StX Restaurant Ratings

"over two years ago" is an eternity for grading a restaurant, especially down here.

They all seem to go through rough patches, bad servers, and cooks that need firing. I've had bad service and food at the two places you liked. Nates has consistency problems, IMHO. And I do not like the furniture at Rum Runners... "flimsy tiny plastic chairs for keeping tourists from staying too long." Never had bad food or service at Brew Pub, and appreciate the boardwalk chairs I can sit back in and sip my Presidente. Of course, I don't order the lobster there.... just give me the hummus platter or nachos and I'm good. 🙂

Neil - You have a valid point. Two years is a long time. I guess since I'd been there off and on over the past 8 years (before the two year lahyoff), and their menu hadn't changed, the service hadn't really changed, and the food hadn't gotten any better I just figured eh....why bother. has their menu changed at all?

The menu has changed somewhat in the past year, and not necessarily for the better. However, for me, I don't care. I rarely eat there and only go for the beer. However, I will say the service has declined since this time last year.

Bernie

"over two years ago" is an eternity for grading a restaurant, especially down here.

They all seem to go through rough patches, bad servers, and cooks that need firing. I've had bad service and food at the two places you liked. Nates has consistency problems, IMHO. And I do not like the furniture at Rum Runners... "flimsy tiny plastic chairs for keeping tourists from staying too long." Never had bad food or service at Brew Pub, and appreciate the boardwalk chairs I can sit back in and sip my Presidente. Of course, I don't order the lobster there.... just give me the hummus platter or nachos and I'm good. 🙂

Neil - You have a valid point. Two years is a long time. I guess since I'd been there off and on over the past 8 years (before the two year lahyoff), and their menu hadn't changed, the service hadn't really changed, and the food hadn't gotten any better I just figured eh....why bother. has their menu changed at all?

STXFOODIE:
Might depend on WHEN you go there.
For lunch, the service is usually pretty good, though they do turn over the waitresses pretty often.
Some nights, you wonder where all the people came from.
The menu has changed a bit. For one thing, it's printed quite nicely now. 🙂

Might also depend on WHAT you like there (or don't)
I like the Hummus platter, nachos, and burrito... all of which are pretty hard to screw up.

BERNIE: Ask them for some extra seasonings on your meat.... I don't think they have it out where you can get it. If the young gal balks, ask for "Al or Dave or Clint."

We had our second bad experience at Eat @ Cane Bay in as many weeks.

Last week we went in, ordered drinks, ordered food. We sat drinkless for about 10 minutes. When we asked about our drinks. the server said something about the bartender and the computer and we finally got our drinks just before our lunch.

We went in yesterday for lunch at about 12:30. About 8 tables were full. The two servers were huddled around the comptuer (again!) when we came in and didn't speak to us. On the way to a table I realized of the 8 seated tables, 4 had food. One had drinks and menus and the other 3 only had menus. We sat down and waited for maybe 5 minutes. During that time no service was given anywhere. One server was answering a question from a large party standing next to a table and the other was at the computer at the bar. We've been on-island long enought to recognize that we were not going to get a quick lunch! We got up and left and still no one said a word to us. We walked down to Off the Wall for lunch.

This is a great place with great food. But this is a beach bar and not Salud, they need to step up the service. The servers are pleasant, but often seemed a little confused. Either they have not been properly trained in using the computer order system, or the system itself is not functioning properly. Also there is no sense of urgency. Neither server seemed concerned about the waiting tables.

Plus, they are still closing on Tuesdays. This week we had a cruise ship in with 2,000 passengers on Tuesdays and I'm told they were closed.

What is it with this location?? Maybe it's jinxed.

Edited to add that they we smoking something in the smoker below the restaruant and the aroma was out of this world.

BERNIE: Ask them for some extra seasonings on your meat.... I don't think they have it out where you can get it. If the young gal balks, ask for "Al or Dave or Clint."

There is no Al. Ask for me 😉
I work more lunches than dinners though.

My parents are visiting this week so I'll do a full round-up when they leave but so far we've gone to: Cultured Pelican, Galongal, Good Spirits, Eat@cane bay, and Rum Runners.

We had our second bad experience at Eat @ Cane Bay in as many weeks.

Last week we went in, ordered drinks, ordered food. We sat drinkless for about 10 minutes. When we asked about our drinks. the server said something about the bartender and the computer and we finally got our drinks just before our lunch.

