Eating in Antigua – Our Favorites

We ate at many, many places in Antigua and had some really great meals. Food on Antigua ranges from French bistros to pizza places to casual beach bars with Caribbean food staples like jerk chicken, conch fritters and fresh fish. Below are a smattering of some of our favorite restaurants we at during the week.

Cloggy’s – English Harbour

We ate at Cloggy’s for lunch on Thanksgiving Day and it was a fantastic meal. The name of the restaurant sounds weird (I think of a clogged drain) but the owners are Dutch and the restaurant is named for Dutch clogs. Cloggy’s is located on the southern side of the island and sits on the edge of English Harbour, which is where most of the huge mega-yachts come to dock. We saw one massive vessel that belongs to Charles Simonyi, the creator of Microsoft Office in the marina. Cloggy’s sits on the upper level of a small marine-side building so you get a great breeze on their open air patio and a good view of the harbour and yachts. Everything they serve is fresh so I went with the catch of the day, grilled wahoo, which was incredible with a lemon-caper butter sauce.

Grilled catch of the day – Wahoo fish with lemon caper sauce

Me enjoying a glass of sparkling prosecco on Thanksgiving Day

Steve enjoying a Dark & Stormy and grilled fish sandwich

View of English Harbour from Cloggy’s upstairs patio

Miracles Restaurant near Jolly Harbour

This was the most “local hangout” of all the places we tried and it was one of our favorites. It’s located on the side of the road in a ramshackle looking building but don’t let that scare you! It’s home cooking, island-style, at its finest. The restaurant is family-owned and the matriarch does all the cooking and, man, can she cook! She will make any fish, shrimp or lobster however you like it – grilled, sauteed, jerked or fried and then you pick the sides. Steve had the best dish of all, which was her homemade mac-n-cheese. Oh. My. Word. That mac-n-cheese was decadent and delicious. Worth every calorie! The only drawback is that it’s open-air and the mosquitoes ate me alive until I asked for bug spray so be sure to spray yourself before you go!

Inside of Miracles – very rustic and open air. Apply mosquito repellent liberally before coming here!

Steve’s BBQ prawns but the star of the show was the homemade mac-n-cheese

My jerk lobster with coleslaw and macaroni salad

Miracle’s spiced rum cake with rum raisin ice cream

The “Fancy Dinner” at Sheer Rocks Restaurant located at Coco Bay Resort

This was our “fancy night out dinner” and we chose Sheer Rocks as it was near our hotel and had great reviews. We were not disappointed. It’s located on a cliff overlooking the ocean inside the CocoBay Resort (south side of the island). Their menu is Caribbean but with a touch of french flair. Sheer Rocks has an amazing bar and they made the best cocktails we had during the entire trip – every drink is hand made with fresh ingredients and fruit juices. Unfortunately, the sun had already set by the time we had our dinner so we didn’t get that great ocean view but we did enjoy the twinkling lights and the sound of the waves crashing below.

Steve’s starter of split pea soup with smoked bacon and sour cream

My starter of Tuna Tartare with pickled ginger and jalapenos

My grilled mahi mahi served over a tomato risotto

Best cocktails we had on the trip! Mojito for me and mai tai for Steve

Steve giving me his bemused look while enjoying his mai tai

Pathway into the restaurant – each table has its own private nook

Le Bistro, Hodge’s Bay

On the north side of the island, we tried a small French bistro that was hidden away in a small neighborhood. The chef is French and classically trained and the menu offered many French classics like escargot in garlic butter, steak au poivre and french onion soup but it also served some lovely fresh fish and seafood dishes. The restaurant didn’t have A/C so it was a bit warm inside but we really enjoyed the dinner here and the service as wonderful and friendly!

Interior of Le Bistro – the ceiling was cloth printed with French sayings and the background had a backdrop of Paris through false windows – it was very cute!

My herb seafood pasta – very creamy and delicious!

Steve’s Duck a l’orange with grilled veggies on the side

Ana’s On the Beach, Dickenson Bay

This was where we ate for our final dinner and it’s located right on the beach at Dickenson Bay. During the day, this place is beach club where you can rent cabanas and beach chairs and hang out while sipping champagne and having lunch. During the evening, it’s more of an upscale sit-down dinner place (keep in mind that “upscale” is a relative term in the Caribbean). We loved the bright and cheery space with pops of color and the service here was so friendly. Their little light-as-air puffy rolls with herbed butter were a great start and I thoroughly enjoyed my whole baked red snapper with herbs and garlic and Steve had a flavorful chicken curry that was the best curry he had on the whole island.

Interior of Ana’s with banquette seating

Piping hot little gourgeres with poppy seeds

Steve’s chicken curry – it was fantastic!

My whole roasted red snapper – it was amazingly good and fresh!

Overall, we found the dining options on Antigua to be varied and dishes were well-executed. There are plenty of options to be super casual or to have a more “dress-up” dinner. Out of all the meals we had on the islands, there were only two that were sub-par. One was at our second hotel’s restaurant (Blue Waters Hotel) where the food was not only terrible but it made both me and Steve sick for a solid 36 hours afterwards. Other than that, we found the food at Turner’s Beach to be very mediocre and bland but at least it didn’t make us sick. We were so glad that we had a rental car so we could drive around the island and try so many different places! Many, many hotels in Antigua are all-inclusive so many people that visit the island never ever leave their hotel to eat, which is a real shame. We found the local people to be very friendly and they loved sharing their food with us.