TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin New Italian restaurant (Altro) in Porto Cupecoy

There is a new Italian restaurant in Porto Cupecoy called Altro Italian Bistro. I haven't tried it yet, but I figured I'd let folks know. The owners are Christian and Brigitte Moreau, the original owners of Sol e Luna, along with their daughter Charlotte. If you go to Altro, let us know how you liked it!

Do you know if they are open for lunch?

They are supposed to be opening for a 3 course prix fixe lunch, but not sure if they have yet.
I know of someone who ate there last month for dinner, and said it was excellent.

Thanks. We'll be there in March for 2 weeks. Hubby has trouble driving at night now so we look for places to have late lunch when we stay on Dutch Side. 2nd week we'll stay GC so don't have to worry about dinner out.

Thanks for the tip. Love Sol e Luna so we will def try it.

Competition for Mario's Bistro

Nothing wrong with a little competition.
Looking forward trying Altro and revisiting Mario's <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" />

We have heard it is very good. Tried to go Monday, but they are closed on Monday's per schedule.

I did a search here and last April someone posted Mario's was closed on Sundays...it that still correct?
TIA

We ate there last night and had a good experience, overall. We had stopped going to Sol e Luna as the quality of the food and service had deteriorated. Last night, we found out why. The Moreau's sold it two years ago and then opened Altro.
The food at Altro was quite good, however, overpriced even by St. Maarten standards. Our only complaint was that it took way too long to receive our check after we were finished. Well over a half hour. They were quite busy.

Thanks for this update jimamytx. We were planning to try it in March and also return to Sol e Luna but since you say food wasn't as good as in the past we won't.

As to the wait for the check, I assume you had asked for it and not just waited after dishes were cleared. If you asked for it then it shouldn't have taken long. Friends of ours complained about waiting when they dined in GC but I think most places (other than Dutch side) are tuned to Europeans and they don't bring check until requested because they think it's offensive---like pushing you out of the place.

Are you saying that the prices were higher than Sol e Luna? As that's been the rap on them for a long time, that they were kind of expensive.

RonDon, you are correct. Our experience was that we couldn't get anyone's attention to ask for the check after we had been finished for quite some time. I guess I could have gotten up and tracked them down, but generally don't do that.
Re: pricing - not necessarily higher than Sol e Luna, they just seemed higher than some of the other fine dining locations.

Thank you for the update jimamytx

We also went on Friday. Casarece (pasta) was excellent. Hubby had risotto but the portion was so, so small (and we are not big eaters) but it was excellent. Pricey, nice to listen to Christine Gordon singing at Rende Vous. A bit disorganized service.

I didn't read all the post thoroughly but you definitely have to ask for you check in SXM. They don't want to rush you in most cases.

A few restaurants in Grand Case plan on turning the tables will bring the check but most wait for your to ask.

Yes, It's l'addition s'il vous plait. Otherwise, you can wait for a long time.

I'd also be curious to know how they're dealing with tipping.
Charlotte is the one who insisted, several years ago at Sol e Luna, that the tip wasn't included, even after I pointed out to her that the check had the imprint "service compris". She "explained" that the printer puts that on the check, but that the tip was really not included. I knew the game she was playing and was very disappointed after having dined there for a number of years - but, that was the last.
This occurred because the friends accompanying me calculated a very generous tip (on top of the included tip, of which they were unaware) as we were splitting the bill. Charlotte and I had the conversation in French, so my friends were unaware of the content - until I told them. They didn't want to change the amount of the tip, which was fine w/me as long as they were aware. But, it left a bad taste in my mouth.

OK, in this case, the restaurant is in Cupecoy, which is on the Dutch side..

Once again, isn't it all about 'words' and how we use them?

To use the word 'tip' takes on an entirely different meaning than (servis) service and interchanging the two when dealing with French restaurants is the problem as far as I'm concerned.

Since this new restaurant is on the Dutch side, it will have to either be listed on the check which is easy enough to see, or else the gratuity is up to you.

Personally speaking, I don't ask and assume the service covers the staff on the French side of the island with the choice of a pourbois (sp?) being at my own discretion, and on the Dutch side, while I don't like the fact that it's automatically added in so many places these days, it's pretty easy to see on the dinner check so again, I don't worry about it. If the service is great, rewarding additionally to any individual staff member is again my choice.

And with regard to the question of 15 or 20 percent, my personal feeling is if an establishment assumes their staff is worth a tip in the first place but only worth the lesser amount, why should I doubt them? (You see, I really do resent the automatically added gratuity since even at only fifteen percent, it's not always deserved - and I do like to make my own decisions, usually leaning towards at least 20 percent as a rule on this! ) Again, unless the individual server is excellent. These problems really need to be resolved between the management and service staff and should not, IMHO, be made to be the problem of the guests. That's my story and I'm staying with it.<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

2 weeks ago when having lunch at Kontiki, printed at the bottom of the bill was "tip/pourboire not included". It was also highlighted with a yellow highlighter. While technically correct, I consider it to be misleading. Each of us decides on our own how to deal with the tipping issue. I have decided not to go to french side restaurants that stamp "service non compris" on the bill. Unfortunately, this means not going to one of my favorites, Friars Bay Beach Club.
Scott