TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin New Restaurant in Simpson Bay

There is a new restaurant in Simpson Bay called something like international Mediterranean Cuisine. Large building on the right coming from the airport. Anyone been there? What do you think of it?

Haven't tried it as yet .

I fear if they don't get started on some kind of marketing and promotion, they'll fail before they even get going. They spent a lot of money on renos. I never see anyone there. It's right across from my new office, so I'll no doubt end up visiting for myself soon.

Ritchard--where is it exactly? In the Polo Hermanos building? If you do pay a visit, please post a report.

Is this the new place?
Amore Restaurant & Lounge (near or at the old Toppers location).

Directly opposite Sale and Pepe Restaurant and Paraside Car Rental Office.

We’ll be down next week, will have to check it out

So many good established restaurants already and to many new ones. Just don’t see how they all can survive and if they are slow in high season that’s obviously not good. Even the new expensive high end restaurants have to be extremely busy to survive I would think. I’ve known a lot of restaurant owners that say it’s a tough business. Especially after Covid with food chain supply and and labor and service issues.

Competition makes you stronger as long as you take care of business.

It's on the west side of Airport Road, kind of across from Sale e Pepe as noted above, on the corner of Sr. Modesta Road opposite Banco Di Caribe. Last year it was a modest-looking private residence on that corner, and a lot of work went into turning the building into a restaurant. I met the owner while passing by one night. He seems like a nice young chap, but didn't give me the impression that he comes from the resto business.

I was just noticing how hard Rusty Rocket is hustling to build a restaurant business from scratch, and this proprietor needs to be doing some marketing in a similar vein. I don't think anyone knows he's there or what they do.

A mile to the south a little restaurant that took over the horrible Bandidos Mexican place failed in what seemed like a matter of weeks. I hate to see people's dreams dashed and savings lost because they don't understand the restaurant business.

Ritchard--thanks for the location info. I was confused because I thought it was more residential there. Interesting, with all the empty restaurants around, the person renovated a house. Agreed, SXM is a very tough place to have a restaurant, especially when the person doesn't even know the business.

Oh and by the way, I LIKED Banditos!!!

Oh, you're the one.

Ritchard--ah come on, I'm sure there were others that liked Banditos!!

That restaurant opened while we were there in December, but we didn't make it in to try it. Very bright and modern look.

Sorry Carol but I think Richard is right. You are the first and only person I’ve heard that liked Banditos. We went there for margarita night and they were serving the margaritas in water glasses because they only had a few margarita glasses. Then they ran out of tequila! Food was so-so at best. It was our one and only visit there.

Is that the restaurant that went into the former location of Bavaria?

Yes. Short timer.

Thanks, that is what I thought I recalled the name being when I walked by there.

I had passed by Bavaria for years and never stopped. We tried it 10 or more years ago and really enjoyed it and regretted never having stopped before. Sad to see them go.

Charlie--I didn't say it was the best restaurant in Simpson Bay but we enjoyed it. I apparently will eat anything that is Mexican.

Meantime, I loathe German food! We went to Germany a few years ago, and swear to god, the best food we had was at a Chinese restaurant!

Remind me never to cook for you.

Hey, Scuba, you could fix me a steak, and I'm good to go!

👍👏

Remind me never to cook for you. [/quote]

Scuba, I'm laughing so hard and agreeing with you about not cooking for Carol. I go to SXM to eat. And if I'm lucky someone will honor me with a receipt. Which reminds me of the time at Indigo Beach I had a fantastic lamb dish and asked if I could speak with the chef. He was happy to give me the ingredients in a song French accent. I understood most of it except the last ingredient OO-NE. He repeated it 5 times then the waitress came over and said the same thing ONEEE still didn't get it until she pointed to my hubby and said: "Your ONEEE." Ah yes HONEY

Soon , I will be visiting our Son Elijah that lives in Toronto and his new apartment that is located close to China Town , wow food galore . We are spoiled period .

I went in, read the menu, and left. At the time it was a hodge podge as if they couldn't decide what they wanted the place to be. Also loaded with bad spelling. We often drive through Simpson Bay and it is never busy. Another restaurant down the street, Papu, started similarly and has gone kaput from the looks of things. This place looks likely to do the same. Neither restaurant has done any promotion, an essential part of getting any new business off the ground.

Nope. I believe it was only you.

But seriously, I never heard any praise for that spot whatsoever, only disappointment.

And I may have misspoken somewhere above; the resto that's in that property now was open again a couple of days ago when I was nearby. Oddly, it had been closed quite a number of evenings so I assumed it had failed. You never know, someone got sick or something?

I don't actually remember a resto called Bavaria, but you may be correct. It's kind of across from the northmost part of the Simpson Bay Yacht Club Complex. Directly across from the new NOLA.

There's some amazing Chinese in Toronto for sure. Some of the best is in the dodgiest-looking places. If you get the chance, you might try getting out to the suburbs, upper Scarborough or Markham and try some Hakka. Hakka is kind of the colliding point between Chinese and Indian. It's fantastic.

Another poster ("bdeely") indicated it was in the same location. Bavaria was rather unassuming German restaurant and had been there for at least 20+ years. I guess the owners decided they wanted to retire and closed the restaurant and the rest is history,

Yes and thanks very much.

J.D., Annette and her husband opened Bavaria in 1991. The restaurant stayed operational for 29 years.(I know you know most of the history) They were the nicest people with big hearts. They were one of the places, immediately after Irma hit, that were up and cooking food daily to help so many on the island. They are definitely the same location that Bandidos set up shot.

Thanks for the information. My biggest regret was the many years I passed by and never stopped. Once I did, most of our group really enjoyed Bavaria. Annette, her husband and the staff were quality people.

Agree with ALL the positive comments about Bavaria and Annette. Discovered this place in the early 90s and loved it. And OMG - the Apple Strudel was absolutely out of this world and almost as good as the people who owned it.🙂🙂

As a German (currently working in Bavaria when not on the boat) I enjoyed "Bavaria" as well. Despite paucity of ingredients all the meals I had there were "just like home".

Never tried it simply because dont undestand German food and never ate it.