Restaurant reviews – an honest appraisal?
Have you ever walked out of a Cayman restaurant unsatisfied thinking you won’t be back in a hurry or not back at all? And yet in the review you read last week everything sounded perfect – why is that? Are Cayman restaurants offering value formoney or is it just puffery? Living on such a small island, the reason could be that restaurant reviewers don’t want to offend anyone or don’t know much about food or the owners are well connected to the owners of the publication.
This does not improve the situation or do restaurant goers any favours. I’ve been living here for 8 years and I’ve never read a bad review, or even a slightly critical review, about any restaurant in any publication. Every review is always overflowing with praise for the food and the service. After a while, you come to believe, rightly or wrongly, that there are no objective restaurant critiques in Cayman.
I think people would sooner just appreciate an honest review than visit the restaurant with high expectations and walk out disappointed. You never read about the eggs that get served half cooked, the burnt lamb dinner, the server with the “well that’s how we serve it” attitude or the 15% gratuity that gets added onto your bill for take-out. Because restaurant reviews keep being written with it all sounding peachy, maybe some restaurant owners are not motivated to innovate or to raise their standards.
When a restaurant opens its doors typically the food tastes great, the service is excellent. But how long does it last? As time goes by things start slipping – the food doesn’t taste fresh, the staff are less motivated. Could it be that staff get bored cooking and serving the same thing over and over again? Or that the owner and investor has put too much emphasis on décor and not enough on food quality or staffing? Making renovations and changing a restaurant layout is not going to make the food taste better. And why do we find that restaurants don’t change their menus very often? The “mahi mahi” special might be new to the tourist but not very exciting for locals.
Perhaps some restaurants should focus on a decentchef, trained servers and fresh ingredients. To illustrate my point, whilst on a diving vacation in Sinai, I had dinner at the Sinai Star in El Fanar. The restaurant had plastic chairs, plastic tables and not much of anything else. But, they served a huge tray of fresh seafood for 5 quid and people were lining up out the door.
Another good experience was when I visited the island of Rhodes in Greece. Through trial and error, I now tend to avoid restaurants on a main square right in the middle of the hustle and bustle but am willing to walk a little further along the backstreets in search of a quieter restaurant setting. After a 5 minute stroll I found a lovely family run restaurant with outside seating and a grape vine overhead. I ordered something simple – a Greek salad and fried calamari. To this day, this was one of the best olive, feta and calamari meals I’ve ever eaten. When the owner came over to my table to ask if all was OK, I asked him where he’d found the olives. He replied that it took him about two years to find the quality he was looking for.
Certainly, there are a few restaurants in Grand Cayman that have a high standard and maintain that over time. We locals all know who they are. But this is my wish list for 95% of the other restaurants on this island:
1. Change up the menu once in a while
2. Bring in some talented overseas chefs with fresh ideas
3. Have special theme evenings
And perhaps just once we could read an honest review!
Category: Viewpoint
The best is those slimy snot-like slugs that get punched out of the shells that get sold to the tourists, boiled till it's rubber and seasoned with xxxx knows what to dull the taste of boiled snot.
having spent nearly a year in Australia and nearly 9 months between Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay, believe me USDA beef sucks no matter what the grade.
No flavour at all.
Cayman beef, plenty of flavour but need a chainsaw to eat it.
I agree that the restaurants in Cayman are not as good as thy used to be. Gone are the days when Chef John , Chef Cleveland and Otmar were the chefs at the finer restaurants. Also Josef and many other European chefs. The trend now seems to hire Filipino chefs and there is no comparison – I guess everyone is trying to cut costs with cheap labor. Having said that, I think that Cayman still has some excellent restaurants.
Id agree that the service and quality of food is on the decline. Over the weekend my wife and I visited an establishment who proclaimed to have a great steak or chicken pie.(Not the one at queens court) What can i say?! The service was dry, the atmosphere short of welcoming and the food, uggh!.
