Where to Eat in St. Maarten

Grand Case, and everywhere else

The honest hierarchy on this island is short.

Grand Case is first by a clear margin. One narrow street along a bay, restaurants end to end, with proper French kitchens along the water and the barbecue lolos at one end. It is a place you walk down and choose, which is half the pleasure.

Marigot is second — the harbour and the streets behind it have very good French food, and it is quieter and less of an occasion than Grand Case.

Simpson Bay is the best of the Dutch side. A good run of restaurants close together, easy to combine with a bar afterwards, and convenient to most Dutch-side hotels.

Philipsburg's boardwalk is fine. Pleasant setting, ordinary food, and it exists largely for the cruise trade.

The lolos

Worth explaining properly, because they are the thing visitors most often miss.

The lolos are open-air barbecue stands, mostly clustered at one end of the Grand Case strip, grilling ribs, chicken, fish and lobster over charcoal, with sides served family style at long tables.

They are cheap, they are excellent, and they are the most genuinely local eating available to a visitor here. If you eat one meal on this island that is not in a proper restaurant, make it this one.

What to expect

French side means French portions, French service and French pace. Dinner takes two hours and is not hurried. That is the point, not a fault.

Prices at the good Grand Case restaurants are what you would pay for the equivalent in France. The lolos are a fraction of that. Both are worth doing and you can do both in a week.

Kitchens close early. The strip winds down around ten. This surprises people from cities where nine is normal.

Reservations matter in season, particularly at weekends.

The getting-home problem

This is the practical part, and it is why we wrote this page.

Grand Case is 35 minutes from the Dutch side on roads that are unlit for parts of the way. Parking on the strip fills by about seven, so you park somewhere else and walk in.

And dinner here involves wine. Which means someone in your group is not drinking, on an island where the food is half the reason you came.

The metered alternative adds 25% after ten at night on the Dutch side and 50% after midnight on the French side — precisely when you would be leaving. See the full tariff.

Being dropped at the door and collected when you are ready is the single most useful thing we do here. See dinner driver.

A week of dinners

Two nights in Grand Case — one proper restaurant, one at the lolos. One night in Marigot around the harbour. One in Simpson Bay for something closer and easier. One at the villa.

That is a good week's eating and it does not require a rental car or a designated driver.