Hubby and I just got back from our second trip to San Pedro, third time in Belize. Weather was so-so, accomodations were ahhh (I won't go there), but we stumbled on some cool restaurants. First off, our absolute FAVE, was a brand new place, Casa Picasso, south of the airport near the lagoon. It's run by a young couple from stateside, Chris (maitre d) and his wife, chef Jen. The place is beautifully decorated in Mediterranean earthy tones, the menu features tapas (basically, fancy hors d oueveres)and excellent pastas and fish, if I'm remebering correctly. You gotta have some of the sangira....awesome!!! I highly recommend the place for a real change of pace when you tired of the "burritos, lobsters and steak" standards. It's within walking or golf cart distance of Ramons', Xanadu and Sunbreeze. Other faves, Reef Restaurant which is on Middle Street....nothing fancy but excellent seafood. Mangos, is another great place, right on the beach near the library, just south of Fido's dock. Under the thatched deck with the breezed blowing....ah..great! Owner and musician James is really friendly and nice. Lilly's is okay too (good conch fritters!), but they don't take credit cards. Those are my top fave places!!!

Trina nice summary,thanks. Did you stay at Ruby's again this year?

Also, I gather you've been to Roatan as well. I'm hoping to hit Roatan, Utila and Belize this winter. I'd sure like to hear your opinion between Roatan and SP.

I want to stay on West End. Any acco recommendations for me? I'd be looking at something a rung or more up from Rubies. I like my creature comforts. I want A/C and a kitchenette but will settle just for a fridge. Any thing you have to offer, I'll appreciate.

I had tapas at Casa Picasso last week. I thought the selection of tapas was pretty limited and what I tried was just so-so -- didn't try the pasta, though. Will have to give it another try.

Best dish in San Pedro this trip was the coconut shrimp at Blue Water Grill. It's an appetizer, but it's big enough for an entree. It's served with the shrimp on skewers standing up like a teepee. Terrific! Blue Water Grill was packed, with a 30-minute wait at dinner.

Jam-Bel Jerk was still good, and I'm told they are opening a location in Belize City, where it should be very successful. Jade Garden remains one of my favorites on the island. It's been there nearly forever, is a low-key place, but it has some great dishes, both on the Chinese and American sides of the menu.

Lots of new restaurants in Belize City. In addition to the ones at the Tourist Village, such as the Village Steak House, the Wet Lizard gets raves as a fun place to eat. Didn't eat at Harbor Light, but it gets good reviews from locals. The Smokey Mermaid is still excellent. Everyone misses the restaurant at Fort Street Guesthouse, but Theresa Parkey is doing a great job at Biltmore Plaza. (Hugh Parkey is going to be running the dive operation at Turtle Inn in Placencia when it opens in December.)

Cafe Kela in Corozal Town remains my favorite "cheap good place" in Belize where you can get the best pizza in the country, and wonderful fresh grilled fish with mashed potatoes for under US$5.

Kanantik, between Placencia and Hopkins, has a Guatemalan chef who is doing some good things, and Blancaneaux in the Pine Ridge still has a wonderful restaurant.

But my best meal in Belize this trip was the Saturday night barbecue at Robert's Grove in Placencia. Terrific lobster!

--Lan Sluder
Belize books and publications by Lan Sluder:
Belize First Magazine (http://www.belizefirst.com)
Fodor's Belize & Guatemala Guide (new 4th edition coming this summer)
Adapter Kit: Belize (the first and only comprehensive guide to living, retiring, working and investing in Belize -- a best-seller on Amazon.com)
San Pedro Cool (the first and only visitor guide to Ambergris Caye)
Belize First Guide to Mainland Belize
UpClose Central America
Belize Book of Lists

just to out it in...our last day we had breakfast at micky's place. it was around the corner from the airport, and very satisfying. best of all: air conditioned!

the fruit bowl was full & yummy, steve had a HUGE fresh waffle, frank had a lobster omelet (mmm), toad an omelet (they forgot the cheese, but it was billowing with bacon), and my eggs with fryjacks...eggs are eggs, but the fryjacks, served with butter & jam, were outstanding. juices are TALL!.

again, elvi's did a nice job for us (conch strips with 3 sauces), and todd's grouper looked nice.

and el patio was very nice. the waiters made it great.

i hear raves on caliente's, but i thought, while good, it was rather regular. the portions are nice, but not huge. the conch fritters were VERY tasty. they kindly made the kids plain garlic shrimp, which made steve happy. he is mr plain man. i had the coconut curry shrimp, which was pretty good (i've had better) and frank had grilled conch. he threw up when we got back to the hotel. they did have the only baked potatoes we saw, but i can get them here.

we unanimously decided not to return there.

it was also the first place we were hit up to buy dope, twice.

jim, he hangs right outside the pier lounge. i'd do something about him if i were u. bad 4 business.

Seashell, comparing Roatan to San Pedro. Prices about the same, excellent snorkeling/diving is closer to shore in Roatan than San Pedro. (you can swim out, and exellent reef diving is even closer in than SP). The big negative with Roatan are the sand flies, which leave REALLy nasty bites.I talked to one dive master who said she got 250 bites when she was there...yikes! So unless you plan on spending your entire time in the water, plan on getting bitten. I have yet to hear of any "antidote" to the flies, but you can do some research. As far as Ruby's, yes, we stayed there. Suffice it to say we won't be going back. Our fellow guests lent new meaning to the word "party". WE didnt' have a good night's sleep for one week. I have no problem with folks partying per se, but when I can't sleep, then, yes I have a "problema" with that.

[This message has been edited by trina (edited 06-25-2002).]

Our best meal, by far, was at BC's barbeque. I had the shrimp, Dave had the ribs, both were excellent. We talked Larry and Amy (boarders) into the same. I ate so much I had a little trouble snorkeling that afternoon (burping with a snorkel, I don't recommend it!)

We had service problems similar to the above at Elvi's. The food was good, but the staff there really didn't give a damn, in fact they were rude.

We ate at Caliente's 3 times (2 lunch, 1 dinner). Cerviche is excellent, lobster was delicious (talked Sharon and Scott into that!).

We also liked Mango's (ate there 2x, good fish and Cajun food), Rico's (breakfast - Belizean eggs w/fresh tortillas!!), and Capricorn was very nice - maybe just a little pretentious (food was excellent)! We really didn't care for Fido's much (very pricey for what you get).

If it sounds like we ate a lot... we did! And enjoyed it, too. I still dream of conch (cerviche, fritters...). You can't really find good conch in NJ!!

Only thing to add to this was the great breakfasts we had at Lily's.

The food was great, portions very nice and the service was the nicest in all of San Pedro. Also, can't be the view.

Ditto on the issue with being hit up for drugs at Calientes and Pier Lounge area. The guy's clearly not very discriminating about his clients, either. It was our second and third times "solicited" and we are very midwestern-looking 50 year olds. Clearly not your typical likely-to-buy clientele. (By the way, my husband said "thank you, no" pretty nicely, I thought, and our "salesman" did a little audible mumble under his breath using some choice profanity and unflattering commentary about us. It might do him well to remember that some of us DO understand and speak Spanish even if we are gringos.) After the second time I likewise commented to my husband that an owner/manager of these establishments HAS to know this is going on if we got solicited twice in less than four days. Loved Calientes' coconut shrimp conch fritters but didn't go back again and our "friend" was most of the reason why.

Hey Sweetjane. You brought Toad??? LOL

I was wondering about that, too...

"Toad had an omelette" ??

Maybe that's a nickname for one of her kiddos?

K