I ordered a favorite, steak and mushroom pie with a side of chips.As i waited i thought id have a little something to get me in the mood. Well, the selection of liquor was poor unless ofcourse you like the US brands, (call me ignorant, but i thought a themed restaurant might carry product accordingly) I ended up having a soda, a flat soda! So, my food arrives, as i gaze onto the plate i cant help but compare my authentic meal to the frozen pie and chips found at our local supermarket. I smirk as my wifes plate appear just as dull. We forced it down,all the while dreaming of a tastier meal.BTW, the pie and chips were burnt.
We couldnt help but imagine owners who allow this quality of food to be served to customers. Perhaps money is tight and corners are being cut, maybe managment didnt ask the staff to smile with customers. One reason or another, but one thing is for sure;we will not be back, not because we dont want to, but because it felt like a wasted meal.
A few weeks ago the catch of the day at a certain well known establishment was fresh salmon.
I asked the serving wench where it was caught and she looked at me and said " Seven Mile Beach I expect". Lucky I wasb't drinking my wine at the time or she would have worn it as the laughter spewed out.
I think Cayman has great restaurants once you know your way around. Yoshi, Morgan's Harbour, Sunshine Suites, Calypso Grill and Agave are all excellent and all of them are reasonable value for money. Sunset House and Abacus are also great if you don't mind paying a bit more. Copper Falls has fantastic food if you don't mind paying a lot more and eating in a dingy restaurant surrounded by Octogenerians.
My biggest gripe with the Cayman restaurant scene is that there are not enough places that offer local ingredients, especially seafood. With the farmer's market and the local fish market there's no excuse for that. Morgan's Harbour sets a good example others should follow. Any other Caribbean island you've have beach huts with sand on the floors selling local seafood. Here the trend is huge restaurants cloned from big cities, selling farmed fish imported frozen from the US. I'd rather eat fish caught by a Caymanian fisherman any day, and I'd rather he got my money.
However I have to say that traditional Caymanian food, other than the fish, is generally terrible. Who really wants to eat rice and beans or stew for dinner? Not me. I'd like to see a good chef take the Caymanian cuisine and make it a little less carb-heavy.
My least favourite are the places that are laughably expensive, and the places that just have bad food. Seven and Blue, Ossetra Bay, Deckers are in the former category. You leave those places feeling like you've strayed into the wrong part of town and been mugged. The food is no better or is worse than other places and the atmosphere is always worse because the only people there are either also feeling like they've been mugged, or are loaded retirees. XXXX
That's my 2 cents worth.
I have eaten at one or two of the establishments you mention for a birthday treat, etc. However, such places are way out of my price range, especially when it comes to taking the family out. What I find is there is an abundance of lower priced food establishments but they all serve the same dull boring meals, the service is often dire, the food can taste 'stale', and the choices are extremely limited tending to vary from one plate full of carbs to another. We could do with some lower priced food places with healthy menus and more vegetarian options to try and ecoura\\ge healthier eating styles.
Cayman's good restaurants can be a killer on a family budget. However, this time of year you can find some good deals and some resident specials even at some of the good restaurants. Also, restaurant week is coming up in October and the are some family-friendly option what will be offered. One other tip is to go to some nice resturants for lunch instead of dinner – you can have a great experience at half or two-thirds the cost.
If you want locally sourced food, try the Brasserie (they're currently in their slow season shut-down) or swing by Michael's during one of their "from farm to table" nights. I've never had a bad meal, or even a mediocre one, at either of those establishments. Another positive is that both are incorporating lionfish in their menus and source as much of their product locally as they can. The Brasserie even has their own garden on-site and two fishing boats! There are a number of other restaurants that cook great local food, or with local products. I think perhaps you just need to eat outside the box a bit more.
Anon 2001 I must agree that I have not eaten at the Brasserie recently, however my time there and the larger restaurants in Cayman dont cook cayman food good. It is strange that these same restaurants are the ones that supposedly represent the Cayman islands as some of our top level cooks.
