USVI-On-Line

I'll be on STJ for a week on my Honeymoon and just wondering what restaurants/bars you consider "must goes." We're staying in Coral Bay, so we'll be spending most of our time on that end, but Im not against heading to Cruz Bay for a great place either. Also, using 1 week for an example, how often do you find yourself going out and staying in for meals? Just curious because I want to get an idea of how much food I should be getting from the market.

We generally do all breakfasts in. Mostly for convenience and because we like to eat a substantial breakfast and head out to the beach as early as possible. Lilly's Market in Coral Bay sells REAL live honest to goodness NYC bagels in their frozen section and they are DAMN good.

English muffins, eggs, bacon, cheese usually round out the breakfast menu.

Genrally villa food consists of breakfast items, snack items, drinks, lunch meat and bread, chicken breasts, romaine lettuce and caesar dressing, as well as a package of hot dogs and buns in case villa gravity or some serious rain precludes us from exiting the villa. Those items generally provide us with some flexibility on meals in if we are too lazy to go out. Otherwise we generally like to eat out (it is vacay after all!)

Keep in mind that grocery pricesa re much higher than you are used to and you should keep your villa meals simple. Otherwise by the time you add in the costs of a lot of extras you might as well have goneout to dinner IMHO.

We bring a few snacks with us to the beach and always a bottle of frozen water (thrown in the freezer the night before)which is usually nice and cold by the time we're ready to drink it.

We also prefer to stay in Coral Bay these days (Cruz Bay just seem s too busy )

Anyway, we stay at the beach until we just get too hot (usually around 2pm) and then head someplace like Tourist Trap, Skinny Legs, or Vies (all in or near the Coral Bay side of the island). IMHO these are MUST visits for lunch.

After a liesurely lunch we head back to the villa for a shower, cocktails and a nap (not necessarily in that order).

After we get hungry again, usually around 7 or so we head out to one of the following (in no particular order):

Island Blues, Miss Lucy's, Shipwreck Landing, Sweet Plaintains, Aqua Bistro or Skinny Legs (if we're feeling like a burger and hadn't already been there that day for lunch).

Cruz Bay has some really great restaurants as well: Some of my traditional faves are Morgans Mango, Fish Trap, or Lime Inn. Of those Lime Inn is more at the top of the list.

For fancier options and a bigger bill at the end of the night you can go to ZoZo's or Asolare.

Casual fare in Cruz bay include:

Uncle Joes or Candi's BBQ (Carry out is best but be patient).

Deli Grotto (for breakfast or lunch -- cash only) They make great sandwiches tp take to the beach. PLus really good desserty type stuff.

And of course the ubiquitous Beach Bar where you will probably run into more forumites than you can shake a fish at.

After so many visits, I really don't mess with the fancier places too much these days and opt for a more casual menu that doesn't include anything with foam (unless it's in my drink!)

There are tons more options but that's just what I could come up with off the top of my head....

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Private Chef It
It's very common these days to have a "Private Chef" come to
where you are staying and prepare your meal rather than going out.

Don't be mislead by the term "Private Chef", you don't have to be Jed Clampet or Donald Trump to afford this option to dining out.

Check out my friend Ted, of Ted's Supper Club, at http://www.tedssupperclub.com
or my friend Mat at http://stjohncatering.com/private-chefs.html and there are several others.
Just search this forum, or the internet, for "St John Private Chef".

I know for a fact that Ted's prices are the same as going out for dinner.
A "Private Chef" for a dinner for two is a common option many people choose over dining out these days.

Just be careful, make sure you search for "Private Chef" and not "Pirate Chef"... -c

We went to STJ for our honeymoon and have been 8 times now

Restaurants we never miss in Cruz Bay are the Lime Inn, Cafe Roma, and Rhumblines. They are 3 of my favorite restaurants anywhere.

http://www.stjohn-caferoma.com/

http://www.rhumblinesstjohn.com/

http://limeinn.com/

We are also big fans of the Banana Deck in Cruz Bay...their garlic ribeye is awesome:

http://www.thebananadeck.com/

We stayed in Coral Bay for our last couple trips but still ate in Cruz Bay for every meal out because we love the restaurants so much.

It's your honeymoon, so hopefully you won't be eating in much

We do some breakfasts in and sometimes make sandwiches for the beach. We rarely do dinner in.

In Coral Bay, we liked Aqua Bistro & Shipwreck landing for dinner, Tourist Trap and Miss Vie's for lunch and Skinny's anytime. Sweet Plantains gets rave reviews, but was closed during our stay.

