TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Day 5 report

Another pretty day some clouds nice breeze. Went to La Sucrerie for a baguette and croissants. Ate on deck.
Went to El Zafiro.
Just a rum punch each. Nice lazy beach day. A lot of sargassum on that part of beach. Maybe 10 people at the peak most in restaurant only four other people on beach. G&T on porch. Went to Palapa Grill. Had a nice time with juicy steak each. Very nice place about 80% full including a very large party of about 20 people.

Yes, El Zafiro area accumulates by far the most seaweed of any section of Simpson Bay Beach. Palapa Grill has all outside seating, is that correct?

Carol,

We’ve eaten at Palapa a few times but I honestly don’t recall it being outdoor dining. The food and service were great and the setting unique but I don’t recall the seating as being outdoors. I guess I really did have a great time if I forgot that little fact. 😊😊

OK, I've never been there, so I could be all wet!!

I wandered in to Palapa Grill one time to check out the menu. At that time I seem to recall the seating to be cover by a roof, the end walls kind of open and some sort of partial buffer fencing to the road. We didn't eat there, so I may be all wet!

Looking at pictures online, it seems I was probably incorrect all along. Not the first time!!

As I understand the situation, La Palapa building sustained major hurricane damage during one of the storms - could have been Irma, or not - but the building was never totally restored after the storm. The restaurant reinvented itself in a very unique manner and to me, it’s a treasure. We aren’t late nighters but I understand that well after the dinner hour it takes on a whole different but equally enjoyable personality.

From what I recall in my one time there, they put up a large tent under the existing and damaged structure.

Great and very accurate way to describe it. I thought it was creatively and beautifully done given the circumstances.

And on an interesting side note, we were there the same evening with ruralcarrier and his wife and were attending the same get-together. As I understood the situation, there was a miscommunication between the party organizer and the restaurant owner. It seems, as I was lead to understand the situation, the original reservation/miscommunication had the owner expecting a large group for a cocktail party and the event organizer had intended an ala carte dinner to be served instead of just cocktails.

I don’t know how many we were but the restaurant managed to accommodate us all with very little notice and it was a lovely evening. We were a group of at least thirty or so and quite possibly more and some of us, myself included, weren’t even aware of the miscommunication until being told about it after the fact. The food was very good and the staff, while a little harried at first, handled it all very well. We thoroughly enjoyed the evening as we had each of our previous dinners there.

Pat I’d classify it as open air dining.

that is what I remember too.