St. John VI restaurants

liamsaunt · March 3

We are back on St. John. This trip it's just my husband and me. The flight times were not great this time for whatever reason, so we came in Friday and used Marriott points to spend one evening on St. Thomas at the relatively newly opened Westin Frenchman's Reef. This property was devastated in the hurricanes of 2017, and it took all these years to rebuild it. If you like resorts, it seems to check all of those boxes: lots of restaurants and bars, multiple huge swimming pools, spa, watersports, boats, etc. That type of vacation is not my speed, but it was fine for one night. View

We made a reservation at the fine dining restaurant, Isla Blue. Restaurant

It was very dark so taking photos was a challenge. Some menu pictures for @rotuts

appetizers

hot appetizers and caviar service

entrees

We ordered the hot turadito appetizer, which was made with local snapper. It was not really hot, they just poured some sizzling oil over it at the table.

We also ordered the tempura sushi roll, which had more local snapper and tuna too. I am not sure why they put gold flakes on a sushi roll, but OK

Husband got a 1.5 lb. local lobster for his entree. He said it was outstanding. The sauces were a lime butter and a banana sauce of some kind.

I got a the cassava crusted mahi mahi with callaloo sauce. The fish was very fresh and I love callaloo but the coating was a bit bland.

Desserts

We split the coconut cake. It was ok. We did not finish it.

Breakfast the next morning

I got a fruit plate with plantain bread

Husband got coconut overnight oats

And then we hopped the boat over to St. John. We are staying in the same house we rented last summer for a week, and then we are heading to a nearby private island to glamp for three nights. Neither of us were starving at dinner, so we just went to Longboard for some small plates. Drinks. I did not catch their names. Mine is on the right. It is a cocktail with mint and cracked black pepper.

Husband wanted the curried lobster rangoons. I dislike lobster so did not try them.

I ordered the mahi mahi seveche with yucca chips

And then we split an order of tuna tempura tacos and mahi mahi sliders (one each)

rotuts · March 3

@liamsaunt

thank you for the menu's

I wonder how that sort of lightinh

effects the appearance of the food ,

thus the experience.

in the mouth.

hope you have a wonderful trip

and thank you for taking us along.

Edited March 3 by rotuts (log)

gfweb · March 3

I'm not a fan of the color blue at all. I might well have passed on that restaurant, though the food looked good.

Senior Sea Kayaker · March 3

5 hours ago, gfweb said:

I'm not a fan of the color blue at all. I might well have passed on that restaurant, though the food looked good.

I have to agree. That lighting is just strange and would put me off although the food looks good.

What interests me, and if it's not too much trouble, is the 'glamping' aspect of the trip. I'd be interested in seeing how things are set up with respect to facilities, how meals are provided...etc...

Have a great trip.

**MaryIsobel** · March 3

6 hours ago, gfweb said:

I'm not a fan of the color blue at all. I might well have passed on that restaurant, though the food looked good.

It's an odd lighting choice for a restaurant in my opinion. When I was about 10, my mom was in the hospital so my 8-year-old sister and I made dinner for my Dad. Pork chops and rice. For some reason, we decided to add blue food colouring to the rice. My Dad pitched a fit which was highly out of character for him. Lesson learned - no blue food!

blue_dolphin · March 3

2 hours ago, Senior Sea Kayaker said:

I have to agree. That lighting is just strange and would put me off although the food looks good.

What interests me, and if it's not too much trouble, is the 'glamping' aspect of the trip. I'd be interested in seeing how things are set up with respect to facilities, how meals are provided...etc...

Have a great trip.

I'm not sure if this is the place they are going, but @liamsaunt mentioned it last year. It looks way more glam than camp 🙃

On 8/7/2023 at 6:49 AM, liamsaunt said:

One of the St. John cays is now offering glamping in the on season, and he is considering my request to try that out. The "tents" have real beds, ac, wifi, and indoor bathrooms! It's like a hotel, but up in a tree. Sounds pretty great to me.

Lovongo Cay

Senior Sea Kayaker · March 4

1 hour ago, blue_dolphin said:

I'm not sure if this is the place they are going, but @liamsaunt mentioned it last year. It looks way more glam than camp 🙃

Thanks for that.

