cooked medium rare. When the steaks arrived… half of them were cooked like well-well done and tough to chew!! We only sent one steak back out of the three because we were so hungry and yep it tasted horrible and very cooked :/ for $95 I wasted money and was embarrassed because I brought my whole family to eat bad and expensive steak (after I told them how good and amazing it was - they will never know now). The new ribeye sent back was cooked medium rare but did not taste good after all (not at all like my first visit).

They obviously have a consistency issue which was very disappointing as I hyped up my first visit to my entire family. Appetizers were great but I don’t think we would go again. Never had so many well-done steaks in my life…. On the receipt it said medium rare too so idk what happened? Maybe the chef was tired but it still costed us a good amount, good...