Norman Island Beach Club

A wonderful week in BVI January 26-Feb 2. Our 6th visit, so this was a casual pace visit to favorites at Bitter End, Anagada, Foxy's/Soggy Dollar and last night at Norman Island. The highlight, without question (and yes, better than a great night at Wonky Dog) was our final evening dinner at the Beach Club on Norman Island. If you have not been there, Run, don't walk, there at your earliest opportunity. Without question, one of the top three dining experiences in my years of travel around the planet. A bit pricy, but hands down, the best dining experience in the Virgin Islands.

Absolutely agree, we ate there on our last night aboard last week... Fabulous food and service and atmosphere. Don't miss Bananakeet on the north side of Tortola, best meal we had in BVI. Banana mango chutney pork was best pork dish I've had.

I had a terrible experience there that stopped my buddy and I from dining..the bar tender charged me $20..plus service charge for a glass of " House red" wine. When I challenged it..he finally showed me a wine list. He had served me their most expensive by the glass Beringer ( a wine I can get back in Sonoma for about $10 A BOTTLE). I told him what I thought which he found highly amusing. Glad to hear the food is good, but I wont be spending my $$ there for a while]...we headed to the Willie T..

Manpot, I'll one up you there. On our last night, we were out of rum on the boat. We wanted one "final final" to sip on the trampoline of the boat, under the stars. Asked the bartender if we could buy a bottle of rum. Nope. Asked if we could get two shots to go. Nope - they have no "to go" cups. One of our crew then finished off a bottle of water and we asked if he would put the shots in our plastic water bottle (where there's a will there's a way!) - which he did, measuring very carefully as to not overpour. Then proceeded to charge us $40 for the two shots.

How is this different from Pirates??

My feeling? They used to wear a smile and a bandana..now they wear a mask and gun..

Difference between the Beach Club and Pirates--we had lunch at Pirates. Bright, new building and pricey beach fare that you find at Marina Key, Foxy's, and other similar beach restaurants. The food at Pirates was good, just not exceptional. $18 for a burger seemed a bit overpriced. Prices at the Beach Club certainly not cheap, but the food was light years ahead of any meal we had in either USVI or BVI. The Beach Club is definitely an "experience" that does come with a price tag, but well worth it. Not the place you would eat multiple times a week, but definitely a memorable (in a positive manner) experience for our crew. A number of previous posts have raved about the Wonky Dog on Anagada. We enjoyed that experience as well, but keep in mind that the lobster there is $75. The cost for a couple, including a bottle of reasonably priced wine, was equivalent to the cost of the meal that we paid at the Beach Club, with the overall experience at the Beach Club at another level.

That kills it for me immediately.

We were there a couple times, last one 7 or 8 years ago. It was very nice but none of this nonsense. I don't recall what we paid but it was not outrageous, like 40.- for two shots in an empty water bottle.

Too bad, I liked the place.

I miss Billy Bones! I go to the WillyT now. Food is reasonable and actually not that bad. The catch of the day can be a bargain and the view priceless depending on your taste!!!
G

Lobster is $55.00 not $75.00 only the Wonky Dog Lobster with Foie Gras is $70.00 or large Lobsters about 4lb $70.00 they are the dearest items on the menu nothing at $75.00. There is nothing wrong with thinking another place is better everyone seeks and needs something different or else the world would be a very boring place.

I agree with Peter.

In any case, Wonky dog is one of my favorites. It's tied for first in my book. I just don't know what it's tied with. .

Who needs lobster when he cooks the best lamb shank on the planet!!!!

I will second that. Why bother with anything else?
I've never been to another planet though.

We were there in May. Had a wonderful time, loved the food and setting. Was it expensive, Yes! But what do you expect? You are on a island that has to ship everything in plus they just undertook a pretty extensive renovation.

When we were there we drank a bunch of cocktails each during happy hour. Happy hour specials and rates are still expensive but not unreasonable. We are planning on making a stop in June.

here is a link to their menu. Seems pretty standard BVI pricing to me for their locations and setting.

http://cooperislandbeachclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/All-Menu-2016.pdf

Interesting. According to that menu "house red" is supposed to be $8 for the cab or Malbec or $9 for the pino..

That menu is for Cooper Island Beach Club.

Whoops!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" /> Sorry.

I agree with Georgec1. I miss Billy Bones!!

<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" />....my bad!

I have no experience with Norman Island beach club...was pretty empty when I was there last May and we stuck to Pirates.

I am amazed how sideways this thread has become. My original post was aimed at expressing our delight with the experience we had at the Beach Club. Having just returned from our trip and looking at our credit card receipts, we were indeed charged $75 per person for the lobster at Wonky Dog. Least we get sideways again, we were delighted with the experience at Wondy Dog and will return again. We had made our reservation over a cell phone prior to arrival and were unaware that we could have ordered a half lobster for $40 (which we discovered only after arriving in person at the restaurant). Clearly, had we know about this option, we would have either ordered half lobsters for each person or split the whole lobster between each couple. In the end, it was not an issue, as we took an ample supply of leftover lobster back to the boat and had an awesome lobster caesar salad the following evening. Now my only concern is that if sleepychef is correct with his pricing, we got screwed by the Wonky Dog with our bill. I have no belief that this is the case, but........

The food at the Beach Club is the best I have had in the BVI with no exceptions. It is expensive, the chef is also the chef at Guana but his creations were amazing. Agree that drink prices are OTT but the food .... wow!

Lobster at the wonky dog is top dog! And I have a photo to prove it. If only I could easily upload it.

Lobster at pirates was considerably more expensive than wonky dog too.

you can quickly look at the menu for Wonky Dog with pricing on their website...

...Stopped at the Wonky place on our scooter ride the other day to make a reservation but they had no room for us (2) as "it was supposed to rain" so they didn't have many covered eating seats. Ate snacks on the boat instead. Never rained.

For dinner at " The Dog" I'd happily dine at the bar!

Wasn't an option that they offered. Oh well, had a great dinner with Sam at Potter the night before. One out of two isn't bad....

trying to send a PM but unable or at least its not showing as sent to clarify a point made in the post.