Kate Geskos

I'm headed for Tortola next week. We're staying at Long Bay and I'm sure the food is good but need more "island" recommendations.

Phil

Go to cane garden bay, it's got some nice places.

Joel

I've been vacationing regularly on Tortola for 4 years. Here are my recommendations:
1. At about $95 for two with wine and a very unique ambiance, try Sugar Mill which is about 2 miles down the shore from Long Bay. The owners are (still, I think) writers for Bon Appetit magazine. They do well, but don't expect stateside excellence.
2. Best burger and most relaxed setting: the Jolly Roger on the ferry side of Soper's Hole about 5 miles from Long Bay (go past the ferry building at West End and you'll see the Jolly Roger by itself overlooking the anchorage. Nice folks, very relaxed.
3. Often rated as the best restaurant on the island, but I haven't tried it: Brandywine Bay Restaurant. About 3-4 miles from the airport on the main highway from airport to Road Town.
4. Native cuisine: Ms. Scatliffe's which is in a home setting with a terrible family band and Ms. Scatliffe is apt to expound on Christianity and other of her opinions. Colorful. The food is all native popular dishes. I've heard that Rhymer's Restaurant is better for native cuisine.
5. My favorite and, in my opinion, a must for casual dining in a romantic setting: Frenchman's Cay Resort, about 15 min from Long Bay. Head for Soper's Hole. After you go across the little bridge where you'd turn right for Soper's Hole... turn left instead. The road dead ends at Frenchman's Cay Resort, a very nice, small resort with a restaurant with a view. Wide assortment of dishes cooked American style. A favorite gathering place. Good place to meet people, but always a candlelight dinner with the tradewinds blowing.
6. A couple of places that I'd avoid: the restaurant at the Soper's Hole marina and Pusser's in West End. Not bad; just too much like any restaurant in the States that focuses on buffalo wings and such.
7. For excitement and variety, take the West End ferry over to Charlotte Amalie for dinner one day. I'm not familiar anymore with the USVI, but I vacationed there a few times and the assortment and quality of restaurants there is better.
Feel free to contact me directly if you have any other questions.

Island Boy

Previous post is right on target! Brandywine is wonderful but rather expensive, no shorts either. I loved Mrs Scatliff's and enjoy Myatt's in Cane
Garden Bay, Tell Kareem, Valerie or Sandman that "Island Boy" sent you! Enjoy! You are heading for a very special place!!

Karen

I too vote for Mrs. Scatliff's and Frenchman Cay---Frenchman's Cay was the best on the island. However can't agree that Brandywine was worth it. For us it was a disaster. Found the service poor---owner was busy chatting on the phone while waiter ran frantically from table to table and didn't pour wine---food had to go back after ordering scallops cooked, not rare. They were close to raw! Very expensive as well for the quantity and quality of food...am still waiting for my coffee! Might have been a bad night---but hard to believe that it was unusual. (and we weren't the only complainers!) Sugar Mill also was delightful with a good wine list. Another option is taking the Peter Island ferry in Roadtown and dining there---highly rated cuisine and wonderful atmosphere. In fact you can take a day trip there as well for the beach and lunch at Deadman's Grille but it is expensive. I'd choose that anyday over Brandywine. Check it out---you'll fall in love with Peter Island.

martha

For cheap, authentic Carribean cuisine, just slightly off the beaten track, you've got to check out the Roti Palace. It's a couple of blocks up from the harbor in downtown Road Town. The Palace is very basic -- but the rotis - meat, onions, and potatoes, seasoned memorably with curry and rolled up in something like a tortilla -- are to die for. (Rotis are sometimes referred to as "Carribean burritos") The Palace has about a half dozen types of rotis to choose from -- chicken's a good bet, and the goat won't kill you.

michael

I just got back from 10 days staying on Long Bay in a villa. Ate one meal at Long Bay resort and was not impressed, unfortunately. The Sugar Mill was excellent, but again a little too upscale and continental. I prefer real Caribbean cuisine when down there. The best meals by far that we had were not on Tortola, but rather on Anegada. If you get the chance, take a day or overnight trip to Anegada and enjoy the drop deal gorgeous beaches as well as the daily lobster barbeques which take place at every restaurant on the island. Anegada is a Caribbean way of life that is rapidly disappearing. Totally safe, unspoiled, friendly, it is absolutely amazing that no one goes there. Except for yachters and others in the know. Have dinner at the Big Bamboo or the Anegada Reef hotel. Lobster dinners, consisting of 3 pounders cooked on giant grills on the beaches, run around $30 per head. If you go for an overnight, call Mr. Creque at the Anegada Beach Cottages and book one of the beachside villas for $100 per night. His number is 284-495-9466. The Anegada Reef hotel, which is the only real hotel on the island, gets a staggering $250 a night for a motel caliber room. The flight from Tortola runs Sun, Mon, Wed, Fri and goes over around 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. It costs a mere $60 round trip.