TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin La Favola

With a week's worth of eating in, we walked two minutes to the village looking for a lighter meal, nothing too rich, creamy or too fancy
worse come to worse we could always just get a pizza
we also wanted to try somewhere new where we hadn't visited this week
All restaurants were open except for Le Piment and L'Atelier

it is fun to check out all the menus along with the specials board put out front

while the daily menu for La Favola is not extremely interested, the specials board helped us make our decision on where to dine on our final night on the french side

We had wanted a certain table but the waiter said it was occupied by Zimbal the village cat, he was tired from a hard day, also very friendly looking for affection

so we choose a table out in the courtyard and had fun people watching
the ladies dress up while the gentleman puts on a pair of jeans and his best tee shirt and a good pair of sneakers
I still remember our early visits when I would wear dress pants and a long sleeve shirt
now dress shirts and a nice Robert Graham short sleeve or polo are evening wear
My wife always looks beautiful although I'm the one who lugs the luggage up the steps

Service was attentive and friendly, we have been very satisfied with our service the first week with one exception when the restaurant was under staffed
I have noticed that I think all credit card slips mention tips are only by way of cash with only one having a sort of tip line that they probably add to the total before running the card and maybe goes directly to the owner or maybe they share it with the staff

in my business any additional tips (our service is normally included) is split among all staff including the kitchen, only when there is too much to split do my business partner and I take a share

we ordered completely off the specials board as I noticed a dish at a neighboring table that looked very good
it was the calamari in garlic sauce, I was surprised it was a warm dish but pleasantly surprised, the calamari was fresh and tender, while my bread cleaned up any sauce

my wife choose the tuna tat tar over greens, her only comment was that it should have been served on a plate for better presentation

while the regular menu seems to lean towards some "mexican preparations" , my wife selected the lobster fajitas
It was four tortillas with a fair amount of lobster and fixings on the side
Something different and tasty

I enjoy variety plates so the daily trilogy of tuna was perfect for me
the dish included tuna ceviche, tuna carpaccio and 3 thin slices of raw tuna which the server demonstrated to oil up a very hot stone, add salt and then lightly sear
two sauces were served on the side for the seared tuna, one of which was like a creole sauce which I enjoyed

a bit full, the desserts did not tempt me as most of the choices were ice cream based

overall a great week of dinning on the French side, we will return only once in the next 10 days to visit one of my favorites Les Galets which reopens next Friday
my wife is "facebook friends" with Hubert the chef and goes ga ga over the cheese trolly

weather has been okay considering all the activity out on the ocean
we lost one complete day to rain and another to complete clouds
Actually a blessing to not overdue the sun the first week since we love floating in the pool all day
we have been very good at not going to the bakeries but I think that may change next week

Love staying in Orient as very little gas is used and felt safe at all times, less than 10 minutes to Gran Case

suns out, clouds have gone away
we have a 1:30 check and then unto Maho for 10 days with no plans except for Jazz brunch and to meet my wife's friend from Saba who is visiting
Also may meet up with my "brother" from Anguilla

Thanks for the great reports and photos, we love Orient Village.

Your reports always whet my appetite!

Thanks for all the reporting so far. I will be interested to see where you dine on the Dutch side.

"only when there is too much to split do my business partner and I take a share"
What is deemed too much? Seems like it should all go to the staff. Nice report and pictures. Makes me hungry and counting the days till our return.

Love the picture of the cat!

Considering my partner and I may spend over 70 hours prepping for an event and then the next day clean up while the staff may work less than 8 hours for an event
they are probably making more per hour than the owners

also we have built up our business with some customers (over 30 years) who are now more like friends only want us to caterer their events, while our staff is always great without guidance and someone "pushing them" , it would be like a football team without coaches
don't think they would be able to do the job as well

we bust our busts everyday and work 7 days a week to make the corporation a success
our clients know we care about them and just not their business

executing an event is 95% preparation and 5 day of execution

Hope this explains why we sometimes take a share usually when they are making over $37 ish per hour for being banquet servers
we are always very appreciative of our staff

I can think of several professions that make big bucks and do not share the pot with support staff

Rather than skim the tip charge more for your catering service up front so the business makes what you believe its worth.

When I leave a tip I think it should all go to the staff and not the owners otherwise I might not be inclined to leave much of a tip. I also remember on a previous post you don’t mind spending a lot on a meal as you write it off on your taxes. I think we would all like to do that. I wonder if any IRS agents are on this board and consider that to be legitimate expense?

Allrighty then!!! I consider both of the last two posts to be out of line. Therefore, this one is done.