Restaurant round-up

We ate out less this trip than any other trip in recent memory. Part of that I think was a function of how lazy we were over all, plus how hot the weather was. I do regret that we didn’t eat at Reveil Matin this trip, which is really one of our new favorites. I just wasn’t up to eating a big breakfast in the heat. I remembered afterward that I think they have a/c in the inside portion of the restaurant. Oh well. We did get carry out quiche at Le Suciere, and croissants and some desserts at Carrefour and Super U. I also regret that we didn’t get to Bamboo House, which I had fully intended to, but just never got around to making reservations, and I figured we needed them there. We ate all our breakfasts in, and at least half of the lunches and dinners, with most meals being prepared on the grill.

Other than restaurants that we already reported on earlier, we ate at the following restaurants, in no particular order.

ORANGE FEVER
Normally we had been eating at Le String lately, but Eric wanted to do Orange Fever this time. You Orange Fever fans out there, be prepared for a bad review regarding service! And NO, JP was not there. I’m not sure what day it was, but it was a week day and there was at least one ship in. There were only about 3 or 4 tables taken inside the restaurant, but the beach was doing a pretty brisk business, although it doesn't look like it in this picture.



After we ordered, we observed a kerfluffle a couple of tables over. A man was standing, raising his voice, as he and his wife were leaving the restaurant. The waiter (who happened to be our waiter, by the way), was telling the gentleman that his pizza was almost ready and asked if he didn’t want the pizza in a ‘to go’ box. The man loudly proclaimed that he had already waited an hour for an (expletive deleted) pizza and he didn’t want it to go because they were on a cruise ship! I assume they paid for whatever drinks they had.

So, after that little episode, we waited for quite a while for our food. It probably wasn’t an hour, but I would say it was a good 45 minutes. I don’t know if there was some issue with the pizza oven or something. Eric ordered the special sea bass, which he actually said was quite good.



I ordered a pepperoni pizza. It wasn’t bad, certainly better than the one we had at Rendezous Lounge.



The food was decent, just wish we had better service. (And I wish it hadn’t been so d*mn HOT, but nothing they could do about that.)

So, what about the service? Our server was an older (say, 50 year old) Frenchman. There were one or two other servers in the restaurant, including one young French guy who was moving his a$$, serving the folks on the beach. Honestly, we are not that picky with regard to service on island, and ‘island time’ service doesn’t bother us. But this guy was not good. I had to ask twice for the bottle of water that we ordered, and I asked for parmesan and oil for my pizza, which he never brought. I would have reminded him, IF he had ever come back to check on the food after he dropped it off. And I had to ask twice for the bill. He appeared to be too ‘busy’ standing by the bar. I couldn’t tell if he was drinking or not, as his back was always towards us. We took it in stride, until at the end, he asked if we wanted to add a tip on the credit card on the bill. I snippily replied we would leave cash on the table. We left a couple of bucks.

THE YACHT CLUB
It had been a few years since we have been to the Yacht Club, no reason, just too many restaurants, too little time. One day we stopped in for lunch. I have to say that the Yacht Club was the ONLY place where we had lunch that it WASN’T deathly hot. There is a nice breeze there.



We had a kind of funny moment, as I thought I had ordered a MOJITO, when the waitress brought me a MIMOSA. And NO, I hadn’t had anything to drink yet that day! She looked at my face, which I guess was either puzzled or p*ssed, not sure which. I said that wasn’t what I ordered and she offered to replace it for me. Of course, Eric pipes up and says “that WAS what you ordered”. Anyway, as it turns out she says they don’t serve mojitos? Weird. How could a bar in SXM not serve mojitos? So, I soldiered on and drank it anyway. The sacrifices we make on vacation..



I wasn’t real hungry, so ordered the coconut shrimp. They were good and HUGE, but a tiny bit over-fried.


Eric ordered the fish and chips, which were French fries, and not traditional ‘chips’ per se. The fish portions were HUGE, and Eric said they were very good.



I helped myself to some of the fries, and pronounced them about a 4 out of 5 on my ‘french fry’ scale. Overall, a nice luncheon.

THREE AMIGOS
We had never been to Three Amigos before, and I kind of doubt we will go back again soon. The meal wasn’t BAD, and the service was pretty decent, but we just weren’t impressed. I have been told that my standards for Mexican restaurants are pretty low, but this one didn’t measure up, to me.

There is a menu online for the restaurant, but the prices are several dollars more in each case than the menu online. I wanted chips and salsa and balked at buying $8 for them, but paid it anyway. The chips were ok, but too thick and needed salt, and the salsa was definitely uninspiring and SWEET. It tasted like tomato sauce, with a couple of onions waved over the top, no veggies. Glasses of wine were $9 for a relatively small glass of wine--oddly enough, the same price as a Margarita.

