The West Deck — Restaurant in Oranjestad (city)

I rarely leave bad reviews. This place was such a disappointment though it was recommended highly on the Aruba Foodies Facebook Group. My husband made a reservation and received an email confirmation that we had a 6p reservation. When we arrived at 5:45p, the hostess stated that we did not have a reservation and refused to look at my husband’s phone/email confirmation. When she did finally relent, she told him that the person who sends the confirmations doesn’t really check with her first. (Strike 1). Then, she led us through a 90% empty restaurant. When we asked why we weren’t being seated there, she told us that those tables were for people who reserved “months” in advance (we reserved 2 weeks in advance). At this point, we also didn’t know if we were being racially profiled because we are people of color. There were only Caucasian people sitting on the upper level with the view. She then led us through the nice part of their restaurant, down stairs, and then sat us at a dirty picnic table in sand with a view of the road. No beach view, just the road and the sounds of the road (strike 2). We mentioned to her that the restaurant was mostly empty and that we would like to have a real table that was not in sand. She scoffed and thought about it and said fine, you can have this table (view below). The table was located in the middle of the downstairs area with neither a beach view or a road view! There were flimsy uncomfortable plastic chairs. We then waited for almost 30 minutes for a server because we were in a section that no server was attending (strike 3). We did not even receive water! Our server, when she finally came, was very nice and appeared overworked. We ordered and our food took its time to come out, lukewarm. We did like the lukewarm trocadero garlic shrimp and the Caribbean jerk chicken wings appetizers. The alcoholic drinks were overly sweetened with just a little bit of alcohol. The table is so small with bowls of sauces, etc that it is hard to fit everything on the table. The waitstaff definitely look like they are bustling to clear tables and bring out food. For the price, the full plate house specials were small and lukewarm. We did not have any view from our seat and could not watch the sun set. We did watch multiple well-dressed patrons decline to sit in the sand section on picnic tables. We did not stay for dessert because we already had a terrible experience at this restaurant at this point. Tips, if you still choose this restaurant and you have read this far: Make your reservation MONTHS in advance. Specify the top deck, close to the edge so you can have the beautiful view that is advertised. The later in the evening you go, the longer you will wait for your table. If they try to seat you in the sand section with picnic tables and no view, you can decline. You should decline if there are empty tables! There is parking next to the restaurant. The views from the public walking patio area and the green lifeguard seat are fantastic, try to get some pics there. For the price point, there are dozens of other restaurants in this area that will treat the customer...

Dec2023: 5⭐: I would highly recommend this restaurant location and work crew. Today, I visited before departing the island. In the fashion that I remember, service and food was phenomenal. We ordered eight menu items this visit and frozen drinks as well after waiting for 20 minutes along the beach walkway. This crew's customer service was on point. Everyone of the workers greeted us while in the restaurant and worked as a team to bring food out hot and ready to eat. Everything tasted fresh and the servers were familiar with the menu items. Great job guys.

Update: 4⭐:A few days ago, the server waiting on us that instance was not like the server we previously had in July2021. This young lady seemed to be distracted and uninterested. I know it was December and Christmas Eve, but it seemed she could care less about us being customers in the restaurant. The wait staff on this day just seem to be drones going through the motions. I did not feel the welcoming environment that I felt during the first visit in 2021. I asked for pepper sauce for the lightly breaded fish and it seemed as if she was irritated to go get it. The server never came to ask about refills until my spouse said something when we were leaving the restaurant. It's a shame to add this location to our "do not return" list.

July2021: 5⭐: I would recommend this location and this restaurant for a couples or family meal. I was out walking with my spouse and we came upon this restaurant lights on the side of the walkway. I decided to walk into the immediate area to see if it was a private facility or something other than a restaurant. I did not readily see a name, so continued our evening walk. I searched when I arrived home and found out that the name is West Deck. We were speaking to one of our activity providers and he mentioned several locations that were popular in the area, had fresh catch fish, and one of the three was this restaurant name. We returned here early the next day at the opening after finishing our activity on the other side of the island. We were seated quickly by an older gentleman and another female worker, JoJo, came over to wait for our table. We asked about the menu selection and ordered drinks and two appetizers to start our dinner. The Fried Gouda Balls were a hit with us because they are a forbidden item for our diets, so we loved them. I really enjoyed the Balashi Grouper (fish sticks) with the specially made macaroni, but my spouse preferred a different fish, mahi. I ordered the lightly breaded fish with rice. She commented that it was good. We snapped a few pictures and we were off to walk off the food we just ate in excess,...

We decided to have our rehearsal dinner and welcome party (3/28/25) at The West Deck after an incredible experience here in 2020 on a group trip with our close friends. The experience was enjoyable from the start to finish. From our first email interaction, Joy was able to communicate how much she cared and how hospitable she was-- from Aruba all the way back to us in Rhode Island. She made every moment during the process feel so special to us and was so accommodating and excited for us during every decision we made. Planning these events from half a world away can be challenging. However, Joy was able to allay our fears by confirming small details, taking the time to have phone conversations, and even sending a short video of directions so we could drop off our décor items to an offsite location. I can't say enough good things about Joy (pictured below!) -- She radiated care and warmth and she honestly felt like family by the end of the night.

The night of was truly a magical experience, the garden area was perfectly decorated in the vision of what we wanted our night to be. We started with a sit-down dinner for a rehearsal dinner; the food and hospitality were incredible from the onset. Once we completed dinner the rest of our wedding guests arrived for a welcome party, where we enjoyed some passed hors d’oeuvres and cocktails. The garden area was perfect for this format with everyone having an incredible time mingling, taking in the beauty of the space, and enjoying some delicious food.

The waitstaff went above and beyond to meet our guests’ needs for thee dinner service and throughout the entire night. I recall one of the staff making it a priority to engage with our nieces (ages 4 & 6) to make them comfortable and laugh, which brought joy to everyone who witnessed their interactions.

We would recommend The West Deck to anyone visiting Aruba, from dinner, to an event like ours. The West Deck delivered every time we have been here. We cannot wait to make it back to this astonishing place in the future to again enjoy everything it...