There are two types of restaurants in Cayman those for the locals and those for the tourist. The tourist restaurants put local dishs on their menu but when a local taste the food they know the difference. Unfortunately the tourist come in and think that because it says local dishs thats how we cook it locally. As I always say the food is missing something "taste".
As for the poster that said that local dishs are poor I guess you know which restaurants you are going to. PS I have been to your other restaurants in Cayman where expats come in to cook the food and yes the food is terrible.
To the next poster, Rice and Beans is a traditional dish so i dont know which cayman house you grew up in.
You’ve obviously never had REAL Caymanfood if you think it’s terrible. Unfortunately the food being served in most restaurants is really traditional Jamaican food, some of which I agree, is terrible. Rice and beans certainly is not something I ate growing up in Cayman. Traditional Cayman cuisine has been lost along with most of our culture. If you want real Caymanian cooking, you’ll need to be invited to a traditional Caymanian Christmas dinner. (I’d invite you to my house, but unfortunately, I can’t cook)
You’ve obviously never had REAL Cayman food if you think it’s terrible. Unfortunately the food being served in most restaurants is really traditional Jamaican food, some of which I agree, is terrible. Rice and beans certainly is not something I ate growing up in Cayman. Traditional Cayman cuisine has been lost along with most of our culture. If you want real Caymanian cooking, you’ll need to be invited to a traditional Caymanian Christmas dinner. (I’d invite you to my house, but unfortunately, I can’t cook)
RMD not sure how much you have traveled and eaten in restaurants around the world but I challenge you to find any destination with 50k residents that offers a better variety and higher quality cuisine than what is available here in Cayman.
XXXX
To all the restaurant owners out there from Abacus to Welly's we really appreciate the great variety and service you offer us. Keep up the great work!
Not allowed to talk about Trip Advisor. They are the freedom of the press equivalent to Cayman Compass.
Oh, crap!!! There's no 'inappropriate' button!! And this is the free press!!! Everybody's gonna know about Trip Advisor!!! Hurry- hack into somebody's account!!! We're at Def Con 1!!!
In Cayman it is too often a question of quantity over quality and sweet over every other flavour. There are too many places that want to sell "Surf and Turf" and provide you with a "Doggy Bag" rather than offer a civilised meal. America does have some of the world's great restaurants, but Cayman's establishments cater for and are inspired by the cross-section of America that would never frequent those places and would prefer a sweet, large meal that they can take home with them so the eating never stops.
Like a Brit would know what good food is? LOL
Yes, given that many of the finest restaurants in the world are in the UK and our close proximity to the fine establishments of Europe. And in none of those places has anyone asked if I want my leftovers "bagged up". Your prejudice comes from ignorance rather than truth.
Correction: Some of the finest restaurants in the world are in London. Unfortunately once you get outside of London, the quality and particularly the imagination of English cuisine takes a big dip (Mercifully though, so do the prices!)
Most of the restaurants outside of London are serving the same kinds of meals they served 50 years ago, and some of them aren't all that healthy. What you would criticise others for, you call comfort food. Bangers & mash with gravy and mushy peas is not health food and neither are fish and chips or steak and kidney pie. There are plenty chippies and pubs all over England that serve tasty food that is not imaginative or healthy.
As for bagging food, this has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of an establishment or its cuisine. In North America, it is culturally acceptable to ask for a 'doggy bag'. Americans and Canadians don't put on the same airs as Europeans and to leave food not only is wasteful (and personal waste is seen as culturally unacceptable) but is also somewhat insulting to the restaurant. But don't kid yourself: there are hoards of Brits who would love to take their half-eaten Cottage Pie home. They're just too embarrassed to ask.
Your arrogance blinds you from the truth, Your Highness. In the end, we might have different tastes and cultural mores, but we all put on our trousers the same way.
Pathetic cliche. London is one of finest food destinations on earth.