I got the crispy tacos with hamburger meat, which were actually nicely crisp and held together well, and tasted good.



Eric got the chicken enchilada, which he enjoyed, except for the red sauce, which was too sweet.



Both came with rice and beans, although I declined the beans. The rice and beans were uninspired. The music playing was some hip-hop stuff, I guess. We parked in the garage and wandered around trying to find how to get to the restaurant, and ended up having to walk down the escalator to get there.


ALTRO
We have been to Altro a couple of times before for their price fixe three course menu. Once again, they did not disappoint. The price is now $39, not bad considering how prices have gone up most everywhere else.



We were pretty early, so the restaurant was pretty empty when we arrived, but several people showed up later. Eric started with the fried mozzarella with tomatoes



and I enjoyed the crab cake.



His entre was the pork



and I chose the chicken.



Everything was good, but neither one of us finished our entres. My mom always told us, no dessert if you don’t finish your meal, but fortunately she wasn’t along! Eric got the apple tart



and I the crème brulee.



As these things seem to go, both of us had no problem finishing our desserts! No service charge added to the bill.

The few times we have been to the Yacht Club, the food has always been great and yes a nice breeze too. But MAN is parking a bear there.

Agreed, re the parking. The day we went there, we actually were planning on trying our luck to find parking at Driftwood. As we were going past the Yacht Club, we saw that there actually was parking there, so we stopped. Glad we did.

Great report, Carol, and love the way you intersperse your photos. November can’t come soon enough…….. 🙂🙂

pat--I know that you are counting down the hours!!

Sorry your day at Orange Fever was a bust. The two times we went this last May the Pizza Oven was non operationable and waiting for parts and someone to fix it. Wasn't fixed the week we left in June shortly befor you arrived. Maybe that ws the problem getting the kinks worked out. As for the service that is unacceptable. JC has always been our server when we have been there and has always been spot on. Asking to add a tip is unacceptable to me. Should never be asked. We always pay in cash there as it's 1 to 1 cash. Credit card is in Euro.

Yes, I remembered you saying the pizza oven wasn't working when you were there. As far as asking for the tip, it wouldn't have bothered me IF we weren't on the French side and IF his service hadn't been so bad. Euro versus dollar is not a big deal to me these days, with the current exchange rate.

10 cents on the Dollar now.

We love the Yacht Club so spend a lot of time there between a couple of breakfast lunch and Happy Hour. They do tend on occasion to over fry the shrimp where they are too dark and crispy for my liking. I've decided to speak up when ordering them and ask that they not be over fried. So far so good.

I've been to 3 Amigos twice and both times it was hotter than hell in the place. Drinks were just ok. Never eaten there as nothing on the menu was appealing to me.

Thanks for the tip with regard to the shrimp Louise.

Like I said, re Three Amigos, I'm really pretty zen with most any Mexican place, but this one didn't impress me.

Great pictures!!

Tacos and Taquitos were great at Sand Bar!!

Terry--I wanted to go to the Sand Bar this trip, but the last time we were there (when it wasn't nearly as hot as this trip), it was hot as HADES there during the day. We should have tried to go by there at night, but I actually didn't think of it, when we headed out to Three Amigos.

By the way, I just noticed that the black cat that was hanging around the restaurant photobombed my picture of the pizza. Although we are not really 'cat' people, I gave him some of the skin from Eric's fish, which he seemed to appreciate.. Here is a little better picture of him, for you 'cat people'.

You must’ve been at Orange Fever on a Wednesday. We were talking to JC last night and his day off at La Villa and Orange Fever coincide. For the life of me, I don’t know how he stays “on” for his long days between two establishments.

Ollie--Agreed. I have no idea how he does that!

Thanks for the report Carol. Beautiful pictures, as always. I had to chuckle to myself when you related how a customer in Orange Fever became irate and left , apparently without his pizza and your pizza arrived shortly thereafter? I wonder if you got "his" pizza, as yours was baking at "Island Time" to arrive at a later date.

Actually, it was probably 30 minutes after that other couple left before we got our pizza. Ours took a fair amount of time from when we ordered it also.

The pizza did look delicious. It's hard to mess up a pizza bad enough that I wouldn't eat it. Pizza is the "go to" food for me when nothing else on the menu catches my eye.

I am a huge fan of pizza. Eric, not so much.

It can be very hot during the day.
You have to sit at the back section, more shade and breeze.

Gee, you found a parking place at the Yacht Club,......What a streak of luck,....probably should have went to the casino.

Norm--for sure! That's why we stopped!

Where is Altro? Never have heard of it.

Altro is in Puerto Cupecoy.

Thanks for the food photos--especially with the report on Altro because a few years back, when they first opened we had a terrible meal and have not returned. Perhaps we will next visit.

Rosemary--Altro isn't Grand Case quality, but not GC prices either.