Citrus Fusion Cuisine — Restaurant in Higüey

Nice location... It is located in a busy strip mall in Plaza Turquesa. I love dining on the large covered patio, but the allure of dining inside, quite simply, is air conditioning. Lively chatter and merengue music from adjoining restaurants contribute to the neighborhood charm and cheerful ambiance of this popular eatery.

people who are not staying in resorts, stay near Corales/Bavaro beach and this is one of the hot spots in the evening. Citrus is one of the top restaurants in the Bavaro area. It offers more upscale menu selections as well, including steak, seafood, and pasta.

There’s a full bar and drink specials throughout the week (mojitos on Wednesdays, bottles of wine on Thursdays and Fridays). Entrée prices are reasonable

We ordered- Croquetas Pollo- it was 4 pc fried chicken, not oily, filled with chicken and roasted pepper sauce- good taste 4/5 Pesca Rellena- Fish stuffed in the fish shell – amazing – 5/5 Linguini Camron- their specialty, shrimp spaghetti with ‘some’ sauce - a little salty but too good- 4/5

Sumptuous food with amazing ambiance, décor, and service – definitely try if you are here – 4.5/5

There is an outside sitting area as well, which can be pretty good on some evenings. Service is excellent, and there is complimentary Wi-Fi. I have seen a couple of birthdays and like any upscale restaurant, they sing a fab birthday song, and the next thing you know you are also dancing to the beat ...lol...

Water is pricey, same as starters so drink cocktails 😉

Ambiance: it’s cool, classy, and insta frame décor ;)

Price: a little bit higher than restaurants in this area and also, they charge 28% tax.

Tax: they have 18% ITBIS tax which is value-added tax (VAT/sale), on top of that, they charge 10% tax, they call it Ley tax. Dominican law requires hotels and restaurants to add a 10% service tax to their bill (in addition to the 18% sales tax). Sometimes bills will show this 10% under a label that reads "Ley" (law). If asked, managers will say that "service is included" while employees will say "tips are not included".

So, I paid 28% tax on the bill amount, plus the waiter will say while handing the bill that the tip is not there in the bill, so now you are paying a tip too... in short, you are paying 35 % extra of the...

We were two times.

The first time food and drinks were ok. I’d only wish the Bisque was less salty. The service was okay too, but at the end the waiter said that tips were not included, though they actually were, since it is the law and we know it…

The second time was a disaster.

The waitress was Super inattentive and with a face like we owed her something. When we ordered cocktails from digital menu, she said they are not available and we could only choose from those in the printed menu. Which was strange because in our first visit we ordered cocktails from digital menu. I asked her to ask the bartender if he could prepare cocktails from digital menu, and if he couldn’t we would chose from printed one. Instead, she went to the manager and he came back to us just to repeat that we could only order cocktails from printed menu.

Guys, why do you have an invalid drinks menu in digital version? Why one day I can order from it and the other I can’t?

So I had to go to the bartender myself and asked him if he could prepare the cocktail I wanted. He could. Later I had to came back to ask a waitress to bring them to me. Instead she again asked manager. The manager began explaining something to the bartender. I was witnessing this picture and my cocktails getting warmer, while finally I went to them to ask what was the matter and why my cocktails were still on the bar instead of my table. Only then the manager understood he should have asked a waiter to bring the cocktails to me…What he finally did, thanks faith.

The food was cooked fine, only the goat meat had pieces with fat. Disgusting.

We could not fully enjoy the musicians because there was always a crowd of people hanging out in front of us at the entrance to the door, waiting for their table. So I’d suggest placing musicians on the other side of the terrace instead of at the entrance.

Finally, when we paid and the waitress came to take away the menu she demanded the tips (which were already included in the bill) and when she didn’t receive those she rudely banged the table with napkin holder.

This was totally off the line! Do something with your garbage waiters so that they would meet the positioning of your brand, cause now it’s faking and...

Strange experience and this restaurant..

KEEP IN MIND - we were in no rush and are always patient tourists/patrons when trying something new. We arrived around 7:30 at this highly recommended restaurant by many Canadian travelers.

However a “very inexperienced” waiter and our limited Spanish may have set the stage for the disaster that occurred…who looked at us blankly and we became resigned to pointing at the menu.

This was done after waving a waiter over when apps/bread and drinks were served to other tables around us, that had been seated after us as well…we ordered and waited … and waited …. and waited, only to be further disappointed.

The seafood risotto and short rib was finally served (30-45 minutes later) on a COLD plate, and a “Short fatty Rib” on a COLD bone, that obviously appeared to have been sitting in the window too long. room temp at best, Risotto was warm or cool in places and looked the same.

We called the manager over and tried to explain in our best Spanish and sadly failed. The manager seemed irritated by us and we imagined that the large table inside the restaurant may have been “his priority” and not us tourists… but, he talked over us and dismissed, that the short ribs was cold and no meat-all FAT- and the MANAGER proclaims “no speak English” and walk away.

we watched him look at the plate inside the bar area, go into the kitchen and trust me when I say we rarely send things back BUT we had waited a long time and it was now close to 9pm - to say nothing…My husband insisted a re-do and again WE waited and waited only to have (your not going to believe this) YES - THE SAME plates returned to us as they were taken and we all know what a MICROWAVEd” plate looks like.

Disappointed - we left and at least the short rib was taken off the bill :( plz note we are a couple in our 60’s who have been travelling for 30+ years and every once in a while (and this was one of those times) it was obvious we were not welcomed “tourists” to this establishment.

Hopefully this review will serve as a warning to spend your money elsewhere like Napoli Pizza, Castaways, Dalia’s and Kat’s Korner - where we are...