Caramba Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in San Pedro Town

I will never return. The main reason Is the MANAGER.

Im also from a small caribbean Island although I currently reside in the US mainland. We were 2 doctors and nurse on a birthday trip for the 3 of us. MONEY IS NOT A PROBLEM but lack of respect is a problem.

I emailed over a week in advance. I emailed 1 time only for a change in my request and then was met with a nasty brute response that I was not allowed to make any changes. The change request was due to finally arriving on island and actually understanding what would be best based on timing and our plans.

We finally arrived the day of our reservations. I would expect my table to be ready as I was scolded via email, but unfortunately it was NOT. Waited outside for another family to be finished, watched the table be cleaned then we were finally, called in.

Sat down. NAVIN, 10000% EXCEPTIONAL SERVICE and communicated well and explained everything. I felt rushed to order and get settled overall and the manager stood out.

We asked about the frying option, his response was we can adjust but if u dont like it you still have to pay. (AGAIN MONEY IS NOT THE PROBLEM) we are also caribbean and are very familiar with the cookimg methods. We was asking for clarification.

We then ordered drinks... THE NASTIEST DRINKS OF MY ENTIRE TRIP AND ALSO FOR THE ENTIRE 2025. NOT OVERREATING... IMMEDIATEDLY CALLED FOR HELP... NEVER DRANK ANYTHING.

Spoke with navin who explained he could not have it removed and seemed nervous. We flagged that manager down for 14 minutes. (We was seated in the center table Every single person had to pass our table) So it was 100% intentional‼️

That manager in the blue shirt and khakis, completely ignored us. Finally got his attention to speak on the drinks The lies began and disrespect began our system does not have a way for the drink to be removed (and it was removed from the tabs) "so what happens if I remove the drink and you dont like the next 1? Not, how can we make your experience better? did he (meaning navin) explain everything? And the answer is yes he did which is why we are speaking to someone higher than him.

This was the worse part. After agreeing to change the drink. The manager thought it was appropriate to turn around and scold navin,a grown man, in the middle of the dinning floor. I heard everything from my seat. Immediately i was ready to leave. I came ready to spend big and enjoy but the manager ruined the entire experience. You are a rude person period. I did not tip big either as i also noticed the tips are not solely fot navin but was going into ageneral tip box guarded by the same nasty mamager.

You the manager cost the business great tips, revenue, experiemce. You were the worse part of my entire visit to BELIZE city, caye caulker and san pedro. You cared about money only which in turn cost you to lose out on money. Navin was 1000% amazing and nice and HANDSOME... Once again I am from a small island, 32 sq miles, where tourism is our main industury so supporting small similar countries is 100% my goalbut I will never return once that man in on the front line!! And everyone i have a chance to speak to willknow about this experience and all social media...

We went here last night for my wife's birthday dinner and it was quite disappointing. The food was mediocre and the service was dreadful. It has the feel of an attempt at a high end restaurant. There were a lot of servers dressed in black formal attire, but the uniform doesn't make a good server. A server should be as accommodating as possible, attentive without being intrusive, and anticipate your needs. Ours fell short on all aspects.

For our meal, we opted to go outside and select our fresh seafood rather than order from the menu. Nothing outside was priced so I expected to pay a tourist tax which I really don't even mind as long as the food and service warrants it. I wanted to try the curry snapper which I saw as a menu option and on some YouTube videos of the restaurant. I told the person outside that I wanted that dish so he helped select an appropriate sized fish that would have been good.

Unfortunately, when we got inside, our server would not permit me to order that preparation. At first he said it would be an extra charge, which was quite insulting. I really was not concerned with the cost. As it was, picking the fresh seafood was 2X-3X more expensive than the menu items which was fine. Then he said they would not do it. It being my wife's birthday, I decided not to press the issue and opted for the caramba crunch.

The Caramba Crunch was essentially just a light breading of seasoned corn meal and a deep fried fish. It was pretty good for what it was, but somewhat basic and I'm not fond of the flavor of vegetable oil. My wife and daughter selected scallops, squid, salmon, and rock crab. The scallops were cooked in garlic butter which did not do justice to the meat. A pan seer with a garlic butter side as a dip would have been a better method of preparation. The crab claws were steamed and tasty. The squid was supposed to be done with the caramba crunch, but the batter was much heavier and flour based. It was heavy, soggy, and simply poorly prepared. The salmon was overcooked.

Overall, I would not recommend the place. There are simply too many delicious, local restaurants with better food and better service at a fraction...

This place had lots of promise. You go outside and talk to the fishmonger who recommends from various options. We ordered one stone crab claw (never had it before) six shrimp, an octopus (never had it before) and a grouper steak. First thing you need to realize is that not everything here is locally caught. The shrimp run about 10BZD(5USD) each so at that rate they are either scooped up individually by a scuba diver in a golden net or they are imported. The rest of the seafood was slightly more reasonably priced.

Our server recommended garlic butter grilled for the grouper steak and shrimp. The octopus was blackened. The octopus texture was amazing. I’ve heard it can be very rubbery if not cooked well. But it was absolutely loaded with pepper to the point you got no flavor of the seafood. The same issue was found with the shrimp. It was swimming in garlic butter to the point that we could tell by texture that it was cooked properly but from a flavor standpoint you couldn’t taste anything hit salt butter and garlic. And for six 5 dollar shrimp you want to taste fresh. The grouper was ok and the stone crab claw was cooked perfectly.

When we expressed an issue with the meal they tried to piecemeal a recook and ended up making new sides, putting the grouper in a warmer and recooking the shrimp with the garlic butter on the side and the octopus grilled but missing the side of garlic butter. The shrimp was obviously pressed and overcooked. The octopus was extremely rubbery and chewy. We paid the bill and I told the manager afterwards that the second attempt was just as bad as the first attempt. He said thank you and turned to have a conversation with someone else.

The atmosphere was loud and crammed and it felt as if the restaurant lacked AC even in December. They were running floor fans. I can only imagine what it would feel like in the summer.

In the end this place feels like a restaurant that got some buzz in an upscale magazine or blog but has then tried to squeeze every penny out of that fame. It’s definitely not worth visiting. A meal for 2 was...