We went in yesterday for lunch at about 12:30. About 8 tables were full. The two servers were huddled around the comptuer (again!) when we came in and didn't speak to us. On the way to a table I realized of the 8 seated tables, 4 had food. One had drinks and menus and the other 3 only had menus. We sat down and waited for maybe 5 minutes. During that time no service was given anywhere. One server was answering a question from a large party standing next to a table and the other was at the computer at the bar. We've been on-island long enought to recognize that we were not going to get a quick lunch! We got up and left and still no one said a word to us. We walked down to Off the Wall for lunch.

This is a great place with great food. But this is a beach bar and not Salud, they need to step up the service. The servers are pleasant, but often seemed a little confused. Either they have not been properly trained in using the computer order system, or the system itself is not functioning properly. Also there is no sense of urgency. Neither server seemed concerned about the waiting tables.

Plus, they are still closing on Tuesdays. This week we had a cruise ship in with 2,000 passengers on Tuesdays and I'm told they were closed.

What is it with this location?? Maybe it's jinxed.

Edited to add that they we smoking something in the smoker below the restaruant and the aroma was out of this world.

Hi Linda-
Feel really bad about you post. We are very sorry for you experiences, definitely not the impression we want to make. Even before your experience we realized we need to re-work out mid-week schedule. In addition to being busy ( a good thing!!) yes we have implemented a new computer system and some have embraced it quicker and easier than other 🙂 At our staff meeting yesterday we addressed many issues you mentioned including the sense of urgency and attentiveness to people at the door.

So while your posts certainly make us all sad, they make us want to work harder to make sure these issues do not come up in the future.

RE: Closed on Tuesday- we need to have a day off. Period. If we open up random Tuesdays only to cater to cruiseships (which rarley come in Tuesday) we have no guarentee that they come to Cane Bay nor do we want to appear inconsistent to the locals (open some Tuesday and not others???)

I hope it is not jinxed here, we truly love this spot and want to be here a long time....hope you come back some day, promise to try harder:-)

Dear Cane Bay,

No worries, we'll be back!! Linda

Nice post, Cane Bay! and glad to hear you are continuing to improve on things!! I ate at Eat last night and thought about the post above. I had almost the OPPOSITE experience, We started with a sampling of each FOOD SHOT! (small bite-sized portions)...I thought how lucky we are to sit at a beach bar/rest and have amazing food options: lobster and rockshrimp salad over a homemade chip, smoked duck bite with horseradish sauce, and friend rock shrimp with wasabi sauce!! Yummy!! and these shots run about $2 each, so you can always get a "bite" even if you only walk with a few dollars. Dinner was a make your own burger cooked to perfection with onion rings and an amazing reuben sandwich. The Reuben was loaded with freshly smoked meats, not some store bought crap. I also had the sweet potato fries, more yum! ice cream for dessert and a couple drinks ... left paying $55 including a nice tip. Granted I know most of the employees, I think the service was right on and I never had to wait for anything. Is was a little slow probably due to a jump up in town.

Although we just missed the show, the couple next to us were beaming because as they sat down a pod of dolphins swam by while another beautiful sun was setting. That's what I call Romance....it was date night for us and them! Nice work CaneBay, Next time I'll try to reserve that swim by for us!

Thanks!!

My wife and I ate at Cane Bay a couple of times recently. Both times it was on an early Sunday afternoon. The restaurant is convenient to the beach and has a terrific view.

The first time we ate there, we ordered the burgers. The burgers were decent. I ordered some guacamole on mine but was a little disappointed that for $2.95 (?) they barely smeared any on the burger. tt was less than you would get from one of those packets of ketchup.

The second time, my wife and I were charged for three iced teas. The waitress said that my wife had two refills and only the first one was free. I told her that I didn't have ANY refills. The waitress kind of rolled her eyes and said that she would mention to management.

It' will be a while before we return to Eat.

I to have been to Eat 3 times now and will not be heading back unless I hear of major changes. Unlike others, I have had no problems with service from them. It wasn't great, but it def. is not in the bottom half of St. Croix. I do however, have major problems with the food. When I order a steak salad, their shouldn't be piece of gristle. I would say there were 4-5 pieces of mostly gristle. To me, that just says sloppy cooking, a cook that is taking shortcuts. Sweet potato fries are overly greasy, the brisket comes on a thin slice of white bread (while I hear this is how it is done some places, Eat is far from being authentic BBQ and what they serve just looks sloppy), and serving sizes are generally small. I too have had burgers nearly double in price because of add-on I want. I understand you need to charge for this but it is getting out of hand. Drinks are another sore spot. Cups filled to the top with ice then adding juice doesn't sit well with people.

