Estel's Dine By the Sea — Restaurant in San Pedro Town

On my first day in Ambergris Caye, I woke up pretty early and was looking for a place for breakfast. Estel’s Dine by the Sea, was opening at 6 am. The Mayan Gods had listened to my prayer. I ended up there around 7 am, to be in the midst of a spectacular location. Smack on the beach, excellent seating, with commanding views of the Caribbean Sea and the world’s second largest barrier reef. There was a constant sea breeze, and an intoxicating fragrance of the environment. The restaurant is in downtown San Pedro, still family owned. The beautiful, elegant, charming and eponymous Estel was on hand. It was a pleasure to meet and also have conversation, with both her and her handsome son, who helps run the restaurant. Lovely people.

I don’t know about you, but when I travel to any destination, when it is meal time, it has to be local. That is why I came here and that is what I ordered. Estel’s Special Mayan Eggs (Scrambled eggs, grilled onions, tomatoes, peppers, and cilantro served with a choice of meat (for me it was shrimp), beans and Fry Jacks. There are many good things to say about my breakfast plate. Let me start in reverse order. In Belize, everyone desires Fry Jacks, but how Estel’s prepares them are something that you will always remember. A fluffy, soft, fresh and deep fried dough concoction that could have been eaten just on its own, for breakfast. Forget everything else. I must confess, that the texture, flavor and chew of Fry Jacks are very similar, if not identical to the circular Indian Fluffy deep fried bread, called Bhatura. It is also very close in taste to its Indian cousin, the deep fried but smaller circular and puffy bread, called the Poori.

While the Jacks are the crown jewel in these settings, the rest of the ingredients on the dish, should not be forgotten because they were superbly prepared. Soft and delicious scrambled eggs and the beans. Really liked the accompaniment of Jam too. And what about the music and the service? All my (and your) favorite oldie tunes played in beautiful harmony. Fantastic. Service was friendly, attentive and exceptional. Thank you, Estel, for your warm hospitality and an unforgettable first morning, in...

For all the hype around the island, Estel's was a huge disappointment for us. We stopped by for dinner around 7:30pm on a Thursday evening during our holiday trip to San Pedro. The place was not crowded, maybe 1/3 capacity (see photos). We were seated quickly, in the outdoor area which has sand floors.

Our waitress stopped by when we sat down, and we said we'd like a few minutes to look over the menu. When she came back around, we ordered a couple of drinks and a combo ceviche... fish, shrimp and lobster. A few minutes later, the waitress brought a combo of conch, shrimp and lobster. Not wanting to waste the food, we ate the ceviche but reminded the waitress we had ordered the combo with fish, not conch.

We didn't see our waitress for about 15 minutes, and when she returned, we ordered our entrees. We both requested the whole fish (which was described as a butterflied 1.5 lb snapper), one to be fried the other to be blackened one 1/2 and garlic butter on the other 1/2. After about 35 minutes our dinner was served. Between the two plates, only the fried fish was hot.

On the plate with the blackened/garlic butter fish plate, the sauteed veggies and baked potato were room temperature at best. On the fired fish plate, aside from the fish, the veggies and rice were also room temperature. And, the fish was not butterflied, it was fried into a knot (see photo). The fish was good, but would have been much better if properly prepared. The manager took the blackened/garlic butter fish plate and had the kitchen warm the baked potato. When the plate was returned the potato was warm, but not hot. The melted cheese on top was still a congealed mass, not appetizing at all.

After finishing the meal, we decided to pass on desert and get back to our hotel. The restaurant really is a fool place, and many of the reviews are glowing. But for us, the service was so poor the only truly enjoyable part of the meal was the pina colada which was the first thing we ordered. We don't need to go back, there are too many other choices...

Impromptu stop in for breakfast this am. A couple coming out said it was delicious and there were some vegetarian options if I eat eggs.

Restaurant has excellent airflow throughout and views of the sea from any table. Outdoor tables fill quickly.

Staff were friendly and all servers popped by our table to see if we were ready to order or needed anything, not just one assigned.

I ordered a breakfast burrito and asked to substitute the meat for veggies. My fiancé paid so not sure it was substituted or I was charged extra. The veggie breakfast burrito was the best I’ve had honestly. Veggies were cooked and seasoned well.

Fiancé ordered the breakfast burrito with sausage. We both loved our food and the homemade salsa was really tasty although not enough for both half’s of the burrito.

4 stars is a couple areas of improvement.

Plastic Water Bottles - We’ve all seen plastic water bottles laying all over the island. Would love to see the island collaboratively push for glass bottle beverages only and instillation of solar power to assist with water filtration or distilling. I overheard another customer asking if the have water not in a water bottle. We would pay for water in a glass from a large reusable water jug from a water service.

Limited vegetarian and vegan options - Would love to see a veggie burger option (from scratch or frozen). Would love to see large healthy salad option for lunch/dinner. Possibly vegan scramble or breakfast burrito options listed. There is a vegan egg substitute called JUST Egg. It’s delicious but comes in a plastic bottle (boo!).

We will likely return again for a meal. Good food, great staff, lovely views. Bring a light jacket in case you’re in a very breezy section.

Edit: Fiancé said they did not charge for substitute of veggies instead of meat (awesome!). He said our total bill may have been $46 BZD but he can’t...