We will be visiting in July... any suggestions?

A nice local place is Papi's. It is reasonably priced, but very good. It is a favorite of locals and tourist alike. Located in the Boca del Rio area on the road to the ferry. San Pedro has many great resturants...and don't forget the "street food" on the town square. My personal favorite resturant is Caliente's located in the Spindrift Hotel. Reasonably priced lunches and wonderful Dinner menu. Mickey's Place is really good...the Wednesday Burrito Special for lunch is very special. BBQ at the San Pedro Lions Club Friday and Saturday night is a great bargain. Arrive early for the Chicken in broth. Wonderful!!! With the hot competition for resturant business...the unspecial resturant quickly folds.

Cocina Caramba on middle street. Wonderful whole fish. Owned by a local and popular with locals and tourists

Thanks ever so much. IT will make our stay EVEN better. :-)

Lily's, Estelle's, street vendors, Jambel Jerk, The Reef....

Do a search for restaurants and you will get TONS of info.

I have done TONS of searches.. but was really interested in places the locals go. I figure if they continue going to the same places then they MUST be good. Know what I mean?

As the owner of a restaurant, I may be considered biased, but hear me out:
Define "local"
Do you refer to people who live here year round (yet might not be born Belizean), or do you want to know places visited by the "indigenous" San Pedranos.
Your Answer: they are virtually the same spots!
Places that are popular with tourists are equally popular with locals (Belizean and gringos alike)if for no other reason than to mingle with you visitors to our island. The board can sometimes make it seem that a restaurant is either a tourist place or a local place. But anyone who runs a business will certainly understand that no sucessful business plan would set out to cater to only a limited segment of its potential customer base. So in answer to your question, any place resgularly refered to on this board as good can safely be regarded as a place "locals" head for when seeking a good meal. Hope this helps! I say; do a search for the best restaurants and get your fork ready!!
Chris
Casa Picasso

mt12333 chris at casa picasso says it like it is !!when I was eating at his place wich is great ,and a first class ,restaurant.. that night the locals came for the fri spanish paellea [spelled wrong ], a super dish , plus half price martinis the place had 50%locals 50% gringo sanpedro want a be's like me . but very good food ,very good service .so there you go you have one for your book .go live the dream and enjoy ..

I appreciate all the help.. I was referring to local meaning the people that live there year round. AsI continue to search and view responses, it seems that there are nothing but rave reviews. We will be there for two weeks starting July 1 and hopefully we can try them all.

Great,
Hope to see you while you are here, I am glad I could help. I am stuck here waiting for the phone man to arrive, and being on here is my way of avoiding doing other work.... see: even in paradise procastinating on websites is allowed.
All the best,
Chris

I understand. Thanks again. I am sure we will be in for a visit.

Agree with Bill regarding Papi's Diner. Another thing that impressed us was the number of locals who beat a path to the door for carry out.

Excellent fried chicken take out at Master Lee's (side street next to the post office.)

MAster Lees is super cheap too! Tons of food for just about nothing!

And he gives an awesome massage!

Of course, Barbara. Why do think the chicken tastes so good?

...little known fact, Master Lee massages every chicken before throwing in the fat.

That's great info, always wondered why the chicken tasted soooo good from Master Lee's, it must be those massages. I know that a massage makes me feel like a spring chicken.
Will agree bout Papi's and also Carumba on Middle street, love the Belizean Chicken there. The burritos at BC's are also very good and find a real variety of customers there. Caliente for the Soupa de Lima (hangover soup)is a must, they also have other very good food.
E-mail me for a coupon for FREE Rum Punch & Ceviche at Carumba's. See profile foe e-mail address.
Kat

Sorry Chaps but no more Master Lee and no more fried chicken. He has moved on, although it does still seems to be Chinese Takeaway.

Bummer!

Don't worry, Barb, I think Caracol is confusing Master Lee with Master Hung. Rumor has it that Master Hung (who used to be next to San Carlos Pharmacy/clinic) moved to Belize City to open a Kung Fu studio. Master Lee still doing up the chicken next to Gecko Graphics around the corner from the post office. GOOOOOOOD Fast food!
Chris
Casa Picasso

whew! Thanks

If you are south of town, check out Emerald 2. They also do chicken and Chinese takeout. Directly across from Banana Beach. If you like chicken fried steak try George's Cozy Kitchen. Good steak sandwiches too.

Wish I was wrong but I'm afraid havn't got the two confused. Master Lee has gone and currently the new posted menu does not serve Fried Chicken as before. Now serving regular Chinese takeaway food. "Heard" Master Lee was moving to a house in DFC and opening a restaurant there - but then you know how accurate heard is.

