restaurant ratings

[naturegirl]

We will need appoximately 5 places for dinner for our trip the rest of the time we will cook at the villa. My question to all you very informed forumites is: How would you rate these restaurants and why. Please include wine, view, food, ambience and whatever else you can think of. This is the chance for all you creative food writer types (and you know who you
are) to really shine!

OK here are the restaurants:

Best of Sweet Plaintains, Lucy's or Aqua Bistro (add any other less formal island restaraunts in this category)

Best of the fancy restaurants:

Stone Terrace
Asolare
Chateaux Bordeaux
Tage
Paradiso
(add any other formal island restaurant to this list)

[Anthony]

I would add La Tapa to the fancy list.

Make sure to read some of our reviews if you haven't yet:

http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/sj/sjrestreviews/

And let's have some new reviews you guys!

http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/usvireviews.shtml

[naturegirl]

I forgot about La Tapa Anthony thanks! I was looking for ratings, or votes should I say, from 1-5 for the best of the formal restaurants and the best of the casual ones. There are so many to choose from and we have never been there so I'm looking to you guys to help us out.

[cat]

La Tapa was our favorite by far! It was the only one listed that we have been to though! i'm not much on getting formal for dinner on St John but that's just me!

I loved Margarita Phils (I know I spelled that wrong), Island Blues, Shipwreck and the beach bar for fod though!

[steveo2916]

I will mention that Stone Terrace has some incredible finds on their wine list at reasonable (for what you get) prices. (For example, in August we enjoyed a 1997 Freemark Abbey Bosche Cab that was killer!)

I like all of the ones on your list though. I'll throw in an extra vote for La Tapa as well.

Enjoy!!

SteveO.

[Lulu76]

The food at Margarita Phils was quite good. I hear the margaritas are amazing, but I was not allowed to drink them due to the fact that I was already beyond wasted when we arrived there. I don't remember much, but I loved their seafood enchiladas.

I liked Morgan's Mango a lot. They had some more reasonably priced items, but I got the lobster and it was not a cheap meal for me after drinks, appetizer and dessert. Their mojitos were good, the lobster and all its accompaniments were delicious, but the key lime pie was just so-so. I think I've been spoiled now that I've had it in South Florida!

[PA Girl]

Also throwing in a recommendation for La Tapa. When we were there in February, it was great from start to finish. The waitress really knew the menu and made insightful suggestions. Based on the staff we encountered, I got the impression that management training and staff retention must be above average for the island.

[naturegirl]

So far it looks like La Tapa is a fav!

[nothintolose]

La Tapa is my favorite too. I don't think we've ever actually eaten an entree there though. After all, La Tapa does mean appetizers (or something like that). We always do a bunch of appetizers - our favorite being the cheese board and the three sauces.

We have also enjoyed Chateau Bordeaux our last two times. If you go there, plan to get your reservation before the sun sets and get a table by the window so you can enjoy the views both ways (before and after sunset). The chef was different this time than last but the food was still good and the service was great. We don't like to be hurried while we are eating, and they were very good at letting us eat at our own pace without bothering us. You could see them checking on us but knew exactly when to come to the table and when not to. We drank mixed drinks so I couldn't tell you about the wine.

Asolare has GREAT views and again, get a table on the edge. WE felt a bit more rushed there and were not as pleased with our food there the last time (summer 2005) so we opted to skip it this past time).

Zoso's is raved about here too, wasn't our type of place though, maybe because there was a huge wedding party at the table next to us, but it was just not our thing.

I definitely recommend La Tapa though if I had to pick one. We also make sure to hit Rhumb Lines every year.

Oh and the food at Ocean Grill in Mongoose was REALLY good too.

Hope that helps.

[Pianogrl]

Y'all are making me so hungry!! & anxious to get there to try out these great restaurants. Thanks naturegirl for the thread on this subject; having never been there yet, I can't wait either to try some great places!

[naturegirl]

Me too, Pianogrl and thank you to everyone for contributing. I am so looking forward to everyones opinion on these and all the restuarants.

[Lulu76]

Although I'm not really sure at the end of the day that anything beats hanging out with Moe having a cheeseburger and a cold one at Skinny's...

[Nancy_B]

Balcony has a great wine list (we've had some amazing finds here) and wonderful steak. Ambience is great - views of the harbor. Rhumblines is my favorite food and also you can't beat the chicken parm at Cafe Roma.

[naturegirl]

Does anyone remember what restaurant served there red wines chilled at the correct temperature?

[liamsaunt]

Does anyone remember what restaurant served there red wines chilled at the correct temperature?

That and the bread are my ONLY quibbles with La Tapa!! You have to go to La Tapa though, their food is so good. We have asked for a wine chiller there for red and they've given it to us, you can just plonk the bottle in for a little while to bring the temp down--just remember to take it back out, ha ha!

Stone Terrace does a good job with serving their wine at the right temperature. Of course, if you order a bottle of red, it's going to eventually warm up more than you want though, just because you are in an open air setting.

I think Tage used to have the temps they served their wines at printed right on the menu...but Tage is closed, at least for now.