20 Best Restaurants in British Virgin Islands

Seasoned yachties gather here nightly to share tales of the high seas; the open-air bar is the busiest on the island. Dinner is by candlelight under the stars and always includes famous Anegada lobster, steaks, and succulent baby back ribs—all prepared on a large grill by a little open-air bar. The ferry dock is right next door, so expect a crowd shortly after boats arrive. Dinner reservations are required by 4 pm (seatings are at 6:30 and 7:30). Breakfast favorites include lobster omelets and coconut rum-soaked French toast; at lunch the Reef serves salads, sandwiches, and more lobster.

For an elegant evening, you can't beat dining in this enchanting, candlelight, open-air pavilion, with its always-changing sophisticated contemporary fare and attentive service. The superbly prepared seafood, meat, and vegetarian entrées, most drawing upon Caribbean cooking traditions, including dishes like a Trinidad-style seafood pot, Montego Bay marinated fish with Jamaican spices, and tandoori-marinated lamb chops.

The owners, the Soares family, have lived on the island for more than half a century, and catch, cook, and serve the seafood at this homey bar and restaurant a short distance from Setting Point. The fresh lobster, swordfish, tuna, and mahimahi are all delicious. Pam's Kitchen, a small bakery, has been incorporated into the restaurant and rounds out offerings with freshly baked breads; sweet treats including made-from-scratch desserts (including key lime pie, chocolate brownies, and apple pie); and pizzas. Potent "Jungle Juice" is the happy hour drink of choice at the tiki bar on the beach. Dinner is by candlelight at the water's edge. Dinner reservations are essential by 4 pm.

This pretty pastel Soper's Hole eatery has reinvented itself as a coffeehouse, but you can still get "Sunday" brunch every day until mid-afternoon or sip your prosecco or cappuccino during "Mimosa Mondays" with live music. Omelets, crepes, high-protein breakfast bowls (with vegetarian and vegan options), and even the "full English" breakfast are served at a breezy counter–dining room combo, but the best seats are out back by the marina. There is another location in Nanny Cay, serving a similar menu alongside some of the best Indian curries in the BVI.

Relax over dinner in this open-air eatery at Long Bay Beach Resort. Expect to find starters like carrot hummus served with house-made focaccia or Vietnamese fish cakes, and entrées like fresh-caught seafood, tenderloin filet steak with truffle demi-glace, and Thai coconut green curry with your choice of protein. For breakfast, choose from smoothies and breakfast bowls featuring healthy ingredients, as well as more traditional offerings like omelets.

Lobster is the main attraction at this beach bar with a sandy floor, which is just some 20 feet from the sea. Grilled local fish—including swordfish, kingfish, and wahoo—are caught fresh daily, and the BabaQ ribs are the house specialty. Hammocks on the deck are made for swaying and supping on Ali Baba's special rum punch, as potent as it is delicious. Reservations are a good idea at dinner.

Knots, art from regattas past, and signal flags from the hundreds of vessels decorate the newly revamped Buoy Room at the Bitter End Yacht Club, which serves as a buzzing way station for hungry salts from Virgin Gorda and parts beyond. Raft up—it's only accessible by boat—for all-day brick oven pizzas and shared plates like fresh-caught fish tacos, seared tuna, and shrimp mango lettuce cups.

Owner Cynthia Harris is as famous for her friendliness as she is for her food. Lobster in a garlic butter sauce, and other freshly caught seafood, as well as pork, chicken, and ribs, are on the menu. House-made key lime pie and expertly blended Bushwackers are "to live for," as Cynthia would say, but diners also praise the fresh fish and lobster. Call for the schedule of live music, which varies from season to season. Breakfast and lunch are served on her big waterfront deck, too. Call ahead for reservations.

Located in the historic Customs House, Island Roots is part café, part bookstore, and part art gallery. You can order sandwiches, salads, espresso, or smoothies from the counter and browse unique artwork and historic prints while waiting for your meal. Breakfast is served until 3 pm on Saturday—from classic English morning fare to the island favorite ackee and saltfish. Daily soup specials include spicy Thai, split pea, and mulligatawny. There are additional locations at Nanny Cay Marina and The Moorings.

