Thought I would post our experiences. First about us, we are from Los Angeles and have traveled quite a bit. I have spent a few months in Holland so it was interesting to see the Caribbean version. I enjoy food a great deal and was disappointed with most of the restaurants we tried. I am not a food snob and don’t expect US style service but I do expect food that is cooked properly and served hot. If we go back we will get a place with a kitchen so we can cook.

Here is where we ate in no particular order.

Chibi Chibi- We stayed at the divi and ate here the night we came in and New Years. First meal was poor, cool food and overcooked shrimp. New Years was better. Good location.

It Rains Fishes – Food was OK not great but decent good location though.

It Rains Chickens – (Indonesian) food was bland location not terribly exciting

Compadres – They say they have Mexican food on their sign but it was not on the menu. We just got drinks.

Garden Café – Ate lunch here good value, good food

Gobeys – We ate breakfast here several times, good coffee and food our favorite breakfast place

Blue Moon – Expensive but food was good, service was slow and they made mistakes

Richards – Good food probably the best service we had on the island

Mona Lisa – Expensive but very good our last, and best meal. The fish was perfect.

City Café – We ate here on Christmas terrible service (one hour to get the wine we ordered) food was OK when it eventually came but we were starving by then. We would have walked out but there was nowhere else to go.

Rum Runners – We got pizza and salad here best salads we had on the island

Old Inn – Very good Rijsttafel (Indonesian Feast) at about $30 per person. A waitress at another place said they had two chefs, one was very good one was bad. We got the good one.

Coco’s – We got what they called fajita’s here. They had all the ingredients but the finished product was not good. I could have gone into their kitchen and made something much better with the same ingredients.

All in all the food was just not very exciting. It was not so much that it was bad but when you have high prices you expect good food and that did not happen often the food was just OK. I ate because I had to not because I wanted to. I have had good food in Holland so this is probably not a Dutch thing and I have good food in remote places so it is not fair to blame that. Better service would help at some of these places so you at least get hot food but some of these restaurant owners need to travel some to get some better ideas

Chris, sorry to hear about your Compadres experience. Compadres is one of our favourite spots on BON along with Richard's. We have always had Mexican food there on every visit.. I can't understand why you didn't get any? Such a shame, the food is really good. S

_Was_ really good, Sarah (and I'd beg to differ - it was mediocre in my opinion :-) . The former Compadres restaurant is the location of a new dining establishment run by Gonzalo Torres, former F&B manager at Harbour Village. I understand the pricing and food are both good, but haven't yet sampled the wares...

Jake

I think they have changed, Compadres did not have anything Mexican on their menu, I asked.

I have to agree with Chris

With the exception of a few standouts, the food seems to have deteriorated in Bonaire over the last few years..

Before everyone jumps in to disagree we all have our perspective...

It Rains bitches.. I mean fishes definitely is much worse than a year ago

Rendevous = Round up Spew

Richards..fair food HIGH PRICES

Sand Dollar .. my goodness tasteless 5 pound hamburgers YUCKKO

Kon Tiki - maybe we caugh tthem on a bad day but the food was awful REALLY bad..

on the bright side.

Rum Runners decent and great view
Pasa Bon Pizza (sp) good and cheap

Anyway, we are all entitled to our opinions!

I can't say that I have ever had a bad meal or service at Rendevous. That's one of my favorite places to eat while I'm on the Island. Richards had ok food but great bread. City Cafe gave us good service and food.

I agree with you about the bread, it was good. At City Cafe, it was Christmas which could well explain the service but boy it was slow... The food did seem OK when it came but I was so hungry at that point it can't really say. Not much was open that night so pickings were slim. We had gone there before for happy hour and it seemed fine but we did not get food and got drinks from the bar.

I can both agree and disagree with the Captain on this one. While bonaire will never make the pages of Gourmet magazine, the food is far better than anything I ate in Russia or China (yech!).

My fiance has an addiction (a good one!) to tropical islands and we spend a good portion of our vacations in such locations. Most of these places are fairly remote, like Tahiti, some are more mainstream, like the BVI's. Overall I have found the food on Bonaire to be about the same as most of the islands that I have been on. It is neither horribly expensive (the famous $281.00, small portion, lunch for three on Tahiti) nor is it grossly inedible (never order a warm rice salad in Bali, they move on their own...). What I found in Bonaire was a wide range of dishes adequately prepared. I was able eat every meal I ordered, but I haven't been in one place that I would reccommend to others based on the meal. We generally have better meals at home which is why I cook so much when we are on Bonaire. ( in that vein, I find the markets on Bonaire to be among the best stocked of any island markets I have come across, they are superb in both selection and cost in my experience.)

Gail and I are confirmed food sluts and eat our way through every destination we are in. New York, New Orleans, Santa Fe, Paris, even Las Vegas these days are food Mecca's. I have had meals in these towns that border on religous experiences (just like the diving in Bonaire).

Luckily we don't go to the islands for the food. If that is what you are looking for you might as well stay home. Bonaire is a truly magical place in its way and the kind of sustinance and feeding I get there fills the soul, the stomach just has to be happy with second place this time.

Bon Appetite everyone

To add to a comment David made, I concurr, Cultimara far surpasses all Caribbean markets I have seen. I used to work on boats so provisioned a bit and stopped in many Caribbean markets. Aside from also being a wind addict I love food ..when I travel to the UK, Paris, the Caribbean, Bermuda I do not bring home postcards, trinkets and perfumes. I bring home tea, jams, sauces and international goodies. Upstairs I have several bottles of various hot sauces, Sherry Peppers (Bermuda), Branston Pickle etc...

So, with that said I think Cultimara is great, particuliarly their bakery. OH MY!!


Annie
Cape Cod

Annie, have you been to the Supermarket on Grand Cayman? Now that is the best supermarket I've ever come across.. far better than Cultimara and Warehouse put together.

Jake, so what's the name of the Restaurant at HV then? I always thought it was Compadres, well that's what was on their sign outside last month.. whatever, they did have Mexican food, and it was enjoyed by us and our guests. Sounds like they've stopped doing it now though.. shame.

Sarah,

The new restaurant is still running under the Compadres name while they work on a new name. They may still have some Mexican-style food on the menu, but it's definitely not limited to that anymore.

Jake

The new name (actually old original name) is Captain Wook's. The will serve more of an international menu.

Thanks guys..S