TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Grand Case

Some relatives of mine are going to be staying in Grand Case in a few weeks and asked me for some information. I am great on all of the overall information about St. Maarten, but over the years many places have come and gone in Grand Case itself so I wanted to give them up to date information. We love Calmos, and we have eaten many times at Talk Of The Town. We also have enjoyed Il Nettuno. Back before we had kids we used to go to romantic dinners there at places like Fish Pot and Sebastianos and L'Alabama....but I think they are all gone? Once we had 4 kids, Grand Case dinners out became a thing of the past on vacation! But our relatives are childless and in their late 20s and I am not sure what other places are still there as far as great dining. Opinions please! Also, is the Grand Case Beach club the place to go for a beach there? We have only been on the beach at Calmos. And are harmony nights still going on in April? And what night are they? Thanks in advance for any feedback. I have a several page tome written about the island, but since they are staying in Grand Case I wanted to fill in some gaps!

Calmos is still there. Fish Pot is now Ocean 82. Alabama is now La Villa. Not sure about Sebastiano's. My mind is blank on Il Nettuno. We went once and weren't that impressed. Many people like Piazza Pascal, Le Cottage, and Bistrot Caraibes. Spiga is good but not on the water. We have been pleasantly surprised the last few years at Le Tastevin. Beach in Grand Case is okay but when Orient Beach and other great beaches are just minutes away, I would skip the beach there and explore.

We stayed in Grand Case for 5 days before we went to OBBR. There are several nice beach bars along the way. We liked Captain Frency's a great deal. MANY GREAT restaurants - you will get many solids recommendations. Our favorite was Ocean 82. Suggest sunset water front reservations - sunset view is great, food and service is outstanding. Also found a seldom mentioned gem, Villa Royale. It's where the locals go. If your relatives enjoy French creo this is the place to go and at very good prices. Harmony nights are over, ended early this year due to lack of funding.

Ocean 82, Piazza Pascal, Le Cottage and Bistro Caribe are all very good. Another good restaurant is L'Estaminet.
Harmony Nights are over now for the season. They ended a bit earlier than usual this year. La Petite Plage is a nice beach to spend the day. It is quiet and usually fairly calm and you can get drinks and chairs from Sunset Beach Bar. Of course Orient is only a short drive away if they are looking for more action.

We liked Calmos so much we ate there 3 times the week we were in Grand Case. We just really loved sitting at the waters edge eating a delicious meal. We also enjoyed Piazza Pascal.
I must be the only person I know that hated Orient Beach. The day we were there it was wall to wall people, chairs, and umbrellas. So crowded you couldn't even see what the beach might look like. We loved Happy Bay, although it was tricky to find.

No, not the only one. My husband and I usually go there once just to people watch. We try to go when there are only one or two cruise ships in port. Otherwise, yes, it is wall to wall people.

I also am not a fan of Orient Beach. Way too crowded. I much prefer Grand Case. Last time we went to Capt. Frenchy's (by chance!), but loved everything about it. Nice chairs, which were free with lunch. GREAT lunch at a table overlooking the beach. Impeccably clean restrooms. Went twice, and would go again.

Thanks for all the feedback. Of course my list of things to love about saint Maarten will list all of the amazing beaches including orient because I am sure they will be traveling around the island. I just was curious about grand case beach options because they are staying in grand case at hotel l'esplanade so I wanted to give them a close beach option. Thanks for updating the restaurants! I had forgotten about tastevin. Ate there man years ago and it was great.

Not a big fan of orient either. Too crowded for my liking

Haven't spent the day there on the beach myself, but many people recommend Love Hotel and Enold's. Staying at Esplanade, it's a bit of a walk to the beach if they're hauling a lot of stuff. I think, although I am not certain, that they have use of the beach at Le Petit, since they are sister resorts. If so, and if there is space, they could park at LePetit and use it as their base for the day, but there should be parking pretty much anywhere in Grand Case during the day anyway.

My favorites for restaurants right now are Ocean 82 and Bistrot Cariabes.

Thanks Carol.

We have been staying in Grand Case annually for over 15 years. We are foodies. Funny you should ask this question, as I just recently asked my wife,

"If someone was spending one night in Grand Case, what restaurant do you think best exemplifies the GC dining experience?"

After some discussion, we decided upon L'Auberge Gormande. Service, quality, consistency of experience and ambiance make it the winner. That said, it's still a very close race.

Ocean 82, part of the Auberge/Caribe group is also a good example, as is Bistro Caribe. It will be interesting to see what happens to Tastevin when it is fully incorporated into the group.

L'Cottage has changed its menu a few times in the past few years, but food there is very good.

L'Estiminet is a favorite, but beware that the posted menu and the actual menu are different. The posted menu is much smaller, so don't fall in love with something on the menu board outside. Food is still excellent, but the service suffers slightly from the loss of Carole's gentle touch.

Sebastianos has been boarded up for years.

Il Nettuno changed hands a few years ago, and some of the charisma of the old owner is noticeably absent. Food is traditional Italian and the restaurant is well loved, although it has never been a favorite of ours.

Spiga is always better than we remember it being, and we make it a point to eat there at least once each trip. It is, however, off the beaten track.

Pressior is also a favorite of ours. Very good food, service and ambiance.

Calmos is a favorite on this forum and others, but for the life of me I cannot figure out why. We ate there a couple of times and found nothing that compelled us to return. Perhaps this is because we are more interested in food than drinks?

