TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin My review of Ludos

First, I would not say this restaurant is French. It’s Fusion. That said, it was great!

Hubby started with escargot and while it tasted good, he expected typical rendition. Instead it was served layered on what looked like salsa chips. He ate every last crumb. His main course was fillet mignon with peppercorn sauce potato, mix veggies. It was juicy, tasty and cooked to perfection, medium rare.

I chose toasted Camembert with cranberries to start. It was so delicious I considered changing my main dish to another order of Camembert. Six thick wedges of cheese with a crunchy exterior atop delicate greens that had a light oil lemon dressing. At one side was a pomegranate sauce and cranberries. I chose rack of lamb with mint sauce. The lamb was cut into individual chops still connected at a small point then fanned out to make a beautiful presentation. The sauce I could have passed on, sort of a purée. Again. A dish cooked to perfection. All was washed down with a bottle of Sansarre Baronne 2015.

Dessert was passed upon. Instead, we moved to the lounge area and sipped Campari and listened to. Chocolate Watts make love to his saxophone. He is fantastic. If you love jazz you must catch a performance. He plays different venues around the island, Ludos, Mary’s Boone, Blue Martini in Grand Case.

Now I’d like to address a comment made here about the musty, sewage smells emininating for this place. We were seated lagoon side and never smelled sewage. I have mold allergies and my sinuses never bothered me, not while at waters edge nor inside listening to music. I ask that person who posted: “are you sure you were at Frenchy Ludos?”

This place is very romantic, lights strung in ribbons across the ceiling, good food but not traditional French fare. Still, it’s worth a visit.

Yes, I was sure we were at Frency Ludo's and yes, the sewage smell off the lagoon forced us inside.

My filet was terrible but glad yours was good. Their presentation of a dry version of escargot was not at all appealing to me but glad you enjoyed your meal and visit there. I would not return myself.

As is said there’s chocolate and vanilla in the world. I’m so sorry your meal wasn’t to your liking. I’m sure I’ve eaten places and was not as satisfied as others. I agree if a place doesn’t fit your likes you should not return. It’s why, after trying Izi twice we won’t go back. Yet, lots of people here love it.

If next trip I don’t return to Ludos it will be because there are too many places to try on this island and never enough time. I’d opt for traditional French first.

"This place is very romantic, lights strung in ribbons across the ceiling, good food but not traditional French fare. Still, it’s worth a visit."

I will give this a go on my next visit.

RonDon, we seem to have similar tastes..... loved the sound of the Camembert and the lamb(along with duck, my fav if done right) but not the sauce you received, this is where "fusion" comes in and sometimes a classic dish can be spoiled with the Chefs representation of what he/she considers to be different, as a sauce can totally ruin a whole dish. Like you, classic French is what I look for, so having said that, appreciate your top 3-6 on the Island that you just must visit and in order of preference please and why? Being a Chef, you ever been to Barcelona and experienced the 4-5 hour 20-25 set course meals?

I do believe you about the sewer smell, but am wondering if it was a one time thing. Perhaps a boat anchored there causing the problem. It definitely would make your dining experience unpleasant. That is the very reason I have never been a fan of the Friars bay beach. Several times there would always be a terrible smell of sewage and you could actually see things going into the water. Others have gone and said they don't smell anything. It is probably not there all the time, but too many other good beaches to take the risk there.

Very well could have been. I honestly do not know how the few diners sitting outside did it.

Seems it's an issue on the lagoon side. I remember being sickened by the smell at Boathouse and Cafe on the Bay several times. Finally just stopped going.

Friers does have a problem with that. Very offensive when the wind is coming off the back area. That along with all those pebbles on the beach is enough for me to go else where.

It could be that the sewer smell at Frenchy Ludos was based on which way the wind was blowing.. We've only been to Friars Bay Beach Club once, and just ate at the restaurant, didn't go to the beach, but definitely didn't smell anything.

We generally hit Friars once or twice every trip and we love our long and leisurely lunches at Friars Bay Beach Cafe. In all our many days there I can honestly say we thought people were nuts when they spoke of the sewer-like odor until a year or two ago when we finally experienced it ourselves for the first time. We came in via the road that takes you directly into the FBBC parking area and we smelled the odor the moment we got out of the car, but when we walked into the cafe the odor had dissipated and there was no trace of it on the beach. I know it was real because they had incense diffusers in the restaurant but when we went back inside to eat lunch they were gone as was the odor. We have never seen any indication of sewage entering the water there and would not go there if we did..

Not so sure it's sewage that is leading to that smell or entering those waters but a stagnant pond in back baking in the hot sum.

I’m not willing to take a guess as to what the odor might be, though I realy doubt it’s sewage, and it reminded me at the time of a sulphur-like odor moreso than anything else I could equate it to, but whatever it was, it was definitely nasty the one time we so briefly experienced it. But like I said, we go multiple times most trips and over a lot of years we only experienced it once. If it was totally pervasive we would have left and we didn’t.

And Scuba, those sharp little stones are painful enough that I actually purchased water sandals for our next trip. Hopefully it won’t happen this trip but we also experienced the same sharp little stones at Anse Marcel, of all places, last November so I’m not taking any chances this year.

The sewage I was referring to Pat was a pipe buried in the sand and coming out into the water. This was a few years ago now but I have not been eager to go back there to spend the day. The smell was long lasting and did not go away.

Not doubting what you saw for a moment, Elizabeth, but over all our many days at Friars I have not seen this, either the pipe buried in the sand or - thank heavens - any ‘floaters’ in the water that weren’t on rafts designed for this purpose.

And I still think the FBBC serves some of the best beach fare on the island. Can’t wait to be there again.

I think it depends where you sit and the wind . This was the reason in the past we had stopped going to Saratoga because of the smell. Mind you we had our Wedding Reception there 30 years ago .