Thursday evening we had made reservations for 7 PM for Emilios. As we were on the way, we passed the huge flag that was erected on the hill there where that lookout was. Sorry, I should know the name of it!! Anyway, some may recall that locals were quite up in arms that the flagpole was erected when people thought goverment should not be spending money for that, but the flag is kind of a nice picture.



Back to Emilio's==For those of you that don't know, Dino Jagtiani, formerly of Temptation, is the executive chef and the restaurant is owned by Al and Sue Wathey. We were seated in the main dining room, which is where the bar is.


Paul, the bartender from Temptation, is there at Emilio's.

The main room is an attractive room



and there are a few smaller rooms off to the side, and a large porch on the back. There was no one seated out there the night we went. We started with a shared salad, which was good, but I did not appreciate the almost whole strips of non-crispy bacon on it.




I had a very nice rack of lamb




and Eric enjoyed his salmon



I looked at the dessert menu and frankly none of the selections really excited me, as the best looking thing on the menu was a chocolate dessert for two, which cost something like $18, so we decided on Su Wathey's carrot cake, which I thought was only passable as a dessert.




Unfortunately, we were seated right next to two very large tables, 10 to 12 people per table, and our service suffered for it. Overall, we were underwhelmed by the experience, as we were expecting food, presentation and service to the level of Temptation, and this did not deliver, for the price charged. It's a lovely location, but I doubt we will go back.

On a side note, it has been mentioned that the location is somewhat controversial with local people. One local person that I talked to said that Emilios has somewhat become the "go-to" place for local people. I did note that the people seated at the two large tables that were seated by us appeared to be almost all locals, although that would make sense with larger tables.


Friday morning we had intended to go to Orient. Early on, the weather looked like it was going to be beautiful, as we watched a Royal Caribbean ship come in.



However, the weather started looking pretty iffy, so we spent a lazy morning around Beachside, and then headed down for Mary's Boon for lunch. It was very windy on the beach and the skies looked a little dark, so we headed back up to have restaurant in the bar.




There was no one seated in the restaurant at the time, so we didn't go in there to eat, although some people did show up later and ate in the restaurant. They were preparing for some soccer games to be broadcast that afternoon, with TVs in the bar and a couple down on the beach. The restaurant manager was there (sorry, didn't catch his name) but he seemed a very hands on guy, and he fixed an issue with my lunch in a jiffy. Eric had the mahi sandwich and fries




I had the meatball sub




and we shared a bottle of wine. We went to Maho to pick up a couple of things, and had a steak on the grill for dinner


toasting to the end of another perfectly indolent day!!


Saturday morning we finally got ourselves around and headed to Orient. We stayed for a couple of hours, but it was entirely too windy, and there was a HUGE cliff to get into the water, even though it had been flat to walk into the water earlier in the week. So we decided to leave to go to lunch somewhere else. Not sure why, but Chez Leandra was not open, not sure whether Sun Clubber was open or not. We went down by Bikini and took a few more pictures, but it still was nowhere near to being ready to open

We decided to go to Friars Bay Beach Cafe, which if we had ever been there, it was a long time ago. After a detour down a road that I think went to Happy Bay instead, we got back to the dirt road which ended up at FBBC. Since it was a Saturday, there were lots of locals there, but we enjoyed the experience.

There were quite a bit of rocks at the water's edge, so even though it was flat walking in, I would probably need water shoes to get in the water there.




We shared an order of chicken spring rolls with mint, which was da bomb!




Eric had a chicken sandwich with goat cheese, along with a huge mound of fries, which was quite good.




I chose poorly for my entre, choosing a croque monsieur.




I guess I had never had one before, as I wasn't certain what to expect, but I did not expect a mushy sandwich. Apparently from other reports here on the board, I guess they don't make a very good croque monsieur there. Thank goodness, as I wondered what all the fuss was about, if that was how it was supposed to be!!

Regardless, we had a very enjoyable long lunch and we would definitely go back. One thing we really missed the most this time were long, relaxed french lunches on the beach, at places like Dreams and Kakao and LaPlaya, and while FBBC wasn't nearly in their category, the feeling was a kindred spirit.




Back home at Beachside, we watched a ship leave



and Eric cooked ribs on the grill for dinner, or tried to! He thought the grill was out of gas, so we had to finish them in the oven. It turned out that it was just windy and the wind kept blowing out the grill ! They were good anyway, although I forgot to take a picture. Thus endeth another successful day.

Oh, to be there now.......TY for sharing your experiences. I had a Croque Monsieur (might have been Madame!) once a long time ago at LaVie en Rose back in the day when they were not only open for business but doing a busy lunch service downstairs. I thought the CM was delicious and have never had one as good since then so finally gave up trying. It lives on in memories......

Very nice Carol!

The flag is on Cole Bay Hill.

And was not a well thought out plan...it has been replaced 3 times since November I was told. And has also broken in the wind that whips there.

Nice view though!

Thank you for your nice report!

Pat--Like I said, I don't remember having had a croque monsieur before, and couldn't figure out what the big deal was! I can see where FBBC would be very attractive if there are no rocks at the edge of the sea..

Beachkitten--yes, like most of Minister Emmanuel's ideas, not thought out too well. He, the one of removing the bollards on Front Street, re-routing the Beacon Hill Road, and currently wants to tell the Dutch to stuff their $550m Euros, that SXM will do it on it's own.

thesimpsons--thanks!

Very enjoyable report. Love your pics, especially the food. And to Pat, How we miss that street bistro at La Vie en Rose. I believe we ate lunch there almost every day, their food was out of this world!

Thanks for the honest report. I stay within walking distance of Friars Bay but never ventured over there. I think it's on my must do list this time around.

Hey, I would drive to Friar's Bay, not walk. The road is kind of bumpy but you can drive right there. Do check it out..

I went to FBBC on a Sunday. Due to how crowded it was, the service really sucked. I would go there again (and choose something other than the croque monsieur), but I hope to remember to not go on a weekend. Nice report and photos.