Taste My Aruba — Restaurant in Oranjestad (city)

There are many raving reviews for this restaurant, so our expectations were quite high, but we were gravely dissapointed. Especially with the food that we received for the "high" prices that were being charged the value was wayyyy off! We are real foodies and don't mind to pay for good food, but knowing this now, there are seriously so many other much better places to spend this money and enjoy a really nice (seafood/fish/vegetarian) dinner.

The complimentary fried funchi (polenta) fries with a homemade tomato marmelade is a nice touch to start with, but that is about it!

The fresh tuna tartar appetizer was described on the menu as having a secret ingredient. Well, it was overpowered X10 by sesame oil. It was literally drenched in it! So if you LOVE sesame oil and don't want to taste any thing else, go for it, but we were very dissapointed with this dish for a $15 appetizer charge, which is the average charge for most appetizers. Except for the fish soup, which is half that price, but the portion is also a very small cup of soup. The presentation of the soup was nice in a very tiny little ceramic pan with lid, but very small for a $7.50 charge.

The ceviche appetizer was absolutely not how ceviche is supposed to taste (a bit sour). It is supposed to be fresh white fish cooked in lemon juice. In this case it was very sweet, like it was marinated in mango syrup and it was also topped with mango, while there was nowhere on the menu written that one of the ingredients of this dish would be mango, so if you are expecting being served a real ceviche and you are not a fan of mango, you are screwed. The fish cake(s) were also very dissapointing, especially again for what was being charged. Seriously can make better ones myself. Same as the ceviche by the way. The server had also mentioned that the portion would be two fish cakes, but when it was being served there was only one fish cake on the plate, when we asked why there was only one fish cake served while we were told that the appetizer portion would be two for that price (again around $15), we were told that it was almost finished, so we received one slightly bigger fish cake instead of two fish cakes...(it wasn't exceptionally big...just regular). For main courses we had ordered the vegetarian delight and the lobster - truffle linguini. And again, for those prices, an extreme dissapointment. We so wished we had spent those dollars elsewhere. The vegetarian delight dish for over $25! was literally a simple plate of pasta with tomato sauce from a can and a lost piece of raddish and carrot in it... Hardly any veggie to be found... That was it... Extremely blend with almost zero to no taste.

The lobster - truffle linguini tasted like...cream. They used lot's of cream and truffle oil essence with a couple of pieces of lobster. Couldn't tell you if it was actually real fresh lobster, because it was covered in cream. With truffle oil and cream you can cover up anything in the kitchen, and if you like a creamy pasta, you will probably like this dish, but definitely not worth the $44 that we paid for it.

Their wine list, same as their menu, is also very small, which we generally do not mind, as long as there is sufficient choice and a correctly valued price matched to the items. They have only South American wines on the menu. We picked a rose to go with our dinner, which was priced at $40. The rose was an okay table wine. Not spectacular, but okay.

We did not take dessert, even though we had originally planned too, but my better half was so extremely dissapointed with his dishes: the fish cake appetizer and the vegetarian delight dish...that he wanted to leave asap and not wait anymore for anything else.

The service was quite slow, which in general we don't have an issue with... Especially during these Covid times, we know there are smaller teams working... The staff also noticed that we were not happy with what we had been served and saw that some dishes were not completely eaten... They did give us a small discount... But still...overall it was just very...

My husband and I were two out of eight people of the reservation. Upon arrival, it was so incredibly hot that the host of our party asked if we could be seated at a different table than the restaurant had planned on seating us at. Our server provided three menus for eight people. He then asked what we wanted to drink, when in all actuality, most of us didn’t even get to see a menu yet. The water glasses were not refilled as promptly as necessary given the incredible heat we were all suffocated with. The server pointed a small fan at one end of our table of eight. We were never told what the fresh catch options were until after the server came asking if we knew what we wanted. My husband had to ask what the fish options were that day. Strike One.

