Peter M
Google
If you search for the best restaurants in St. Vincent, the French Verandah will be one place that always comes up. It is the in-house restaurant of the Mariners Hotel at Villa Beach. It is situated smack next to the beach, with an open air format and breathtaking views of Young Island and the ocean. The ambiance is unparalleled, there are boats anchored and sunset vistas that provide unforgettable pictures and memories. There is also a full bar, associated with this dining destination.
The restaurant opens at 7 am to provide a small but adequate breakfast menu. For lunch and dinner, the offerings are extensive with both small and large plates. While the choices for local food are disappointingly scanty (there is no Pelau), there are the usual standard salads, appetizers, wraps, sandwiches, pastas, burgers and desserts. Do you really come to a Caribbean location to have food that you can have at home or in your country? The only French dish on the menu is one with escargots. So the name is misleading. It should be only called, “The Verandah”. Simple, yet powerful. Also, it is more appropriate (and accurate) for this restaurant.
I was able to taste several selections. Chili rubbed wings came with fries and salad. Shrimp roti, which actually was good, but had a lot of potatoes instead of shrimp. The roti itself was fantastic. The outer covering and the inside flavor was even better than at Veejays. I also had fish samosas (twice). Six of them come with a Filipino lumpia sweet-and-sour sauce, no kidding. Samosas should always come with green mint and/or red tamarind chutney, with a strong Indian influence. This menu item needs serious modification. Indian spice split pea soup was not that spicy, with no Indian ingredients, so what was that about? The soup was good, but it needs another name, to avoid disappointment. And the catch of the day, fried tuna came with chef’s potatoes, vegetables. Good. Salt fish buljol, a local dish, was unique and superb. The Chef was kind enough to give me both the bakes and doughboy, as sides. Both options very new to me. This dish exceeded my expectations. In summary, all the food offerings I had here were superb. So was the service…attentive, caring, friendly, timely, and excellent. Now, all they need to do is modify the name of the restaurant, to accurately advertise what their food is all about.
