You guys know me, I’m all about hot new restaurants, especially in Curacao. Like most cool things on the island these days, I found out about this new restaurant through Instagram (just like Landhuis San Nicolas recently). I asked my husband to take us there for our 13 year anniversary, and next thing we found ourselves sitting in a beautiful outdoor courtyard at the island’s newest french bistro. Keep reading to learn more about the new Cafe George Curacao and what the experience entails!

Table of Contents

• About Cafe George Curacao
• Location
• Cafe George Curacao First Impressions
• Appetizers
• Mains
• Desserts
• Drinks
• How Much Did Dinner Cost?
• Kat’s Final Thoughts

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About Cafe George Curacao

I had never heard of Cafe George before so I had to look it up. To my surprise, they’re an upscale bistro chain based in Amsterdam and have a few locations all over the Netherlands. The vibe they try to go for is “blending French charm and big city energy.” I was curious to see how they incorporate Curacao to their evergrowing identity.

Cafe George is an all day cafe, so they’re a great spot for brunch, drinks, and dinner. I was actually excited to read this because there aren’t a lot of restaurants on the island that are open for brunch and dinner most days. You usually have cafes or lunch restaurants that close around 3 PM, and then dinner restaurants that open around 5 PM. Some cafes aren’t even open on the weekend (looking at you Number Ten!) so having Cafe George as an all day option is great.

Location

Cafe George has a great location in Pietermaai, right across from the Avila Beach Hotel. The restaurant used to be home to local favorite “Fish and Joy Bistro” before it became Cafe George earlier this year. With this new addition, Pietermaai has even more excellent dining options to choose from.

We always find parking easily on the street, but you’ll need to know how to parallel park. If you’re staying at Avila, then you just need to walk across the street and it’s perfect. Even if you’re staying at local favorites like Scuba Lodge, BijBlauw, or the new Art Hotel you can easily walk over to Cafe George. Even if you’re not staying in Pietermaai, you can easily drive here and I always recommend renting a car if you’re visiting.

Cafe George Curacao First Impressions

Back to our anniversary date night! We had a dinner reservation for 6:30 PM sitting in the “jardin” or outdoor courtyard. When we walked through the front door, we were greeted immediately by a young woman who asked if we had a reservation. We were led through the cafe and indoor restaurant section to the back courtyard and told we could choose any seat we wanted. I told my husband to pick a good seat and then I left him to walk around and take pictures of the restaurant because it was gorgeous.

Cafe George literally feels like a french bistro straight out of Paris with tropical weather and Curacao flora. When you first walk into the bistro, you step into their cafe area. There’s a bar and espresso machine on the left, and a cozy bench plus bistro-style seating on the right. The walls are adorned with black and white pictures of historic buildings, which I assume are other George locations but don’t quote me on that.

Past the cafe area is a natural flow into the indoor dining room (note: this area is called “restaurant” when making reservations online). This room is decked out with shiny white metro tile on the walls, Parisian rattan chairs, starchy white table cloth, and tea lights on every table. Did I mention there’s air conditioning here? During our boiling hot season, air conditioned restaurants are a godsend. There’s also a private room with 8 seats surrounding a long table, perfect for get togethers or business meetings.

My favorite part of Cafe George is the jardin, or outdoor courtyard. Set in the middle of the courtyard is a beautiful large tree bearing yellow flowers (possibly the Kibrahacha tree? Let me know if you know!) and romantic string lights above. There is cozy bench seating and tables for 2 and 4, as well as tables with direct views into the cafe’s open air kitchen. There’s another bar out here with fans keeping the air moving. Finally, walking around toward the front of the building are bistro tables in gravel with umbrellas for shade.

Appetizers

After snapping pics of the gorgeous restaurant, I finally sat down with my husband and was promptly provided with a menu and a glass of bubbles for our anniversary which was such a lovely gesture. We were asked if we wanted to start with bread or olives and we said yes to both while we perused the menu.

We ended up ordering a niçoise salad with seared tuna to share. In the meantime, the bread and olives arrived and they were honestly so good. I know, I know, it’s just basic snacks but the olives were stuffed with anchovies and had the perfect briney saltiness to them. The bread had that classic crunch on the outside, soft on the inside texture and paired well with the cold salted butter. Our espresso martinis arrived, and I really appreciated that they were able to make mine decaf.

It wasn’t an issue splitting our salad, and it ended up being the perfect sharing portion for the both of us. The salad was made up of fresh greens, soft fingerling potatoes, tomatoes, black olives, bell pepper, haricot verts, anchovy fillets, and a soft boiled egg. All of this was nicely coated in a tangy wine vinaigrette and went well with our leftover bread. The tuna was seared well on the outside while remaining plump on the inside and had a lovely pepper flavor. All in all, delicious start to our dinner and at this point we were excited for the next course.

