13 Best Restaurants in St. Vincent and the Grenadines

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.

Jack's is a perfect spot for lunch when you're enjoying a day at Princess Margaret Beach … or any day when you're on Bequia. The sandwiches, salads, burgers and fries, or the grilled catch of the day along with a refreshing cold drink will certainly satisfy. The evening menu focuses on prime steaks and seafood. Dinner by the water is always a delight, but you'll have to maneuver some rough terrain (in your car or on foot) down from the main road, then navigate a lot of stairs farther down to the beachside restaurant—and back up, of course, after your meal. The Tuesday-night barbecue is particularly popular.

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 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.

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.

Basil's is the place to be—only partly because it's just about the only place to be in Mustique. Basil Charles's landmark property, reimagined by designer Philippe Starck in 2018, is still mainly a wooden deck perched on bamboo stilts over the waves; there's a thatched roof, a congenial bar, and a dance floor that's open to the stars—in every sense. You never know what celebrity may show up at the next table. The food is simple and good—mostly seafood (line-caught and sustainably fished), house-made ice cream, burgers, flatbread pizzas, and salads, along with the usual cocktails and bar snacks. Wednesday is Jump Up & Barbecue Night, with live music; Sunday, enjoy cocktails and jazz as the sun goes down.

This casual beach bar and restaurant on Lower Bay is the primary feeding station for long, lazy beach days. When the beach bar closes at dusk, the restaurant starts to fill up with those who have made reservations for an early dinner. For breakfast (from 9 am) or a light lunch, De Reef bakes its own breads, croissants, coconut cake, and cookies—and blends fresh juices to accompany them. For a full lunch or dinner, conch, lobster, whelk, and shrimp are treated the West Indian way; the curried conch and the lobster salad are favorites.

You're likely to be welcomed by the proprietor herself, Cheryl Johnson, when you stop in for a tasty Caribbean meal at this terrace restaurant overlooking Admiralty Bay. For breakfast, try local food or good ol' bacon and eggs; at lunch, soup (try the callaloo soup or lobster bisque) and salad or have a sandwich, burger, fish-and-chips, or roti (turnover filled with lobster, goat, meat, or veggies); and at dinner, your main dish (BBQ, seafood, and more) is served with four sides, including salad. The Fish Friday dinner menu is a seafood lover's delight. There's live music on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday nights. On Sunday morning, the Harmonies Steel Band accompanies breakfast—using a double row of gallon-size cans in addition to the usual steel drums.

By day, this is the perfect spot for a harborside breakfast or lunch; just before sunset, boaters come ashore to what is arguably the most popular gathering place in Bequia—the Frangipani Hotel's open-air waterfront bar. After a drink and a chat, the mood turns romantic with candlelight and Caribbean cuisine in the open-air dining room. The à la carte menu emphasizes seafood and West Indian cuisine—and be sure to have a slice of Frangi's lime pie for dessert. At the Thursday Jump-Up, the Frangi barbecue buffet is accompanied by steelband music.

Mac's has been serving thin-crust, brick-oven pizza in Bequia since 1980, and you can choose from 17 mouthwatering toppings (including lobster) or opt for house-made lasagna, quiche, conch fritters, pita sandwiches, or soup and salad. Mac's home-baked cookies, muffins, and banana bread (by the slice or the loaf) are great for dessert or a snack. Or top off your meal with a scoop or two of Maranne's house-made ice cream in tropical flavors. The outdoor terrace has water views. Takeout is also available.

This rather "glossy" restaurant at the rather "glossy" Sandy Lane Yacht Club on Glossy Bay has already established a following. The view of the waterfront and marina activity is picturesque at breakfast, lunch, or an anytime cocktail or smoothie; the marina vibe continues at dinner. The menu items—all prepared in an open kitchen—ranges from burgers, pizzas, sandwiches, and salads at lunch to fresh-caught seafood, steaks, and other international-style favorites at dinner.

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.

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.