Mona Lisa Restaurant & Bar

Bonaire Dutch Caribbean Food

Don and I had only been on the island a couple hours and we spotted this place!

Hard to Guess

It was hard to get a feel for the place before it opened.  The red shuttered doors and windows meant no peeking. The hand painted sign above the chalk menu, made the place look like a beach bar.  But once the doors opened at 5, Don and I wandered in and found something quite different.

What Style?

At a glance, this looked like a bar in Key West, maybe.  But the little place felt more like a charming European pub to me.  Maybe that was because of our Dutch bartender, Hans.  Or maybe it was the Swedish looking, painted pannels on the front of the bar, or the funny stone "foot prop" that surrounded the bar.

The Ladies

Maybe the European feel was because  Mona Lisa was staring at us from a wooden wall beam.  Hans said the restaurant wasn't actually named for the character in the painting, but for the wife and daughter of the original owner.  It was over 100 years ago a Mona and a Lisa lived in Bonaire and walked through these doors.  As for the women in Hans' life?  He says he belongs to 4 women.  His wife, 2 daughters and Mona Lisa.  

Hans seemed pretty relaxed and soft spoken to be the owner. But when he said he closes the place on weekends, I figured he must own the place.  You know you're in a laid back tourist community when the owner of a restaurant chooses to be closed on weekends to be with family! 

More Scoop

Larry, a retired Military guy from Canada joined us for a while. He had been living in Bonaire for over 10 years and had nothing but positive things to say about the  delicious food, friendly locals, and cleanliness of Bonaire. He made reservations before he left, saying he and his wife ate at Mona Lisa's  almost every Friday night.

Later That Night

That's all it took.  We made reservations before leaving and returned after sunset for a table on the sidewalk. 

Pink and Wine

It doesn't take much to please me. Give me a pink tablecloth and napkin and a little wine with Mona Lisa etched on the glass and I'm pretty happy.

We sipped a bit and nibbled on some fresh bread that we had smelled earlier.  Earlier, our bar stools had given us a great window view into the kitchen where the chef had been making last minute decisions on the menu.

When Dining on the Island...

I know I what I should have ordered, in this world of fresh seafood.  In most of the island restaurants they don't even decide their menu till the catch of the day comes in.  But the chef was also master of some incredible German dishes.  I had to go for breaded pork schnitzel!  Look at the size of that dish!

Don is the seafood man and he went for the catch of the day, which was Wahoo, I believe.  We also shared a serving of augraten potatoes.
As we dined away, we had some pretty good entertainment. There was a flow of tall, blond Dutch tourists on the sidewalks.  As for the one-way street beside us, there was a constant stream of slow moving (and very loud) local cars.  We should have done some counting, because there were quite a few cruising cars that we saw at least 20 times! 

Dessert!

There were a number of decadent desserts to choose from.  We went for the apple tart with cinnamon ice cream, both made by the chef.  By the time we finished dessert, we were pretty stuffed and had also had our fill of the throbbing rap and reggae from our passing cars.  The speed bumps were meant to keep things calm, but I'm afraid they just made the noisy cars last longer.

Bottom Line!  
This was our best and most memorable meal in Bonaire.  A little noise didn't ruin it, but we would maybe go for the cute inside tables next time!