Amares Restaurante — Restaurant in Antigua

I had read some mixed reviews and was hesitant about coming here for dinner. I’m happy to say that my experience was very positive, so I want to share it to balance things out.

Service: Everything was great. The waiter was friendly and welcoming. He offered us a table, but we asked for a different one. He kindly agreed, though he warned us that the sun would soon be there and it might get hot. A fair point — we ended up sitting where he suggested.

Speed: Drinks arrived quickly, snacks in about 10 minutes, and main courses in around 25 minutes.

Food & Taste: Everything was tasty, especially the tuna. The carpaccio was excellent. However, I do have a comment regarding the shrimp — a restaurant of this level shouldn’t serve shrimp with the digestive tract still in. It’s unpleasant to eat, and cleaning it yourself after it’s cooked is not easy (minus for that).

Atmosphere: Beautiful view of the ocean. Yes, it was hot, but that’s just the weather.

Overall, we enjoyed our time here. Despite the concerns from previous reviewers, we left satisfied. I think it’s worth checking for yourself. This is a tourist spot — staff in the dining room and kitchen can change, so a review from 5 months ago may no longer reflect reality. Right now, everything is great. What happens in the future may depend on staff turnover, but for now...

Overall not a great experience. Really disappointed.

Got sat down with menus and it is a lovely view. No one came to take a drinks order for at least 15 minutes. Another table who was seated after us got their drinks order taken and brought to them before we got a waiter’s attention to take our drinks order.

We sat for a further 25-30 minutes trying to get the staff’s attention to get our food order taken. In this time, the table who was sat after us got their food plus another table who came in after we ordered drinks had their food in front of them. We managed to get the attention of a waiter however the attitude of us asking him to take our order was less than pleasant, it was like he just didn't want to take our order at all.

He brought our order and gave us an order of something extra for our wait and informed us this is no charge. This was appreciated however the food ocerally wasn't good. The fish was very tough, had to eat, essentially inedible which we didn't eat it. The prawns were cold and quite tasteless, but edible.

We asked for our bill when they were clearing the plates. This again took another 20 minutes to bring to us. The bill was quite expensive for what it was, we went to a similar restaurant the previous day, we spent less money and the food was fantastic.

Definitely won't be...

As my wife and I waited to be seated in the outside area, to enjoy the sea view, we were told that only parties of 3 or more could sit outside. However, we could clearly see many tables with just 2 people sitting at them. I asked why? I was told by the staff member he didn't speak English. I was stunned by his attitude and immediately thought to leave for somewhere else. But, foolishly, we agreed to eat inside. We ordered two starters, garlic prawns and calamari. The prawns weren't cleaned properly, and the calamari was dry and tasteless. The pizza we ordered was tasteless and dry. The service was prompt, but when I asked again why we were refused admittance to the outside area, I was met with aggression and total disregard. I would like to think the attitude wasn't racially motivated as my wife is Malaysian, but I am struggling to understand what other reason we could be denied a seat where we wanted to sit. Really disappointing...