Hi,

We just had dinner@Mona Lisa. Food was ok, but the service was bad. About 20 minutes passed between asking for the check and getting it. Now I know it takes time to prepare the food and that you have to wait for that, but for checks ????
Actually I was tempted to just stand up and prepare to leave, in order to get some attention (but I did not want to run into the local law, so didn't do that).

My suggestion: avoid.

Hey Frans

Ongetwijfelt een ongeduldige Nederlander!
Je bent toch op vakantie ;-)) wat is dan 20 minuten wachttijd op de rekening, was de bediening betreft het eten wel naar wens en snel genoeg??

About twenty whole minutes ??
Aiaiai; Burn down the place or at least try to ruin them !!! How dare they do that to you !!!

Frans had you been a regular here on Bonaire Talk you would have realised that this is the norm rather than the exception.. Relax man you are on vacation.. where did you have to be??? if you had a dive to go to you should have told the server before she took your order... Vacation Relax, get on Island time .....chill out ENJOY!!!

Frans, please keep in mind that you had fresh food cooked to order, just for you. They do not pre cook there foods at Mona Lisa. The service is the norm for Bonaire. Did your diner come out in a timely manor? Was it good?

I wish I was you right now!

Mona Lisa is our favorite restaurant on the island!

For many years we have suffered Mona Lisa's "bad service": maybe a hundred times. Lets hope it never gets any better.

You could have stood up, went to the cash register and paid there...they have no problem with folks doing that..I doubt anyone will take your suggestion seriously...

When we have eaten in restaurants in Bonaire, we have just assumed that they had a more European attitude to dining. While we are American and would expect to be presented with the check in the states, my husband travels on business all around, and quite a bit in Europe. He has been taught that in Europe when you go out to a nice restaurant, it is considered rude for the wait staff to present the check until the diner asks for it. Also Europeans spend more time enjoying meals versus the more traditional grab it and go tempo of the States. Has something changed?

oh I see frans, you did ask for the check. My mistake. Never mind

Altho I haven't signed into Bonaire Talk in quite a while (shame on me), I had to speak my mind on this "GEM" of a restaurant. We have been visiting Bonaire for 15 years now, and have never missed dining at the Mona Lisa. In fact, this past March we were trying to decide what we would have for dinner when a local fisherman brought in his fresh catch of dorado. Douwe (the chef) called me to the kitchen window to show me the most magnificent fish I've ever seen. My decision was made immediately. It was the finest dinner I've had ever. This wonderful little treasure will always be our favorite restaurant in Bonaire. Yummy, Yummy! Can't wait til next March. See you then Hans and Douwe.

Carol Collins

Frans.. You really have to chill. After all you're in the Carib.
Now I admit it, I have been (at times) in a hurry to leave a restaurant for whatever reason. Simply ask for the bill. Now you indicated you did that. If it didn't come to your satisfaction, stand up & go to the cash register & simply ask "what do we owe".
Really, not a big deal. When you have a credit card or cash in your hand, any place will tell you right away.
So hopefully you've learned something from your posting.
Enjoy your stay on island and relax..

@Jerry:
Note that I did not complain about time it took to prepare our food. It was just the time needed for checkout.

About the suggestion to go to the cash register:
We sat in the left part. I was completely unaware that there was a cash register I could walk up to.

Also I am from Europe and indeed unlike the US it is not done at all to go to the counter to pay.

Actually we felt completely ignored by the staff after we asked for the check.

And as I wrote: the food was OK, but definitely noting spectacular. No reason at all for me to return there. If other think differently, fine.
Next time I'd rather go to It Rains Fishes.
We were there earlier this week and personally I found the food better and the service *much* better.

Frans,
I'm glad that you were able to find a restaurant much more to your liking.
Enjoy the rest of your stay in Bonaire,
Mare

Mona Lisa is also a favourite place of ours, most years I have placed them as one of the top three meals of our holiday.

At any restaurant when I want to go and the check is slow coming, I will get up ask the waiter for the bill.

It really is amazing how defensive this message board is. We have been to Bonaire many times and the Mona Lisa may be OK for most but not for us. So Frans you are not alone!!

