Which island?

From what I know about the residents, they eat in the same restaurants as the visitors. If I call any of my island sfriends right now and ask what they're doing, they'll probably say "we're at Room with a View, then heading over to Bolongo" or some variation.

Of course, there are always places that the tourists don't seem to know about- like Sibs on St Thomas, The North Drop on St Thomas....most of the places on STJ have been "discovered". Oh, and I don't read any posts about "Victor's New Hideout" on STT. They have good local food. Ok, so those are my 3 recommendations. Then again, you may be speaking of another island.

Depends on how "local" you want 🙂 Many "local restaurants" are mobile food vans, or are too casual for most of us to feel comfortable recommending. Walker's By The Sea by the airport is a local favorite, as is Victor's New Hideout recommended by Bluwater.

Dare I recommend a Rasta restaurant???

oops, sorry...I forgot to say St. John is the island we are going to in March and want "off the beaten path" restaurants. We like adventure, and real island experiences. thanks.

You have to try the barbecue at Joe's Shack in Cruz Bay. It looks like an unassuming place, but the food and prices are awesome.I don't remember the name of the street, and when we were there we forgot the name, but we just asked a man in town, and he pointed us in the right direction.

We always like to get some local food when we're on STJ. In Cruz Bay we like Sogo's (West Indian) or Sosa's (Latin Caribbean) for dinner. For lunch we sometimes pick up pate at Hercules. There used to be several cart/stand/truck operations around the pavilion and the post office, but they're disappearing. That has something to do with some concept of progress. An interesting local place to get a drink is Mooie's. And if Inner Visions is playing at Fred's on Wednesday night, you shouldn't miss that.

In Coral Bay, Sweet Plantains or Miss Lucy's is good for a kind of upscale West indian menu. There's also good food at the truck/stand operations at the intersection as you come into Coral Bay. The Sputnik bar (not the diner next to it) may or may not be serving food. It's a good place to stop for a drink and a very local experience (there's "local" as in Skinnylegs, then there's "local" as in the Sputnik bar). If you're in the East End, Vie puts out good food, although her schedule depends on many things.

Blizzard outside today. I'd be very happy to be sitting in any of the above places.

thanks Nick,
I wrote them all down. Now, how about off the beaten path beaches for sunning, swimming or snorkling on STJ?

Any of the beaches are great, however for the past five trips to SJ we have decided that HoneyMoon is one of the nicest. It is a little trick to get there, a fairly steep walk, but it is a great beach and beautiful view.

If you live in Michigan in the winter like I do, none are bad.

Enjoy

RN