Yemanja Woodfired Grill

Despite the fact that the food at YEMANJA generally remains good, the community presentation of accompanying dishes continues to seem tacky to us. Addiitonally, we went here twice this year and found consistency from one visit to the next to be quite lacking and any effort to try to get consistency was futile. One day we were able to modify a dish by changing a sauce and the next it wasas if we were talking to a wall. Though we will continue to patronize this place (and encourage other to do so as well), until given reason not to, we will only be visiting it once a year - there are too many other equally good competitors.

We went to Yemanja last year on the advice of a friend. It was great and we went again before we left. This year we made reservations before we left home and went twice. Next we we plan to go three times. It is the best we have been to. Great staff and outstanding food. Don't miss the best!

Food, service and atmosphere was very good. Will definitely go back next year!

At the recommendation of our friend, we ate at Yemanja on our last night in Aruba. I only regret that we had not gone earlier as we would have had the opportunity to return a second (or even third) time during our trip.

Any restaurant will be judged primarily on the quality of its food. The food at Yemanja was absolutely excellent. The chevre salad was the perfect combination of sweet and tart and the fish chowder could have been a meal in and of itself. I ordered the grilled pork chop and was initially concerned to not have a steak knife. However, the meat was so tender and perfectly cooked, I could have used my butter knife without any difficulty. The flavor combination - Cajun spice, sweet mustard and garlic - was impeccable.

You must absolutely save room for dessert! The "hot and cold" dessert, which is a espresso affrogato made with walnut ice cream and candied walnuts, should not be missed.

There were 4 adults and 4 children (ages 5 through 9) in our party. The servers would have been at home in any 5-star restaurant, but were still patient enough to accommodate the children and promptly and patiently clean up the inevitable drink spills that accompany kids.

We ate at several good restaurants in Aruba (Papillon, Simply Fish, Hoshi Sushi, etc.). Ordinarily, once I return to my busy schedule, I would not take the time to post a review. However - given the quality of the food and the service - I truly felt I owed this review to the owner, chef and staff of Yemanja.

We'll be back!

I just arrived back from Aruba for my 17th year. This is the first time I have ever bothered to write a bad review for a restaurant. I feel your choice for food can be very personal. I might love a place and someone else might hate it, however, there is no excuse for VERY POOR SERVICE. Our server was so aloof and seemed to be bored. It took us an hour to get our salads and the restaurant was not crowded that night. She never explained the delay and never asked if we needed anything all night. When we received our salads there was no avocado on it and when we told our waitress she just looked at us. Another waitress overheard us and brought some. The meal took hours. We were 8 people and all 4 women had upset stomachs that night. I would not go back.

The total dining experience was fantastic. We came here twice during the week. We sat at the bar and the service from Jose was tremendous. We had Barracuda, Veal chop, Grouper and Wahoo. All were excellent. The 2 pieces of homemade bread were huge at least 3 inches high and infused with fresh herbs rosemary being dominant. not sure what the previous poster was talking about. The main courses were cooked perfect and the sides are very good. my favorite were the grilled veggies with the slight hint of wood smoke. The calamari duo appitizer was wonderful as was the greek salad. We watched the staff running around but aleays with a positive attitude. the 1st evening we went the place was packed. Watching the Chef thru a large window at the bar, she was masterful at the grille as was her plating and presentations of the main courses. The food here definitly had some OMG moments. You wont be disappointed

We were excited to eat here but that quickly faded upon receiving our food. Our meal started ok with some good bread served with an olive tapenade and herbed butter, but it's a shame that they give you 2 very small pieces of bread, not nearly enough to enjoy the tapenade. If you want more, tney will charge you. Next came my fish chowder, and before I could even taste it, our entrees were also served at the same time. Not sure how that happened but no one apologized for the poor timing. So after quickly eating my chowder, I noticed that my 10 oz filet was actually 2 petit filets. I felt like I was cheated as no top notch steak house serves petit filets unless it's written on the menu and if you look at their menu, it doesn't mention this. So I overlook this fact, however I had ordered my steak medium rare and one of the filets was cooked medium and the other was cooked rare. I had to send the rare one back. On a positive note, for dessert we had a brownie which was perfectly undercooked and served with a delicious chocolate chip ice cream. Overall, I'm surprise how this place received such positive reviews. I would not recommend this to others.

We chose this restaurant based on the reviews on restaurantsaruba.com. Very happy that I did. The escargot and onion soup were fantastic. The steaks were tender and cooked perfectly.

My 8 and 10 year old got the kids tenderlion and they loved it. The garlic mashed potatoes, rice, vegetable and bean sides were out of this world.

We paid much more on Aruba for food that wasn't nearly as good. My only dilemma was trying to choose between all of the delicious appetizers.

My first time here and I will definitely be back. We opted for a table inside with the a/c. I got the filet mignon and it was the best steak I think I’ve ever had in my life. It melted in my mouth like butter. It came with some sort of truffle butter on the side which I could have consumed by the spoonful it was so good. We got sides of mashed potatoes, rice and veggies. The mashed was good but didn’t try the rest. The 3 others at our table all got the porterhouse which they said was mouthwatering. This is also our new favorite! I got the grand marnier crème brulee which was good. I can’t believe we’ve never tried this restaurant.

This is on the top of our top 10 list. Food, decor, and wait staff always exceed expectations. Save room for dessert.