Cuisine has certainly come a long way in London over the past quarter century, but it's still behind New York as far as great cuisine and it is even more expensive. But both the US and the UK are leading lights in the culinary world these days.
And the US contribution to world cusine is?
hot dogs
burgers
pink slime
high fructose corn syrup
beef on drugs
salmonela
McDonalds
And super sizing
…and obesity from eating large quantities of the various delectable american cuisine you have listed.
It's funny when you said salmonella when, last year, there was a MAJOR breakout of the scoots in Cayman after the Taste of Cayman.
Oh please. Come off your high English horse for a moment, will you.
Most of Cayman's good restaurant's along Seven Mile Beach are catered for EXACTLY the target market of the American stay-over tourist, their bread-and-butter customer. Contrary to your extremely condescending but oh-so-British remarks, the Americans who stay-over in Cayman aren't a bunch of yokels who think the Olive Garden and Red Lobster are the pinnacles of American cuisine. They are doctors, lawyers, stock brokers, etc. with a lot of discretionary income and they know what good food is. These are people who spend several hundred dollars on a bottle of wine and drink several over the course of an evening. They're looking for healthy choices and imaginative cuisine. Cayman's restaurants give them that.
There are some lower-end restaurants along the beach that serve pub food or food for the younger crowd, but there are at least a dozen higher-end restaurants along the Seven Mile Beach corridor that serve outstanding, high-quality food that definately doesn't cater to a Carnival Cruise passenger's tastes. If some of them still serve surf and turf… so what? It may not be the most imaginative meal, but eating fresh fish/lobster along with a nice piece filet mignon is certainly not uncivilised.
Then of course, I guess nothing in Cayman is up to the civilised standards of what you are apparently served in residence at Windsor Castle.
Most of them certainly dress like they eat at Olive Garden and Red Lobster. I did not know that a University of Alabama T-shirt (XXL) was the look of choice for the upper middle class of America. Oh wait a minute, it isn't. Our tourists are, at best and being charitable, summed up as flyover state middle management, who would not know a sophisticated menu if it smacked them on the face and said "here are some dishes that do not all taste like puddings". With the exception of the Ritz in high season, our stay-over tourists know too much about NASCAR and college football to know anything about wine. Harsh. Maybe. But it comes from many years of watching.
I've watched, apparently much more closely than you, for many years as well. I can tell you one thing for sure – the people who buy the condos all up and down Seven Mile Beach are generally well-off Americans who aren't wearing XXL t-shirts. They may know a thing or two about college football because, well, they went to college. Are you really going to snipe about that? Seriously, do you think it's the 2,500 Brits in the financial services sector that all the high-end restaurants along Seven Mile Beach are aimed at? Wait… of course you do.
I don't think you ever see Ivy League football on prime time.
Still here?
Those that say the food here is great obviously dont have any taste buds
1) To start with where are the market fresh vegatbles?
2) They all use USDA beef (low grade dog meat)
Presentation is good and some resturants work well with what they have but come on, when your fruit and veg is picked early and ripens in the container on it journey down here, and your meat is full of drugs how can it taste great.
Good point. I love the radio ads for meat with "USDA Approved" as a selling point. "Come buy food on the basis it has been certified as fit for consumption". Says a lot.
USDA means its clean—no mad cow disease from England. Speaking of mad cows…
Please Google USDA and learn something instead of spouting nonsense. USDA beef can be extraordinarily good (Prime), or extraordinarly bad (Commercial) with numerous grades in between. Most use USDA Prime or, more frequently, Choice. They buy from the US mainly because importing from other BSE-free places would be two difficult and expensive. A number of restaurants are also serving hormone-free beef (under brand names like Niman Ranch or CAB Brand Natural). It's more expensive though.
As for fresh market vegetables… there are several restaurants using fresh produce, some of whicht hey grow themselves. But Cayman only produces a limited amount and many of the crops are seasonal.