Mains

For our main courses, my husband ordered the steak tartare with a side of fries. This is usually his go-to dish whenever we’re in Paris so it made for a good benchmark test to see if the one on the island could compare. I ordered the truffle ravioli with a plan to munch on my husband’s french fries and that was good enough for me! It was cool to see how well the kitchen team worked together as I could see them from where I was sitting. The food came out relatively quick.

My husband, being the fancy man he is (totally kidding here), got his tartare first and it came with a little show. They prepare the tartare tableside at Cafe George so when we saw the table with raw beef and the small dishes of seasonings, I knew we were in for a treat. Our waitress expertly started mixing the tartare with the classic seasonings all while maintaining light conversation with us about living in Curacao. Once she was done, she let my husband try a little and see if the seasoning was to his liking which it was. Shortly after, she came back out with the tartare newly plated with crostinis on top.

My truffle ravioli came out shortly after and while it wasn’t as fancy in presentation as my husband’s tartare, the flavors were divine. I loved the perfect al dente of the ravioli, and I could tell it was handmade by the imperfect borders on some of them. The ravioli was filled with a mushroom medley and covered in a rich umami truffle sauce. Honestly? Very tasty. No notes! I have to mention the french fries since I ate most of them – they were also great, like McDonald’s fries.

Desserts

After all the food we’d been eating, we somehow still had room for, not one, but two desserts. We couldn’t decide between the crème brûlée and the chocolate gâteau so we just decided to go for both since it was our anniversary and all. Again, the desserts here were executed perfectly.

The crème brûlée came with the classic crystalized sugar on top. The custard was flecked with vanilla beans and wasn’t overly sweet. It was silky, smooth, and just perfect. The chocolate gâteau was the real star though. The gâteau was reminiscent of a chocolate lava cake and served with a scoop of salted caramel ice cream. Cutting into the cake and seeing the molten chocolate drip out was an experience. My husband and I looked at each other the second we paired it with the ice cream and both went, “wowwwww.”

There are no floofy garnishes, sad strawberries, or obligatory mint leaves here. Cafe George knows what they’re doing, and they know the food is the star. I was really impressed with the quality of the desserts and can’t wait to go back and try what else they have.

Drinks

While we’re not big drinkers, we did notice that Cafe George has a decent sized wine list. They also have a specific section for rosés and aperitifs which is always nice to see. They even have a few mocktails as well. You’ll find the typical bar drinks like margaritas, daiquiris, gin and tonics, martinis, and more. Expect to pay between $11 to $16 USD depending on the cocktail you choose. Not cheap for the island, but it certainly beats Boston pricing!

As for the other beverages, I’ll have to come back during brunch and try their coffees and smoothies. I will say that the bottled water they serve is Aqua Panna for still and San Pellegrino for sparkling. Overall, a really nice selection for an all day bistro in Curacao.

How Much Did Dinner Cost?

Keeping in mind that this was a special occasion dinner to celebrate our anniversary, we knew that Cafe George was going to be priced higher than if we were to go to our local seafood place. Considering we got two appetizers, a salad, two mains, two desserts, and two drinks, the total came out to around $153 USD. Again, this would’ve been well over $200 if we were still living in Boston. I personally think the quality of the food justifies the listed pricing especially given that there isn’t another french bistro on the island quite this refined.

I took a peek at TripAdvisor prior to our dinner to see what people were making of Cafe George since opening and while there were a lot of positive comments, I saw a lot of “overpriced” and “too expensive” comments bringing the overall score down. It’s funny because Kome is more expensive than Cafe George and people LOVE Kome (as do we).

If you also like to read reviews, this is my regular reminder to take them with a grain of salt. There are people out there who have never been to a french bistro (and certainly not one in Europe), never been off the island, don’t like change, and didn’t look at the menu pricing before showing up that write these reviews.

Kat’s Final Thoughts

I had a great dinner at Cafe George. The service team was kind and professional, plus we never waited too long for anything. Our waitress literally kept walking by to refill out waters and check on us. The food was fantastic and we were very happy with all of our choices. The location cannot be beat and parking was easy. Did I mention this restaurant is gorgeous? I said in a video I posted that Cafe George felt like a slice of Europe in Curacao and based on all the traveling in Europe I’ve done in the last few years, I truly mean it.

I recommend Cafe George to anyone looking for bistro classics. I’m talking escargots, sole meuniere, lobster pasta, salmon beurre blanc, steak frites, and a classic burger. If you want a change from island barbecue and take your partner on a nice date, this is the place. Cafe George is also a great pick for business people, brunch girlies, and remote workers like myself who want an air conditioned all day cafe to hang out in. Next time, I’ll try out their brunch and will report back.