Staying on the North Shore means you have your own kitchen and you're never more than a short drive from a good table. Some of our favourites are minutes away, on this quieter side of the island; others are a ten-minute run over to Grace Bay. These are the places we actually send people to.
Closest to the villa — the North Shore
Vita at Rock House
The one to book for a sunset. Vita sits on a limestone cliff at the Rock House resort, about thirty feet above the sea near Blue Mountain, Provo's highest point. The food is Italian with a Caribbean lean (homemade pastas, wood-fired plates), but the draw is the setting: a curved stone bar facing the water, the macramé and exposed limestone, and the sun going down over the North Atlantic. Come for a drink at the bar even if you don't stay for dinner. Reserve ahead; it's open to visitors as well as resort guests.
The Turtle Cove marina restaurants
A cluster of easy, on-the-water spots around Turtle Cove Marina, all a few minutes away. Sharkbite Bar & Grill is the long-time local favourite, and the almond-crusted grouper is the dish that made its name, and happy hour on the deck is a good time. Mango Reef does dependable waterfront seafood and Caribbean plates for lunch or dinner. Baci Ristorante is the Italian option, dockside and dependable. None of them are fussy; all of them are close.
Chinson's Grill Shack
The best jerk on the island, and we'll argue about it. Chinson's is a family-run grill and bakery on Leeward Highway, near the airport side, with slow-cooked jerk chicken and pork, curry goat, BBQ ribs, fresh Jamaican patties and bread from the bakery. Friday and Saturday are jerk nights, with live grilling and reggae. Casual, generous, and a genuine local institution.
Java Blu
For coffee and a quick bite on the way out the door. Java Blu is the island's first drive-thru coffee shop, at the Venetian roundabout on Leeward Highway, a couple of minutes from Graceway IGA. Specialty coffee, fresh paninis, wraps and subs, croissants, even soft serve. The easy stop coming or going from a beach day.
da Conch Shack
The island's most famous casual meal, on Blue Hills Beach, where conch is pulled from the water out front and cracked by hand. We've written about it in full: our guide to da Conch Shack.
A short drive — the Bight and beyond
Indigo at Wymara
Our favourite restaurant on the island, and worth the ten-minute drive. Indigo, at Wymara Resort on the Bight, is Chef Andrew Mirosch's Caribbean-inspired fine dining: wild-caught seafood, char-grilled meats, an under-the-stars setting, and a long list of awards to back it up. If you do one proper dinner out, make it this one. Reserve ahead.
Wymara is worth knowing for more than Indigo. It has two restaurants, Indigo and the more relaxed Blue Water Bistro, a beach grill that's a great lunch spot, plus the Pink Bar, one of the best beach bars on Provo. By day it's frozen cocktails and light bites on Grace Bay Beach; at night there's a beach fire pit, music, and the sea. Worth an afternoon on its own.
The Marine Room
Directly across from Wymara, opposite the Bight Park, the Marine Room is one of the island's newest fine-dining rooms: elevated, with big ocean views over the north shore and a Mediterranean-leaning menu. Time a table for sunset; the view over Grace Bay and Northwest Point is the whole point.
The DelMar at the Strand
Worth the drive for the setting alone. The DelMar is the water's-edge restaurant and beach club at the Strand, a stunning oceanfront resort on Cooper Jack Bay. The dining room sits about ten feet above the Caribbean, right on the water. The kitchen works an open wood-fired Parrilla grill and smoker, turning out fresh local fish, prime steaks, and coastal cooking that pulls from the Mediterranean, Latin America, and beyond. Beautiful by day for a relaxed lunch, and a special spot for dinner by the sea.
However you do it, the pattern is the same: cook in when you feel like it, and when you don't, dinner is a short drive in one direction or the other. Tell the concierge what kind of night you're after and we'll sort the reservation and the timing.
