On this page I’m sharing my favorite restaurants in Sint Maarten, the Dutch side of the Caribbean island. All these top food spots in Sint Maarten are tested and approved by me.
As you might know, I eat vegetarian. And even though there are some 100% vegetarian and vegan restaurants on the island, it’s not very common on Sint Maarten. In general the restaurants will only have one vegetarian option. For each restaurant on this list with top foods pots in Sint Maarten, I’ve mentioned the vegetarian options.
Please note that all restaurants on this page are on the Dutch side of Sint Maarten, I’m sharing my favorite food spots on the French side of Saint Martin here.
Lagoonies
Lagoonis is one of the top food spots in Sint Maarten and a favorite with many locals. It’s a great waterside bar and restaurant located at Cole’s Bay. They’ve got regular live music performances (keep an eye out on their Facebook page) and several good vegetarian options. The menu changes regularly but you can think of dishes like cauliflower veloute, goat cheese salad and loaded sweet potato fries. Pictured you see their homemade vegan cauliflower and hazelnut gnocchi.
Indigo Beach Bar & Restaurant
Indigo Beach Bar & Restaurant is located at Indigo Bay, just west of the capital city Philipsburg. You’ll have to trust your navigation driving to Indigo restaurant, as you’ll enter the Indigo property and you’ll have to go down a rocky road. But it’s worth the trip, as the beautiful restaurant is set at an even prettier location. It’s right above the sand and waves, so try to reserve a table on their balcony.
The menu of Indigo beach bar and restaurant focusses on fish, but they have a great vegetarian risotto.
District 721
District 721 has opened up in December 2020, so it’s fairly new. But it’s already one of my top food spots in Sint Maarten! You can find District 721 in Simpson Bay on the South West side of Sint Maarten. District 721 is a courtyard with quite a few tables, a great atmosphere and a bar (‘Escobar’) for drinks. They’ve got some great cocktails on the menu. But besides all that, it also has 3 food spots on the premises. They’re a mixture of a food truck and small restaurant and you can order your dishes there and have them brought to your table. There’s an Italian restaurant, a kebab place and a Mexican food joint. The Mexican stand has great vegetarian tacos, you can see them at the top of this page.
Sandbar
Sandbar is a great food spot in Maho Beach, Sint Maarten. They’ve got all kinds of comfort food like burgers, tacos and sushi. In their colorful and nicely illuminated outdoor restaurant you can hear the waves rolling into the beach. They’ve got different themes on most of the evenings like Taco Tuesday where you can order 3 tacos for $10. They’ve got plenty vegetarian options too, like a vegetarian burger, vegetarian sushi and vegetarian tacos.
Altro
Really close to the French border in the South West of Sint Maarten you can find Italian bistro Altro. It was one of the best restaurants where we went to on the island. First of all, the service is amazing. The staff is super friendly and Altro is one of the few restaurants on the island where you don’t have to wait long for your food to arrive. The dishes were all super tasty and they’ve got good vegetarian options too. I went for a green asparagus veloute with whipped parmesan as a starter and the mushroom risotto as a main. And last but not least, it’s very nicely priced. You pay only 28 for a three course menu with dishes of your choice. You can find Altro at Porto Cupecoy.
The Palms
There are a few restaurants in Simpson Bay that have great vegetarian and vegan food. My favorites are Beirut sxm, Little Jerusalem Restaurant and all health food store Top Carrot. But to be honest, they’re not the most atmospheric ones. So if you’re going with people that do eat meat and fish, those restaurants might not be their number one choice. A good alternative is The Palms Restaurant. This small restaurant does have a great atmosphere with a real Caribbean vibe and many colors. The staff is also very friendly and when you see how small the kitchen is you can’t help but being impressed by the chefs. They’ve got a delicious vegetarian curry on the menu and if you ask nicely they might make the wraps vegetarian for you as well.
Topper’s
Topper’s is a roadside restaurant restaurant and bar at Simpson Bay. They’ve got a nice bar food menu with several vegetarian options like fried onion rings, pita bread with baba ganoush and this vegetarian sandwich with hummus, avocado, lettuce and tomato. They regularly offer karaoke nights and you might be surprised of the singing talent of some of the locals that drop by to give it a go.
Lizzy’s Beach Bar
In Philipsburg, the capital city of the Dutch side of Sint Maarten, vegetarian food options are also not widely available. Popular restaurant Greenhouse has only one nice vegetarian option in a menu with tens of dishes.
Road side food spot Shieka’s does have some nice vegetarian Caribbean dishes and the Irie Gardens food kiosk serves only vegetarian dishes for a great price.
Another nice food spot in Philipsburg Sint Maarten is Lizzy’s Beach Bar. We went there for breakfast and they have al the classics from omelettes to cream cheese bagels.
Karakter
Karakter is a nice beach bar on Simpson Bay Beach. Unfortunately they don’t have any vegetarian options on their lunch and dinner menu and the wait for your food can be quite long during peak hours. But it’s nice to have a drink in the shade of their terrace or on one of their lounge beds.
Also nice for the Dutchies, every year on January 1st they organise a ‘Nieuwjaarsduik’. Trust me, it’s much better to run into the water on Sint Maarten than in the Netherlands on New Years day!
Carousel
Carousel is an ice cream parlor. You might think you can find many ice cream shops on a warm island like Sint Maarten, but there aren’t that many actually. You can find Carousel in Cole Bay. They’ve got many flavors and even som rum infused ice cream flavors. There used to be an actual carousel in the building, but that’s gone unfortunately.
Click here for all the top sights and activities in Sint Maarten.
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