St. Thomas, American Virgin Islands

[jpbloom]

Going to St Thomas in June, any restaurant recommendations? I've seen the St John recs upthread and noted them as we may take the ferry across for a day trip or 2.

Don't know if you're still checking, but a couple of thoughts. Craig & Sally's is the best on the island, particularly if you like wine. Great food and Craig has some really interesting wines on the list. For local food downtown, we like Cuzzin's, though most people will send you to Gladys'. If you're out near the Marriott, Havana Blue at Morningstar is very good, although I've heard some complaints that it's too expensive for what it delivers. Up on the hill above town, I liked Herve a lot on my first visit, although not quite as much subsequently.

[cajcaj]

Don't know if you're still checking, but a couple of thoughts. Craig & Sally's is the best on the island, particularly if you like wine. Great food and Craig has some really interesting wines on the list. For local food downtown, we like Cuzzin's, though most people will send you to Gladys'. If you're out near the Marriott, Havana Blue at Morningstar is very good, although I've heard some complaints that it's too expensive for what it delivers. Up on the hill above town, I liked Herve a lot on my first visit, although not quite as much subsequently.

Yes! - I'm still looking and thanks for replying! Those are all names I've come across on the tripadvisor board and in other research, so I will definitely check out these few that you've isolated. Any suggestions for relatively cheap casual lunches/dinners? Or are we going to be stuck with pretty pricey options? Thanks!!

[Ericandblueboy]

Glady's isn't really expensive. I think you can eat for $15 (if not $10) or less per person. Try the salt fish.

[cajcaj]

Glady's isn't really expensive. I think you can eat for $15 (if not $10) or less per person. Try the salt fish.

Yea, after I looked up all the places mentioned, I realized Gladys' and Cuzzin's are reasonable. We'll be staying near Secret Harbour and not sure if the drive to Charlotte Amalie is too far to do it often. In any case, thanks!

[jpbloom]

I was going to say Cuzzin's and Gladys' are pretty inexpensive. I have to admit, sometimes when I'm there I just go over to the Hard Rock for a burger, because the good restaurants tend to be a bit pricey (but remember most ingredients have to be shipped in). [Oops, just remembered the Hard Rock closed.]

Charlotte Amalie will be a schlep from where you're staying, but that's where most of the restaurants are. If you're driving, be forewarned - even in the summer, driving in town is a mess, particularly when cruise ships are in. Also remember to drive on the left. I've never been there where I didn't see an accident apparently resulting from a mainlander driving on the wrong side.

If you don't want to drive in to town, consider the Old Stone Farmhouse. Again not cheap and it can be hit or miss, but when it's on, it's excellent. Again if you like wine, ask what they have that's not on the list. I've gotten some great wines at very reasonable prices there that way.

[cajcaj]

I was going to say Cuzzin's and Gladys' are pretty inexpensive. I have to admit, sometimes when I'm there I just go over to the Hard Rock for a burger, because the good restaurants tend to be a bit pricey (but remember most ingredients have to be shipped in). [Oops, just remembered the Hard Rock closed.]

Charlotte Amalie will be a schlep from where you're staying, but that's where most of the restaurants are. If you're driving, be forewarned - even in the summer, driving in town is a mess, particularly when cruise ships are in. Also remember to drive on the left. I've never been there where I didn't see an accident apparently resulting from a mainlander driving on the wrong side.

If you don't want to drive in to town, consider the Old Stone Farmhouse. Again not cheap and it can be hit or miss, but when it's on, it's excellent. Again if you like wine, ask what they have that's not on the list. I've gotten some great wines at very reasonable prices there that way.

I've heard similar about the driving experience there, and I grappled with whether we should rent a car or not, but we'll be there for a week and I didn't feel like dealing with taxis every day, and hope to take the car barge over to St John at least once. Thanks again!

[ktmoomau]

Bumpity Bump Bump.  Going to St. Thomas and then probably onto Tortola would appreciate any thoughts on the food, sites, etc.

