St. Croix: Dining

St. Croix has a wide variety of dining options, from gourmet restaurants to fast food chains. You'll find many cuisines represented here as well, including Caribbean, Italian, French, and, yes, Danish. Don't miss the conch here, it's an island specialty. The shellfish is often served with a side dish called fungi (pronounced foon-gee), a tasty accompaniment that's somewhat like cornbread dressing. The most popular beer here is Heineken.

CHRISTIANSTED

Brass Parrot
Buccaneer Hotel
340-777-6750
Dress code: casually elegant
Reservations: suggested
$$$

This is one of our favorite restaurants, both for its unsurpassed cuisine and for its unbeatable nighttime view of the lights of Christiansted twinkling in the distance. The glass-walled restaurant features a Northern Italian menu.

Tutto Bene
2 Company St.
340-773-5229
Dress code: casually elegant
Reservations: suggested
$$$

This Italian restaurant is popular with locals and visitors alike. Lunch is served weekdays and dinner daily in this cafe that's been praised by both Gourmet and Bon Appetit magazines. Favorites include beef or cheese ravioli, spinach lasagna, spaghetti carbonara, and veal marsala.

Top Hat
52 Company St.
340-773-2346
Dress code: casually elegant
Reservations: suggested
$$$

This elegant restaurant features Continental cuisines as well as Danish dishes. Reservations are recommended.

Comanche Club
Strand St.
340-773-2665
Dress code: casual
Reservations: suggested
$$

Located on the second floor in what's known as the Comanche Restaurant Bridge, this open-air restaurant is a romantic yet casual spot for a seafood dinner by candlelight. Start with an appetizer of conch in mushroom caps, escargot, or conch fitters, then move on to prawns stuffed with shellfish, fried scallops, lobster, or, our favorite, tender conch creole with fungi.

Le St. Tropez
Frederiksted
340-772-3000
Dress code: casually elegant
Reservations: suggested
$$

Just a block from the cruise pier, this French bistro offers plenty of Gallic delights: soupe de poissons, escargots povencal, coq au vin Bourguigon, and more. Open for lunch on weekdays and romantic candlelight dinners daily except Sunday.