As an alternative to Calmos and a cheaper alternative to the restaurants on the "row", I'd recommend Sunset Cafe (not to be confused with Sunset Beach Bar at the other end of the island). Sunset doesn't quite meet the level of some of the other "row" restaurants, but the food is very good, specials are interesting, and prices are about 25% less. The setting is also beautiful. Avoid when windy or seas are rough.

One last comment: One of the coolest and least talked about restaurants is Ti Coin Creole. If you like creole food, this out-of-the-way small restaurant is excellent.

Truth be told, you really can't go too wrong in GC

I can't confirm this either, but I would warn that parking at Petite is very limited, so that may be problematic. Also, if looking for a base to explore GC from, Petite is hardly any closer to the action than Esplande, and traffic is heavier only the Petite section of the road. If the goal is parking for town, park in town (as Carol notes, plentiful during the day).

That's true, Le Petite does have very limited parking, and it is not really any closer than Esplanade to the main part of town.

Le Petite has use of the L'Esplanade pool and L'Esplanade has use of the beach at LPetite. I would check with the hotel and they may provide transportation. The only thing about the beach at Le Petite is that you are a good way down from food and drink places.

Thank you for your review of GC restaurants. I too have to agree with your take on Calmos. We've eaten there twice and wasn't impressed enough to return for a third time. Have you tried Enold's Caribbean Creole in GC? It is casual dining on the water side and the food is very good and reasonably priced.

We have yet to try Enold's. This is mostly because we stay at GCBC at the far end of the beach. If looking for a casual dinner, we never make it past the LoLos.

That's the problem with all the great restaurants and limited nights on the island: it's hard to hit all your favorites while still leaving room to try new places!

Rainbow Café one of our favs.
A great beach bar, service on the sand, chairs & umbrellas.
Good food, nice folks, party on Monday nights.
On sundays, packed with locals for the 3 hour dejeuner

Not really, there is Enolds, Capt. Frenchys, and the Rainbow Restaurants all within 50 yards of Le Petite Hotel. More still if you want to walk down the beach.

Le Cottage is still my overall favorite. Stephane and Tania have hit their stride with the food and service.

Piazza Pascal is consistently good with great hosts.

L'Estaminet has always been a favorite for me, but my last tow meals there have been underwhelming. Not sure it is a coincidence since they were after Carole left.

I recently tried L'Ardoise and it was a pleasant surprise. It is located in the old Le Quinze, which was formerly Hibiscus. The entire menu is on a chalk board, so it changes regularly. Prices were quite reasonable and the food was excellent.

I have also heard good things about L'Effet Mer but have yet to make it. We actually ended up at L'Ardoise because L'Effet Mer was full (seems to support L'Effet Mer's reputation).

I think your distance estimate might be a bit on the optimistic side. I figure it to be about 1/4 mile. :-)

Il Nettuno is still open, but with new management. Same great meals and spot along the water.

Maybe, I'm not that good with milage, but this old lady with asthma and a new knee had no problems walking the beach from the Petit Hotel to Capt. Frenchys. My point was that there are quite a few establishments down that end of the beach.

Clamos IMHO is a sunset watching , cocktail kind of place not a fine dining spot like those mentioned in the original post. We love sitting with our feet in the sand watch in sunset and drinking wine or a cocktail. Their potato gratin is amazing. we also love the baked Camembert and the acras fritters . If your expectations are in check It is a great sunset spot.

Agreed, we go there for a drink with our feet in the sand, watching the sunset. Most times we go there we don't eat at all.

Raymon is back at Nettuno. So if you missed him, or Matteo on guitar, they are both there now.

Where are these 2 restaurants? Are they on the main part of the Boulevard?

LOL! Point taken! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

Thank you for all of the great information! And for the reminder of some of the other great restaurants we have been to in the "pre-kids' past. This will definitely fill in the gaps in my guide to the island for my relatives!
And now there are new places we want to try in July!

L'Auberge Gourmande most romantic in our opinion

L'Effet Mer is in the original location of Ti Provencale. L'Ardoise is where Hibiscus used to be. Both are down between Le Pressoir and Spiga.

Our visit to Calmos really surprised us. We thought we were going to eat at a restaurant overlooking the beach. However, it is a restaurant on the beach! and open air to the beach! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" />

Has anyone eaten here?

Thanks for all the info.
Do you walk from GCBC or take the shuttle?
We will be there soon and heard the shuttle was $10 per person!

Terry,

No clue what the cart shuttle costs at this time but we did it last April and felt it was more than reasonable and felt it a fun way to travel through Grand Case, and the cart driver was a very nice person to chat with, as well.

I hope you love GCBC as much as we did. Don't forget to seek out the pool - it's very pleasant and when we were there, we were the only ones using it. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

Last I heard, the shuttle was $8 per person but perhaps they raised it during the high season. We always feel comfortable walking but are never out very late - 10 pm at the latest. The road down by the GCBC is kind of dark so we carry a little penlight just so cars will see us.

We always walk. When we are heading out to dinner the weather is usually nice enough to compel us to walk, and after eating we feel like we should walk home again to burn some of the meal off.
That said, some of the less mobile folks rave about the carts.



We have not eaten there yet, but heard good reviews from those who have. Almost as close to GCBC as Spiga.

As mentioned earlier in the thread, I ate at L'Ardoise last week and thought it was very good as well as a good value, especially for GC.

Do they have a website? I'd love to be able to see a menu!
Thanks for any information

L'Effet Mer website
I couldn't find one for L'Ardoise. L'Effet's menu looks delish! According to the website the chef is formerly of L'Astrolable. Will definitely try that one in November!