James, to each his own.
Not everything works for everybody.
That's why there are so many flavors of ice cream and so many different restaurants. (And so many different flavors of ice cream in the restaurants!)
Mare

Mare, I think that was the point I was making unlike most of the posts in this thread.

James, you take wonderful photos. I enjoyed looking through your website, thanks

Wow! James..Some of your models are just stunning!

Mare, James Thomas, Thanks for your nice words.

Maybe they had their day off. I don't know. Actually in the beginning they were very friendly and helpful . At that time there were only few people in the restaurant. Later on things went worse. E.g. when removing the plates, they did remove 3 of the 4 plates and it took some 10 minutes before they removed the last one. Ok, this can happen, it had become busy, so I can accept that, but the 20 minute check wait really did it for me (we all had already finished our drinks, and also ran out of table water).

I understood that apparently I stepped on some toes by saying something not-so-nice about their favourite restaurant.
Then again there are as many opinions as there are people. And of course it also depends on your expectation level.
I eat out quite a lot all over the world, and as I said, for me the food was OK, but nothing special.
Then again I know plenty of people who would think this is good (heck, I even know people who think McDonalds is great).

And maybe, just maybe, they decided as we are dutch that we are no good tippers, and that therefore they were focusing on the US patrons.
(if so: I must say that in this case it became a self fulfilling prophecy).

Frans...I'm sorry Mona Lisa was not your thing. Especially since I was the one who recommended the place to you. I am sure that they do not treat US customers any better or faster than Dutchies because of tips. I think it was a clear case of 'bad luck' based on the experiences we have had there many many many times.

Enjoy the rest of your trip and hope the other suggestions I made work out better for you!

i think both "mona lisa" and "it rains fishes" are both great places...but like a great dive site they may have a "bad" day...consistency in such an environment must be tough...

probably best to look at all the reports and then decide - doing so one would have to conclude that both "mona lisa" and "it rains fishes" are good choices...

and yeah, BT'ers must have big toes - they are always getting "stepped on"

chill mon, your on island time. i think 20 min. is a is fast for bonaire

Hey Bas, no hard feelings. It was our own choice to go there.

As a followup: yesterday we got a nice example on how such a situation is better solved. We ended up in the Plaza (don't ask why, that is a long story).
The staff was pretty busy. When the table was cleared for the main course, the waiter asked whether we wanted the dessert card. We said yes, and he left with the plates etc from the main course.

A little bit later he came back with plates for other customers, then started to do drinks for other tables etc. (I said it was busy).
Apparently he had completely forgotten to bring us the card. Not really a problem as we still had drinks. After 15 minutes or so he suddenly realised his mistake and quickly showed up with the card, meanwhile apologizing and telling he complete forgot about it. No big deal, but the apology made it quite acceptable.

If the folks at Mona Lisa also had the professional courtesy to apologise for the delay, our feeling would have been a lot better.

forgot to mention this in my previous message (and a little bit off-topic): The food at plaza (the banana restaurant was quite ok. Our expectation level was not too high, but the food was quite ok according to my standards.

The only thing we missed was the famous "Van der Valk appelmoes met kersje" :-)
(don't know the english translation, but even then probably only dutch people will understand this)

oh no!! I stay at the Plaza, and unfortunately don't speak dutch, but so want to understand. Can anyone please translate?

Ok, I'll give it a try.
Appelmoes is some form of mashed apple.
This is often served as a side dish in the Netherlands.
The Plaza is owned by a Dutch hotel/restaurant chain called Van der Valk (after the owners, the tucan that you see on the flag in the plaza is their trademark).
The Van der Valk restaurants are known always to serve this mashed apples as side dish and the distinguishing thing is that there is always a red cherry (artificially made very red) in the center of the bowl.

We did not get the mashed apples on Bonaire...

wow I can picture this but must say have never been served this at the Plaza. I have had some interesting steam table dining events at the Plaza for New Years, but not the mashed apple/cherry deal.

Now I have to find this when I am there in August. Thanks!!

It's "applesauce" in English.

Nice to see you pop in Ruth.
How are you?

Jennifer, just ask for "appelmoes".
Enjoy your stay!

thanks!! we always do

Apple sauce on latkas with a dollop of sour cream...who knows what you can find on Bonaire...

michael how exactly did you segue from applemoes to potato latkes? how about pot roast?