My only experience with anything like 'glamping' back in the day would be stays in backcountry ACC huts or Ontario PP yurts.

Edited March 4 by Senior Sea Kayaker (log)

liamsaunt · March 4

17 hours ago, Senior Sea Kayaker said:

I have to agree. That lighting is just strange and would put me off although the food looks good.

What interests me, and if it's not too much trouble, is the 'glamping' aspect of the trip. I'd be interested in seeing how things are set up with respect to facilities, how meals are provided...etc...

Have a great trip.

I will definitely report back. I don't think it can count as camping, per se. There are multiple places to do actual camping on St. John. The National Park runs a campground that has really nice facilities. They provide everything from bare sites to cottages, and it's on one of the best beaches on the island. There's also an eco campground on the other side of the island that has good reviews, and is also near a good beach for snorkeling and hiking. My husband is not a camper though. Even the "glamping" is pushing his comfort level.

14 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

I'm not sure if this is the place they are going, but @liamsaunt mentioned it last year. It looks way more glam than camp 🙃

Good memory! That is the place.

We did not initially have dinner plans for last night, but my husband decided he wanted to go to the local steakhouse. He figured the leftovers would make good ingredients for meals back at the villa later in the trip. I am not a huge fan of this restaurant, because there is not a lot for me to choose from since I don't eat red meat. I will get my picks later in the visit.

Palate cleanser of raspberry and black pepper sorbet

Appetizers

We shared an order of the duck fat gnocchi. I thought the gnocchi was undercooked, but my husband liked it

Entree options

I opted for the pumpkin curry with shrimp added. The curry had great flavor, but there were no detectable chunks of pumpkin. I wonder what I would have gotten if I had not added the shrimp.

Husband had a steak, which he enjoyed. He ordered a side of wild mushrooms, but they brought him mashed potatoes by mistake (twice!). By the time the mushrooms came he had eaten most of the steak that he wanted. It was OK, we brought them back to the villa for mushroom omelets.

Dessert was a gooey St. Louis style butter cake. This was not to either of our likings. It was our fault. Neither of us had tried this type of cake before and it was just too sweet.

We agreed that we won't be back to this restaurant. It tends to attract large groups that come in after a day of overindulging, and the resulting loud, loud noise from them makes for an annoying dinner experience. The behavior is especially annoying since it is the most expensive restaurant on the island! Plus, my husband said they have an awful wines by the glass selection, so he always has to buy an entire bottle to get a glass of something he likes (they let you take opened bottles home here). We left with an entire order of mushrooms, half a steak, and 3/4 of a bottle of red wine.

Here's a picture of where we spent yesterday. Francis Bay

KennethT · March 4

Was that butter on top of the steak? If so, when melted, it must have caused a flood!

liamsaunt · March 5

21 hours ago, KennethT said:

Was that butter on top of the steak? If so, when melted, it must have caused a flood!

Yes, it was. And yes, it did! There was an indentation in the wooden board the steak was served on, but that was not enough to contain the flow of butter and steak juices. When they took the board away, there was a puddle on the table. We saw some other tomahawk steaks going out that looked like they had the equivalent of three sticks of butter on them. Butter is delicious, but that was a little much!

We spent yesterday back at Francis beach. We were greeted by a deer as we got to the end of the trail to the beach

The rocky side of Francis, where the good snorkeling is. The other side is sandy, but we like the rocky side (no people)

Last night we went to our favorite fancy restaurant on island, Zozos. Typically, there is a four course prix fix menu here, which is too much food for us. In the on season (which is December-April), they open up the lounge on the lower level and offer the menu a la carte, which works better for our appetites. The cocktail list

And our selections. My husband had a dirty martini, and I chose the Aqua Fresca from the mocktail menu (That was another annoying thing about Dave and Jerry's. No mocktails on the menu. I usually just have water with dinner, but will choose an interesting mocktail on vacation if they are offered).

The menu

We shared the langoustino (delicious)

The spaghetti al chitarra (fantastic)

and the tuna (again, delicious)

The views are great from this location.

