The Pirates Nest

We are staying at the Bucuti just now and are half way through our holiday on our first trip to Aruba. The Pirates Nest is therefore our home restaurant and we have have eaten there on several nights since arriving this week.

The food is excellent and well presented, I had the Mango Shrimps for a starter and the fillet steak for the main and it was terrific, I like my steak almost blue and it arrived perfect. In contrast my wife likes her steak very well done and again this was achieved. The meat was lovelyband tender and simply melted in the mouth.

Desert was again very nice, not outstanding but a clean end to the meal. The wine was very nice and I even took away the bottle with what was left for a glass later on the balcony in our room.

The setting is very picturesque in the day and early evening and once the the sunsets there is the crash of the waves on the beach to set the mood.

The staff were very attentive and could not do enough for you, even talking us through the turtles that were born very recently on the beach. They are only too happy to engage you in conversation if you wish and leave you alone if that be your desire.

The menu is slightly higher class than some will be comfortable with and the prices might not be cheap enough for others but I felt it was a great meal for the money and hence our decision to eat there again and again.

We have also had lunch here and again it was great fare with good sized portions to boot. I reallly liked the signature burger ad the Cuban Sandwich and wife loved the quesidilla.

The drinks were a little slower but this is simply because it's a busy time. Ordering multiple drinks at the start and re-ordering a little before you would normally makes all the difference.

All in all a great place to stop and have a nice lunch or evening meal.

A big thank you to the the staff

We had two wonderful lunches at the Pirate's Nest so we saved our last night of vacation for there. The atmosphere was wonderful. The pastry pillow puff was terrible. The pastry was like lead and it definitely was not buffalo motzarella it was the cheapest brand you could buy and wasn't even fresh. My red snapper was dry and was not fresh also. The rice had no flavor but the veges were ok. My husband's dinner was good except that it was too spicy and he likes spicy. You need to improve. It ruin our last special evening of vacation. We were on vacation these past two weeks.

We've been visiting Manchebo and Bucuti for a couple of years, and this time we were bowled over by a brand new menu at the Pirate's Nest. Did lunch here throughout our visit, and the food was excellent. Really different from the old hotdog days--fair prices, very fresh seafood, and great choices. We didn't have time to do dinner this visit, but the menu looked great, and we'll definitely do so on our next trip. Oh, and the service is outstanding as well.

We enjoyed four lunches here, two from their new menu which was introduced the week we visited. All were very good, with attentive service ensuring we enjoyed our choices. The planter's punch cocktail was the best, with great bar service.

We have been going to the Pirates Nest for about 18 years...having said that it's not likely we will be back. We stay at Costa Linda next door and found it easy to go to the Pirates Nest on our first night in Aruba. They used to have a more casual menu that was actually pretty good. They now are trying to be more upscale based on location and that's understandable, however, the quality of their food is not very good. The location is nice and both the outdoor seating overlooking the beach as well the indoor seating inside the boat are both nice. They have recently remodeled w/a very tasteful modern decor. The service has never been good but combine that w/bad food and now the quality value is just not there. Aruba has many more choices and you don't have to settle. We spent $200 w/tip for a party of four and that's without drinks! Unfortunately, unless they do a complete turn around our yearly tradition will no longer include them.

Stayed at Manchebo, the neighbors of Bucuti at which this restaurant is located. Went to Pirates Nest once to try it out, because we planned to stay at Bucuti at our next trip. We were disappointed and actually changed our mind about staying at Bucuti.
When we came in we were asked were we wanted to sit, anything was OK. But when we wanted to sit at the closest table to the beach, we were told that one is not possible because it was booked. Nobody showed up at the time they said it was booked, the table stayed empty all evening...

The food was not good, especially compared to other restaurants in the low rise or Aruba in general. My starter was a sate in peanut sauce. It was like eating rubber balls with sauce. The rest (house specialty) was OK, not bad not super, just OK. The setting was so dark that we actually didn't see what we ate and hardly could read the menu, but for the rest it was romantic so "at the beach".
Service wasn't too good, depending on who helped it ranged from OK to uninterested. Not something we would return to. Go to Pinchos if you want to have a romantic diner where all variables are right!

Awsome possum!!! this was the best food and scenery we found in aruba. we ate there twice. the price was resonable but the food was absolutely incredible. When we go back, we will definatly eat there again. thanks for helping make our trip more memorable than we could have wished..

My wife and I stayed at Bucuti for our honeymoon. Our dinner on the beach was awesome. Our waitress was very energetic, and she took our pictures when the sun was setting. The food was great as well. Don't listen to the other reviews on this page.

My husband and I loooooooved this place!!! We stayed at Bucuti for our Honeymoon in 2003, and we ate almost ALL of our meals at the Pirate's Nest. We were in heaven every time we were there!!! The staff are SO nice and friendly, and we were treated like royalty! The romantic dinner on the beach is a MUST, you have a waiter all to yourself, ours brought us beautiful flowers and told us a romantic story about love :). We got to know one of the waiters pretty well and always requested him. And the happy hour is fantastic!!! I loved sitting there listening to the awesome steel drum music while munching away on yummy apps and chit-chatting with friendly staff and guests!!! Anyway, it is not the food you will remember about this place, but the people and the paradise like atmosphere! Gosh, come to think of it, we are about due for another trip to Aruba!!!