You live on an island now. The quality of cuisine has increased 20fold in the last 30 years. Stop whining like a spoiled child.
BSE free places. Like e UK for example?
USDA Defends Decision to Include
Uh… yes if you want to make a valid argument.
As I pointed out, there are many grades of USDA approved beef. "Pink slime" is a very low grade of approved beef. Whether that grade of beef should be served to school children is another matter and not germane to the debate here – unless you're trying to imply that the local restaurants serve pink slime to patrons. If not, then the fact that the USDA approves the sale of low grade beef as well as high grade beef is a red herring in your argument that local restaurants all serve meat the quality of low-grade dog food. I would hope you're intelligent enough to realise that's not true, but I have to wonder about why you'd want to make such an outlandish statement.
All the good restaurants here serve Prime or Choice, and some, no doubt like the English-style pubs you frequent here, serve USDA Select.
Great post. There are maybe two good restaurants on this island, and even they are ludicrously expensive. The trick is to entertain at home and leave the restaurants to the rubes and your money for eating out elsewhere. To anyone used to doing just that, the restaurants here are overpriced, over-hyped, cynical rip-offs.
They are no more CAYMANIAN RESTAURANTS. Thay are a thing of the past, cant tell the last time i have seen Wilks on a menu on 7 mile beach, much less Turtle Stew or Fish RunDown. What a shame.
There are Caymanian restaurants- lots of them. The problem is that the food is just bad. The seafood is good but the rest is heavy and bland- rice and beans, stew, coconut bread, fried chicken, deep fried plantain. I'm sure there are some great Caymanian cooks out there, how about trying to make something a bit lighter and healthier that's still traditional? Then you might be able to sell it to non-Caymanians.
It's certainly heavy but I have never heard Caymanian food described as "bland" before. Anything but.
Nah. I eat at several Caymanian restaurants and cafes through loyalty to my Caymanian friends who own them rather than choice. The food is bland. Very bland.
No loss. It was just the scraps available before the real world arrived. No-one would choose it and that is why it’s not in the market.
If these restaurants could actually get over some of the BS they spout, like fusion food etc…. and give a decent meal that is both delicious and value for money then things may improve. I for one am fed up with paying through the nose for mediocre food that is served up in microscopic portions. If you spend CI$200 on a meal and wine you shouldn't expect to get up from the table hungry or sober and you should absolutely expect excellent service for the expected or imposed $30 tip.
Generally food on Cayman is very good in comparison to other Caribbean Islands, but there are far to many restaurants that look at the dollar sign before quality and quantity.
And finally, the problem with reviewers and publishers is that they get paid by the restaurant to give them a substantial review, (after all, they're not a charity) so it follows that the review isn't going to be negative. Not rocket science really, just another deception on the Cayman Islands.
Word of mouth – from someone you know and trust – is definitely best. And "someone you trust" is key. The worst dining experience we've ever had on Grand Cayman was in a restaurant recommended by the GC tourist industry. It was a complete tourist trap- bet you can guess which one.
The tourism industry doesn't recommend anything. The tourism association takes money given to them in the form of "dues" and THEN they recommend.
What the hell is the point of this viewpoint?
1. Is it that Cayman doesn't have any decent restaurants? Thats pure rubbish. I've travelled all over the world and had some fantastic meals, but I've never been anywhere with as many quality restaurants per capita as Cayman. You need your taste buds checked if you think otherwise.
2. Is it that the reviews aren't relaible? Well, no duh! They are obvious setup pieces paid for by the owners. If you've been here for 8 years and don't have any friends who can recommend a good restaurant to you I feel sorry for you. That's how I know if a place is good or bad, my friends tell me.
3. Is it that the author wants more variety? Well, that argument may hold some sense (e.g. I'd love to see a good Mediterannean restaurant…..not Italian, but Middle Eastern/Greek) but for crying out loud its an island of 50,000 people. How much variety do you expect? And bring in chefs???? Have you ever met a chef in Cayman? 95% of them are from somewhere else.