We really miss the resort that used to be here on the National Park land, but the ownership of the resort ruins and the land is stuck in a legal dispute between the US government and the private equity group that was operating the resort at the time of the hurricanes, and there does not seem to be an end in sight to that battle.

St. Thomas in the distance

We have no dinner reservations tonight. The plan is for some snorkeling and eventually locating a fish sandwich and maybe some conch fritters.

liamsaunt · March 6

We find ourselves in a little bit of a pickle at this time of year. The ocean is too cold for us in the morning, but by the afternoon (when the water still feels cold but somewhat tolerable haha), the parking spaces at the north shore beaches are full. That's where the white sandy beaches are. Yesterday's rocky beach was the Haulovers, located on the far east end of the island.

We tried Haulover North first, because it has some of the best snorkeling on the island when conditions are right. First peek through the trees

And out to the beach. Nope. It's hard to see from the photo but there was a strong current running, and you have to be careful here because it's easy to be pulled out into the open water (and the boat channel!).

So we headed across the street to the beach facing in the opposite direction, Haulover South.

Nice and calm, so we spent the afternoon snorkeling here. It's not as exciting as the diverse sea life and corals over at Haulover North, but we still saw some nice fish, sponges, and coral.

Back to food. On a whim, we decided to have a late lunch at Johnny Lime, a BBQ place in Coral Bay. It's very casual: you order at a counter and they bring the food when it's ready. They make their own barbecue sauces and hot sauce, and serve vegetables and greens grown on the only farm on the island (which is around the corner from the restaurant).

Restaurant

Menu

We ordered a mahi sandwich, yuca fries, and a salad with passion fruit dressing. Everything was delicious. The piece of mahi on our sandwich was massive. It was nice and juicy too. The yuca fries were delicious, and the greens were a welcome addition to everything else.

There was only one other table with customers when we were there, a small group of full time residents. (You can tell the full timers from their cars. All the tourists have shiny new Jeeps and Broncos, and the full timers often drive cars that are beat up and usually covered in about a thousand bumper stickers) I could not understand it, because the food was so good. When I looked up their website at home I realized that they were not even open when we were there! They served us anyway, and never said anything about the fact that we were there an hour before they actually opened. Oops.

After lunch we stopped by Trunk Bay for a swim. It was late enough that most people had already left for happy hour in town. It was pouring rain offshore, but not on the beach.

Lunch was so filling that we skipped dinner.

There are many, many cruise ships in port on STT today, so we are planning on sticking close to the house. We might try snorkeling in front of the house so that we don't have to drive anywhere. We are heading in to town for dinner, but the ship people should be gone by the time we get there.

liamsaunt · March 7

Last night we had dinner at Morgan's Mango. This is one of the most popular restaurants on the island. I called 30 days out to try and get a reservation for lobster night but all of the tables were already booked, so we ended up going on a non-lobster night. I find this place to be hit or miss. Sometimes it is fantastic from start to finish, and sometimes it is mediocre. Last night was a mixed bag. My husband's birdbath margarita

They only had the frozen slushy sweet type of mocktails, so I stuck to water.

The menu. Appetizers

Entrees

The restaurant interior

We started with two shared appetizers. The cajun shrimp, which were juicy and delicious

and a special of lobster and conch fritters. I don't normally like lobster much, but I am not completely opposed to it either, and my husband really wanted these. They were quite good (though I would have liked them better as just plain conch fritters). That's a curry sauce under the fritters. It was tasty.

For our entree, we got the fish special of the evening, which was wasabi pea crusted wahoo on Caribbean rice with a roasted pepper cream sauce and spinach. This was a disappointment. The wahoo was woefully overcooked, the crust was thick and somehow bland, I disliked the cream sauce (my husband thought it was ok), the spinach was salty, and the rice was greasy. I ate less than half, and I love wahoo. We call fish like cooked this "Bermuda style" because that's how they cook every fish except tuna there. Sad fish picture:

Such a shame because it was a huge piece.

Speaking of huge piece, we rallied and split a piece of their famous key lime pie. Husband got a grand marnier and I had a double espresso.

