TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin 4 dinners, 4 restaurants

If you were only going to SXM once in your life and had 4 dinners to eat while there, what restaurants would you choose and why?

ANTOINES in P'berg for lobster Thermidore and dessert souffle.
CHESTERFIELDS, also in P'berg for the baked stuffed shrimp
DREAMS BEACH in Nettle Bay for Delmonico (rib?) steak or rack of lamb
MOULIN FOU at Maho
Almost any of the high end restaurants in GRAND CASE
(I know that's five but we really enjoy all of them.....hard to choose just a few.)

For more casual and less expensive evenings:
Marks Place on the rotary by Le Grande Marche
Pineapple Pete's in Simpson Bay
Cuginis in Simpson Bay
FIG at Cupecoy

And for an absolutely wonderful but more high end lunch on the beach, I highly recommend FRIARS BAY BEACH CAFE at Friars Bay. Or the other extreme from high end - BBQ ribs at Rosie's on Mullet Bay Beach.

But note, please, we are NOT foodies but do enjoy great meals, good service and pleasant settings at fairly reasonable prices without totally breaking the bank. Also, we stay in a quiet corner on the Dutch side and don't like to make the evening drive to Grand Case anymore........there are so many wonderful places it's hard to choose just a few...... <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

Thank you, Pat! Do you stay at the Divi by any chance? That's where we'll be...

L'Auberge Gourmand, Bistrot Caribes, La Villa and Sol E Luna. Why, because they are all special in their own way and provide wonderful dining experiences as well as great food.

No,, we are in the Cupecoy-Mullet-Maho triangle, quite a distance from Divi but we've been visiting the island for many years (40+) and know it fairly well. The good news for Divi dwellers is you are a very short drive from ANTOINES, who has valet service, and just a tad farther to Chesterfields who has good parking and will validate your parking stub. In the same general area of Antoines is L'Escargot - very good and the Greenhouse, farther down the main Front Street. Sadly, I don't think you could get much farther from Grand Case and all the good dining ops there.

If you don't know the island well and where to go and where to park when you get there, you might want to consider a driver for an evening - Wilfred Brooks, a sponsor on this forum, gets very good reviews consistently, and would allow you the opportunity for a great evening without worry of gendarme stops or getting lost. Simpson Bay to Baie Nettle is a fairly easy drive, IMO, but beyond it starts to get a little trickier if you don't know where you're going. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

Woopse, I almost forgot Pasanggrahan Inn and Guesthouse who has very nice dinners and is also on Front St but closer to the Greenhouse end.

So many wonderful places - and so little time to enjoy them all!

For me it would be for sure at Le Cottage and L'estaminet in Grand Case, Dreams in Nettle Bay and Bluefin in Cupecoy !! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" />

La Villa and Piazza Pascal in Grand Case...Le Moulin Fu in Maho.......and Chesterfields in Pburg.

I would do a combination of light and heavy fare, all in Grand Case, as follows:
1. Start out at Piazza Pascal, for a very hospitable experience with some great Italian food. This being night #1, you might not be ready for a full, somewhat heavy French menu. Ease into it ... get a chance to visit with owners Donna and Pascal, enjoy some great Italian food, and allow yourselves to just have an "ahh, we're finally here" experience.
2. Bistrot Caraibes for the full French treatment, with perfect presentation and impeccable service.
3. Le Ti Coin Creole, near the Spiga corner, for a night of "restful" local Creole food with the always wonderful Chef Carl. We've found that it isn't a good idea for us, physically, to string together heavy French dinners on consecutive nights. Carl's food is excellent, the atmosphere is relaxing, and the prices are very reasonable. We haven't found anything better when it comes to local food, and we eat there at least once a week while on island. It's just a two block walk from the Grand Case Beach Club.
4. On the final night, we would go to Le Cottage, having reserved a street-side table, for a relaxing but full-bore French menu with the delightful owners, Stephane and Tania. This place is right in the middle of Grand Case, and the street-side tables are slightly elevated with wonderful curved railings. The food and service are impeccable, but the wine ... oh, the wine. Go there - you won't be disappointed.

4) Le Piment - in Orient Village. 3) Piazza Pascal - Grand Case. 2) Tropicana - Marigot Marina Royale. & 1) Temptation - Cupecoy.

Or: 4) Papagayo. 3) Papagayo. 2) Papagayo. & 1) Papagayo.

Since we often have our main meal midday on the beach, two of these suggestions are actually for lunch.

1. Kakao on Orient. Go on a Friday when they have their fresh fish specials. We have found that anything on their specials board is always fabulous, but their fresh fish specials are always our favorites.

2. Dreams on Nettle Bay: Another beach restaurant, and while we go there to spend the day on the beach, along with a fabulous French lunch, they are also open for dinner.

3. L'Estaminet in Grand Case: Very innovative gourmet cuisine in a lovely setting. Ina, the chef, does the most amazing things with food.

4. Hidden Forest Café: This is the restaurant at the Loterie Farms on the road to Pic Paradis. The setting is fabulous; in the treetops, and the food is excellent.

Ga....we just discovered Hidden Forest yesterday for the first time. We went for lunch. I ordered the ribs...and wow, they didn't dissapoint at all!!!!! Four of us ate, drank, and enjoyed the experience immensely. Really don't know how we missed the Hidden Forest....and really surprised it hasn't garnered much attention here before!!!

Our last trip was the first time we went there, and it definitely won't be the last!

For me, Dreams, L'auberge gourmande, Izi, La belle epoque

So hard to choose only 4, depending on how much we wanted to spend and what our mood was. But I'll say (in no particular order):

Izi, Chesterfields, Ocean 82, and Pineapple Pete's. If we're on the beach for lunch, it would definitely be Aloha.

Thanks all! This gives me a good starting point for our first trip! So hard to narrow things down on an island with so many restaurants to choose from!!

Start out at Spiga, then Piazza Pascal, then Bistrot Caraibes and finally Pineapple Pete's. The first three are all wonderful restaurants in Grand Case and the last is a restaurant in the Simpson Bay area.

Can someone please tell me what the attraction is to Pineapple Pete's. I was there once an cannot understand why so many are fans of it.

I can't either. Just another place for average food.

To each their own. Everyone has different tastes and likes. We love PP's. It's usually the first place we eat dinner upon arrival on the island. It's fun, it's vibrant, and they have good seating for larger parties. Good food with good service and good prices. Obviously it has something or there wouldn't be 'so many fans of it.' Some people like Fig -- we didn't care for it at all. Some people don't like Izi -- we enjoy it very much. That's why they have so many restaurants. Just like beaches, everyone has their personal favorites. The OP asked a simple question of what restaurants one would choose upon only one visit to the island. No reason to comment on a place you DON'T like or try to figure out why someone else might like it. Variety is the spice of life.

Very well stated Robin. Our likes are very similar to yours. We keep returning to those places because of the wonderful experiences we have there. When a place is packed every night, no explanation is required!

We are definitely doing Spiga, that one has been at the top of my list since I started planning! I think we will do Le Cigale and I am still trying to figure out 2 more nights. I want open air, as much as possible since we don't have much chance to dine al fresco here, especially without our children Thanks again!! I'm sooo excited for our trip!

When you make reservations at Le Cigale ask for a table on the beach. They will accommodate you if you ask ahead of time.