Marea — Restaurant in Oranjestad (city)

From the looks of this restaurant one would assume they’re walking into a 5 star experience and that’s truly what we hoped, however, that unfortunately wasn’t the case due to a few reasons with the food itself being the biggest reason.

We made a reservation for a party of 10 to celebrate a friend’s birthday and they were easily able to accommodate which was nice. Arriving to the restaurant the first slight annoyance was finding where to park as there is no signage or any public parking nearby. Everyone in our party parked somewhere different and we were all afraid we may have parked somewhere we shouldn’t have.

Upon arrival we were immediately greeted and told it was a cashless establishment. Upon being seated our server Daliana greeted us and was truly a shining star through the entire night. She wanted to ensure we were taken care of in every way possible and provided service with a smile the entire night. Daliana is 5 stats but the only reason service overall isn’t is because the restaurant was pretty empty and no one assists Daliana in bringing our meals out which slowed the entire table down from eating at the same time.

The cocktail menu sounded delightfully fun and we all ordered something different, yet we all were underwhelmed by them …

Now for the food …. the restaurant itself is marketed as Caribbean yet the menu itself doesn’t have much of anything one would expect when dining in a Caribbean restaurant. It’s truly more Latin Seafood than anything else. But this wasn’t even what gave the food a 3 star rating (I truly wanted to give the food 2 1/2 stars but half stars aren’t allowed). What gave the food the 3 star rating was: Drastically inconsistently cooked steaks that were ordered at the same temperature, “fishy” catches of the day, bones in the corvina which made me choke for a good few minutes and left my throat tender and flavors throughout all the meals that just weren’t where they needed to be.

We were given complimentary desserts to try as a group which was a nice gesture from the Manager and the desserts themselves were pretty good although they all had a very similar flavor profile.

Merea has a lot of work to do food wise and we really hope they make the necessary changes because it’s such a...

New Restaurant: 01/10/25 My wife and I had a wonderful pre-birthday celebration lunch at the newly opened Marea beachfront restaurant, situated at the JOIA Aruba by Iberostar hotel. The ambiance was charming, and Edwin, the restaurant supervisor, along with his team, extended a warm welcome. Each dish we sampled was outstanding! The fried whole red snapper as the main course was particularly impressive, complemented by the plantain and Bata chips with dipping sauce that we enjoyed while waiting for our meals. We genuinely hope that the staff, food quality, and portion sizes remain consistent. Overall, this restaurant offers the best food, service, and value in Aruba! It truly stands out as one of Aruba's hidden gems! We look forward to our next visit! Our only concern was that cocktails, like the piña colada, were pricey and of average quality, but I am confident they will address this in time. Therefore, I am giving it a 4.5-star rating. If they enhance both the pricing and quality of the drinks, they would undoubtedly receive a perfect 10-star rating from me. We can’t wait...

Found this place on our last night and wish we'd found it earlier. It's brand new. The food is great. We had fried Red Snapper (catch of the day), ceviche, chicken quesadilla. The fish came with funchi, which are cornmeal medallions. The ceviche was in a greenish, avocado-like sauce, with bits of mango, and a couple pieces of calamari; overall an unexpected and nice flavor combo. The chicken quesadilla was an appetizer, but big enough as an entree. The wait-staff was very attentive, friendly, and accommodating. They also have homemade ice cream with artisanal cones. The exterior ambiance was great; sand under your feet, nicely designed. The only drawback was that the complimentary corn chips and ice cream cones were not crispy. But hopefully that's not a...