Hi All - We are renting a villa on St. John for a week in Feb. While we are interested in doing some cooking at home, we'd like to try some restaurants too. Looking for good Caribbean/seafood places with a laidback vibe, and perhaps, one more formal dining experience. Does anyone have any recommendations? Do we need reservations at any of these places? Also, we'll be staying the Coral Bay area. Thanks!

Coral Bay? "Skinny Legs" is a must---great fish sandwiches.

Miss Lucy's in Coral Bay is a must-best Conk Fritters I have ever had-this place was one of our fav. resturants ever!!!

Watch out for the goats at Miss Lucy's!

In Coral Bay:
Vie's Snack Shack for Garlic Chicken
Donkey Diner
Aqua Bistro

In Cruz Bay:

Rhumb Lines
Morgan's Mango
Lime Inn
Woody's Seafood

In between, the restaurant at Maho Bay Camp Ground for excellent breakfast.

Formal -
Caneel Bay's "Equator"
Chateau Bordeaux @ Estate Bordeaux


http://www.vivacations.com/content/Restaurants.htm

Deb

Thanks for all of the suggestions. Are reservations necessary at any of these?

Formal ones, I would reserve.

Not needed at other places when we were there a few years back.

We will be there for 2 weeks in March and I can't wait to warm up and get in that beautiful water.

Have fun!
Deb

Several great spots have been recommmended so I'll a couple of other favorites.
Uncle Joe's Bar B Q in Cruz, great ribs and chicken.
Cafe Roma is very good as well, some of the best hot Itlaian sausage I've ever had.

Add Shipwreck Landing to the list. They are recommending reservations on live music nights. Island Blues was one of our favorites but has new owners. Donkey Diner as mentioned but note-closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. For lunch, the Tourist Trap out by Salt Pond has been receiving rave reviews.

My favorite restaurant on St. John is Rhumblines.

Wonderful atmosphere. The food is excellent and the staff is terrific. We just ate there in November.

Great - thanks. Approximately how long does it take to drive from the Coral Bay area to Cruz Bay?

Coral Bay to Cruz Bay should be around 30-40 mins depending on which way you go. Up over the mountain is faster for sure, but the north shore drive is gorgeous.

We were there in early December and definitely didn't need reservations anywhere. Hopefully things are busier on the island in February and reservations don't hurt. Our favorites from that trip were Rhumb Lines (went twice over 2 weeks); Cafe Roma; Lime Inn and, of course, Uncle Joes!

Shipwreck's Landing and Rhumb Lines are our favorites.

In Coral Bay, Skinny Legs for sure for a burger. I'm looking forward to trying The Tourist Trap by Salt Pond for lunch next time also.

In Cruz Bay, Rhumblines and Cafe Roma are a couple of our favorites. The Banana Deck has great rib-eye specials if you like steak. Uncle Joe's for excellent BBQ and The Beach Bar for good pub grub. Add La Tapa too. All of these are consistently good.

I can't speak for the high end places but Morgan's Mango has lobster night on Tuesday and The Lime Inn is also known to have good Caribbean Lobster. Really, there are many good restaurants on STJ.

If you are looking for a place to get nice sandwiches for the beach or whatever, try Deli Grotto in Mongoose Junction. Now I have to add Sun Dog Cafe in Mongoose Junction as well for lunch. Jeez, once I get going about STJ, I can't stop.

If you like beautiful beaches and quaint beach bars, try to make a trip to White Bay, Jost Van Dyke. You can take the ferry there Fri-Sat-Sun from STJ for $60pp including customs fees. It leaves form the dock across from The VI National Park building. Have fun on your trip!

Absent from your list brenandg is Miss Lucy's. I was just looking at our pics from STJ and happened upon the ones you sent me. What a meal, huh?

8 weeks and counting.
Deb

Thanks for the tip about the ferry to Jost van Dyke! We were thinking about taking an excursion there, but prices are high. The ferry sounds like a great option.

Here is more info about the ferry. I tried to respond before but could not log in.

You will need to go to the Inter Island Boat Services Building for the ferry to Jost Van Dyke. It is NOT the same dock as the ferry from STT to STJ. It is across from the VI National Park Building and is a small white building. You will need to get there around 8:00am for the 8:30 ferry. You will need to fill out customs paperwork. Bring a pen and your passport.

Parking stinks in Cruz Bay. There is a parking lot called Slim Man's where you can park for the day for about $10 per day. It is easy walking distance to the dock.

You will get to Jost about 9:30ish depending if you clear customs on Tortola or Jost. We have done both. I think it depends on how many vessels they have running and how timely they are. After you arrvive, there will be several taxis waiting. Have them take you to White Bay. It is $5pp each way. It is well worth it. The hills are way steeper than I want to climb. Arrange for them to pick you up in time to catch the 3:00pm ferry. Don't be late because that one almost always leaves right on time. If you want to go to Foxy's in Great Harbor, it is easier to leave some time for that on the way back. The taxi's pretty much vamoose after the ferry passengers are taken care of and it might be a little harder to get one. I've been to Foxy's during the day and there is not much going on. It is more of a night spot.

We have done the ferry several times as a less expensive option. You would end up with about 5 full hours on Jost. It is hard to tear yourself away at 2:30 though .

Here is the link to the ferry schedules.

http://www.vinow.com/general_usvi/interisland_ferry/

One place we have always had good luck with for a low key meal and not mentioned is Island Blues in Coral Bay. It's right on the water. The crowd is a mix of locals and tourists. Another is Sweet Plaintains which is on the pricey side but the food is excellent and more exotic.

Thank you for all of the wonderful suggestions. We got back from St. John just yesterday and are already planning our next trip, hopefully sometime within the next four months!

We enjoyed Shipwreck Landing twice (the second time because Sweet Plantains was closed!), Aqua Bistro, Miss Lucy's (for brunch and for dinner), Miss Vie's (without a doubt, the best meal we had during our stay), and of course, Skinny Legs.

In Cruz Bay we went to Rhumb Lines and Paradiso in Mongoose Junction. I wouldn't recommend Paradiso - though the food was good, it was very pricey and a little too stuffy.

We hope to make it to Sweet Plantains during our next trip.

One thing I would mention to all future diners at Shipwreck is the large portion sizes. We inevitably wound up full because of appetizers - either skip the appetizer or share a main dish.

Kateny17: Oh, I hope you'll write a more extensive trip report! Did you rent a villa? Please do tell as many folks have questions regarding the villas. Also, I am encouraging anyone who will be out in the Coral Bay area to check out the new restaurant out at Estate Concordia eco camp. Too bad you missed Sweet Plaintains, but that gives you something to look forward to when you go back!