OK - I'm leaving in a few days for Aruba - We are going to be there for 5 nights and we will be staying at the Marriott Ocean Club - I need help !! What are the 5 BEST RESTAURANTS in Aruba ?? and what's the Tango place all about ?? Do we need a rental car ??

We were there a few years ago at the Marriott Stellaris. We really liked the beach-front restaurant there at night. It was not cheap, but the food was really good. We also liked Aqua, Carlos and Charlie's and El Gaucho. We took taxis, but a car would be nice, as it is an easy island to navigate.
Don't know about the Tango place.
The sunset sail through DePalm tours was nice, as was the jeep tour of the island. Beware: someone in your group will need to drive the jeep and it is a very rocky drive and steep, so if you volunteer to drive the car, be good with a clutch on a steep incline!

Thanks IW !

We liked Texas de Brazil and Le Petit Cafe

Thanks KVR - is the Texas de Brazil the place with the dancers ?

The five best restaurants are El Gaucho, El Gaucho, El Gaucho, El Gaucho, and Driftwood.

(Also loved the fun of Amazonia, if you're a meat-eater.)

Thanks KARAMELI - did you guys try Madame Janette's or L G Smith Steak House ? A lot of people here in NJ are recomending those.

Been to Aruba three times leaving for our fourth trip in Feb. With out a doubt three awesome restaurants are El Gaucho Steakhouse in town, Bella Luna on the hotel strip, and for a romantic sunset dinner literally on the beach do not miss Flying Fishbone. Flying Fishbone is out past the airport a bit of a drive in the middle of no where but, definately worth it. MUST make reservations for sunset seating. Have a fabulous time.

Thanks DEBFOGLIO !! Will try them - I'll print this out and take it with me - oh - do we need reservations ??

Hi we were also at the Marriott hotel side a couple of years ago. It is a great complex. We did not rent a car at all and just taxi'd to restaurants.
I would recommend renting a jeep for a day trip around the island.
Restaurants: El Gaucho was our favorite! We also liked Chalet Suisse (continental fare) and the beach restaurant called Simply Fish at the marriott. I am not a big fish fan, but the atmosphere with the sun setting was just wonderful. I would recommend making some restaurant reservations for the places you really want to eat at! This is a high season. You can probably email reservations ahead. You can always cancel if you change plans. The Marriott concierge can make them for you too.
We did not make it to tango or Madame Janettes, but I did hear good things about Madame Janettes. The Texas d brazil was good but you have to love lots of meat!!! The steaks at El Gaucho's were the best. They have a strolling minstrel. Ask to dine downstairs when making reservations. I was told that and we did eat downstairs. I never saw the upstairs, but apparently it is very close quarters.
Aruba has great dining! Enjoy!

IMO,the 5 best restaurants in Aruba and in no particular order are
EL Gaucho - great steakhouse
Pago Pago - steak & seafood
Hostaria da vittorio - italian
sunsett grille - steak & seafood
ventanas del mar - romantic/views
also very good:
blossoms - japanese
chalet suisse - steak
ruinas del mar - romantic
LG Smith - steakhouse

Tango is an argentine steakhouse located across the street from the radisson hotel palm beach area, they have a live tango dance show during dinner, the food is just okay not as good as EL Gaucho but if you are looking for entertainment may be worth it. taxis are everywhere and cheap, fares are a set fee at like $8.00 from downtown to the hotel zone and and you will never have to wait but with that said I would certainly rent a car for a couple of days and tour the island.
enjoy Aruba!

Top Five Restaurants:
Sunset Grille
Chalet Suisse
Texas de Brazil
Ventanas del Mar
Chez Mathilde
Tango's actually has very good food and excellent service. We went with two other couples and it was great. They have live tango dancers that perform several sets nightly inside the restaurant, or you can choose outside seating with a guitar player and singer.
Do you need a rental car? It depends. If you are interested in exploring the island, rent one for two or three days. If you are only leaving the Marriott to dine and shop, it's just as easy to take cabs and the buses are very reliable.

Yes, you will definately need reservations for all of the restaurants that I suggested, especially if you want a sunset seating at the Flying Fishbone. I have the e-mail addresses to all of the restaurants and one other that I suggest as well. This will also give you a chance to see the locations and view the menus. Some of these restaurants will take reservations up to two months prior to your arrival.
Le Dome- www.ledome-aruba.com
Flying Fishbone- www.flyingfishbone.com
El Gaucho- www.elgaucho-aruba.com

My other suggeston is The Waterfront Crabhouse in the Seaport Marketplace in town. Great for if you want a night out shopping in some quaint shops, a little gambling and/or a show, then dinner. The e-mail address is www.visitaruba.com/waterfront/. Excellent seafood & all of this in in walking distance from eachother so you would just need a cab ride there and then a cab to return back to your resort when you are done for the evening. OH, and about the rental car. If you have never been to Aruba before you really only need to rent a car or jeep(for the more adventurous off-roading)for a day. You can see all of the important sights in a day, in my opinion. Just get a taxi for everything else. Believe me there are plenty of them!!!!!
Have a fantastic time! I look forward to getting there again this Feb.

We are now frequent Aruba visitors, so much so that we got married there a few years ago. One of the reasons we love it are the diverse restaurants (we are, admittedly, a bit of the food snobs.) Definitely try Flying Fishbone, Sunset Grille & Madame Janette's; Hostaria da Vittorio was nice for standard Italian fare and on recent trips have had excellent meals at Chalet Suisse. For our 2 cents, we've never had a good experience at Ventanas. Would love to hear upon your return how you found the Marriot Ocean Club (cleanliness, service etc.) Have a great time!

Hi JerseySue,

I actually didn't notice your screen name the first time around -- I'm from NJ too.

We didn't do LG because we'd done El Gaucho and Amazonia -- we're big seafood people, so that was two more beef dinners than we'd normally do on a beach vacay!

We also missed Madame Janette's. I've also heard that Flying Fishbone is not to be missed. But we got lost on the way! You may want to spring for the cab ride if you go here.

Driftwood was fantastic fresh fish. They catch it every morning.

Also, not sure if you have the hot-stone restaurant (Le Petit Cafe, I think?) on your list, but I've heard from several friends and one cab driver that it's overpriced and overrated. We were happy to skip it, since the idea of cooking my own food doesn't appeal to me!

Have fun....it's easy to eat your way through Aruba!

Our favorite restaurant was Que' Pasa, it was referred to us by a local and the food was wonderful and the price.

We also liked Flyin' Fishbone and Rumba.

Enjoy Aruba's great restaurants!
Christie

Hi JerseySue - You will most likely be coming home when I'm leaving for my 5th trip to Aruba. We've stayed at the Marriott Ocean Club and loved it there. This trip we are staying next door at the Marriott Resort. I'm not a big foodie on vacation but we've had good meals at Texas de Brazil, Iguana Joe's, and Don Carlo's on the waterfront in downtown Oranjestad. Have a wonderful vacation!

Thanks everyone !! You guys at Fodors always help to make our trips great !

We ate at the Sunset Grill @ the Raddisson...they have an award wining wine list and fantastic food.. not cheap but well worth the great meal that we had