If you want something different, you named a few god ones: Michaels, Blue (though closed now til the winter), Agua (fantastic!), Agave Grill, Sunshine Grill, Blue Cilantro (had a shaky start but they've really picked up their game). I haven't been to Osetra lately but I have friends who've told me that place has turned around completely. What i would also recommend is you get on the email list of a restaurant you really like. Many of them have the theme nights you wish for and will email the details to all their friends.
I can't believe I just wasted ten minutes writing this but this author annoys the hell out of me. Give them paradise and they still find a reason to bitch.
Grand Old house, XQ's, Karma, Eduardo's, Morgan's Harbour, Yoshi, Thai Orchid, Dekers, Prime, Raggazzi, Brasserie, Camana Bay Michels, Oratnique…. lots of excellent places.
I have no idea what the @#%% the author is talking about. Hell, I find even the burger king on Walker's to be the best burger king I've ever been to. Hot fries and a burger that doesn't look like someone ran over it with the car.
Here is a my review of dining experiences while in Cayman. I have been fortunate enough to have dined in several of the above mentioned restaurants over the past several months and i was pleased with both the quality of food and service i received. All of the establishments were very clean and appeared to be up to standard as far as being sanitary ( at least what i could see). The food items were all fresh and delicious..
I did encounter one particular problem, on three different occasions, at the same place. XXXX The problem was not about the food being under/over cooked, or anything relation to presentation, taste or sanitization but instead it was a problem with service. By saying that, i do not mean the service was poor or unfriendly, instead, just the opposite. It seems a staff member always seemed to have a problem keeping "herself" contained in her shirt and kept bending over exposing herself to men, my husband in this case, whenever she could. She made almost no attempt to hide it and it almost seems like she was "working' instead of "serving". With kids around it created a bit of an issue as i could see other customers watching the show and i can only assume it did not just happen to us, but others as well.
I have been fortunate to travel to many big cities throughout Canada and the USA and i can honestly say that the dining in Cayman on a whole is above average. Remember, you do get what you pay for…
More restaurants and churches per capita than anywhere in the world. Never been unsatisfied at a restaurant but often dissatisfied.
I frequently write on Trip advisor, and dont pull any punches whether it is in Cayman or not, in fact have written some pretty damning stuff about one or two places here…if the resturants could really be bothered they would respond, but a lot of them just see it as a money mill rather than something to be proud of. Having said that, there is some pretty good quality stuff around, but the prices are ridiculous in most places. Overly and unjustifiably so, I feel.
excluding cns…its pretty much the sme with general journalism standard on the island…..
this place is way too small for honestt with too many vindidictive people….
the quality of restraunts in cayman is one of the best anywhere….
people generally get to know the bad ones through word of mouth/trip advisor….
You haven’t eaten in many other places have you? Cayman is at best OK. Overpriced but OK. But one will never have a truly top end meal in Cayman.
i disagree….
Nonsense. Seriously. some of you people will complain about everything. Where are you people eating? In pubs?
I have had many tremendous meals here and a number of good restaurants. And I've travelled to 40 countries in the world and eaten in dozens of Michelin-starred restaurants. The restaurants here are definately a strength of the destination. I agree that eating out here is expensive, but things cost more here. And it's no more expensive than many other places in the world, especially in cities like NY, London. And there's no VAT or sales tax. And auto grats are only 15%, not 20% and 22% like in some places I've been. I do think the alcohol prices are too high at many of the restaurants, though.
Um, I'm not well travelled but have been to a few other countries in the Caribbean and Europe. And in all honesty I have consistently found better elsewhere – the choice and variety here is terrible, many menus are unimaginative and clones of all the other restaurant menus, the prices are astronomical, the service often poor, and I really hate it when they include 15% tipin the bill when you've had poor service. A customer should be able to choose whether to tip based on their experience, not have it extorted out of them without choice. I rarely eat out in Cayman, would rather prepare my own food.
