StX Restaurant Ratings

Great chef's hate me, I like mine with lots of ketchup.

kateraid, I saw it when I was at Tavern. I was just making a bad joke

Had a very nice lunch at IHop last week. Friendly waitstaff, quick service, good food and very large portions.

Ate dinner @ Angry Nate's last evening (Sunday). All in all a very nice experience; good food, good service; modest prices. The Pad Thai w/shrimp was to my liking & the sushimi style tuna & salmon app's were delicious. My wife likes their surf & turf (shrimp & steak).. Our friends from the states loved the mixed grille of mahi-mahi, shrimp, & a beef rib, a caesar salad (nice large serving) & an order of veggie spring rolls. With drinks, app's, dessert, plus 18% tip added on couple's tabs, each of us paid uner $80.

Jumbie - STX

Juanita . There will be no BBQ sauce served with my food,it will have a spicy or mild rub on it,with plenty of smoke flavor. If the customer wants BBQ sauce all they have to do is ask for it. I refuse to serve you a dry piece of meat,it will be moist. Just look for us at the old Frankie's Lobster reef cafe,behind Rowdy Joe's. I ate at both places while on island,Eat @ Cane bay and Rowdy Joe's. I was lucky enough to have good meals from both places. My time is soon coming,see you all soon. The place will be renamed as Above the Cliff. That was the original name. Paradise in Blue is no more,we had a quick name change,besides the proof will be seen by customer satisfaction not the name.

You've been talking up a big game for months now... What is your ETA?

Time soon come.. Hopefully the doors will be open by August. I may land to start working it in June. If we could go faster, I would be there by now. Can you sell a house from early March to mid June,build a commercial kitchen,bar/restaurant and continue to work for Uncle Sam ?

I am ! See you soon. Two week working vacation in February,I found a place with help from local business folks. That is not the easiest thing to do on St Croix, I assume you know this. As the opening date gets closer I will keep this board posted. We will only do what we say we will do. Don't expect the Ritz.

Just hope you clean up the old Reef place.
What a pile of old lumber it was.
It gave shacks a bad name.

By island standards I think finding a place in that amount of time is amazing. My husband and I look forward to visiting! Good luck with it.

Paula

It's being done, as we type back and forth. I like the Land Lord a lot and I believe we will have a great business relationship. Cleaned it up in Feb,put on a new roof over the concrete area,resurfaced the kitchen floor,new toilets and some new paint,new tiled bar as well. I don't know what it was like when Frankie had it and we are not building the Ritz.. I can say, that the chairs will have a seat and back cushion on them. I like the idea of the plastic furniture so many places use,no maintenance really,but I'M not going there. The really nice looking plastic furniture could break a bank account pretty fast.. We are doing 15 tables with 4 chairs each,along with 12 bar stools with backs.

The Pirate mural will stay up and not be painted over,just touched up a bit. If the gate is open in mid June,we won't be open yet. However feel free to drop in and introduce yourself.

Chockman
I'll be down in a couple of weeks for a short stay but will be back the end of November. I'll make a point of checking your operation out. Hope you're up and running by then. You have a lot to live up to after all your posts.

Nothing that can't be accomplished. See you in Nov.

My wife and I loved the Lobster Reef and we're really glad to hear you're making something of that great space/location. One thing that hasn't been mentioned in the discussion about your restaurant, Chockman, is your online presence. We find it really helpful for a restaurant to have a really good, informative website that has the menu (really important), entertainment listings, hours of operation, contact info, directions, etc. And, it needs to be current. Nothing is more frustrating than relying on a website for information only to find out it is way out of date or no longer accurate.

Looking forward to checking you out later this year.

Bernie

Bernie,the web site is coming. I can not say when exactly it will be up, but we will get there. I currently have so many irons in the fire,doing a job I can no longer stand after 20 years. Building a commercial kitchen and restaurant of which I have never built. Selling and closing on the house and moving to the VI. You might say I am just a little busy.

The web site has been on the list of things to accomplish even before I found the location. When you do see it pop up on the Internet,it will feature everything you mentioned. Thanks for the advice,it's coming I promise.

Chockman, glad to hear. I hope you post a note here with a link to it when it's ready.

Bernie

Will do.

Is the helipad going to remain open?

http://s215.photobucket.com/albums/cc296/cruzanrotorhead/?action=view&current=FacebookVideosPostedbyChrisHanleyLa.flv

Rotorhead,I don't see why not. I'll discuss it with the Land Lord. Scotty really doe's not care what we do,as long as we are successful. I'M sure he has limits though. But since you landed there before,I can't imagine him being against it. How is that bird about prop washing the clients ? We can even get you a sign that says beware of tail rotor.

I'M going to love this place and life on St Croix. Pretty freakin cool,we might have to put you on the Website somehow. From an aerial view the property has changed a bit,for the better I think.

The video was from October '09, the last time that I landed there. I have been landing there for years. I have never had a problem with rotor wash at Lobster Reef.

The first time that I stopped by and asked Frankie if I could land there he went and got a copy of "St Croix This Week" and opened it to his ad. He said he had been waiting for me to drop in for months.

http://www.stcroixthisweek.com/dining/lobster-reef-cafe.html

Well in that case,you can say I look forward to your arrival. Set up is June, July time frame,hopefully open by August. I will post my arrival, you are all welcome to drop in and introduce yourselves while I am setting up.

Chris

Chockman, you are super-busy, so don't worry about getting it all perfect on day one. Nobody (local, anyway) expects you to have a web site or even to accept credit cards at first. But if you do, great!

Thanks Bob. I doubt the Web Site will be up on opening day. CC machine better be up. I am using Gofer Girl for the licensing,LLC is complete already. Using her to do those things, will allow us to focus on getting the doors open. We will get there.

Our personal best is Coconuts on the Beach.........service with a smile, awesome atmosphere, food is bar food and the prices are reasonable. It is definitely our personal fave for fun, atmosphere, sunsets and socialising. And of course, we live on the west side! West is definitely best!

Hi Bratt. I like Tommy and Grace as well. Have you tried the Texas sized steaks Tommy cooks on Sunday's. It is a great steak and you will not leave there hungry. Coconuts is one of my first stops when I get back .

Went to Kendricks last weekend for Dinner - sat on the covered patio and had a great meal.
We had a caprese style salad and a special duck app.
for Entrees We had the Duck and Scallops
and for Dessert (it was my birthday) we had the twice-baked cheesecake.

we Shared a bottle of Malbec and enjoyed a relaxing evening.

The Tree in the courtyard, by the way - is flowering something that smells of paradise.

Zebo's strike three. Had my third entirely forgettable and wildly overpriced dinner at Zebo's last night. We had great service--kudos to our server--but he had no control over the mediocre stuff coming out of the kitchen. Try this: two appetizers, one salad, one soup and three drinks: $102. I wouldn't care if the food were worth it, but apart from the soup, it was basic fare, not much better than I've had at Red Lobster or Olive Garden.

I'm done with Zebo's--and it's a shame, because I really want to like that place.

Bernie