We all made our selections. And while the quality and freshness of the ingredients was very good, in addition to the presentation being beautiful with great visual appeal, none of it lived up to the asking price. All of us who chose the octopus were extremely impressed; it was spectacular, and done to perfection. The two who chose the grouper thought it was just okay. And when I tasted my husband’s grouper, I have definitely had better. The black pasta (I believe squid ink) was enjoyed by those who ordered it; but again, the price is entirely too high for pasta with a bit of lobster meat.

We were celebrating a birthday; however the server waited until everyone ordered desserts that they’d be paying for, before bringing the shareable birthday celebration trio of sweets. They wanted to be sure they got us to order and purchase as much as they possibly could before offering the little freebie.

When it came time for the bill, of which we asked the server to simply split it up equally and gave him four credit cards. He’s lucky we’re smart enough to not inconvenience him by asking for our own four individual checks. After he ran the first credit card, my husband asked if there was a service charge already included. His response was “oh yes, you do not have to tip”. Very deceiving to not inform your guests that there’s a service charge already added to the check. When you have eight people paying with four cards, which amounted to $173 USD EACH, I call that greedy. Strike Two.

I understand I am on Aruba, in the Caribbean, and it’s hot (as the owner repeatedly tells her customers); but when you are charging a very hefty dollar for a mediocre to good meal at best, you really should invest in some form of air conditioning. If every other moderate to higher priced restaurant, that considers themselves to be of somewhat finer dining can invest in air conditioning, then Taste My Aruba needs to do it too! Strike Three.

And, IF I had read the reviews in advance, beginning with the LOWEST, I’m almost certain my husband and I would have reconsidered attending. The biggest issue is the owner herself, Nathalie. She is only nice if you are praising her restaurant. She becomes offensive and belligerent if you say anything negative. She does not want to accept criticism so that she can learn from it, she chooses to lash back at her customers. This is the biggest of “no no’s” in the hospitality industry. You never should make your customer feel they don’t know what they’re talking about. I sense a feeling of vindictiveness. It’s very unbecoming to a woman who appears humble and sincere.

And one last thing, her response always begins identically, as though written with the help of an AI app. And I’m sure she would say I was intoxicated; but I do NOT drink any alcoholic beverages, nor do I smoke stuff. She is just NOT a good person. ...

Terrible Experience – Avoid This Place

We had a reservation for New Year’s Eve and confirmed beforehand that they’d be open. However, upon arriving, we circled the restaurant twice trying to figure out if it was open or closed.

Shortly after, another group of 8-9 people arrived. They even had an email confirmation for their booking (ours was made over the phone), but they were equally confused, trying unsuccessfully to open the door.

While we were talking to the second group, a third group arrived. They informed us the restaurant was closed—they had reservations earlier, found it shut, and ended up dining elsewhere nearby.

There was no sign on the door to indicate whether the restaurant was open or closed.

Their website emphasizes being a small family-owned business and requests customers to respect reservations. Ironically, they left multiple groups stranded on one of the busiest nights of the year.

I also attempted to contact them via WhatsApp using the number listed on their website, but unsurprisingly, received no response.

They market themselves as one of the best restaurants in Aruba, but after this experience, I’m starting to suspect that their positive reviews are paid or fake. Avoid this place!

This was an incredibly disappointing experience, especially on New Year’s Eve. Save yourself the frustration and look elsewhere.

Can't give zero or negative otherwise would have been negative.

Update 1: after the owners response to my review.

I saw on your Facebook page that you were celebrating yesterday with fireworks. You can say whatever you want now, but the fact is, you ruined New Year’s Eve for multiple customers, not just one.

Emergencies happen, but how difficult would it have been to post a notice on the door or respond to customers’ calls or texts? Instead, you left everyone guessing.

It’s clear you don’t understand how important New Year’s Eve is, nor do you seem to care about your customers. Those glowing 5-star reviews come across as anything but genuine.

And offering a mere 10% discount after leaving customers stranded on such a significant day? That just confirms you truly don’t value...