Eetcafe The Paddock

I cannot remember a restaurant with a worse service than this (I am 61 and know 27 countries...) They just don't care about customers. And they don't care...

Well, I was disappointed. My new wife and I are exploring the less expensive restaurants on Aruba, and therefore the All You Can Eat Ribs for $13 deal was super exciting; that is, until we went. ALSO: there was a "free souvenir drink with purchase of a meal" coupon in a guidebook, so I thought "sweet! A free drink too!"
When we arrived it was a beautiful setting: dusk was fast falling, the seating area was half-full, and the waiters looks young and friendly. Well, when we got there we stood next to the stand where there is normally a host/hostess, and no one helped us. Then a waiter walked back behind the podium and looked at me and smiled, to which I told him there were just two of us and I asked where we should sit, and he said "wherever you want". So I chose a table on the pier, on the sand just overlooking the water (gorgeous!). But then there we sat for over 10 minutes. Waiters walked behind us, next to the tables near us, and entirely ignored us. Then a waiter saw me and sort of waved. I thought "great, we can get drinks or finally be treated like paying customers". Finally my bride said that I should go talk to a waiter and see if we can get menus/service/anything. The young waiter was very apologetic when he realized we were being ignored. That was good. Then a different server came up to us and took our orders and all that. Finally. Btw, the ribs were big, juicy, and generally good. Some were overly dry, but my first plate (I had two plates) was really good. Overall the service was really poor and that just made the experience so much lower than it could have been. As an aside, she had the Grouper salad, and it was bland, and this is coming from a girl who generally appreciates bland food.
And about that free drink? They said they were ALL OUT of the "souvenir drink" so I didnt get it. Being an American who is used to customers being valued I expected them to you know, replace the "Sourvenir Drink" with, oh, gee, one soda? a free beer? whatever? But, no. No honoring the coupon. All in all, not the best place.

Every year The Paddock is one of our must go lunches. We go on Sunday, so we can park in front. There have been years when my points were a lot less. This year we really enjoyed our lunch. They have added sand to their patio, which gives the feeling of sitting on the beach. My carpaccio sandwich was excellent, as were the Tosti Paddocks of the others. The one minus were the fries. Being a Dutch restaurant I'd have expected much better. I had one, it was cold and overfried. Disappointment for this Dutch girl for sure. But besides that it was better than other years for sure.

stupid pigeons at the tables, basic food with a nice view in the harbor

everything fantastic!! nice people nice service nice view, I will be backi noticed that the paddock is one of the most visited places at this moment, neverv a dull moment!!

I tried to go there with my wife. We entered it, sat near the water in the back, and waited. After 15 minutes without receiving any attention, we simply left. There are so many other nice places in the island where you will be treated really well. I don't recommend yoy going there.

We always enjoy the casual atmosphere at the Paddock. The food is good and very reasonably priced. The servers and bartenders are very friendly. You are sure to have a great time.

We had EXCELLENT service both times that we went to The Paddock on our recent months stay in Aruba. The all you can eat ribs were delicious and cheap and I had barely finished my first plate when the waiter was there asking if I would like him to bring me another. He did, very very quickly and with a smile on his face. I cannot say enough good things about the friendly and efficient service we had. We were lucky enough both times to get a nice water side table. The pork sate and the grouper sandwich were delicious too.

HORRIBLE SERVICE...MAKE THAT NO SERVICE!

We really enjoyed The Paddock last week on our trip to Aruba. We went on a Wednesday and had the all-you-can-eat ribs for $13. They were very good and a relative bargain for Aruba. We found the servers friedly and also enjoyed the live music that night. If you go, get a nice harbor view table. This is also a great place to go for a drink or two.

DanB