Maira's Kitchen — Restaurant in Curaçao

Oh my god. DO NOT come here, especially if you are on a time crunch of less than 2+ hours for a “quick lunch”, & don’t want to pay $50 for food that they do not give you.

We had to ask for menus twice before getting them myself. Water took about 3 asks and one hour, drinks came a little quicker but when they were out of my drink i ordered they replaced it and brought me another, totally different drink without asking. It was good, but asking would have been nice.

Now for the worst part, after about 45 minutes we finally got to order. The menu looked good, somewhat expensive but the food looked nice and I was really excited for my meal. Well an hour goes by, we tell them we have to leave for the airport soon and did not expect this to be an hour+ long excursion, so could they make our food faster or to go. It took about 20 minutes to even get an answer, to which they said it would be a lot longer as there were several other tables that they wanted to serve first. We said that’s okay, we don’t have time, and asked for the check for our drinks.

They IMMEDIATELY say no, we have to wait for our food. We tell them no, we don’t have time, we would like to pay and leave. They stand around our table telling us that we have to pay for our food that we never received and it was becoming increasingly clear that our food was not even close to on the way and this was a scam to make us pay $50-60 for nothing. Nobody was even giving us this check to pay and we really had to leave. We left them enough cash on the table for our drinks AND a tip, and tried to politely slip out without causing a scene, however 3 workers immediately came sprinting down the street yelling at us and demanding we pay them, trying to block our way down the road until we adamantly explained that we were not waiting 2-3 hours for food, had placed we NEEDED to be, and that they had not even started cooking our food, nor had we received it. They followed us for about a block repeatedly insisting we give them money, until we had to sternly tell them to go back& see that we had left money. They insisted it was not enough (again, it was more than the amount for our drinks we did get) at which point we were so done with this whole ordeal that we turned and walked away and stopped responding. DO NOT EAT...

My cousin and I went here for dinner on our last day in the island. I made reservations just in case (Google maps said it was "busy"). We walked from our hotel and it was pleasantly nice. The restaurant literally looked like someone's house.

I gave them my name and we got seated promptly. There are ceiling fans so that helps. The place itself was a bit dark (perhaps its the romantic vibe) but it was a bit difficult to read the menu.

We started off with the Serrano ham (I inhaled it) but pls note that they added onions in it - I was expecting like how it was presented in Spain so if you're a naturalist fan - just be careful. My cousin was nice enough to pick the onions out of it. It would also be helpful if they added that into the menu description.

For my main, I had the Maira’s Local Special “Karni Stoba” - it was good but if you've tasted Mom's Kitchen version… I would go with that version. This version was just too much spices in the stew BUT the beef itself was tender. I would recommend if you didn't have time to go to Plasa Bieu. My cousin had the grilled fish catch of the day and I believe it was a Sea bass. It was too big for her so she didn't end up finishing it… she also said her grilled fish from Mom's Kitchen was better.

She had a port and I had the Alamos Pinot Noir. They were both good and I especially liked my Pinot b/c it's chilled. It's been ages since I had a chilled Pinot!

Overall - it was decent. If you want to cap off your trip in authenticity - go to Mom's Kitchen. If you don't have time - then this place will suffice.

PS: First restaurant where they brought the card/payment machine and I was automatically put on the spot to tip - not sure if it was b/c the staff knew we were Americans or not but that was a bit awkward and I was taken aback. None of the other places we visited had that… so fair warning.

PSS: If you're allergic to cats… don't sit outside. There was a stray cat walking by the fence… In the US - that is a big no b/c of health issues but apparently, it was normal back in the islands. Fair...

Curacao normally have top services, but my experience here today was by far the worst! My husband decide to try Maira's kitchen, upon entry the hostess was on the telephone, we stood there an politely waited for her call to end, please note not one bit of acknowledgement from her. Then she came off the phone and to my horror looked at as like what we wanted and my husband asked if we can sit anywhere, she said inside or outside, so we choose outside. We sat outside for a little while then to be approached by the unmannerly woman who blatantly asked.. what you want to drink, so we were a bit shocked we didn't even get menus first but asked roughly what we want to drink so we ordered coffee and my husband asked for a menu then to be replied yea but we dont have a drinks menu🙄..yes this was after we ordered coffee. yes we had to asked for the menu.. finally coffee came with the menu and I asked for brown sugar instead of white, she took it and I sit there waiting again after five minutes I got up and when to he counter and get it myself from her and she have the audacity to ask that's what you want...like really! before I end there was only 5 persons other than us in which 3 had already eaten and was just sitting chit chatting...so why the attitude why the horrible service ?? that hostess really needs lesson on the food and beverage industry and given that we are in the covid restriction here in curacao, she wasn't wearing a mask at all.. yes we came in with our masks...so what we did, we paid for our coffee and head to number ten where the services is outstanding given how busy and packed they are and I mean...