Great place for a quick lunch, especially if you stay at the Bucuti. Service is pretty quick and location on the beach is great. The iquanas come right up to grab bits of lettuce and anything else that may fall on the floor. Just watch the wind on the beach!

We almost didn't go to this restaurant after reading the reviews on this page, and I am so glad that we didn't listen. The restaurant is right on Eagle Beach, and we were able to catch a sunset while we were waiting for our dinner. The food was excellent and the staff was very friendly. We enjoyed it, it was one of our favorite dinners on the island. The only suggestion I have is to not eat your food right when the sun sets. The flies become blinded by the sunset and they are drawn to the light of your table for about 10 minutes and then the disappear. I loved my dinner at the Pirate's Nest though, very romantic.

THIS PLACE IS FABULOUS! Only on this site am I first reading about anyone not having a good time at this place. HAVING A GREAT TIME is the only way to put it! It far exceeded our expectations! The food was great, the service was very, very good! All around EXCELLENT! I have no doubt that anyone who goes to this place will have an experience they will cherish forever!

I am not sure why this place has such a bad reputation, I have heard all over the island to not go here. But we tried it and the dinner was great. The setting is fantastic, candlelight, outside, facing the ocean, what more could you want. The menu is small, but the food was fantastic. We went twice and we tries the beef carpaccio and the sauteed mushrooms and escargot, both delicious. For dinner we had fish both times, we tried the snapper, tuna and chilean sea bass, all were excellent. This place rocks.

We were staying at the Bucuti and had the romantic dinner on the beach. The Pirates Nest is the hotel at the Bucuti. The food was average, but the setting was incredible, we had our own waitress for the night. It was very romantic. We also ordered lunch from there when we were on the beach, it was okay.

On just about any review for the Bucuti, you will read about the restaraunt being its weak point. We agree. It is a dissapointing part of an otherwise great hotel. Don't go out of your way to go to eat there. Additionally, the ship itself does not look very realistic at all.

Had lunch at The Pirates Nest. Sandwiches are huge with generous portions of side dishes as well. Service was a little slow.

I STAYED AT THE BUCUTI BEACH RESORT AND ATE THE PIRATES NEST SEVERAL TIMES. I ENJOYED EVERY DINNER I ATE THERE. THE LUNCHES LEFT ALITTLE TO BE DESIRED BUT THE DINNERS WERE GREAT. THE WAITERS AND WAITRESSES WERE VERY ATTENTIVE AS WAS DEBBIE THE RESORT MANAGER. SHE STOPPED AT OUR TABLE EVERY LUNCH AND EVERY DINNER WE SPENT THERE TO MAKE SURE EVERYTHING WAS TO OUR SATISFACTION. I WILL DEFINATELY BE RETURNING. THANKS GUYS!!

First time here and probably wont go back..food was OK..nothing to write home about and I thought the service was just slow because we ate there during the floods and one of the managers came by when we sat to explain they were shorthanded so we completely understood and I'm guessing it was even slower than usual because of the weather but from reading other reviews service is just bad period.

WE ate here on our second night as we were staying next door at Manchebo, the location and sunset were beautiful and that was about all that I have good to say. The service was HORRIBLE even by aruba standards. A table next to us waited 20 minutes for a steak knife after his steak had been set before him! Several people were complainng and the manager seemed to be having a hard time keeping up with all the complaints. We waited a long time, even for Aruba, for our check after we asked for it. My husband's food was terribly over cooked seafood medley and he was greatly disappointed that this cost him $26.50, worst meal we had the entire week in Aruba and will not return here.

We ate dinner here our first night because we were staying at the Bucuti. It was a great start to a great vacation. Because of convenience and reasonable prices we ate lunch here everyday. The lizards and iguanas are always nearby waiting for a "treat". (not the case when dinning in the evening) Well worth the trip...and the mango daiquiris are great!

Beautiful location on the beach. Food was OK, but it took a long time to be served and we were tired as it was our first night on the island.

We ate here for three nights out of our week. The food was all delicious! We had the shrimp, barbary steak, grouper, mahi mahi, chicken cordon bleau, plus breakfast twice and lunch once. The food and service was always top notch!! And the setting right on the Beach is wonderful! Also during happy hour, which is 4 to6 and 8 to 10 every evening at the sand bar which is right next to the restaurant they have a man named Lee Conner who plays beautiful steel drum music for your enjoyment.
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Had a very bad experience, with overcooked food (burned) and mediocre service.

We love this restaurant. There's no better atmosphere for reasonablly priced, casual dining right on the beach, under the stars and with a gentle tropical breeze. For the 3rd year in a row I chose their giant Cap'n Kidd Shrimp Treasure. It was spicier than usual but ate every bite...chasing each with sips of water :)
Gerry tried their Barbery sirloin which was huge, fat, juicy, flavorful and cooked to perfection. It was one of the best steaks he had on the island. We also received a free bottle of wine with our Aruba Plus Card. Our waiter, Hector, was wonderful. We were there very late one evening and he still had all his wits about him after being there all day. We tipped accordingly and passed a good word on to management about him.