TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Any Changes to Orient Village this Year?

Especially curious about the restaurants….

Pretty much the same as last year.

We're spending two nights at La Playa at the beginning of our visit this year. Restaurant recommendations would be appreciated!

Our favorite "nice" restaurant in Orient earlier this year was L'Atelier, and we also enjoyed the pizza at Bona Mama. On Dirait Le Sud, a specialty cheese shop, had a small bakery case with exceptional pistachio mini cannoli.

On Dirait Le Sud is amazing. Definitely a place to buy some really good charcuterie and cheeses!

We have been visiting St. Martin since 1999…for many years frequently but less so in the last 6 years since purchasing a second home in Florida. We were last there in May for just 5 days. All of our recent visits have been at LaPlaya which we adore. As another poster mentioned, L’Atelier is special…and expensive. Good friends recommended Ti Palm which we did not get to and I would say is in the same realm as is Maison Mere (high end French) which was closed when we were there. All of the beach bars seem good but we tend to favor KonTiki. The old “shack” restaurants (Orange Fever, for example) are all there and much the same as they have always been. We still like Sao and Le Piment is different than it used to be but still reliable if less entertaining. The space that was Tai Chi is still in flux and we are not fans of Peter McCools. Yellow Sub is still there but we have not gone there in quite a while. Coco’s on the beach was a favorite but appears to need some love. Club O is still a wreak and only for the hard core naturalists these days. “Perch Light” is a horrible excuse for the old Perch Bar.

From personal experience I would have lunch at KonTiki and dinner at L’Atelier.

Hope that helps!

Maybe a bit critical but the following restaurants did not impress in the last two years.

Le Petite Bistro
Sao (especially the sushi selections but heard the non sushi is good)
Le Trattoria
Le Favela

Maison Mere was okay

L' Atelier has been closed for vacation but pretty sure it would live up to it's positive reviews, and yes a bit pricey , really would like to dine here
Le Piment also was closed so no review

Bona Mama had some very inexpensive take away food but wouldn't replace a great dinner option

Ti Palm located inside the gate of Palm Court has an interesting menu but have not tried to date

If I had to maybe recommend a few of my favorites close to Orient

My top two choices would be Le Pressior in Grand Case ( it's ranked number one in Caribbean Journal and well deserved) (7 course tasting is wonderful)
and Les Galets which is located directly opposite the main entrance to Orient in the Les Jardins hillside community
Only open Friday - Saturday with a pre selected menu which is usually published on their face book page a week in advance)

Otherwise to skip the restaurants with the similar menus, I do enjoy Le Cottage, Astrolab and would be interested to try the new L' Auberge Gourmand with new chef from Bistronome (all in Grand Case)

For a gourmet lunch Bacchus is awesome especially for reasonably priced caviar.
On the opposite side of fancy lunch, we really enjoyed our inexpensive lunch at Cool Heure located just past the basketball courts near Grand Case

Lastly if you are celebrating, the tasting menu at La Villa Hibiscus is Michelin worthy food in the old Sole e Luna (most expensive on the island)

Look for "Roasties", a restaurant focused on roast Chicken. Opening in a month or so I believe. It's in the corner unit where they used to sell ice cream.

Mahokid, We are going down the week of Thanksgiving. I've only made 2 reservations. Le Pressoir for our final night and Les Galets for our second night. Both based on your reviews and recommendations. I also have Cool Heure on the list. I had to look up the location. Le Ti Coin Creole is on the radar but perhaps for lunch. Thanks for the recommendations!

Certainly hope you enjoy, both offer excellent food which I find different than your standard St martin gourmet menu
both have husband and wife teams so special caring service
totally different atmospheres

At Les Galets, Sabastian does some unusual early courses which may surprise you on the combinations
fun to watch when the menu is printed for your visit

If you enjoy sipping rum, there is a rum bar connected to Le Pressoir
I have enjoyed almost the entire menu at LP and hard to pick a favorite
Done the 7 course tasting twice which seems expensive but considering that portions are pretty much full size, a good value
just the first course of beef tar tar topped with caviar is $75
free parking lot directly across from LP

The three course prix fix also pretty good if smaller appetite

Good wine selection by the glass

bon appetite

suggestion would be to purchase a Magic of the Caribbean card which offers a 10% discount at Les Galets and if you use it one more time at another restaurant will pay for itself and you may try somewhere new that is on the card's list of restaurants

although LP is listed on the card, they do not honor last I knew, they are only sponsors

We ate at the restaurants in Orient Village, for four of the five nights, that we stayed at LaPlaya. It was so nice to just walk to dinner.

Believe it or not, my favorite meal was lamb shepherds pie at Le Bouchon.
We enjoyed Le Petite Bistro and Le Trattoria very much.
Le Favela was not a favorite, but our waiter was fantastic.
I think they are all similar, We just walked around and checked the menus.

We met people at Java in Grand Case.
This is definitely a favorite. Great food and service.