6 Best Restaurants in St. Vincent, St. Vincent and the Grenadines

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Nearly all restaurants in St. Vincent specialize in local West Indian cuisine, although you can find chefs with broad culinary experience at a few hotel restaurants. Local dishes to try include callaloo (similar to spinach) soup, curried goat or chicken, rotis (turnovers filled with curried meat or vegetables), fresh-caught seafood (lobster, kingfish, snapper, and mahimahi), local vegetables such as the squashlike christophene (also known as chayote) and pumpkin, "provisions" (roots such as yams and dasheen), and tropical fruit (including avocados, breadfruit, mangoes, soursop, pineapples, and papaya). Fried or baked chicken is available everywhere, often accompanied by "rice ’n’ peas" or pelau (a stew made with rice, coconut milk, and either chicken or beef seared in caramelized sugar). At Campden Park, just north of Kingstown, the local beer, Hairoun, is brewed in accordance with a German recipe. Sunset is the local rum.

What to Wear. Restaurants are casual. You may want to dress up a little—long pants and collared shirts for gents, summer dresses or dress pants for the ladies—for an evening out at a pricey restaurant, but none of the establishments listed below require men to wear a jacket or tie. Beachwear, however, is never appropriate in restaurants.

Paradise Beach Hotel Restaurant

$$$ Fodor's choice

Settle in for lunch on the patio, with a view of Young Island and the sea beyond, or dinner inside or alfresco. Enjoy local specialties—crab back, creole chicken, grilled just-caught fish, or the absolutely freshest lobster that you select from the live lobster pool. Grillin' With the Captain (Earl Halbich of Fantasea Tours) on Friday night adds to the joie de vivre. The service is definitely friendly; plan to linger.

The French Verandah Restaurant

$$$ Fodor's choice

Dining by candlelight on the waterfront terrace of Mariners Hotel means excellent French cuisine with Caribbean flair—and one of the best dining experiences on St. Vincent. Start with a rich soup (piping hot French onion, fish with aioli, creamy pumpkin, or callaloo and conch) or escargots, stuffed crab back, or conch salad, and then move on to a main course of fresh fish and shellfish grilled with fresh herbs, garlic butter and lime, or creole sauce. Landlubbers may prefer sautéed chicken paillard with mushroom or Thai peanut sauce, grilled lamb chops, or beef tenderloin with béarnaise, Roquefort, or pepper sauce. For dessert, there's the wonderful mi-cuit, a warm chocolate delicacy with vanilla ice cream. Lighter, equally delicious fare is served at lunch—and you can enjoy a full seaside breakfast.

The Sapodilla Room at Grenadine House

$$$ Fodor's choice

The Sapodilla Room at the historic Grenadine House (1765) is a hidden gem. Whet your appetite with a fruity cocktail at the West Indies Bar—the actual bar is from an old English pub, with a gallery of classic black-and-white stills of movie stars gracing the walls—and then move inside to the stone-wall dining room and enjoy grilled fresh fish, creamy seafood risotto, or tasty beef, lamb, and chicken entrées that reflect Caribbean flavors. Locals come here for special occasions and business dinners, as this is one of the few elegant dining spots on St. Vincent.

Kingstown Park, Kingstown, VC0130, St. Vincent and the Grenadines
784-458–1800
Known For
  • Elegant atmosphere
  • Professional service
  • Varied Caribbean/international dishes
Restaurant Details
Rate Includes: No lunch, Reservations essential

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Young Island Resort Restaurant

$$$$ Fodor's choice

Take the little ferry (a two-minute ride from the dock at Villa Beach) to Young Island for a delightful lunch or a very special romantic evening. Stone paths lead to candlelit tables—some in breezy, thatch-roof kiosks—and gentle waves lap the shore. Four-course, prix-fixe dinners of grilled seafood, roast pork, succulent beef tenderloin, duck breast, and sautéed chicken are accompanied by local vegetables. Two or three choices are offered for each course, and warm, freshly made breads (coconut, raisin, banana, country white, cinnamon, or whole-grain wheat) are sliced at your table. Saturday is a barbecue buffet. Lunch is à la carte—soups, salads, grilled meats, or fish—and served on the beachfront terrace. Sunday lunch is a local curry buffet.

Vee Jay's Restaurant & Bar

$$

Come here for "authentic Vincy cuisine." Specials are chalked onto the blackboard: mutton or fish stew, chicken or vegetable rotis, curried goat, souse, and buljol (sautéed codfish, breadfruit, and vegetables). Not-so-Vincy sandwiches, fish-and-chips, and burgers can be authentically washed down with mauby, a bittersweet drink made from tree bark; linseed, peanut, passion-fruit, or sorrel punch; local Hairoun beer; or your choice of tropical cocktails. Lunch is buffet-style. Eat in, take out, or have your meal delivered.

Lower Bay St., Kingstown, VC0130, St. Vincent and the Grenadines
784-457–2845
Known For
  • Local food, local vibe
  • Located right in the heart of town
  • All-day dining
Restaurant Details
Rate Includes: Closed Sun.

Wallilabou Anchorage

$$$

Halfway up St. Vincent's Caribbean coast, this is a favorite lunch or dinner stop for boaters sailing the Grenadines and for landlubbers touring the leeward coast. The picturesque view of the bay is enhanced by the period stage sets left behind by the Pirates of the Caribbean filmmakers. Open all day from 8 am, the bar-and-restaurant serves snacks, sandwiches, tempting West Indian dishes, straight-from-the-sea fish, and lobster in season. Ice, telephones, business services, and shower facilities are available to boaters.

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