There is just not enough time to eat at all the great restaurants and to test all the margaritas. The Bintangs were always icy cold, delicious and refreshing.
Best Margaritas and Restaurants
BEST MEAL and this was on 3 occasions - YUT'Z. Not just because of the free margarita welcome drink either. The fillet steak with pepper or mushroom sauce is unbelievably good. The steak literally melts in your mouth. Absolutely delicious. The service was also very good and it was very cheap. 54000Rp for the steak. We would also have a serving of mashed potato with this. 18000Rp for the margaritas here which was the cheapest we found although they probably aren't quite as strong as some of the others but they taste good and drink enough of them and they do the trick. One small free one when you arrive and then when you order the next they are on the table within a minute. They have a granita machine churning frozen margarita mix around all the time so it is just a case of turning on the tap. Aaahhh that's what heaven is all about.
SECOND BEST meal and BEST MARGARITA was OURS in Garlic Lane. Very cheap, very nice and the staff are a lot of fun and the service good. Happy hour 5pm-8pm, 2 for the price of 1 - 40,000Rp. A perfect margarita. Years ago we used to go to Legian Gardens for happy hour because of the great margaritas. During a conversation at Ours we found that the barman at Ours is the nephew of the barman who used to make the margaritas at Legian Gardens. The bill here for 8 (yes 8) margaritas, 2 Tempura Prawns and garlic bread was 300,000 which included a good tip.
Green Garden and Febris (same owners, same menu etc.) have good satays. The margaritas are very good here, however it takes ages to get each drink. I could feel the life draining out of me between drinks. We learnt to order the second as soon as the first arrived but often the second didn't come until after we had finished our meals. Sad really, could have drunk so many more. Mainly went to these places because they're close to Bali Rani and to listen to the bands, not that they are anything special but it's entertaining depending on who decides to do karaoke. Best not to fill in the questionnaire they give you at the end of your meal with any negative comments, like I did on the first night about how slow the drink service is, coz they get you every time you come in and rouse you about it and the drinks still don't come any faster.
Also had a cheap and good meal at Bamboo Corner in Poppies 1.
WORST MEAL and worst margarita goes to Jimbaran Bay. This was the night they closed for 3 months for renovations. Well overdue I would say. We walked through to the beach and to our left was all the sliced up fruit, I assume for drinks, and it was just a black seething mass of flies. To our right the food waiting to be cooked was the same. I commented on this to our Balinese friend with us and next time we walked through the fruit was covered with sheets of fly paper, already well populated with flies. The meal was barbecued seafood, overcooked and all dried out and had to fight the flies to get it into your mouth. The margaritas were an oily mixture in a tiny glass, big price, no ice, no salt on rim. YUK, just like the rest of the place.
This meal was expensive by Bali standards and not cheap by Australian standards either. This was the one place we did get sick, sore throats that night.
I worried after being here because there were two dogs licking a dripping pipe trying to get a drink. I emptied my finger bowl and gave them a drink. They were so thirsty they drank two bowls each. They were lovely dogs and what happens to them now that the whole place is closed down? There was also a kitten and a cat, sooo skinny, they sat under our table and meowed constantly so I ended up giving them most of my meal which wasn't much of a sacrifice actually. What happens to them now?
2nd WORST MEAL (and this is going to upset a lot of forumites who love this place)
The Pantai.
The margaritas were good and the setting and the sunset were beautiful, but the seafood platter wasn't cheap and it consisted of dried out crayfish and crab, mushy prawns and rubber band squid. I ate here last in April and the squid was the same then. I gave it to a beach seller as I found it impossible to eat. I don't know how she went with it as she wrapped it up to take home (or throw in the bin). This time I tried to feed some to the Bali dogs on the way home but they wouldn't even consider eating it either.