Papia Mia — Restaurant in Aruba

After seeing so many expensive Italian and pizza places in Aruba, Papia Mia was a very welcome, affordable surprise! So good we actually went twice on our trip, and we got almost 56% off on Friday for Local Friday, where the menu dollar prices become menu Aruban Florin prices, cutting the cost of the meal nearly in half!

On Wednesday, the first time we went, my wife and I got a capreeze salad and an Aruban Gold pizza (Hawaiian with a little hot sauce), and I shared some wings with the other couple we were eating with. Everything was so tasty, and Rudy took excellent care of us.

It was so good that we brought our entire party of 9 back with us on Friday for Local Friday, and we got Rudy again! With the lower prices, my wife and I pigged out this time with virgin pineapple mojito and strawberry daiquri, a mixed greens salad, stromboli sticks, White Sands pizza (not my wife's favorite or mine, but still good), dutch apple pie, and vanilla & dark chocolate gelato.

I discovered that I'm personally not a fan of mojitos, and the vanilla gelato was a little freezer-burnt, but those are my only complaints. I know their gelato is good because the dark chocolate one was the best, creamiest gelato I've ever had - even my wife, who isn't a big fan of chocolate, said it was phenomenal. So I'm willing to cut them some slack for the freezer-burnt vanilla.

Great place with tasty, affordable food, an on-the-ball service staff, and amazing vibes. You must go here if you...

Water arrived at a satisfactory time after getting seated at table. Water tastes basic. Pretty good. I’m ordering cheese pizza. Since it’s an outdoor area, there are many bugs flying around the restaurant with limitless freedom. No torches or any defiants for the bugs. Leaking water from pipes. The straw is cardboard and is pretty flimsy. Not a bad thing because all of Aruba uses the same straws. Our waiter named Darline was quiet but pretty polite. Good waitress. Received utensils and plates approximately 8 minutes after ordering. Various dishes were wet. Received condiments at the same time. Darline didn’t respond to a thank you. Not too big of a deal for me, but people could throw a fit over that. Food didn’t arrive until approximately 20 minutes from ordering. From the looks of it( the pizza looks natural and good. Darline doesn’t reply to thank yous. That’s okay. Crust looks doughy, and that’s good. Tried pizza, tasted like Pizza Hit, but slightly better. I noticed that the water easily swaps through the cup. The water gets on your feet as a result. Only 6 slices in one pie. I especially like the sauce. Crust tastes good. When I finished my slice. I liked it, and decided that it was more on the doughy side. All in all, Papiamia is a pretty good place. I recommend if you are an Italian food lover and like outdoor eating areas. 3/5. Not bad, but...

Honestly super disappointing, the food would’ve been better if it was made correctly the first time. My order was made incorrectly then taken to the kitchen and returned back to me within 5 minute. Mind you the issue was I ordered a pasta and they used the wrong sauce. It tasted like they had mixed the incorrect pasta sauce with the correct one. Super annoying when you’re paying for the food, besides that ordered an appetizer of the skillet bites and it was actually good. The service here is none existent, waited like 15-20 minutes just to get water, then we waited another 30- 45 minutes for our waiter to bring out the food. Our waiter after bringing out the incorrect dish never returned to our table. Mind you it was not busy at all, there was probably like 5 tables. I had to go up to the bar to ask for a water, and then to pay. That’s super unprofessional, you don’t just forget about your table and never come back to even ask how they are doing. When I went to pay I even mentioned how bad the service was and how I tasted the mixture of pasta in my food, I was told that’s how the pasta was made. I highly doubt that, because if that was the case why wasn’t made correctly the first time them.Overall would probably not return just due to this experience, super disappointed though because the food was one of the better restaurants on the island...