So, a mixed bag at Morgan's Mango. Two out of three courses were good, so I won't complain too much.

For food related interest, here is a picture of the banana tree in our villa's yard. I love the banana flower. It's so strange looking

liuzhou · March 7

So, they have lobster on non-lobster nights, too?

liamsaunt · March 7

10 hours ago, liuzhou said:

So, they have lobster on non-lobster nights, too?

Not the whole grilled lobsters that they have on lobster nights. I am assuming that the lobster in our fritters was made from lobsters that went unsold on the previous night, which was a lobster night. I know the menu says lobster is available, but every time we go there on non lobster nights, they never actually have any. The lobster they serve is caught here and I assume the guys who dive for it have a catch limit.

liamsaunt · March 8

Today is our last full day on St. John before heading over to Lovango for three more nights. We are actually coming back to STJ in May, so have not felt compelled to go everywhere and do everything on this visit. Yesterday, rather than trying to get a parking spot at the beaches, we spent the day hiking. We were rewarded with these views

We also visited the Annaberg plantation. On certain days there are cultural demonstrations here, but we must have chosen an off day for that. This is the remnants of the sugar mill. There is a massive honeybee nest in the top of it. The honey is gathered and sold at certain times of the year (not now). It is delicious.

After our hike he drove down into Coral Bay to see what was open for a late lunch. We saw people at the Surf Club cantina and had not been there before so stopped in. Restaurant

Fresh squeezed limeade for me, and a guava margarita for my husband

Grilled grouper tacos

blackened shrimp tacos

Then we went sea glass hunting for a bit, to kill some more time before heading to the beach. When we visit St. John in the on season, we try to time our beach visits to the very early morning or the late afternoon. Otherwise it is too peopley for us.

Entrance to Trunk Bay, the most popular beach on the island, and consistently rated one of the most beautiful in the Caribbean. (The lifeguard stand is abandoned. There has been no funding for lifeguards on the island since the hurricanes in 2017. The National Park is working on building employee housing on the island and I think the guards will be back once that project is finished. At least I hope so. There have been two drownings on the island in the last week).

Quiet, beautiful Trunk Bay beach. All the beaches used to be like this all of the time when we started visiting over 20 years ago. The secret's been out for a while and it is a different scene now, but we still think it's wonderful.

Edited March 8 by liamsaunt (log)

KennethT · March 8

2 hours ago, liamsaunt said:

Today is our last full day on St. John before heading over to Lovango for three more nights. We are actually coming back to STJ in May, so have not felt compelled to go everywhere and do everything on this visit. Yesterday, rather than trying to get a parking spot at the beaches, we spent the day hiking. We were rewarded with these views

We also visited the Annaberg plantation. On certain days there are cultural demonstrations here, but we must have chosen an off day for that. This is the remnants of the sugar mill. There is a massive honeybee nest in the top of it. The honey is gathered and sold at certain times of the year (not now). It is delicious.

After our hike he drove down into Coral Bay to see what was open for a late lunch. We saw people at the Surf Club cantina and had not been there before so stopped in. Restaurant

Fresh squeezed limeade for me, and a guava margarita for my husband

Grilled grouper tacos

blackened shrimp tacos

Then we went sea glass hunting for a bit, to kill some more time before heading to the beach. When we visit St. John in the on season, we try to time our beach visits to the very early morning or the late afternoon. Otherwise it is too peopley for us.

Entrance to Trunk Bay, the most popular beach on the island, and consistently rated one of the most beautiful in the Caribbean. (The lifeguard stand is abandoned. There has been no funding for lifeguards on the island since the hurricanes in 2017. The National Park is working on building employee housing on the island and I think the guards will be back once that project is finished. At least I hope so. There have been two drownings on the island in the last week).

Quiet, beautiful Trunk Bay beach. All the beaches used to be like this all of the time when we started visiting over 20 years ago. The secret's been out for a while and it is a different scene now, but we still think it's wonderful.

I just checked out teh Lovango tree houses... now that's my kind of camping!!!

blue_dolphin · March 8

6 hours ago, liamsaunt said:

Otherwise it is too peopley for us.

