Yemanja Woodfired Grill — Restaurant in Oranjestad (city)

Our experience was a bit rocky but this place was amazing! We decided we would go out for a nice dinner and Yemanja was one of the most highly rated so we made a res two weeks in advance and requested to sit outside. The restaurant was nice enough to let us change our res at almost the last minute due to an un-foreseen scheduling conflict. Our server was incredibly friendly and made sure to note that someone in our party had a severe mushroom allergy. Drinks were all nice. The red sangria was fantastic and quite a large portion. For apps two of us got french onion soup and two split the wedge salad. Both were some of, if not the best, i’d ever had. Around this point a large lizard crawled on the wall near where we were sitting outside. One of our party members is very scared of them and the restaurant was gracious enough to move us away from it. For dinner we ordered the mahi mahi, the ribeye, the butcher steak, the skewer and the picanha. I was worried how the portion sizes would be but these were all good servings of food. We requested a substitute for the truffle butter on the ribeye and the stir fry veggies for the whole table because of the mushroom allergy. Let me start by saying the food was all AMAZING. We all agreed it was 5 star worthy. The meat was all tender and well seasoned. The tornado potato that came with the skewer was one of the best potatoes i’d ever had. None of us had ever tried picanha but it was delicious. I personally thought it was the best meat on the table. However, there was a serious problem with the ribeye meal. Unfortunately, it turned out there was a piece of mushroom in the vegetables of the person allergic. Luckily she did not actually eat it (she would have probably died if so), but it did contaminate her food and she experienced a severe reaction. We alerted our waitress who was genuinely PISSED that there was a screw up. It seemed the issue was with the kitchen staff. When she came back after alerting the kitchen and manager she was almost in tears apologizing for everything. We understand that mistakes happen. This was a serious mistake but not her fault at all. We did not need to call an ambulance thankfully but our mother (the one with the allergy) was ill all night. The restaurant comp’d her entire meal and her two glasses of wine. The manager also came over and also apologized profusely. Despite all this though, the thing we were all upset about (our mom included lol) was that we couldn’t stay for dessert. We will definitely still come here again in the future and we still recommend it. The price is high but if your going to have a nice dinner on vacation this is definitely an...

RESPONSE TO RESTAURANT: Thank you for the reply, but essentially shifting the blame to me doesn't help. The waiter wasn't attentive and, frankly, kind of sucked. He also saw that I didn't eat ANY of the food and didn't ask me anything when I told him the curry was disgusting, I hated the food and wanted a side of veggies that weren't doused in that gross sauce! He knew that I hated my meal and chose to ignore it, and then charged me not only for the absolute trash food but $4 for two pieces of bland bread! Please. Never again.

This used to be one of my favorite restaurants, so I was disappointed to see the menu had changed pretty substantially, as did the prices. I used to love their tomato soup, which is sadly not on the menu. There aren't any appealing appetizers, particularly if you don't want seafood. They brought us two pieces of bread with butter and olive tapenade, neither of which were anything special. After ordering our entrees, we asked for more bread that ended up costing $4. It's totally not worth it. My boyfriend had the picanha, and it was pretty good - cooked perfectly and seasoned well. I ordered the BBQ seafood platter because I wanted to try the mahi mahi and shrimp, but I regret it as soon as I took the first bite. I had no idea that the creole seasoning would have such strong curry flavors, and it was unfortunately on top of the rice and veggies, so that taste really ruined everything for me. If you love curry, perhaps this is for you, but I don't and I barely ate any of my $49 meal. The flavor was just too overpowering, so it killed my taste for anything on the plate. Very expensive and extremely disappointing meal. The only thing I liked about this place is that they support local animal rescue. Next time, I'll just donate the money rather than waste it...

Props to very talented chefs! The food was absolutely wonderful! Unfortunately, the hostess and waiter made the dinner experience poor. I had been to the restaurant previously and this was to be the highlight of this trip with lifelong girlfriends. We arrived on time for our reservation of 4 and were met with rudeness when we inquired about table options. Aruba is a very hospitable island, warm genuine people. Clearly, the hostess does not care that she leaves a sour initial impression with her curt attitiude. Our waiter was a very tall younger gentleman. He had no interest in making our dinner experience pleasurable. He was inattentive. He never returned to the table to ask if we wanted additional drinks.. that your money maker! He did not return to ask how our dinner was. He was continuously at the table beside us waiting on their every need. He offers them dessert and coffee. We had to ask for dessert and no coffee was offered. (Lost money there too!) As we are getting poor service, this waiter is fancily re rolling the used napkins of the female guests and placing them on the table. In the meantime, we ordered a dessert to share. It came with slivered almonds despite the "tree nut allergy" which had been discussed shortlyafter being seated. We are normally 30-35% tippers. This was 11%. But most disturbing of all, was reading the owners responses to the poor reviews of the restaurant. She is a callous, rude right fighter. No apologies for misunderstandings, for poor staff behaviour or food that may have been not up to par. She blames the patrons. So sad. She is blessed to have a lovely restaurant and such talented chefs. It's a shame that she feels that a restaurant experience is based solely in the taste of...