TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin hidden gems

We discovered a couple of restaurants just by being lazy and wanting to walk to dinner in Simpson bay. We ate at the Boathouse and it was great, food and service. Last night we ate at L'Isols, an Italian restaurant in the Simpson Bay Resort. The food, service and music were fabulous. Today we drove around the island and on Beerman's recommendation we ate at Aloha at Orient Beach. The servers were so much fun (no service charge) and an outstanding Mahi Sandwich.

Glad you are enjoying yourself. We have sworn off the Boathouse for a while, as we had really bad service there, but maybe they have cleaned up their act. If you're looking for fish and/or seafood, make sure you try Lee's and especially Skipjacks. Skipjacks has really gotten their act together lately. Aloha has been really good for a long time.

Back in the day the Boathouse was our favorite place one year we ate there almost every night its gone way down hill .We tried it last year it was still going down.

my wife reminded me the owner was serving us and she was charming. Sometimes things change for the better.

Yes, sometimes things do change for the better. Glad to hear it. Was it busy?

In February we ate at the Boathouse twice- Love the way they prepare grouper in garlic and butter sauce.New owners are renovating the place after damage from the hurricane, so dining was only in the front area. It was filled both noghts we were there. Prices are reasonable-great service and food. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" />

Hmmmm. The Boathouse was never one of our usual haunts but after a hiatus of quite a few years due to a prior poor service experience along with a possible case of food poisoning for two in our group that last night we were there, perhaps it's time to give this place another try. Thank you all for the heads up. I hadn't realized it had changed hands and was under new ownership.

Happy to hear about the Boathouse. When we first started visiting the island a very popular band, Iguana use to play there and the place would get packed. I also remember they had great coconut shrimp.

On a previous trip to SXM we ate at the L'Isola and our experience was just the opposite. The service and the food were unacceptable; we will not dine there again - there are too many fine, outstanding restaurants in SXM.

We did not care for the restaurant either

for me, both the Hideaway and Alexanders are hidden gems. One upper scale, one basic and really fantastic. I'm really glad I stumbled into both of them
(reviews at tripadvisor if interested)

Alexanders is a great place for local food. Delicious, inexpensive, we usually do a take out and eat on our balcony.

I have to say, the best hidden gem we found on our recent trip was the Hidden Forest restaurant at the Loterie Farm. The food was FANTASTIC, and the setting so beautiful.

SSSSHHHHH. Lets keep this place a secret. Talking about Alexanders, not Hideaway.

Loterie Farm is a beautiful place and Julie has been a fantastic chef all the way back to Vince's Conga Cafe. Not sure I agree it is a 'hidden' gem, but it is a gem, for sure.

The best fish we had on the island on our last visit was the fish we bought from Skipjacks fish counter and took home and cooked. Outstanding grouper and mahi mahi.

Perhaps it's time to give the Boathouse a try. We thought they were a little overpriced for the reviews they had been getting. Aloha has been our favorite for lunch on Orient for a long time now. Fun, energetic staff, great food, nice ambience. What's not to like? <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" />

We would like to go to hidden forest, a little more specifics on it's location

It's up Pic Paradis at the Loterie Farm (where the zipline is)

http://loteriefarm.com/lounge/hidden-forest-cafe/