I ❤️ "too peopley" and run in to it quite a lot myself 🙃

Are the lobsters you get down there the Maine, big claw sort or more like the the spiny, big tail type like we get out here, seen below:

liamsaunt · March 10

On 3/8/2024 at 4:45 PM, blue_dolphin said:

I ❤️ "too peopley" and run in to it quite a lot myself 🙃

Are the lobsters you get down there the Maine, big claw sort or more like the the spiny, big tail type like we get out here, seen below:

They are similar to the kind you have. No claws, but great big thick antennae that they use to defend themselves. Most of the meat is in the tail but there is some in the antennae also.

So yesterday was our last day on St. John. We decided to be lazy and just hang around the villa and swim in the pool.

Eventually we got hungry and went into town.

It seemed that the island was invaded with spring breakers earlier in the day. This is not normally a spring break destination, so it was rather strange to see. We decided to just get something really fast to eat and get back out of town. Lovango Rum Bar had a table for two so pizza and salad it was (that’s all they serve here)

we split a kale Caesar salad

and a margarita pizza

We stopped by Irie Pops for a cone before heading home.

This morning we came over to Lovango Cay for our glamping experience. We had lunch while waiting for our tent to be ready. View

Husband had a cocktail of some sort

I had a Caesar salad with shrimp

He had a lobster roll made with spiny lobster

We went snorkeling and it was pretty spectacular. We found three octopi and the area was teeming with fish. I need to check the photos but will post a few if any came out.

Here is the glamping tent. Interior

Bath area (there is an actual bathtub in here!)

View

The tent as seen from the beach below. The hike was steep but doable. There are two tents and two treehouses in the picture. I think the treehouses have two bedrooms and a mini kitchen in them but don’t quote me on that.

The fine dining on Lovango is closed on Saturdays, but casual dining is available, so we did that rather than ferrying back to St. John for dinner. Seveche

lobster guacamole

wild mushroom pizza

I will report back on the tent sleeping experience tomorrow. There is already a very interesting spider on the mosquito netting in our tent, but we are going to leave him alone.

gfweb · March 10

The secret is out.

https://www.foodandwine.com/st-john-caribbean-travel-guide-6823504?taid=65ed1c21b68d4b0001d05a89&utm_campaign=foodandwine&utm_content=link&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com

KennethT · March 10

13 hours ago, liamsaunt said:

They are similar to the kind you have. No claws, but great big thick antennae that they use to defend themselves. Most of the meat is in the tail but there is some in the antennae also.

So yesterday was our last day on St. John. We decided to be lazy and just hang around the villa and swim in the pool.

Eventually we got hungry and went into town.

It seemed that the island was invaded with spring breakers earlier in the day. This is not normally a spring break destination, so it was rather strange to see. We decided to just get something really fast to eat and get back out of town. Lovango Rum Bar had a table for two so pizza and salad it was (that’s all they serve here)

we split a kale Caesar salad

and a margarita pizza

We stopped by Irie Pops for a cone before heading home.

This morning we came over to Lovango Cay for our glamping experience. We had lunch while waiting for our tent to be ready. View

Husband had a cocktail of some sort

I had a Caesar salad with shrimp

He had a lobster roll made with spiny lobster

We went snorkeling and it was pretty spectacular. We found three octopi and the area was teeming with fish. I need to check the photos but will post a few if any came out.

Here is the glamping tent. Interior

Bath area (there is an actual bathtub in here!)

View

The tent as seen from the beach below. The hike was steep but doable. There are two tents and two treehouses in the picture. I think the treehouses have two bedrooms and a mini kitchen in them but don’t quote me on that.

The fine dining on Lovango is closed on Saturdays, but casual dining is available, so we did that rather than ferrying back to St. John for dinner. Seveche

lobster guacamole

wild mushroom pizza

I will report back on the tent sleeping experience tomorrow. There is already a very interesting spider on the mosquito netting in our tent, but we are going to leave him alone.

How well does the A/C work? It looks like one of the portable types in the corner. I'm also happy to see that they kept the mosquito netting closed during the day. It always amuses me when hotels keep the netting open during the day, and then close it during turndown - then again, in most hotels, the netting is mostly decorative.

