I was going to post a full trip report, but quite frankly, everything we did, everything we saw, and every meal we ate, with ONE exception, was incredibly wonderful and has all been covered by other reports from other people here in much better detail then I can give so here's the short shrift.


Hotel --
La-Plantation, nice clean colorful large suite. Nice simple included breakfasts.

Meals --
Cafe Plantation Lobster Dinner, very good, but lobster more expensive than I figured it to be, later found out from Andy at Baywatch why. Unlike St. Kitts where the lobsters are caught fresh around the island, demand on St. Martin is so high, they have to import them from other islands.

Mario's Bistro, La Vie en Rose, just incredible meals.

O'Plounger in Marigot, great lunch including the best French Fries (Pommes Friites) we've ever had, Donna's burger was incredibly huge and medium rare just the way she ordered it, I had carpacio that was topped with a micro green salad, capers etc that was out of this world, and not a lot of money.

Baywatch, What can be said about Baywatch that most of you already don't know. And being from New Jersey, we just connected with Andy and Cheryl like we were old friends. Didn't hurt that I walked in demanding to see the owner, and wanted a Jersey Discount. Anyone that says Andy is rude has NO sense of humor. He just gave me the sh*t right back, smiled at me, and showed us an incredibly fun time.

Bikini Beach Bar Restaurant, well since our hotel provided us with use of Orient Beach chairs and umbrellas, we found Bikini and made that our beach home for the week. Lunches there were just all around good, though a little pricey, but hey, I guess that’s to be expected. We were there as well for a TTOL gathering where we met Mario, Surfer Girl, Contessa, Sword and a whole bunch of others who’s faces I hope I'll remember, but with names, I am not that great. We also made that our seat for the Super Bowl.

Tap 5 Pizza, Easily among the best thin crust pizzas we've had outside the NYC area.

Johnny B's Under the Tree. I'm sorry, yea a lot of food for a little money, but I found the ribs very dry, and quite frankly, just not "incredible" as several of my local friends who visit St. Martin told me they'd be. I certainly didn't feel ripped off, just a case of you get what you pay for. Not the incredible bargain I kept hearing about.

begin rant
Now for the ONE bad experience. Bamboo Bernie’s. We had decided to forego one last real expensive meal for something a less expensive, and for some reason, (could it be all the radio ads) Bamboo Bernie's was agreed upon. When we got there, the place was empty, that should have been a warning. The hostess made a big point of their sushi being rated the best on the island by some magazine vote. I ordered the Bimini Tuna, which was described as a tuna sashimi with a combination of sauces. I also ordered a rib eye steak RARE. Donna ordered edamame and ribs. The tuna which was sliced extremely thin, and was obviously seared on the outside (don't remember seeing "seared" on the menu) was spread on the plate and covered with several different sauces along with cucumber slices and other vegetation. Now I don't mean just covered, I mean SMOTHERED. Several days earlier, at Bikini and at many other sushi bars, I've had similarly described dishes, and typically, there is enough sauce either drizzled on top or around the plate to compliment the fish. As I said, this was SMOTHERED to the point where you could barely see or taste the fish. Donna's edamame were over boiled, waterlogged and salt less. Next came my rib eye. This steak could not have been more than 8 ounces, perhaps the smallest dinner steak I've ever had. Donna's comment was "That’s like what you would get with steak and eggs for breakfast." And of course it was medium, remember I ordered RARE. Donna's ribs were okay.
Rather than be a pain in the [censored] customer, I mentioned my dissatisfaction to Donna but consumed it. Then the check came. $90 for this awful meal, including charges for Iced Tea Refills (not bottled iced tea, mind you). And then they added on a 15% service charge. Now this was only $20-30 cheaper then meals we had at Mario's, La Vie en Rose, and Cafe Plantation, and those all included desserts. I called the waitress over, and explained to her that though her service was wonderful, the meal was quite frankly awful. She volunteered to call over the manager. After explaining my gripes to the manager, she proceeded to tell me I had no idea what I was talking about, that the sashimi was prepared by the best chef on the island who came from a big city in the USA, that the steak was 12 oz (the waitress verified that my guess of 8 oz was correct earlier, and I do all my meat shopping at home, so I know steak sizes).
The manager did take off 15%, but even still, given the quality of this meal, still way overpriced. It’s the ONE place I will not go back to on future visits.
rant over

Other activities --
Lots of beach days in front of bikini; Drives around the island in a rental car from Tropicana, Mickey was a pleasure to deal with as was Sharon Harris for the cell phone; Trips to the Butterfly Farm, and Pic Paradise and Phillipsburgh, Grand Case, Marigot and other assorted island locales and beaches, and some photography.
Saint Martin Photos