The Kitchen

I had an exceptionally good meal at the Kitchen. I drink only water when I am in Aruba, and I asked when I first sat down that my glass stay full, and I never had to look for the server to fill my glass.
The appetizer was very interesting - escargot, served in its own miniloaf of bread, with a garlic sauce and minced vegetable. Delightful to see and to eat! My entree' was salmon, done to perfection, and served over roasted veggies. It was a surprisingly large piece, and cooked thoroughly, but still quite flakey. Last was the coconut mousse. Sooo creamy and smooth.
The cost for the three courses was a mere $25.00, no service charge.
I highly recommend the Kitchen!!

What a let down! After having amazing experiences at Matthew's and Da Vinci (same owner as The Kitchen), I was excited to try out The Kitchen. Oh, what a let down!

Let's start with the environment. It looks decent but its very make-shift. The wood flooring has spaces in them. If you drop something forget about finding it, its probably under the restaurant.

Moving on to the food, it was disgusting. I ordered 2 dishes, both were sub-sub-par. One dish I ordered was a mixed grill medium well and it comes with Brazilian beans, rice, roasted potatoes and vegetables. What was sad, is that none of the items came out even satisfactory. The potatoes were raw, the rice and bean were cold (like out of the fridge). The vegetables were attempted to be sauteed but were hard and dripping in oil. The meat was terrible!!! The skirt steak came pretty much rare and you could make out that it was sitting in the freezer for maybe days. The chicken was absolutely dry.

Most disappointing was the service. Once again, all the other restaurants owned by the same owner, has simply amazing service. In Matthew's once you sit down, the staff is so good, you really don't want to leave.

Let's start with the waitress, she was very friendly at the beginning. When the food had just arrived, before I could take a bite, she swooped in to ask if everything was alright. After that, she never showed up. We tried getting her attention for service but she was too busy chatting with other staff members. 20 minutes later, when we got her attention, she showed us her index finger (indicating one minute while she laughed with her co-worker). When she arrived 5 minutes later and I notified her about the poor quality of food, she got defensive and told me that I made a mistake. I was suppose to have gotten her attention earlier to tell her. HA! It would probably be easier getting a hold of the Queen of England. She then told me there must have been a mix up in the kitchen. I told her not to worry, just let me have the bill so I can leave.

All of a sudden, the manager comes storming over. She was something else! You can see, she has no customer-relation skills. In my opinion she is not suitable to be a manager at any restaurant. She is the reason, I am writing this review. The restaurant is only as good as the person(s) running it. In that case, god help The Kitchen. I haven't met a manager that is so pompous and has such a bad attitude to back it up. She first blamed me, just like the waitress, stating that I should have contact the waitress earlier and that the waitress did asked me(before I had a bite) if everything was alright. She then asked me what was wrong after giving me an earful. I stated the food was sub-par. Her first response was every restaurant makes food differently. Almost undermining my intelligence in food and cooking. I've been to restaurants all over the world, from boutique restaurants in the islands of Greece to fine dinning restaurants in England and France. One thing I can tell you that medium well means mediums well (not raw) and cold means cold (not warm or hot). You don't need a PhD in food for someone to tell you that. I promise you, I could made a better meat in my sandwich grill, I don't need a wood fired oven. Then she said, it was probably a bad day and it must be busy. There were 4 tables occupied and only one, before I entered. I told her don't worry just get me the bill.

She needs to learn from the managers at Matthew's, they know how to run a bigger and better restaurant and a fantastic bar. Matthew's management and staff are on par with any high end restaurant in the world. Riccardo and Jorge run a tight crew. My review of The Kitchen is 1/10 and I promise you I will not being going back. Especially when the Balashi chill, I drank, happened to be the best and safest thing I ordered.

Great place for take-out food! Ordered one pasta entree and some California rolls and it was more than enough food for 2 people. Loved the fact that the food is made fresh for you while you wait. Prices are good and the counter service is helpful and friendly.

They are working to add an "eat in" area as well in the next few months.

I had read about this place here and decided I had to try it.

I asked many locals where it was as I had an idea of the general vicinity. I asked a few fellow tourists in the super market (people who, like me, seemed to be somewhat familiar with the Island, and not one person knew where it was?!!?!

Finally as I was about to give up, there it was. At the end of a strip mall near Lings. The food was great! I ordered from there four times! I got the Steak Sandwich one day for lunch. great angus steak, steak fries and pickle. $7.USD! Great quality, excellent quantity. Then I got hooked on their surf and turf and had it three times during my stay. It was Angus skirt steak with shrimp, jasmine rice, roasted potatoes and brazilian black beans. $13.USD

Best take out in Aruba! I also tried the chocolate mousse which was fantastic as well. I can't recommend this place enough.

This is a great concept. Instead of a big seating area and a small kitchen (like most restaurants have), this one is all about the Kitchen. You pay take-away prices but get high end restaurant food. They really cook for you. Everything (except deserts) are made to order. My favorites are the Black Angus Steak Sandwich ($7) and the Spicy Tuna Sushi roll ($9). The dessert are great as well. Today we brought the food across the street from Super Food to the beach there and had a great lunch sitting on the sand eating this great food. It just does not get any better than this.
A must in Aruba, at least a couple of times a week ;-).

Food tasted great; skirt steak, vegies, rice, potatoes, black beans and sauces. Dessert as well the chocolate mousse, very good.Good value for your money.

We are here with our whole family and a few others. There are 11 of us including a 3 year old and one year old.We decided to do carryout tonight and to try The Kitchen. Dinner was excellent. The sushi, tomato soup, tuna tataki, greek salad, fish, skirt steak, tenderloin, chicken shrimp, salmon,and escargot were all great. So were the potatos, rice, veggies, and black beans. The chocolate mousse and truffles were excellent.Pricews were reasonable and we did a quick grocery shop at Kong Hing while the food was being prepared. This is a wonderful addition to the Aruba restaurant scene.

We stopped at the Kitchen upon arrival from NY. We were hungry and were greeted by one of the owners who explained the concept of the restaurant. We waited for a shorttime while our wraps were prepared for us - each was cooked fresh right there. I've never seen a cleaner kitchen area. We enjoyed our wraps and this will probably become our stopping place when we arrive - hungry and ready to go shopping.

Prijs kwaliteit verhouding perfect! Meer dan ik had verwacht voor die prijs. Lekkere gerechten, van de carpaccio tot de gamba's en mixed grill. Echt een aanrader! Ga zo door!!

Tuesday, 09/07/2010
DD wanted to see the movie at CLBR, so we decided tonight would be a good night to try the takeout at the The Kitchen. DW & DD wanted to eat light – so DW had the chicken breast salad and DD had the Caesar salad. Me? Not so light - I had the mixed grill – skirt steak, sausage, & chicken – which came with veggies, potatoes, rice, and Brazilian black beans – very filling. They don’t have a phone line yet, so they only accept cash.