[ktmoomau]

So some updated info on St. Thomas.  First off, be aware if you stay near Charlotte Amalie that the restaurants generally close pretty early at night if they aren't 1. a bar, 2. in a hotel.  Things just seemed to ebb and flow with the coming and going of the cruise ships.  If a cruise ship wasn't coming in many stores don't even open.  We stayed at Bluebeard's Castle first.  If you are staying for a long time you probably want a hotel closer to a beach, but this is a great cheaper hotel if you are coming in and want a place to stay before heading onto other islands.  The hotel was clean, the rooms were nicely appointed they had a kitchenette which was nice for water, we had a lovely balcony overlooking the harbour.  It is on top of a hill, Hubby and I didn't mind walking up and down to town, but some people might.  It wasn't a long distance, just a steep hill, but it had a lovely view and you could scope out the main cruise ship port from that view to see where you were and weren't going.  The pillows could have been better, but overall it was a nice hotel, especially for the price.  We didn't ever eat at the restaurant there, but we heard it was good. We didn't swim at their pool either, but it was cute.  We did eat at Blue Havana at the Marriott.  The food and drinks while a bit pricey were very good.  We had a hummus-harissa dip we liked it wasn't really spicy, but it was smooth and very flavorful, salt and pepper shrimp, and sea bass lettuce wraps with an apple slaw and some bacon that was very good.  We split the Tuna entree, which again was very good, it had a ponzu and fresh vegetables and wasabi mash.  The tuna was so fresh, the wasabi mash wasn't very wasabi.  I can't remember if we had dessert, so it must not have been memorable.

We did find David Taxi (no taxi isn't his real last name, but that's what he told us), and I will post his information when I get home.  Dave runs a taxi, which is if you are only transporting two people, quite a commodity especially if you don't want to go on one of the open trucks that stop all over to pick up and drop off people either on or not on your way to your destination.  Dave also does tours of the island.  I will warn you up front, cuss words are part of his normal vocabulary, but not at all in an offensive way.  But we found him to be amazing, our favorite person of the whole trip.  He took us around the island to spots normal tourists don't stop, we got coconuts to drink from a vendor in town, we went to a 6th generation fruit farm, etc, plus some of the normal tourist spots.  He also took pictures of Matt and I at all the normal tourist spots, and he takes great pictures, so we actually had beautiful pictures with the two of us in them on vacation which NEVER happens.  Then he dropped us off at Secret Harbor beach.  Secret Harbor is a lovely little beach, it isn't as spotless and combed as Magen's Bay, but it is much less crowded.  They had really good snorkeling right off the beach when we were there that had a couple different schools of fish.  You can also rent paddle boards and paddle boats, etc.  It was a much more laid back crowd and atmosphere.  Sunset Beach Grille there had great food.  I had Mahi tacos that were really good, extremely fresh fish.  We had some beers on the beach, it was lovely.  I would definitely recommend this beach, it isn't as perfectly clean sand as some others, but nice nonetheless.  David Taxi picked us up and considering what other taxis cost gave us a great deal on our whole day of adventures.  If I was staying there longer we would have used him much more.  He was reliable, nice and very knowledgeable, as well as being just absolutely hilarious.

That night we walked into town and had dinner at Gringo's- wouldn't recommend it.

There was a little place in the ferry building that has smoothies that also had chicken, beef and salt fish pates, these were delicious fried dough filled with meat.  I liked the beef the best because it was spicy with some vegetables really finely chopped- I think onion and pepper.  The chicken was shredded with some spices.  

When we got back to St. Thomas at the end of the week we stayed near Secret Harbor at Two Sandals Inn.  I like the location better near Red Hook because everything stayed open a bit later, there aren't quite as many choices for eating, but there are some good choices.  We walked from the ferry after getting some pates at the ferry, it would have been an easy walk if we knew about the gate, we didn't.  We then went to Secret Harbor again as it was close by.  That night we ate at Island Time Pub.  We had wings and pizza.  But the pizza was actually really good, it was a nice crust and had flavorful toppings, shrimp, spinach, white sauce, tomatoes.  I would recommend this place for a casual night off.  Our last day was at Magen's Bay because there was no cruise ship.  It was a nice beach with facilities, the beach shack had very normal food, we had burgers, which weren't great, but it was food.  The pizza didn't look bad.