Ok, I could be wrong, I was there today at 3:30 to get a box of chicken, but I could be wrong. I go to the one in town next to Gecko Graphics. There are a good number of chinese chicken houses here, may be I'm thinking of another one.
Chris

I hope your wonk, House Snail.

So now it's Hung Kung Fu.
The things one can learn on this site is amazing.

Why do Belizeans like their fried chicken dry? Where can I find it juicy?

Kentucky Fried Chicken at Miami International Airport.

Thats greasy not juicy!!!

OK, I noticed yesterday that it no longer says Mastder Lee, so, Caracol you were right all along, but they still have fried chicken, hense the confusion. Jack, I think that if you get the chicken strait form the wok, its still moist but not greasy, the grease sets in fast though. Also, for the most part, Belizeans prefer meat much more cooked than Americans, for myriad reasons, so they're frying the chicken the way they like it.
BTW: relating to the original question of this thread. Although business was good, not one single tourist passed through my doors last night...this doesn't usually happen, and we all sort of noticed that it was an entirely islander crowd. Could ours be considered a place locals prefer?
Chris
Casa Picasso

Boy, I'm a real know it all, geez....

Indeed Casa Picasso is in fact a place the locals(since we're all "know it alls") prefer!

Yes Chris,
The loco's do love your place.... OH, sorry, what I meant to say was locals!!
I miss you guys already! Hope Jen is feeling better.
Cheerz!

Excuse me, but what "locals" are you talking about here. Most Belizians couldn't afford to eat at any of the restaurants you guys talk about, except for the good old "Chine take-out" and that's what it is, cheap take-out, had some myself for dinner tonight! A new "chine place" almost across from Papi's, another place where you will actually see local-locals on occasions. Belizians generally don't like to eat in restaurants!

Hi Bill! seriously, jasminescented tradewinds? Are you OK?

In regards to your question:

We usually eat at home. When we can afford to eat out, the island offers so many great choices.

Chris has an awesome restaurant. The Blue Water Grill seems to be popular with the ex-pats.

Micky's is very popular with the San Pedranos

Sir Isaac , Glad you mentioned Micky's. The burritos on Wed. are popular with San Pedranos and tourists alike. Very reasonably priced , and one of the biggest burritos you've ever seen. Mickey has long enjoyed a reputation of one of the islands best cooks. A very filling and inexpensive lunch is the sopa de limon at Calientes. A meal in itself.

where is Mickey's?? i havent seen it listed anywhere...

Mickey's Place is on Middle Street just down from Tarpon Street. Burrito Wednesday (lunch) has a well deserved following. The resturant is attractive, clean and air conditioned.

I love Mickeys
They also have great tacos, crispy and fat with meat and fantastic salsa of roasted habaneros. When I arrive they ask me, "How many?"
Any day of the week!
Chris
Casa Picasso

When I'm there I like to eat at Dos Cocos and Papi's for lunch and dinner. Mickey's for Lobster Omelet for breakfast. Rubies for johnny cakes and coffee. Sunday's are my favorite with the beach BBQ's going on. The Tides started doing them last year when I was there. They were great!!!

I haven't seen it mentioned but since I moved here I cant get enough of Tastes of Thailand. Casa picasso(awesome atmosphere and you cant go wrong witht he drink specials) and Jambal jerk is also great!, but im just a gringo in medical school
Anyone been to the glass stained pub at the end of front street acoss from the bank?

About Master Hung's Kung Fu massage that used to be on Middle Street, do you know where he is now or how we can get ahold of him? We are looking for him.

Seeing as this has been resurrected and I didn't comment before:

Stained Glass Pub - several times a week
Reef Restaurant - a couple of times a week
Piasano's Chicken - once or twice a week
Mango's - won't miss it when it re-opens
Casa Picasso - for special occasions
Fantasy - for a local treat
Blue Water - for special occasions
Hamilton's - for special occasions
Rubies - every day for breakfast
BC's - every single Sunday for BBQ unless I'm out of town
Central Park - for those 3am munchies

Re Mickey's--Don't make the mistake I made on my first visit. Sent my husband by bike to pick up some burritos. He asked how many. Not knowing that each burrito is enough to feed a small (hungry) family, I said "I don't know, four I guess..." He barely made it back. We were eating burritos for quite some time. Also, not to confuse things any more, but when I was in SP in October, I was told that Master Lee is the martial arts master, that he gives massages and that he may still have some contact with SP. Did not get a chance to follow up, as Wilma chased me out of town.

Hmm.........arise ole thread!