Zeerovers

Location: Aruba

Order: Mahi, Yellowfin, Onions in vinegar, Plantains, Pan Bini (local corn-based bread)

Price: $23

Positives: The fish, dear god the fish is so fresh may as well have caught it, the atmosphere is amazing, the price is amazing, this place is just amazing

Negatives: The wait was kinda crazy

tldr: If you go to Aruba and don’t eat fish here you didn’t really go to Aruba, also don’t tell me because I’ll judge you

Thoughts: So let’s get this out of the way off the bat, Zeerover’s is amazing and you absolutely must here at least once during your trip to Aruba. I am not joking when I say that every single person on this island that I asked where I should eat told me Zeerovers. Ever. Single. Person. It’s the first restaurant they all mention. I’ve been traveling and eating a long time and that never happens. So believe me, believe them, believe the whole freakin island of Aruba, Zeerover’s is the best (and maybe cheapest) place to eat on the island.

I mean, after that do we really need a review?

In case we do….We went to Zeerovers on our sixth day in Aruba since you need to drive there, it’s only about 15 minutes from the high-rise hotel area but on Aruba that’s like half way across the island. When we showed up there was a line all the way to the entrance of the restaurant area-thing. We hopped in line and while chatting up the locals in line learned that this was fairly common during holiday seasons, weekends, and just random weekdays, because again Zeerover’s is the best restaurant on the island. After about 30 minutes of slow line movement we got to the front and ordered 2 pieces of Mahi, 1 pieces of Wahoo, fried plantains for 2, Pan Bini (basically pancake) and onions in vinegar (this last one was basically because our dive guide had been so adamant that I try it). The fish is weighed and you pay by the pound while the rest is just a flat rate, the total came out to $23. TWENTY-THREE DOLLARS! I don’t know if you’ve been following my reviews, but basically every other place I’ve eaten at has been $23 a plate and I just got a banquet for two that. I hadn’t even gotten my food and I was excited.

While we waited for the food we checked the place out. That might seem like a weird thing to say about a restaurant but Zeerovers is….unique. It apparently started as the place where the local fisherman used to bring in their catch for the day and has morphed into (all together now) the best restaurant in Aruba over time. There are three tiers of seating with the last one being on the dock overhanging the water, there are even a few tables all the way out on the pier. You can even watch the fish being sliced up for dinner while you are waiting for your meal. It’s a bit bizarre, a little chaotic, and a whole lotta awesome.

An excruciating 20 minutes or so later our dinner was delivered in a giant basket. The lightly fried fish and plantains all in one giant basket of mouthwatering deliciousness. Both the Mahi and Wahoo were some of the freshest fish I’ve ever tasted and perfectly seasoned and cooked. It almost falls of the bone (it’s sliced through the spine do you still have that one large bone in it, not really many small bones) as you pick it apart with your fingers. And let’s be clear, no-one here is eating with forks, you just drop both elbows on the table and dig in with the appetite of a half-staved shark. The plantains were basically perfect, the house made hot sauce was fire (in a good way, but plenty spicy), the onions in vinegar was bizarrely fantastic (Alan, our dive guide was right, thanks brother). The only thing that I would skip on again was the pancake stuff, but this could be because I think it’s like the official side dish of Aruba and we’d eaten a lot of it by this point. But the fish is the winner here, I just can’t get over how good this fish is, I still think Zeerovers might be the best fish I’ve ever eaten.

Clearly, I loved Zeerovers, clearly the island loves Zeerovers, clearly you will love Zeerovers (unless you don’t like seafood, that just occurred to me but why are you in Aruba then?), so just go.