**Shelby** · March 10

Wow! I'm having some envy over here. I'm not peopley either so that looks heavenly to me. And, I've never seen lobster in guacamole--tucking that in the back of my mind if I ever get the chance to have it!

liamsaunt · March 10

12 hours ago, gfweb said:

The secret is out.

https://www.foodandwine.com/st-john-caribbean-travel-guide-6823504?taid=65ed1c21b68d4b0001d05a89&utm_campaign=foodandwine&utm_content=link&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com

It’s been out for a while. In fact, before our first visit in 2003, my uncle called me to complain that he had just sold his STJ time share because the island was “ruined due to crowds.” I came anyway and it felt like we had the island to ourselves and I thought he was crazy. Now I have been complaining about crowds for years. People visiting for the first time still think it’s not crowded. It’s all perception.

1 hour ago, KennethT said:

How well does the A/C work? It looks like one of the portable types in the corner. I'm also happy to see that they kept the mosquito netting closed during the day. It always amuses me when hotels keep the netting open during the day, and then close it during turndown - then again, in most hotels, the netting is mostly decorative.

I think that’s more of a fan than an ac unit. The tent is screened and open to the air. There is a system over the bed called “evening breeze” that blows cold air down just on the sleeping area. I had to use a blanket last night, but then I swim in a wetsuit because I am always cold so might not be the best judge.

46 minutes ago, Shelby said:

Wow! I'm having some envy over here. I'm not peopley either so that looks heavenly to me. And, I've never seen lobster in guacamole--tucking that in the back of my mind if I ever get the chance to have it!

I will be honest and say that was our least favorite item of the day. Not that it was bad, it was just not as good as everything else.

Here is my breakfast and a photo of the view from the breakfast area. It is buffet style. I overestimated my appetite so took the yogurt back for a snack to have later after snorkeling (the tents have fridges, a nespresso machine and an electric tea kettle).

blue_dolphin · March 10

1 hour ago, KennethT said:

How well does the A/C work? It looks like one of the portable types in the corner.

1 minute ago, liamsaunt said:

There is a system over the bed called “evening breeze” that blows cold air down just on the sleeping area.

I remember seeing that when I followed your link to the resort website and I was thinking that saying the sleeping area was cooled by "evening breeze" was a nice way of saying there's no AC, then I followed the link and saw that it's a real thing: Evening Breeze.

Sounds cool 😎

**TdeV** · March 10

1 hour ago, liamsaunt said:

Here is my breakfast and a photo of the view from the breakfast area. It is buffet style. I overestimated my appetite so took the yogurt back for a snack to have later after snorkeling (the tents have fridges, a nespresso machine and an electric tea kettle).

Ooh, lovely photos. I love going on vacation with you!

Could you please say a little about that is-it-quiche-with-avocado?

liamsaunt · March 11

19 hours ago, TdeV said:

Ooh, lovely photos. I love going on vacation with you!

Could you please say a little about that is-it-quiche-with-avocado?

I believe it was roasted peppers and avocado. It was very tender.

Yessterday we spent the day snorkeling again, this time on the opposite side of the island. We saw lots of coral and sea life, but no octopus. I have not checked those photos yet. The ones from the day before came out great.

Dinner was at the fine dining area of the resort. Here’s the menu. Dinner specials

drinks

food

setting

Husband had the king crab and grits

and I had the scallops

They were both delicious but we got bombarded with flies. Not no see ums but actual flies. It was awful. They ended up moving our table but it did not help much. I asked them to hold our main courses until the sun went down to see if that would help. It did, but the experience was extremely irritating and put a big damper on the meal. One of the hazards of eating outside I guess.

After sunset they brought the main courses. Post sunset view

Husband had the mahi mahi special

And I had the catch of the day (yellowfin tuna) with the chorizo eliminated from the hash

We shared a bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream for dessert

and were treated to the sight of a Space X launch! If they had not moved our table to a different area we would have missed it. No one else dining at the restaurant saw it but us. Our server saw me pointing up and taking pictures so came over and caught some of it but missed the rocket part.

Today is our last full day. We might go back over to St. John for dinner, we will see.

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