St. Maartan Dining: Lee's Roadside Grill

Located along the main strip in Simpson Bay, Lee's Roadside Grill is sandwiched among a series of restaurants and bars that cater to the area's many tourists. Despite appearing to be nothing more than another tourist trap, Lee's is well worth a stop for top-notch fish and seafood dishes at reasonable prices.

We dined at Lee's on two separate occassions, once for lunch where we had incredibly fresh Wahoo and Mahi Mahi served with rice and beans and salad (we also ordered plantains, which were thoroughly mediocre). (The nice thing at lunch is that you can order "just fish" and share sides, which is probably a good idea, since the portions are huge.) Both fish were simply prepared and tasted pleasantly of the ocean. The texture of the wahoo was surprising, as we had never had it before, and it was very meaty, almost like chicken. We returned for dinner later in our trip, starting with conch fritters (which you can skip) and we had yellowfin tuna and a whole red snapper. Both were fresh-as-can-be and prepared with garlic and spices, but nothing that got in the way of the flavor of the fish.

Lee's operates a series of charter fishing trips, and they actually serve fish that is caught by their own boats -- which probably explains why they are able to serve such outstanding fish at reasonable prices. Many evenings there is loud live music, and service can be spotty (which is true many places on the island), but with $2 local beers, it's tough to complain.

Lee's Roadside Grill
Welfare Road #82, Simpsonbay
(599)-544-4233