One of the very first restaurants I remember from my early visits to Marigot in St. Maarten was La Belle Epoque in the Port Royale Marina. It has been resurrected! It a beautiful, stylish space. The manager is the excellent Francois whom we've known since his days at Piazza Pascal.
We got there at 6 and by the time we left at 8pm it and the other couple restaurants there were quite busy.
We had an excellent meal! First came the best warm crispy baguette. We began with drinks and sautéed calamari. The calamari was sautéed in garlic and butter and served over wonderfully crispy potato wedges. Carol, I think these were the best fries of the trip. Even though they were in Garlic Butter, they were wonderfully crispy!!
Entrées were my scallops and shrimp with a guavaberry rum sauce. Amazing! The chef is a delightful woman from Haiti who has a guavaberry tree in her yard. It came with perfect fluffy rice and sautéed vegetables. The scallops were perfectly cooked, so tender and juicy. The Filet Mignon was huge, perfectly medium rare, melt in your mouth tender and wonderfully flavored. The mashed potatoes were so flavorful and creamy. It was served with a very nice peppercorn sauce.
We were served a refreshing after dinner drink, almonds, sugar, vodka...absolutely perfect!!
Our experience was every bit the equal of our best meals in Gran Case.
We couldn't have been happier with the meal, the ambiance and the staff. We never felt uncomfortable in walking to or from the car. There were police strolling around too. The restaurants were walked by were pretty full by 8pm.
We haven't been to the marina since having a bad experience about 15 years ago. I might add its the only bad experience we've had since first visiting the island in 2001. We come every year, since retiring twice a year. We stay on Orient rent a car and travel everywhere on the island...once again never felt in danger but for our experience at the Marigot marina. We parked a few blocks away in the evening and were followed by a man asking for money.Had to duck in a store a get him to leave us alone.....soon my question is where and how close is parking to the Marina. This rant isn't about crime on the island as I feel things happen everywhere. Just keep your eyes open!!! But it has stopped me for going somewhere we would like to visit again. Thanks please let me know if there is parking nearby.
In the past we have parked in the lot close to the Ocean and other times in the lot on the other side of the Marina where there was always someone there asking for a handout to watch your car. Never had a problem in the past but that was before Irma.
We used to love their pizza. They still have pizza on the menu but we didn't try it.
We parked in the small lot mentioned by Scubaman. There was none there asking for anything. It's really close to the restaurants. Maybe a minute or two walk?
The gentleman who would ask for money passed away several years ago. Sadly he had some mental issues and did tend to startle People though he was harmless.
He would ask for you to pay him to watch your car I would pretend that I thought he wanted to wash my car I would respond it was a rental car and doesn't need to be washed
He definitely has some issues but was harmless
really never worried about any damage to car cause he was always watching over lot
Used to be a guy in parking lot across from Le Pressoir who would charge $5.00 for parking until you told him it was a free lot Also never any troubles there Haven't seen him for many years
.
![[Linked Image]](https://www.tickerfactory.com/ezt/d/4;10730;0/st/20241014/e/Our+Vacation/dt/0/k/b0b7/event.png)
![[Linked Image]](https://www.tickerfactory.com/ezt/d/4;10765;88/st/20250216/e/St+Martin+trip+2025/dt/-1/k/0365/event.png)