10 Best Local Restaurants in Aruba

Zeerover is a seafood restaurant set on a fishing pier in the town of Savaneta. It’s a prime spot for enjoying some tasty fried fish and watching all the fishermen’s activity as they haul in their catch at the pier.

There’s a casual, sea-breezy vibe here, with a handful of tables set along the pier under a wooden roof and a counter where you order fish by the pound. The menu changes daily depending on what’s been brought in by the fishing boats that day – it could be wahoo, snapper or barracuda, served with local side dishes like funchi (polenta), plantain or pan bati (flatbread).

The Old Cunucu House has been a go-to place to try traditional Aruban cuisine for well over 2 decades. Set in a 150-year-old farmhouse, the restaurant serves local favourites like Aruban goat stew, keeshi yena (cheese casserole) and pastechi (a cheese-stuffed pastry). There’s also plenty of seafood to try here, including Caribbean lobster tail, stewed conch, and coconut fried shrimp.

The Old Cunucu House is found in a quiet residential area, with both indoor and outdoor dining available. There’s often live music to enjoy along with your meal, too.

Pika’s Corner is a restaurant and bar found in the resort area of Palm Beach, yet despite its touristy location, the tastes are truly local. You can dine in or take away, with the likes of carni stoba (beef stew) and calco stoba (conch stew) among the favourite dishes. Pika’s chicken, beef, shrimp and pork skewers are also popular, served on spears placed vertically on a wooden platter, looking like little meat towers.

Pika’s Corner is found next to Wacky Wahoo’s seafood restaurant, about a 10-minute walk inland from the sands of Palm Beach.

Gasparito Restaurant celebrates all things Aruban with its traditional dishes and gallery featuring the works of local artists. Found in Noord, a few minutes from the highrise hotels in Palm Beach, Gasparito offers diners an intimate setting in a 200-year-old country house – many have said that dining here feels more like visiting a family home than a restaurant.

Those in search of some Aruban and Caribbean flavours can try the restaurant’s Alicia’s Fish Soup with Creole flavours, keshi yena (cheese casserole) with seafood or chicken, or goat stew. Gasparito is open only for dinner with just 20 seatings per night, so reservations are recommended.

Huchada Aruba is a bakery and café found in the town of Santa Cruz, on Aruba’s west coast. Being located away from the tourist areas, Huchada offers a more local vibe and it’s a popular place to enjoy some tasty pastechi, a classic Aruban stuffed pastry. The menu has a range of pastechi choices including cheese, ham, galiña (chicken) and carni (beef). You can also find croquettes, quiche, cakes, and pancakes prepared with local flair.

Huchada’s a good place to pick up some hearty snacks before heading out to explore the nearby sights of Mount Hooiberg and Arikok National Wildlife Park.

Coco Plum is a tropical-style restaurant in downtown Oranjestad serving a range of Aruban dishes. The thatch-roof dining area – which they call their “coconut cabana” – might be small but the portions served within are generous. You could order a fish platter with whole red snapper or salmon, or try some local dishes like galiña stoba (chicken stew), pan bati (Aruban-style cornbread), and Aruban cashew cake.

Coco Plum is set on the main strip of Oranjestad, making it a convenient place to stop for a meal or a fresh batido (fruit smoothie) between shopping sessions.

Saco di Felipe has been a popular family-run place for tasty takeaway snacks since it first opened in 1946. Located in the small city of San Nicolas, about 20 km southeast of Oranjestad, Saco di Felipe serves up a modest range of meat-heavy offerings including chicken wings, pork chops, and ribs as well as Johnnycake (cornmeal flatbread) and plantain.

Meals are served in brown paper bags called “snack packs”. They're just the thing to help fuel a night out on the town. There are a few small tables out front if you need to sit down and tuck into your snack pack right away.

The Pastechi House is a charming little snack shop in Oranjestad’s Main Street area. As its name suggests, the Aruban stuffed pastry called pastechi is the main offering here. There’s a long list of pastechi stuffings to choose from, including gouda cheese, tuna, lobster, keri-keri (shark), shrimp and conch. They also serve croquettes, spring rolls, crab cakes and smoothies.

These hand-held pastechi snacks are great to enjoy while wandering the colourful streets of downtown Oranjestad. Most visitors to Pastechi House order takeaway snacks from the counter, but there are a few tables here for those who’d rather dine in.

Aruba Experience Café is found in a beautifully restored “cunucu” farmhouse in the Rancho neighbourhood of Oranjestad. The café’s bright yellow walls, murals and rich blue design touches give it a cheerful air, not to mention an appealing retro-chic backdrop for those Instagram photos.

Aruba Experience Café features healthy and vegan choices and a good range of breakfast and lunch meals like panini sandwiches, smoothie bowls, croissants, and wraps. Dishes with a more local flair include cachapas (Venezuelan corn pancakes) and arepas (stuffed cornbread). The café’s house brew, Hunt Brothers Coffee, also has local roots, having been founded by 2 Arubans who now run their coffee roastery in Germany.

Red Fish restaurant is a casual eatery serving Aruban red snapper – which inspired the restaurant’s name – and a range of seafood and local dishes. Red Fish started with only deep-fried fish and shrimp on the menu, but it’s since expanded to serve such favourites as conch in Creole sauce, pan-fried lobster, sopi di jambo (okra soup), and keshi yena (cheese-covered chicken stew).

Red Fish was founded by a local fisherman-turned-restaurateur who also owns the popular Driftwood Restaurant. It’s found at the Orange Plaza shopping centre in Oranjestad, with seating available in its open-air interior or outdoor terrace.