6 Best Restaurants in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands

This trendy place is small and cozy with a casual atmosphere. The menu selections include fresh fish prepared in creative ways, Italian specialties, and salads made with fresh local greens—check the daily specials on the blackboard. Several varieties of mac and cheese constitute the signature dish. The frozen chocolate peanut butter pie is a chocolate-lover's delight. Craft cocktails are concocted by creative mixologists.

One of those small but special spots that everyone loves, including critics who regularly rank it among the Caribbean's best restaurants, this lively spot relies on local ingredients in its fusion of Mexican, Thai, and Caribbean dishes that can include anything from Thai curry with chicken to a fillet of beef stuffed with portobello mushrooms and goat cheese. You can't go wrong with the daily egg roll special or the catch of the day. Call early for reservations: the indoor dining room is small, and you'll want to nab a table in the candelit back courtyard if you can.

Sunday brunch is big here, but locals and visitors also flock to this oceanfront bistro at the Sand Castle on the Beach resort for lunch and dinner. Both menus include burgers and salads, but at dinner the daily pasta specials shine. For lunch, the hummus plate and award-winning seafood chowder are good bets. Brunch is served on weekends.

Serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner indoors and out, the dockside spot has something for everyone on its extensive menu. Dinner can be as fancy as tilapia and garlic shrimp with mushrooms, white wine, and garlic butter, or as basic as a burger or chicken sandwich. If your taste buds run to hot, try the shrimp pistolette—a hollowed-out baguette filled with shrimp and laced with really hot sauce. Drinks at the bar are half-price daily from 4 to 6.

This popular dockside restaurant is the place to get off-the-boat seafood and Southern soul food in St. Croix—chef-owner Charles Mereday is a graduate of the Charleston, S.C., branch of Johnson and Wales University, after all. But you'll also find hand-cut steaks alongside island favorites like curried chicken and mango mahimahi. Take Route 82 out of Christiansted, and then turn left at the sign for Green Cay Marina.

A favorite with locals and vacationers, this poolside restaurant serves up salads, burgers, sandwiches, and seafood, as well as delicious pasta dishes and popular salads. Come for disco bingo on Thursday with dancing between games, the West Indian Carnival on Fridays, Sunday brunch, and live music on weekends. Open for breakfast (the $10 special is popular), lunch, and dinner.