TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin sale and pepe

I have heard about this resturant. can anyone give us a review? We are going back this winter and although we cook in alot as we are there for at least 3 monthes!!! We do go out at least once a week. We usally never try to go Italian, as we both are and I cook great italian food, but wood love a break from my own... thanks

Personally didn't care for it but I know many love it.

Very good for us . Just had me and our Son Birthday party there.

We've only been there a couple of times but both times we found the food and service to be very pleasant. The one thing I would suggest is perhaps to pop in and take a look at the menu and if it appeals, I would recommend you make a reservation depending on when you're going.

And I sincerely hope for the sake of all the SXM restaurants, the winter season is good to the island and them and reservations will once again be necessary at the popular venues.

We enjoyed it very much when we were there last July!

My husband and I have Italian backgrounds and love Sale & Pepe. The food is a mix of Italian and Sicilian as the chef is from Sicily. Delicious!

Our very good friend Chef Davide .

Was disappointed last year but tried it again this last May. Burned again and will never return for a third go at it. To many other better places when you only have so many nights on island.

Ok!!! mixed views, but not surprising. Will have to find out for ourselves... We almost never go to an Italian resturant, even here, but will give it a shot... Actually we now live in North eastern Pa. and there are no good resturants.. thanks all.

Never had eaten there, but do recall that recently I read that it was moving location. Can't remember exactly to where.

Not moving to nowhere.

HEY NOW ! Sicilians are Italian lol ... we were going to try it.. but never had an opportunity... really don't eat Italian out, since i cook it every nite....so we go French .. we did love bistro caribs (sp) in gran case..that was amazing...

The food was ok, but the staff was very rude! Will never go back there.

Had the same experience, and we tried a few times.

I had fish that was so full of bones, that I had to tell them. They took it out back and returned it looking like mashed
potatoes. They mashed it and took out the bones!!

They spilled a whole glass of red wine on my husband in April and the waitress accused him of it being his fault.

Never mentioned this before.---I didn't think it would make a difference and had already
mentioned having a very bad time at Rainbow.

I only mentioned Sicilian as that is what their sign says. Many people expect spaghetti and meatballs when seeing an Italian restaurant but this place has many different dishes.

My grandfather was Sicilian and when asked "was he Italiian" His reply was no I am Sicilian!

We just had excellent dinner for my Wife's Birthday their plus service .

I really like the food but the staff can be rude. Was there in July and got up and left before ordering because of how we were treated. The wait staff needs some serious training on how to treat customers.

Gee perhaps they should be aware of this???? Having rude help will surely turn people away... Wonder why no one has complained??? They are on facebook, could probably leave a message there... If the food is good, but turned away by staff!!! Terrible for the resturant owers... I would say something, but never been there..

Besides rude staff the food wasn't that good either. When we complained to who we thought was the owner we didn't get any satisfaction, just another attitude. Not much to help that.

Guess they do not care about getting business, or return customers.... oh well.

That restaurant get's busy everyday with a wide spread of local people both ordinary and very rich Folks . People keeps their private party right there very often. The owner personally worked for Mr. Spadoro Senior at Maho for many years.

Businesses will cater to locals. They know that they will be back whereas a tourist who may come in once a year, they really don't care. Sad but true.

What you are stating is very negative about our businesses on the Island.

I don't think that's necessarily true. I think many businesses care about their customers, regardless of where they come from. Word of mouth and written reviews can make or break a business and they know it. I think most try to do a good job without regard as to where their customer base is located.

My post was not directed at SXM, it also happens in my home town as I know many of the business owners but reading some posts on this forum it also happens here.

You either treat customers good or you do not. bottom line. I think tourists spend way more money on food than locals do, and for a good reason. when on vacation!!! You planned to eat out and spend. thats part of vacation funds. So I would imagine treating tourist bad is not the best thing for business. Not been there, and everyone has a different view. We are not demanding people, we treat everyone the way we want to be treated. there are very demanding people out there, and staff will not respond kindly to that... I have seen lots of people in action that think because they are americans they can be rude themselves. But who knows...

And another point of view...

http://sxmcooks.com/sale-pepe-2/

What else would you expect from a St Maarten based Blog with only St Maarten restaurants reviewed.?

Scuba, Luci is a friend to many here, and runs a cooking program. She has also written for the Herald. Her daughter is a yacht chef. She is entitled to an opinion.

Currently she is doing lovely things teaching young people the basics of cooking and kitchens.

She is not paid to do her reviews, she pays for her meals. She does not love every place she visits. But perhaps at times if one has nothing nice to say it may be better to say nothing at all?

I have never really liked “Sale” but I think “Pepe” is da Bomb.

They should just do a better job on monitoring their employees!

From my trip report of July 2017

A bread was served with olive oil and pesto. I couldn’t determine what the pesto was as it was very strong so when Chef Davide came to visit I asked and was told it was a black olive pesto. Once I knew it was easy to tell. I would pass if offered a second time as I found it too strong. For an appetizer, we had Affettato all'Italiana (meats and cheeses). For dinner, I had Chicken Parm and Mary had Chicken Alfredo. We both had leftovers and took them in case we would have time to eat them before we left the next day. For dessert, I had Carmel Crust Crème Brulee and Mary had Chocolate Mousse (normally served with coconut but she opted to leave that off). Everything was very good. We had a young assistant waiter that was great. He was married and had a young son. He spoke 5 languages. He wanted to go to school to make a better life for himself. He was fun to talk to and made the end of our meal more enjoyable. 5 of 5.

Thank you and that's what I know about that place.