This message board was so helpful in planning my recent trip to St. John! Hopefully I can provide some info of use to someone else here...

We were just in St. John for a very short trip (Saturday-->Tuesday) to scout out information for getting married there next summer. I'm a grad student (i.e., tight budget), so we brought our tent and camped at Cinnamon Bay. We ended up arriving on St. John quite late because of snow that morning in Boston (!!!), but were able to get our tent set up in the dark relatively easily.

Restaurants: One of our big priorities was finding a good restaurant to have dinner at after our wedding (we're having a group of ~25 people).

Based almost entirely on recommendations from this board, our "fine dining" meal was booked at Tage. All I can say is... WOW. We are amateur foodies, and really enjoy exploring the different restaurants in Boston (where we live). We both agreed that Tage was one of the best meals we'd ever had. The bread they brought out was the first sign that something special was about to happen. They were small triangles of foccacia, topped with an intense mix of ripe tomatoes and herbs. It was moist and intensely flavorful -- yum.

They had many specials available that day, and we ordered an appetizer special of lobster medallions atop sweet potato ravioli and sage butter. Like the bread, it was exquisitely presented and filled with flavor. I am a sucker for sweet potatoes in any form, and the combination with sage is amazing.

As an entree, I had seared yellowfin tuna. It was probably the best piece of tuna I have ever had. I could slip the knife through the tuna with ease, it was so supple. It was prepared perfectly; a seared crust on the outside only 1/8" thick, and pink and cool on the inside -- it melted in my mouth. Complementing the tuna was a salad of fennel and pear, which was fantastic both in texture and in flavor. There was a "hash brown" of potato/onion crisps that was interesting, but I was so enamored of the tuna that I ended up leaving much of it on the plate.

My dining companion was equally wowed by his dinner, but I was so distracted by the tuna I didn't have any of his entree, which he said was perfectly grilled shrimp. His shrimp were accompanied by a mini-calzone about the size of a thumb. Inside the calzone was an intensely flavored filling of..... I don't even know, sun-dried tomatoes and herbs? It packed an amazing punch for such a little turnover.

We were surprised to find ourselves offered a free souflee for dessert to celebrate Tage's 1-year anniversary. Though were were full, we couldn't resist. The souflee was lovely, light and airy. Alongside it were thin slices of an almond and chocolate mixture, with a hint of toffee. We topped our spoonfuls of souflee with the almonds and chocolate, and went straight to heaven.

Really, I don't think I've ever contemplated writing such a fawning review of a restaurant, but we were both just so impressed with every aspect of Tage. We thought the price was VERY reasonable for what we got -- $100 plus tip for two glasses of wine, two beers, an appetizer, two entrees (the souflee was free). We overheard someone in the next table raving to the waitress about how he had eaten at all the other fine restaurants on the island -- Asolare, Chateau Bordeaux, etc. -- but this one blew them out of the water.

Thanks to the many reviewers of Tage here, because now we have found a place for our wedding reception! I don't think we would have found it otherwise on such a short trip (only 2 dinners on-island).

Morgan's Mango: Our other dinner on-island. It was...fine. I had seared tuna here, too (for comparison purposes) and it was perfectly decent. It wasn't, however, an equal to the cut of tuna from Tage. This piece of tuna, while large and cooked as specified, simply wasn't as tender, and was slightly stringy in places. I still enjoyed it very much, and my dinner companion enjoyed his voodoo snapper. However, the side dishes were less inspired (and cold). The appetizer (conch fritters) was a disappointment. We were reasonably pleased with the dinner, but for a restaurant in the same price range as Tage, it simply didn't measure up.

OTHER STUFF:

Car Rental: We rented from L&L Car Rental (www.bookajeep.com). They met us at the dock and signed out the Vitara right there. We had a small accident with our Vitara (damn narrow, steep driveways) and dented it on a telephone pole. They took us to a body shop, got an estimate, and handled everything in only 15 minutes. Total cost for the not-insignificant dent was only $170. I was very impressed. Car rental agencies in the US usually take advantage of any mishap and charge you for a complete replacement part--we had a rental vadalized with a 1" round dent once, and were charged $1300. The honesty of L&L was impressive, and I'll definitely use them again. Their only drawback is that they don't have a lot for customer use in Cruz Bay -- darn.

This has gotten long-winded, so I'll stop here. We had a lovely time on St. John, despite the rain and mosquito bites from camping. I'm thrilled to have found such a lovely island for our small wedding, and I think everyone will enjoy our reception dinner at Tage.

A big thank you to everyone who posted here with such useful St. John information! It helped us make the most of our short trip.

Ali