I understand that every restaurant cuts corners, but I feel Eat is taking it to a whole different level. I am starting to see a trend of what new restaurants on St. Croix are doing. Good Spirits does it it as well. It seems that getting started on St. Croix is tough and these places are trying to maximize their earnings asap. If you are going to charge a premium price, then wow guests with presentations and servings. An example is the poster above who ordered guacamole. For $3, I would expect to receive a small cup of guac enough to spread generously on my burger as well as a bit for dipping if I so choose. The location at Eat isn't doomed. Rowdy Joes is on north shore and is awesome, they do it right.

Unrelated, had a friend go to Mahagoney (sp?) over in F'sted and he said he was pleasantly surprised. Food is reasonably priced, but drinks are expensive ($10 for a martini). I believe a surf and turf with steak and 3 jumbo fried shrimp for mid 20s. He said the waitress was borderline useless but the owner came out and chatted a bit. For those who don't know, it's going as a high end sports bar.

My wife and I live in Cane Bay and have ate at Eat @Cane Bay several times. It's always awesome. Last night she had a pulled pork sandwich w/sweet potatoe fries & I had their mahi special w red coconut/curry sauce & regular fries. Both types of fries were done perfectly. The portions were very adequate and our drinks were made just right. Total was $37 plus our generous tip. I cannot in any way relate to the negative comments made recently by some people-- guess we're either lucky or happen to go at the right times.
Jumbie

I eat at Eat @ Cane Bay about once a monht, and I've enjoyed it every time.

We have been to EAT several times and have never had a bad experience.

I'm not to sure if I allowed to respond??? I realize this is a restaurant rating post, but as a newborn restaurant (4 months this week!) I follow the thread to not only see if there is anything about us.......... but what people are liking...and not.

I want customers know that our ultimate goal at the end of the day is to make people happy , so if someone tells me "for $2.50 (not 2.95) I think I should get more guacamole to put on my burger" I think to myself he's told me what it will take to make him happy, it is a reasonable request and I will get him enough guac that he can spread on his burger 🙂 PLEASE let us know

As far as cutting corners.....wow if you could see our food cost! You are totally right Uuaww the steak was not good for the salad, we have replaced it with flank and it is perfect for the salads. Ironically we were using NY or or ribeyes for it, as you know more expensive but when cold not as marbled and juicy.... fatty & gristly. I think brisket is a personal thing...BBQ on the whole, it seems there are so many different styles & people are very passionate about the kind they like. I'm sorry you think it looks sloppy, chef has read your post and its hard to make brisket and pulled pork not look a bit sloppy but we do know what you mean and they are thinking about what to do. As far as burger "add ons" we reasonably have to charge for these things, just like every time you put something in your food basket it cost more at the check out. If you order the burger with everything on the add ons, you get $8.00 off and an extra patty....care to try?

I know we won't be everybodies favorite restaurant but we care and we are trying. Thanks for all the really nice comments and all the constructive criticism.

I to have been to Eat 3 times now and will not be heading back unless I hear of major changes. Unlike others, I have had no problems with service from them. It wasn't great, but it def. is not in the bottom half of St. Croix. I do however, have major problems with the food. When I order a steak salad, their shouldn't be piece of gristle. I would say there were 4-5 pieces of mostly gristle. To me, that just says sloppy cooking, a cook that is taking shortcuts. Sweet potato fries are overly greasy, the brisket comes on a thin slice of white bread (while I hear this is how it is done some places, Eat is far from being authentic BBQ and what they serve just looks sloppy), and serving sizes are generally small. I too have had burgers nearly double in price because of add-on I want. I understand you need to charge for this but it is getting out of hand. Drinks are another sore spot. Cups filled to the top with ice then adding juice doesn't sit well with people.

I understand that every restaurant cuts corners, but I feel Eat is taking it to a whole different level. I am starting to see a trend of what new restaurants on St. Croix are doing. Good Spirits does it it as well. It seems that getting started on St. Croix is tough and these places are trying to maximize their earnings asap. If you are going to charge a premium price, then wow guests with presentations and servings. An example is the poster above who ordered guacamole. For $3, I would expect to receive a small cup of guac enough to spread generously on my burger as well as a bit for dipping if I so choose. The location at Eat isn't doomed. Rowdy Joes is on north shore and is awesome, they do it right.

Unrelated, had a friend go to Mahagoney (sp?) over in F'sted and he said he was pleasantly surprised. Food is reasonably priced, but drinks are expensive ($10 for a martini). I believe a surf and turf with steak and 3 jumbo fried shrimp for mid 20s. He said the waitress was borderline useless but the owner came out and chatted a bit. For those who don't know, it's going as a high end sports bar.

Cane Bay,

I think MOST of us appreciate you taking the time to respond. In the past, there have been a few grumblings about 'vendors' pimping their services here, but as long as they are mostly 'responding' rather than selling, I'm all for it.