The reviews are written by employees or owners of the restaurants. That is why you can't rely on reviews, but rather word of mouth. There are some great restaurants in Grand Cayman, but I would never rely on a review.
the best reviews in such a small market as cayman are those of friends, colleagues, etc….i would also say tripadvisor has loads of reviews if you really want to read them, although we all know that website is open to 'interesting' reviews by savvy business owners as they 'vote' their way to the top!
i'd suggest the real problem in cayman is that there are simply too many 'restaurants' (its a broad definition – from fast food, to road side, to high-end, resort based, etc)….with a population of maybe 55-60,000 there are well over 150 listed food outlets…..this is self-defeating for an industry. …what town in USA or England has 150 outlets in a 50,000 population???
With so many restaurants, we see what we have – the race to the bottom with happy hours (everyone selling $2 beers and free food…..not long before you go broke)…..and the fall in service – its simply impossible to staff your restaurant in such a small marketplace with top staff…..there are not enough customers to ensure your tip-based employee's can make enough money on a consistent basis…..and it happens even to the fanciest, look at the camana bay operations….apparently the landlord has had to take vested interests in some of them to either keep them open, or even to ensure they opened in the first place
too many operations, too small a market place..this is not rocket science…..and the proof is in the sheer extraordinary number of dining establishments that close every year…….the knock on effect of this is multiple, including investor confidence erosion, banks becoming very shy about getting involved, homes/apartments losing tenants, etc, etc…..
the cycle is so easy to see here…..a new place opens…everyone goes there for 3-6 months…then they go somewhere else…..and the owners of the place that was THE place now have empty venues, upset staff, and suppliers they cannot pay, landlords they dont want to see, and bankers they can't answer the phone to……
our restaurant operators need support….by ways of patronage, and an udnerstanding of just how challenging it is to create a meal for a very fussy society when you're 500 miles from anywhere and the only thing going up are their costs…..all of them……the last thing they need is some upstart reviewer coming in and complaining that the fresh fish they ordered was not locally caught!!! (and if thats a surprise to you…..)
Having read and re-read this post (in part because it is so badly written), I can't see what point you are trying to make!
You know, that was a wee bit rambling but, the last thing this island needs is a food critic.
The business is tough enough. Costs far and away exceed those on the mainland yet most places offer very good value for money here. Anyone who thinks it is expensive here has never been to an airport, or a sporting event, or stayed in a city hotel in the States.
The business is tough and the clientele are fickle. It is hard enough to pay a cuc bill yet alone spring for a “theme night” .
Forget about reviews. Word of mouth killed one restaurant this year before it had the chance to get off the ground. It would have been brutal and swift if someone had access to a forum of followers who actually believed that because the writer ate olives inGreece they knew what they were talking about.
Oh, and which restaurant is that?
I will give you a clue. Opened around Christmas, for sale by Easter, closed by June. Ask around… You can survive in a city if you get off to a shaky start.
They may not have deserved to have success, but it was still a real investment that probably cost far more than the dollars involved.
This fickle market crushes non performance. A serious food critic does far more harm than good.
You can survive in a city with a shaky start because of the footfall spending their perfectly good consumer cash to 'soft opening test' your restaurant. If you think that's their responsibility then I need to show you some restaurants I've been to that have not put a foot wrong from the first day of opening. If you do that people get excited, word of mouth FILLS the place (and the registers) and buys the restaurant all the time it needs to fine-tune its offerings. On the other hand, some restaurants get it right from the start and then the chef gets restless and starts changing the menu because he fancies himself a creative person and all the dishes people got hooked on are removed. 'Sorre we don have dis one any morrrre. We have eh menu shange sir'. Sometimes it happens the other way around.
