Talk of the Town - a Grand Case St. Martin Restaurant (aka LoLo)

While on this latest trip to the beautiful St. Maarten/St. Martin island paradise, we kept hearing about these things called "lolos." A lolo, evidently, is a type of roadside or open air restaurant.

These are not fancy black tie restaurants; rather, they are definitely "come as you are." We decided to try our luck in Grand Case on the French side of the island (French St. Martin versus Dutch Sint Maarten). And, Grand Case is well noted for its amazing restaurants. We knew we would find something!

As we walked down the street, we were immediately struck by the fact that there were two lolos right next to one another. In fact, it was hard to tell that they were two separate restaurants.

We decided on Talk of the Town - primarily because the person "working the street" practically pulled us into the restaurant using physical force...

When we say "physical force," it is not far from the truth. We really just wanted to stroll down the street and check out different menus since there are so many restaurants in Grand Case. But, the second we were within arms reach of the lolos, employees would come out and greet us, inviting us to come in and sit down.

Well, "inviting" is too weak a word. They were practically ordering us to come in and eat. It was, quite literally, non-stop. On our first pass-by, we truly had to back away, firmly saying, "Please...We really just want to look." It was difficult to compare the menus in front of the lolos because of the constant barrage from the employees. I felt like shark bait.

Ok, that is the negative - indeed, the only negative, but for me, it's a big one because I intensely dislike being badgered to buy things. It's actually part of visiting this island - whether you are shopping in Philipsburg or going into a popular supermarket frequented by tourists or trying to decide on which lolo to eat at - there is someone trying to get you to buy something, agree on a timeshare tour, or eat in their restaurant (I'll have more about this on a shopping review page!).

But, that's their job. The chatter went something like this: "Good morning! Table for 2 for lunch? $1 = 1 Euro here! Come in and sit down!" (While nearly taking my arm and guiding me to a table). Well... it worked, because we did go into Talk of the Town. One of the big convincers was the "$1 = 1 Euro." Given how weak the US Dollar is against the Euro, that the restaurants were willing to let us spend at par was a huge draw. (By the way, that is another reason we typically eat on the Dutch side of the island).

And, there was more food than we could possibly eat (see photo at right). Seriously, John's $10 plate of ribs and chicken actually came out on 2 plates as did my $8 chicken meal. There we were, sitting at a table with 4 plates of food in front of us. Besides all the ribs and chicken, there were mounds of french fries, cole slaw, rice & peas, and steamed veggies.

We also saw huge plates of Caribbean lobster coming out, and numerous other dishes. Definitely worth the money when you're hungry, and at $1.48 per 1 Euro otherwise, it was a good stop.

One final observation that we couldn't miss was the number of French people using US Dollars instead of Euros. What a deal! 

So, here are a few of the other St. Maarten restaurants we have REALLY enjoyed - and of course we'll add to them as we go along. We also welcome YOUR additions!

• Lal's Curry in a Hurry (NEW location in Simpson Bay)
• Mark's Place (Philipsburg location)
• Taco Macho (Simpson Bay)
• Talk of the Town (in Grande Case, French St. Martin)