CONSISTENCY is what I'm looking for, and I'm sure that's probably the hardest thing to achieve on an island with supply problems and server turnover. I'd rather see a limited menu that was consistently good, than a menu that tries to appeal to too many tastes. Steak salad sounds interesting, but I don't go to Eats for steak. If you simply had the best hamburgers and BBQ sandwiches on the island, most of us would beat a path to your door.

So I’ve encountered all of the following extra charges at various St. Croix restaurants:

Refills (coffee, ice tea)
Splitting checks
Splitting dishes
Take out
Credit cards

So I’m wondering if there are others and you think they are reasonable. My own view is that a restaurant can charge what ever it wants provided it’s clearly disclosed. Patrons can choose to come back or not.

My comments were definitely made in the spirit of constructive criticism. Right now the North Shore is blessed with several very good restaurants and one push cart (HOORAY Rose & Joel!). Everyone out here wants to see them all prosper.

edited to add that paying for refills on coffee and tea is also one of my big pet peeves, considering how cheap the actual product is. I've gotten refills of tea at Eat and have not been charged. Soft drinks are another matter. I can see where a charge would have to be made, but that charge should be confirmed with the customer when the refill is requested.

So I’ve encountered all of the following extra charges at various St. Croix restaurants:

Refills (coffee, ice tea)
Splitting checks
Splitting dishes
Take out
Credit cards

So I’m wondering if there are others and you think they are reasonable. My own view is that a restaurant can charge what ever it wants provided it’s clearly disclosed. Patrons can choose to come back or not.

I think all of the above are a little "nickel/dime ish". Can't put too much extra in the till, but can serve to annoy customers. Plus there are other ways to present if. For instance...offer a discount for cash. Same thing, but sure sounds better. Or if someone only has one cup of coffee, charge them half price. Most people will understand what is happening, but will not be as put off, IMHO.

I still would love to see the restaurants give a discount to us locals. We are all paying tourist prices. We support these restaurants all year long. $8 for a bushwhacker, give me a break. How about $1 off drinks? Let us know you appreciate the support all year long.
I love the idea that Off The Wall did last year. By 9 pizzas get the 10th free. It was a punch card. Also, we always bring our OTW cups to receive a $1 off any drink.
I think these kind of incentives would be great for us locals. Do a punch card of some sort. Buy so many sandwiches and get a next one free or half price. Maybe in the slow season to boost up business. Just a thought to all you restaurants that may be reading this.
Does anyone remember when the Cormorant use to do buy 1 get 1 free dinners on Tuesday night? It was awesome, we went every Tues. We loved the ribs. The place was packed. I'm sure they still made money, especially off the drinks.

I too still have and use my Off the Wall cup. Every little bit helps, even a dollar at a time.

You've heard it all before I know. " We are coming and hear you",keep your eyes open please. I say what I mean and mean what I say. I'll be arriving Monday night. This will be a semi working vacation,I won't give my ideas away but I would love to meet with some of you for a drink or two. Just PM me here on the board,I'll have my Lap top with me.

went to plesants, not alot of patrons, ordered onion rings, server seemed pissed that we did not want more food. the onion rings were great . the server came out to check on the two tables seated next to us and didnt even look at us to see if we needed anything. totally pissed me off. we were right there, she could not have missed us as we were in between the other two tables she talked to.
now i will say this, the owner? was a very nice man. plesant and happy and smiling.
to servers, just because we dont order alot does not mean we dont tip, we do and we tip well if you treat us with respect. sometimes the table only ordering one or two things tips more than a big table that orders alot of food.

heard through the grapevine that blue water cafe or whatever place (lori?) was opening on the southern side of east end is open. can anyone confirm? heard near the boy scout ropes thing.

I'm heading to Lori's Blue Water today and I can tell you that she's not open yet. I'll see if she knows an estimated ETA.

I think you may be thinking of Luca's Art Farm? Same guy that had Southgate Farms has opened the Art Farm that's in between Haypenny Beach and the Boy Scout camp. They have a lot of signs near the road and painted flowers hanging from trees.

Lori's place is on the north shore of the East End, at the bottom of Sierra Verde.

Noah,

What is the Art Farm? Is it a restaurant, or a store for art? Sounds like I need to get over to the other side of the island more often.

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/ARTfarm-LLC-on-St-Croix-USVI/235018929851?ref=pymk

Juanita, you can check them out at this facebook site. Art Farm is just that...a farm. Luca and Christina Gasperi run the farm and recently relocated from Southgate to Longford, just East of Haypenny entrance. Not "certified" organic, but pure organic food.

Tell them Charlie sent you!