Karel's Beach Bar — Restaurant in Bonaire

My friends and myself were hungry after a long day of hiking. To our disappointment, another restaurant of our choice was not open yet as it was only 4 pm, so we ended up at this place instead.

First impressions were great since the location of the bar is amazing - it is set up as some sort of tiki bar floating on a platform over the clear turquoise water of Bonaire. We could see some fish and imagined ourselves playing with them joyfully.

Then a not so joyful server came to greet us and offered us some drinks. After we ordered, another one whom was thriving on much less enthusiasm came to ask us for drinks again. I feel like the staff was quite disorganized since these two servers were taking care of our table in alternance (which would be awesome if they had been good, but since they were not, it was not a pleasant experience).

As we were starting to realize that all the restaurant's budget went into the venue location, our appetizers came. I thought only the servers were lacking enthusiasm, but when I saw my beef carpaccio, I realized the cooks also did. The plate was borderline mortifying. It consisted only of layers of recently unfrozen beef with parmesan cheese that tasted like flour and some weird looking pesto substance over it. The beef was bland since it clearly just came out of the freezer, and the strange pesto, despite its funny appearance, was not strong enough to carry the team.

For the main course, even though we had many choices of fish and various international dishes, all five of us settled for a cheeseburger. Nothing can go wrong with a cheeseburger right? Well, somehow, they managed to screw that up also. The burger was alright, but it was certainly not the burger of the century. They provided us with one salad leaf, one tomato slice and a measley slice of cheese. The burger came open to leave us with the possibility to garnish it with condiments of our choice - a clever stratagem indeed. As Nietzsche said: "Give a man freedom, and he will long forget the meaninglessness of his painful existence". That illusion of freedom did not work on me one second as I could only think about my 11$ disappointment.

The fries were also something else (not in a good way). Some fries were still frozen, which let us to believe that they were not homemade. An uncooked potato would have probably been more enjoyable and tasty than those fries. However, being good spirited and light hearted people, we decided to transform this terrible situation into a fun moment by playing a little game: how many adjectives can we find to describe the horror that is those fries? We found 13!

All in all, I definitely don't recommend this restaurant/bar unless you only care about the scenery, are desperate to eat like we were or are too drunk to enjoy anything. I sincerely hope the manager of the place sends me a message asking for me to remove my bad review in exchange for a free meal there, just so I can tell him that the overall experience was so terrible that I wouldn't return there even if he paid me. If you do go there despite reading this, please send me a picture of your meal on social media. Me and my pals will surely have a...

Disappointed; not coming back.

We knew this restaurant from last October, and we liked it and we were treated well, so we came back last night.

But it was all wrong from the beginning: we got the manager at our table taking the order. We explain that I have am allergic to dairy, so we consulted the menu and chose some dishes but we asked for him to check with the cook to make sure that it was ok.

He said that he knew his kitchen and that we would be ok with what we had chosen, so we insisted for the cook to know so he could be careful for traces and when preparing. We said we were going to share, so both dishes needed to be suitable for me.

To our surprise, one of the dishes came with a mushroom sauce that contained dairy. They offered to replace to a new plate but we mentioned that the food was already on the same plate (touching the sauce) so obviously we didnt go for that, we decided not to share. The person bringing the food mentioned that “we should have mentioned about the allergy” :S

we are right when we got the feeling that this was not taken seriously...

Once we were done eating, the restaurant was mid full and still 1-2 hours to go. However we were asked a couple of times if we wanted the bill.... even we still were still waiting for the coffee... it was was quite rude and pushing. It felt like they wanted us gone! So we finally said yes to one of their requests for the bill, feeling uncomfortable with the insistence. Surprisingly, we were asked if we wanted to tip! :O

Some positives as well, let’s be honest: location obviously is great. About the food: the food was ok.

So if you’re not dealing with food intolerances/allergies; you might want to try.

If you do: give it a try at Mezze, Irie Jamaican, Eddy’s restaurant, Blue Garden Brazilian...

I was initially drawn to the bar by its idyllic, paradise-like setting and charming menu. As I was caught in a sudden downpour, I decided to stop in for a coffee and enjoy the view while waiting for the rain to pass—no more than 5 to 10 minutes. The bar was nearly empty at the time, so I chose a table by the ocean with a beautiful view.

However, shortly after sitting down, a staff member—whose name, I believe, was Don—approached me to ask whether I was alone. Upon confirming, he requested that I vacate the table and move further inside the bar, stating that the table I had selected was reserved. It appeared to me that this was simply an excuse to keep more desirable tables available for larger parties or preferred guests, rather than based on an actual reservation.

Feeling unwelcome and disappointed, I chose to leave very soon. The table I had been asked to leave remained empty during that time, and the bar was far from busy—less than 10% full.

As someone on holiday, I had hoped for a relaxing and inclusive experience. Instead, I left with a broken mood and the impression of being treated as a second-class guest simply because I was alone. The once enchanting ambiance of the bar was overshadowed by this experience.

While the location and aesthetics are undeniably lovely, I would caution solo visitors: unless you’re willing to sit in the less desirable areas, you may be asked to vacate a prime table—regardless of how empty the...