TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Sale e Pepe review

Excellent food, service mishaps.

Visted the new Sale e Pepe on the marina, a stunning new location overlooking the lagoon with the twinkling lights magically dancing on the bridge and mountains.
We were warmly greeting and shown to a romantic table outside.
The friendly bartender came over a took our drink odrer and returned with delicious mojitos.
Chef David visited the table and mentioned some inticing additions to the already large selection and mentioned he would prepare anything for us.
Shorthly after we were recited the same specials by the head waiter with a few of the specials missing.
The bread was delivered by a new employee who described the two compliments.
We had to ask for bread plates as our table was missing them.
Next we had to ask for water only to have flat water served instead of sparkling.
The olive oil mixture was excellent while the described tomato sauce was actually an unedible hot pepper mix. My dining companion had put a nice thick layer on her bread and had tears coming out of her eyes.
We mentioned this to the head waiter who berated the young server in the middle of the dining room.
After our order was taken the head waiter displays our whole fish selection only to say it would be more expansive than his earlier stated price.
Suck it up and own your mistake and not charge the customer more or know you pricing before telling the guests.
Our appetizers of a special made tar tar of tuna and same was nicely presented and tasted as good as it looked.
The house made buratta was rich and creamy and benefitted by a drizzle of the infused oil for the bread.
After the clearing of our first choice and empty bread basket, we were asked twice in a matter of minutes if we wanted more bread.
Our whole fish arrived and was filleted by the head table by pulling an empty table over. A gueridon or dedicated filet table would be more professional.
The fish was moist and the flavor hightened by the spoons of light red sauce with olives. It did not overpowwer the delicate fish.
I had to request the cheeks before the fish remains were taken away and then ask for a small plate for the smaller bones that remained. I will mention that the fish was filleted very nicely though.
We had requested one side of pasta and one side of vegetables, only to both be served two pastas.
Again chef David did he magic with the pasta in oil and garlic.
Maybe my biggest dismay was the auctioning off of food to a table.
With some pricing into the $30 entrees, i would expect the food runners to know who gets what.
I have confidence that the food will keep this restaurant busy and hopefully the staff will be trained to the level of the food

You mentioned a gueridon would have been more professional, so I ask, did they have fish knives with the tableware? We have always been given one when ordering fish except for one place in the states didn't and, although they billed themselves as a 5 star gourmet restaurant, had no idea what I meant. They too just dragged over an adjacent table to use for filleting the fish--which ended up having bones.

Your review sounds good enough to try this restaurant. And, as you say, perhaps with time the staff will be trained.

Thanks for your report and being that they have new additional staff and a much bigger restaurant to deal with , they will have some small problem for the beginning. We were there for the open night and food was good , but the service took some time .

Thanks for the report. The location sounds magical!

The times we have tried Sale and Pepe have been less than stellar. Both in service and food. But glad you enjoyed it.

Thank you Mahokid....Nice review. Yes, the new location (and keeping the old one) required hiring and training. I'm sure the kinks will get worked out.

LOVE love love Sal e Pepe. Davide has my reservation already for my birthday next month.

And that pepper spread for the bread? LOVE IT! I enjoy hot and spicy. Reminded me of my Sicilian's grandmother's sauces.

I loved that sauce so much that Scarlet dropped some off at our condo for us, I brought it home to the States and mailed it to my dad....so he could once again taste something like his mom used to make. You can bet I will be getting more jars this trip!

Are they keeping both locations for sure?

Not for now . They have to decide what to do with the first one later on. They can't run both of them at the same time . They would probably look for a partner for the first one .

They should build on the lunch crowd at the first one. There is the counter to do pre-made take away there. Lasagna slices, etc.

Good idea and will keep in touch and let you Folks know how it goes.

Maybe the most faux pas in my opinon was the musician who we could not even see going from table to table soliciting tips.
Not very classy.

Kind of like the lady going table to table trying to sell roses at some restaurants. A real turn off.

Yes, a lot of restaurants in Grand Case have the lady there trying to sell her roses. Turns me off..

Thank you so much for the review. I've been to the old one a few times and have been very happy there. Looking forward to having dinner at the new place in October/November.

Where is the new location?

SkyPort next to the gas station in Simpson Bay.

That's true, but the really sad part is he was very good and should have never been subjected to having to solicit tips to get paid. Entertainment costs should be covered by the house. They should also buy a good sound system for solo performers to use. Not a lot of dough but could be used for house purposes as well.

Ever since I've been going to SXM, 50 years now, there's always been someone walking around restaurants selling roses. It's not just in Grand Case. Years ago when there were a ton of restaurants around the marina in Marigot there was always someone, and lately even in Maho as well. I can remember a lady going around in La Rosa 2, Moulin Fou and just recently as the past spring, in JAX. As much as I don't care for it, there must be enough people who do buy them or they wouldn't continue to sell them. Just my humble opinion.

To each his own as I really don't mind the selling of roses. I feel you have a choice and my wife has come to know that I probably will not purchase one for you.
Just before Irma while dining at Big Fish a very young sweet smiling girl was selling the roses and we did buy a rose and had a nice conservation with her.
Last week while dining at Isola the same girl returns (2 years passed) and she has grown a foot and now looks like a young lady although maybe only 12 years ago.
She has an ear to ear smile and innocently walks by your table with no pressure to buy.
Marco mentioned that if she ever wanted a job in the restaurant that he would hire her.

Better that than what we have in Ct , at almost ever traffic we now have18 to 25 year olds begging for money so at one of these stops I had a large bag of bottles that I usually give to scouts and offered it to the person ,he looked at me as if I didn’t know the scam he walked away . Well I felt bad an drove off , the bag usually has fifty bottles worth $ 2. 50