Papillon Restaurant — Restaurant in Aruba

Papillon is an incredible French-Caribbean Fusion restaurant located across from the Hilton Aruba Caribbean Resort. It was a short walk from where we were staying at the the RIU Palace Aruba.

The restaurant is set pleasantly off the road and has an attractive entrance. We were promptly greeted and seated in a most friendly manner.

Service was prompt, but not at all rushed. Our server possessed a casual friendliness that was welcome and hoped for since we were vacationing on a lovely Caribbean island.

We began with cocktails, of course! My Rob Roy was well made. Having clocked in many a shift behind a bar in resort areas, that is high praise. Her red wine was a fine pour and the quality was there.

Lobster Bisque was my appetizer while she had the Escargot. Ample lobster in the bisque. A near perfect amount of garlic in the escargot.

Entrees were Red Snapper exhibiting a solid Caribbean influence. Shrimp and a chutney-esque mixture along with vegetables rounded out that dish. The red chutney almost overpowered the Snapper, but pulled back so the fish still was highlighted.

My entree was Sea Bass en Sol. Picture Caribbean Sea bass encrusted in salt, wrapped in parchment paper and baked in an oven.

The server efficiently extracted this delight table side. A cilantro pesto and a mango-tomato compote completed this superstar entree.

This Sea Bass was lily-white, with a most palatable texture. Don’t allow the salt crust to dissuade you as there was no overly saltiness to this stand out dish.

Papillon offers plentiful outdoor seating both covered and not. The interior has limited seating, but a generous eye catching bar stocked extremely well.

At Papillon, we had the absolute best meal during our entire week vacationing in Aruba. I want to go again. Both to Papillon and Aruba.

Highly recommended for a superior fine dining meal in an up-casual tropical...

We found this place in a magazine they were giving out at our hotel. They had more exotic fare such as wild boar and duck al’orange so we decided we would go here for a nice dinner before we left the island. We called ahead to reserve seating for the 5 of us and were informed that because of Covid they could only sit 4 at a table. But they were incredibly friendly and helpful so they gave us indoor seating (we had the whole inside to ourselves!) and put the tables as close as they could. Also due to Covid their menu was different then it was online and in the magazine. They didn’t have the more exotic foods, which while disappointing was fine. They did have great specials though. We started with French Onion Soup, Burrata and Mozzarella Salad (one of the specials), Lobster Ceviche and assorted wines. All were delicious and the wine menu is huge (as it should be at any respectable French place). As well they brought us their homemade bread which was to die for. For entrees we had the Skirt Steak, 2 Beet Risottos, Salmon, and the special Mussels. Again all were delicious. I could have drank the gouda sauce that came with the steak it was that good. The whole time the staff were delightful and even chatted with us for some time. We topped the meal off with 2 Creme Brulees which looked almost too pretty to eat. At the end, we even received a discount which we weren’t sure was due to the Covid inconveniences or just the staff being friendly. Either way it sure helped as the place is on the pricier side, but in my opinion it would have been totally worth it even without...

From the reviews of others, we expected more. We had a 7:15 reservation and were seated promptly at that time. Waiter came by with water and gave us ample time to review menu before taking our order. He was polite, but seemed preoccupied with other things, more robotic in manner than cordial. That continued throughout the meal.

As for the food, they offered a Carrot and Pumpkin soup special which my wife ordered. I took a taste and it had a beef broth taste which seemed so odd for a creamy pumpkin/carrot soup. She thought it tasted like beef gravy - very odd. I had a Grilled Octopus special which was however very good, tender, very well prepared and we split a tuna tartare dish which was fresh and tasty. For mains, my wife had sous-vide skirt steak which was very good and I had a Caribbean Sea Bass which also was well prepared and enjoyable. Desert however was another letdown - a caramelized pineapple tasted exactly like a baked apple crumble. It was so odd that we called the waiter back to advise he brought us the wrong desert. He got the front end manager who assured it it was the right desert, and to her credit offered to let us eat it and if we didn't like it, would not charge us. We did eat it, and we insisted on paying since, well, ... we did eat it. Overall, the good entrees offset the less enjoyable soup and dessert but again, experience was just OK,...