Restaurants: Region 3 - Upper Caribbean

Boat House Restaurant

Depot Road, Little Bay, Castara

Tel: 660-7354

Wednesday night is music night. $TT200 per person for decent steel pan and drums, but mediocre food. Popular with visitors who are prepared to pay a high price for the only half-decent regular entertainment in the village. Wake up Castara!

Café Delight

Castara Main Beach

Located on Castara main beach and part of the Naturalist Beach Resort. A great place to watch the beach world go by. Also doubles as an Internet café with two Internet-enabled PCs in a small air-conditioned room. Generally open from around 8am to 5pm. Also opens Friday and Sunday evenings for a barbeque, with live entertainment.

Cascreole Bar & Beach Club  

Castara Main Beach

Tel: 639-5291

Another lost opportunity. Stunning location on Castara's main beach. Very mixed reports on the service and cuisine. Could be a gold mine if the owners could change their attitude and get their act together. Closed Sundays.

Clay Kitchen  

Castara Bay Road No 2

After a few unsettled years, the Clay Kitchen is apparently now open again on a regular basis. Prices a little above the local average, but the one meal we tried there in 2008 was as good as we've had in Castara. However, reports are somewhat mixed. One to keep an eye on.

D'Almond Tree (Vera's)

Castara Beach

Although our experience has always been negative, we try Vera's each year because some reports are good. We shan't try again though. Poor cuisine compounded by the owners surly rudeness. A flaky broken roti beside a pile of tasteless cold mush caused us to settle the bill and seek sustenance elsewhere during our 2008 trip. Pity, because the friendly new waitress gave hope that things were improving.

Eula's Restaurant

Englishman's Bay

Located on the beach at Englishman's Bay and the only dining spot in the area (upper floor added since the photo was taken). WARNING: This illegal establishment has no running water or drainage. Food hygeine standards highly suspect, so the cases of food poisoning reported in our forum are no surprise. Members of the family have convictions for crime against tourists. You have been warned.

Innerforest Restaurant

Bloody Bay

No information.

L & H Sunset

Castara Bay Road, Castara

Located above the Grocery shop, next to the Fishing Cooperative. Upstairs dining patio. One visitor describes it as offering the best basic menu in Castara at the best basic price. Visitors may rightly find the take-it-or-leave-it attitude off-putting and feel more inclined to dine somewhere more hospitable (not easy in Castara).

Linda's

Parrot Hall

Located at the top of the hill before descending into Parlatuvier. Good value local food served day and evening.

Marguarite's Local Cuisine  

Main Road, Castara

Located next to the school at the start of the village centre. Very good food. Fish & Chips and excellent home-baked pizza. Take-away service, with delivery. No alcohol licence, but you can take your own beer and wine, but not spirits. Visitors may find the local manner initially off-putting, but keep at it - Maurgarite's is as good as it gets in Castara.

Riverside Restaurant

Parlatuvier

Decent, but pricey, local food. Now serves beer. One correspondent considered it "the best local food on the island". We've only dined their once and weren't overwhelmed, but the service was friendly - something of a bonus in the Castara/North Coast area. The owner allegedly catches all the fish himself.

Sandcastles  

Main Road, Castara

Tel: 635-0933

Very expensive, but a pleasant change from the repetitive Creole cuisine available elsewhere. Reservation only. Complimentary shuttle service from the village. Open for breakfast - from 7:30am to 12noon Monday to Saturday and 8:30am to noon on Sundays.

Website: www.holidaytobago.com

Sunshine Restaurant

Bloody Bay

Described by one visitor as "delicious, hot and very reasonable". We enjoyed a fabulous Crayfish dinner there in 2007 - as expensive as lobster, but just as good. Service was friendly and welcoming.

Cuffie River Nature Retreat  

Runnemede

Tel: 660-0505

The best Caribbean cuisine that I have ever tasted. Reservations are required for dinner and advisable for lunch. High tea and refreshments available. We strongly recommend booking a morning nature tour (all days except Saturday) with the hotel, followed by a leisurely lunch. Frankly, I can't think of a nicer day out.

Footprints Cocoa House

Footprints Eco Resort, Culloden

Tel: 660-0118

Footprints was a wonderful project, deserving of full support. Sadly, the place looks to be rotting away and appears almost derelict. The last time I called, I wandered around for 10 minutes and couldn't find a soul. There was clearly no hope of a meal. I avoided the temptation to just help myself to a drink from the bar and so left.