If you're thinking of the place I'm thinking of, it was trying to serve a lower-brow version of a sexy cuisine next to somewhere that does it a lot better, from a parking lot next to a highway and a dumpster. Only a hot-blooded, wildly optimistic man could have started that business. I even went once on the prodding of others and my expectations were met 100%. I got the feeling that some slick, spicy continental man was trying to get rich selling me bread and cheese for a minimum-cost refurb and rebrand. I'll never go to a restaurant that makes me feel that way, no matter where it is or who likes or doesn't like it. Word of mouth didn't kill it; it was dead before it opened. Just to be clear: I didn't want to go in before I heard anything about the place.
Anonymous on Mon, 08/27/2012 – 12:33
Where are you finding $2 beers!!!???
Probably at speak easy enterprises!!!
Sports-Bar on Eastern Avenue, across from 'Popeye's"
You mean the "fresh frozen fish"? If it ain't local it ain't fresh. There is no such thing as fresh swordfish unless you caught it.
Swordfish are caught here and there is an annual swordfish tournament. They may not be caught every week but I have had fresh local swordfish on more than one occasion before. Check with the Brasserie and perhaps they will give you a call when the owner Clarence 'King' Flowers catches his next sword.
Cayman restaurants have significant challenges, particularly the limits on freedom of choice of staff and accessibility to quality ingredients. Too many openings are hampered by obvious problems with either execution or, more commonly, front end service.
That being said, too many restaurants go for "safe" menus to appeal to the tourist market – unchallenging dishes which cater to the flyover state palate, usually including too many sweet flavours, and little, if any, genuinely Caribbean flavours. Over recent years Blue has moved into more discriminating territory and is all the better for it. Michael's have some dishes which are welcome additions but still too many safe bets on the menu. Elsewhere the choices can be both dull and expensive. XXXX
CNS: Proper independent reviews of restaurants would be a good thing (though I'm sure would not be popular with the restaurateurs) but anonymous comments with criticisms of restaurants is not — there's no way of knowing if the commenter is a competitor, for example.
This is the real problem. Many of Cayman's 'good' restaurants fail to excite locals because of boring, 'modern international' menus designed for tourists, all entrees over CI$30. Sue from Dallas leaves satisfied and saying 'that was the best tuna I ever done tasted' and the rest of us avoid.
Have you ever been to Dallas? Better food than where you're from. Just sayin'
Pffft. And why would you assume that Sue from Dallas has less sophisticated tastes than the average local?
If you are getting your reviews from What's Hot or any other Cayman publication, those are not reviews, those are feature stories. What do you expect?
Go on Trip Advisor. There are many many many reviews from both residents and tourists.
I'd trust Trip Advisor about as far as I could throw them because their reviews are all unverified and a lot of rubbish gets posted.
A friend of mine had their business targeted with negative Trip Advisor reviews that included periods when the premises were closed for renovation.
At the beginning of this year the UK's Advertising Standards Agency panned Trip Advisor and made it change the wording of it's UK site.
In 2009 we were looking for a hotel on another Caribbean island and the Trip Advisor reviews for the one we wanted said it was dirty, the food was bad and the staff were rude. Luckily I met someone who just came back from staying there. They said the place was great and it was, we had a fantastic two weeks there.
Moral – The only really safe recommendation is from someone you know.
If you read and base your opinion on only one review you might miss out. I have noted one person that has reviewed several restaurants and seems like a genuine person with varied/valid opinions. Also, the establishment is able to refute or defend each review. They can also contact Trip Advisor to have false reviews removed.
I do know someone who had a false review from an obvious competitor. She was able to have it removed immediately.
I would say perhaps that it is because when a reviewer visits a resaraunt for an article, the owners/managers know they are coming and take extra special pains to make sure they have an absolutely fantastic experience. There are no "secret shoppers" here in Cayman who go out and write honest reviews after being given the ordinary service. This is not by accident. I don't know of ANY restaurant that would still be in business if someone wrote an brutally honest review of them at any given time…about the best you can hope for is Tripadviser…
OOPs!! I thought all the chefs were "well trained, talented overseas chefs" My mistake I guess.