Island Dining - The Paddock

We were at Customs in Oranjestad the other day. It was early afternoon when we were done waiting in line and we hadn't eaten.  We had passed "The Paddock" numerous times and also had many suggestions from friends to eat there, so we did. It was just across the street from Customs.  We have no idea why there is a cow, a VW Bug limo or a dinosaur on the roof, but it sure got our attention!

 The Paddock is primarily an outdoor restaurant.  With the constant breeze, it was a comfortable place to eat.  We took a couple of pictures of our fellow dinners.  They were a little skittish, but not because they were trying to avoid the camera, more like they were trying to avoid being stepped on.

 Drinks and specials are on the chalkboard.  We each had a hamburger.  Marty's had pineapple bits between the patty and the melted cheese.  He enjoyed it, and a quarter of Peggy's too.  But this will not be one of our favorite places to eat. A little bit too many "ride-alongs" on our plates.

 Inside the restaurant, autographed dollar bills and other currency were stapled on the walls.

 The view consisted of people and cars on the street (not shown) and in the other direction a large cruise ship.

Then there was the occasional sailboat.

 We took a picture of this fellow diner because of what she was holding between her fingers--a cigarette.  Generally there is very little smoking in restaurants.  We don't recall seeing "no smoking" signs in the restaurants, people just tend to avoid it, thankfully, probably because most of the resorts have a "no smoking" policy.

Two more things:  This restaurant had menus in Dutch and menus in English.  Peggy picked up Dutch menus on the way in since there was a "please seat yourself" sign. Peggy didn't notice a difference, which spoke well of her German memories. Then the waitress brought us English menus, which we could suddenly read better. We find we're often mistaken for Dutch tourists on the Island. Arubians learn four languages in school. They initiate conversations with us in Dutch first. We wonder if that's because of our blue eyes.  The other thing: In the tourist areas restaurants show dollars on their menus. Everywhere else on the island, it's Florins, which is the same as the Dutch Guilder.