declownman

Hi all,

If you get a chance to share St. John Virgin Island best restaurants (and even specific favorite dishes if you have them), I'd be much obliged! Also, we hope to stock up on groceries when we arrive in Cruz Bay by ferry, in order to cook at home some and save money (this is for our honeymoon week in June) - do you recommend an affordable and well-stocked grocery store?

Your responses will be great help as I work to gain familiarity with the island... Thanks!

wliwl

There are only two grocery stores in Cruz Bay - Starfish Market and Dolphin. They are both modest and very expensive. Starfish has fresher food. There is also a drugstore in the same plaza as Starfish.

Our favorite restaurants are Shipwreck, Donkey Diner, Skinny Legs, and Aqua Bistro in Coral Bay. In Cruz Bay we like Spyglass (excellent value at happy hour), Banana Deck, Zozos (although Zozo's is sooo expensive and truly we like the food at Shipwreck just as much), Sun Dog Cafe. Deli Grotto for cooler sandwiches and Cafe Livin (formerly Mojo's) for breakfast burritos.

There are many other favorite restaurants in Cruz Bay -- Fish Trap, La Plancha del Mar, Lime Inn, Rhumb Lines.

If i could only get to one restaurant (which would be tragic) I'd go to Shipwreck.

CaliNurse

Wiiwi's given you THE best breakfast place on the island: Donkey Diner on the Coral Bay side.

CaliNurse

..and for a local feel, Vi's way out past Coral Bay

PatrickSch

If you are staying on the South Shore there are two grocery stores on the way - Pine Peace and St. John Market- the signs are hard to miss. All groceries are very expensive on St. John but we recently cooked in several times and you do save money as the restaurants can be expensive also. We did refuse to buy the $17 watermelon but generally we just sucked up the fact prices are higher than at home.
In Cruz Bay we liked the Beach Bar and the Tap Room for pub type food. High Tide the Lime Inn and Morgan;s Mango are our favorites for nicer meals although all are less expensive than several other restaurants in Cruz Bay. Joes Barbecue has fabulous ribs- simple outdoor area- rib dinner is about $17. They have chicken and fish also.
Out in Coral Bay our favorite is Shipwreck-always for lunch because it is a long hilly drive at night but Skinny Legs has the best cheeseburger. i recently wrote a review of our trip- you can check it out in case I missed anything. You will love St John- great choice for a honeymoon.

Carib_Ian

No one mentioned Waterfront Bistro in Cruz Bay...this is more of a splurge restaurant, as is Astolare. We loved them both. In Coral Bay, we found that Island Blues was a bit quieter and had a better location than Skinny Legs.

brenandg

I addition to what the others have posted, I will add a couple of suggestions. Sam and Jack's Deli at The Marketplace is relatively new, but has some really great sandwiches and also home made pastas, sauces etc that you can take back to your villa and easily make dinner. The owners also own Zo-Zo's which is an upscale Italian restaurant at Gallow's Point and we found the food at Sam and Jack's to be top notch. We thought it was much better than Deli Grotto, the other deli in Cruz Bay. I agree, most of the groceries are quite expensive and I recommend if you like certain spices for cooking to bring them in small containers. Or, you could go to my favorite store, St John Spice and stock up. I recommend you check it out for some great spices, coffees, or souveninors. You might want to bring some of your favorite non-perishible snacks with you.

We usually don't dine at the pricier restaurants, mostly midrange to inexpensive. I think my favorite is still Rhumbline's. Not waterfront, but really great ambience and great food, albeit spicy. Joe's Rum Hut at Wharfside Landing has some really good daily lunch specials and pizzas.

Other mentionable are The Banana Deck for great ribeye steaks, The Lime Inn (mussels) and La Tapa. La Plancha Del Mar is very good but $$$$.

Have a great honeymoon! What side of the island are you staying? If you get to/stay on the Coral Bay side, I recommend The Tourist Trap for a very casual lunch or Skinny Legs for a burger.