I think most of our Cruz Bay faves have been mentioned. We had one of our best on island dinners at Lime Inn earlier this month. Lime Inn is always good, but seemed exceptionally so this last time (may have been enhanced by the Rum&Coke tour, who knows).

I think Cheryl's idea of a private chef is a great one.

Congratulations and have a wonderful trip.

I second Rumblines.....If you like a bit of spice... order the pu pu apps......

If you are staying in Coral Bay I would say that Sweet Plantains is a do not miss. We don't dine out often in the evening during our stays but we do try to fit in a meal there. The flavors are very good.

i need to put in a word for la plancha--it's been the best meal we've had onisland in a while --
the ambience is not so nice as some others (it's up above starfish market) but the food is spot on--
and we loved sweet plantains. but it's been inconsistent on a couple of visits-
not crazy about banana deck--but i think that is because i am generally not a big meat eater--

great advice frm Gromit!I love La Tapa and Zozo as a fancy special meal. I'm counting down the days until
I get to order their gazpacho! Yummy! We do a mixture of price ranges and restarants when we visit. Cook in, Uncle joes or candies- cheap. Make our own sandwiches and frequent grotto. We split entress always at the higher end places because we want an appeizer and usually both want salads. We mix it up and don't try to have the major restaurants every night. Too expensive and you won't want to either.

Gromit's suggestions and shopping list are terrific. We tend to do big breakfast, snack at lunch and big dinner. Rather than plan ahead, if we wanted to eat dinner in, we would grab a rotisserie chicken or BBQ from Candi's. I felt we wasted food our first trip because we bought with the intention of cooking in but never did.

Never drove to Coral Bay for dinner but did do lunch/snacks at Skinny's and Aqua Bistro. Both were very good.

For a nice night out I really enjoyed Caneel Bay. We did the Monday night buffet. The food was very good I only wished we had a table that was not in the middle of the restaurant. The tables off to the sides were more removed and could be more private and romantic. Before dinner we sat up on the upper deck area and had cocktails while we watched the sunset. Torches lit all the paths and tropical music played setting the tone for a wonderful evening. I highly recommend it. Make ressies and ask for a table close to the water (use the honeymoon card to your advantage!)

Like Gromit we seem to frequent the less expensive establishments: Cafe Roma (you will get 2 nights of meals from 1 dinner) and Lime Inn are both very good and reasonably priced.

Much like Gromit, we eat a big breakfast at the villa, grab a late afternoon lunch/snack and then go out for dinner.

I want to add one more thing...

Even if you are not a big breakfast eater at home I find that you really need to get something solid and substantial in your stomach before heading out for the day.

For one thing, most people are much more active on STJ (vacay for that matter) than they are at the their sedentary jobs at home.

Instead of sitting at a desk you are snorkeling, walking, hiking etc. Those things require calories and you will usually burn more than you eat.

The second thing is the heat and your proximity to the equator, it really does suck a lot of energy out of you and your body requires energy to keep itself cool.

We usually eat a lot more on vacay but it's rare for us to return gaining any actual weight due to the increased activity.

So plan on eating a hearty breakfast and you'll be a happier camper!

Gromit, good to know! I normally dont much (if anything) for breakfast. Thanks for the ideas everyone.

Good list, good suggestions. A couple places that I'll add---Chateau Bordeaux sits up on Bordeaux Mountain above Coral Bay. They've gone through ownership changes and closings, so it's identity is a bit unclear, but at one time it had some of the finest food on STJ. It still has a really spectacular view. Key is to get there early (while it's still light) to be able to see night settle on Coral Bay. No sunset view, but there is a moonrise, so if you're there around a full moon, it would be thrilling.

There are a few small operations at the triangle in Coral Bay that provide good local food for breakfast/lunch. The Sputnik bar sometimes has food and it's a fine place to get a drink and have very local experience. i've read here that the former Pickles has another new identity and serves local food.

Maho Camps isn't so far and their pavilion restaurant has one of the best locations on the island. Their breakfasts are really good and that could be a good way to start a north shore day. Further south from Coral Bay , Concordia also has a restaurant with a fairly fantastic view.

We stay on the Coral Bay side and really don't have much to do with Cruz Bay once we get there. There's nothing we need that we can't find in Coral Bay.

We eat hearty breakfasts and tend to eat in about half the time and out half the time. Then we head to the beach. Sometimes we bring snacks for the beach and sometimes we go out for a late lunch and a beer or two at the tap room. We eat dinner in almost every night preceded by cocktails poolside. We bring most of our meats with us.