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Last Update: Mar 14th, 2014
Aruba Beach Cafe Fort Lauderdale

Sunday Breakfast at Aruba Beach Cafe

When you don't have a 9-5 job the allure of Sunday Brunch is somewhat diminished. In a town where you can go to the beach for breakfast without the crowds on any given day, there's rarely a reason to venure out on Sunday and deal with the crowds and the tourists. So when you do go out, you want it to be something you can't get any other day.

While the $49. brunch at Counsil Oak is tempting; for that price you'd better be damn hungry or courting some serious tail. Most hotel buffets are wildly overpriced, but a nice buffet gives you the opportunity to load up on the stuff you like, taste stuff that looks interesting, and avoid the stuff you don't want altogether. I decided to give Aruba's "Breakfast by the Sea" a try.

The Aruba Beach Cafe Sunday Breakfast Buffet is $13.95 and is only served from 9am to 12pm, which means that its not a brunch. Its somewhat irritating, since the point of Sunday Brunch is that you can sleep late, enjoy your morning coffee and then go out for brunch later without having to rush. The brunch menu looks pretty inviting; the only negative is no omelet or carving stations.

Aruba brunch

The first thing I notice is that its pretty dead. A bit surprising, but it is summer season and a real scorcher. I decided to eat inside; the dining room was fairly empty. But for some reason the hostess is seating everyone near the service station. Is the goal to make your guests feel comfortable, or to make it easier for the servers? While the smallish table was a bit cramped, the view was pretty good.

Aruba view

I order coffee and head over to the buffet. There's a pretty good line but my first impression isn't so good. They have some pretty sick looking "danish", what look like some apple danish chopped up into little pieces. Zero variety. They have something that has the shape of a croissant but certainly not the light, airy kind. The scrambled eggs are runny and separating; there's cream cheese but no bagels, and no salmon spread in the menu indicates. I figured my first pass would be an egg breakfast; but I sure wasn't eating those scrambled eggs. As I make my way down the line, the bacon bin is empty except for broken bits sitting in puddles of fat. The potato bin is completely empty. I grab some sausage. The gravy for the biscuits has a thick crust on the top; I think I'll pass. There's some sort of cheese blintz; Seems a bit wobbly but I'll try it (the beauty of a buffet). Ah, there's some more bacon down the line. At the end is the eggs benedict. Hmm, how long have they been under the red lamp? I grab a couple and head back to the table.

Aruba Beach Cafe Sunday Breakfast Plate

Back at the table, my coffee is on the table; but there's no splenda. My first bite into the eggs benedict; its ice cold. Yum, nothing like a cold muffin and cold eggs. Its too bad, because the hollandaise is nice and lemony. The croissant is cold and dense. Not worth the calories. The bacon is ice cold. The sausage is luke warm and probably the only thing halfway edible. The cheese blintz thing is a soggy mess, filled with cottage cheese or something with a similar consistency.

Luckily this is a buffet, so I can leave most of this junk on the plate and go back to try something else. Maybe some french toast. I head back to the buffet area and it doesn't seem to have been stocked since my last trip (maybe 20 minutes). There are also no plates. Not one. I have to ask for one. The bottom scrapings of the scrambled eggs are the same as before. The buffet is decimated. I check the time: 11:33am. There's no crowd. Are they done stocking the buffet already? There's 1 sausage in the bin; I'd better grab it as I like sausage with french toast. There are some potatoes so I'd better try those. I get down to the french toast and grab a thick slice, but where is the syrup. There are 2 squeeze bottles near the bin; both sugar free Aunt Jemima. So my choice is sugar free syrup or sugar free syrup? There has to be something else. I start to look around. There's some jelly; they only have grape or orange. I don't really want jelly. So I'm stuck with the syrup. I'd better grab another egg. I need some food. Even cold food.

Aruba Beach Cafe Sunday Breakfast Plate

Back at the table. My coffee is still empty. You'd think maybe she'd refill it while i was gone considering the station is right near my table. I have to call her over. In fact, she didn't ask me once if I needed anything or if everything was ok. I check out the French Toast. Not bad, but ice cold. Great. Cold French Toast with sugar free store quality syrup. What a treat. The potatoes are also ice cold. And they're home fries, not hash browns as the menu indicates.

When you eat 8 meals a week out, you understand when a place has an occasional off day. But this "Sunday Breakfast by the Sea" is an insult. You'd think that while there's a line for breakfast next door this place is empty they might figure out that they need to step it up a bit. They made no effort to keep the buffet stocked or to keep anything, not one thing, even warm enough to eat. Its impossible to think that anyone would ever come back for this. So whats the strategy, to trick people into coming here once? Well here is the way to counter such a strategy:

This restaurant critic says Don't Go to Aruba Beach Cafe for Sunday Breakfast. It sucks.

Adding insult to injury, the following items listed on their menu were not available at this buffet:

  • Bagels
  • Whipped Cream
  • Salmon Spread
  • Sliced Roast Beef
  • Ham
  • Corned Beef Hash
  • Hash Brown Potatoes (they have home fries)

They obviously don't care about their customers. So why spend your money here? Its really too bad, because if the buffet was properly stocked; if they had everything they say they'd have; if they had decent maple syrup, and if the food was hot, it could be pretty good. But execution matters, and the execution at Aruba Beach Cafe is downright abysmal.

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knowbetter
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Aruba has been horrible for many years. The service is AWFUL, TOTALLY DISRESPECTFUL!!! If you could see how and where the food is prepared you would NEVER go there! The drinks are watered down or worse. It's too bad because it could be a great place but they just don't care. They bring in plenty of money from tourists that don't know any better and a pretty rough bar crowd that are just oblivious.
Homemadezagat
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I went for dinner there one night and excitedly looking forward to trying their brunch.. lol.. Takes this off my list
Jill Rahorn
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Thanks for the warning. I'd hate to have my Sunday ruined with a bad buffet.

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