Situated on Trellis Bay's beachfront, brightly painted Jeremy's Kitchen is the ideal spot to enjoy a leisurely breakfast or lunch while people-watching. Omelets, croque madame and monsieur sandwiches, and eggs Benedict are breakfast favorites, while pasta, curries, roti, and quesadillas round out the lunch and dinner options. "Jeremy's Awesome Sandwich" fits a choice of meats and seafood between slices of seven-grain bread with grilled cheese, vegetables, and mango relish. Live bands play here during the monthly full-moon parties at Trellis Bay.

Put on your biggest floppy hat and join the lunching ladies at this airy restaurant and coffee shop, where hyper-local, farm-to-table ingredients take center stage. The standouts from the rotating menu—prepared by chef-owner Portia Harrigan—include velvety pumpkin soup, fish croquettes, gourmet burgers, an elevated grilled cheese with aged cheddar, and sun-dried-tomato pesto, or build-your-own Caribbean jasmine rice bowls with calypso or chimichurri sauces. The comfy, shabby-chic interior and pretty garden out front invite you to linger. 

Along the road to The Baths, this small restaurant with pedestrian decor is a local favorite for fresh bread, cakes and pastries, and informal dining. You can always find fresh fish on the menu, accompanied by traditional local sides like peas and rice. A weekly barbecue on Friday nights starts at noon and includes live music and DJs. There's a second, smaller location in Road Town, Tortola.

Omar's Cafe has joined forces with Omar's Fusion in the Fusion location, offering some of Tortola's best omelets, French toast, and waffles for breakfast and the best of Indian and West Indies cooking for lunch and dinner. You can find innovative curry and masala dishes alongside steaks, burgers, pizza, and local fish and lobster dishes. The restaurant is located dockside at Soper's Hole with an open-air dining room cooled by ocean breezes.

The central gathering space for Nanny Cay's fresh-off-the-yacht crowd is now a day-to-night fusion of Omar's first two locations in West End, from its lavish breakfast offerings in the morning—omelets, pancakes, eggs Benedict, and chicken and waffles—to authentic Indian curries and sophisticated specialty cocktails at night. Friday happy hour features $5 rum punches and Painkillers.

Find this Cane Garden Bay eatery and bar on the beach by the "I Love BVI" sign---it's known for its traditional Caribbean breakfast, brick-oven pizza, lamb and chicken shawarma, and daily drink specials. DJs get a good beach jam going at night, including monthly full-moon parties and themed events. Saturday night at Paradise is usually where the party is in Tortola for locals and visitors alike. Ask for local Callwood rum and BVI gin in your mixed drinks from the bar.

Dine seaside at this alfresco restaurant that's open to the breezes and features occasional live music. If pumpkin soup is on the menu, give it a try for a true taste of the Caribbean, although you can also get burgers, pizza, and salads at lunch, and local fish and conch fritters. For dinner, try the oven-baked Caribbean lobster or the panfried mahi mahi with tropical salsa. 

If you're touring the island, Turtle is a good place to stop for breakfast, lunch, or dinner with Caribbean-Mediterranean flair, including pizza and pasta dishes, West Indian roti, and lobster with lemon butter sauce. Sitting near the ocean at the Wyndham Lambert Beach Resort, this casually elegant restaurant provides a relaxing respite from the rigors of navigating mountain roads.

Docked sailboats stretch nearly as far as the eye can see at this busy Road Town marina restaurant. The alfresco dining and convivial atmosphere make it popular with both locals and visitors. Menu offerings include burgers, pizza, wings, ribs, and rib-eye steaks; there's also a popular weekday salad bar.

Quietly tucked into a corner on Road Town's waterfront, the Watering Hole is an oasis amidst the jungle of concrete government buildings and banks in downtown Road Town. South African wine and local and imported beer—along with espresso, Wi-Fi, and light fare like pizza, sandwiches, wraps, tacos, and a new tapas menu—make this a popular lunch spot for Road Town professionals and charter-yacht crews. The after-work crowd is also drawn in with weeknight build-your-own pizza and burger specials and live sports screenings. There is live music on Saturday.

Partly because it's right on the beach, this bi-level restaurant and bar is hopping day and night for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Chowder made with fresh conch is the specialty here, and the menu includes vegetarian dishes as well as grilled shrimp, steak, and tuna. There's live entertainment every night in winter.