L'Esprit — Restaurant in Saint Barthélemy

At almost 40 years of age, we have been to MANY great restaurants, and several of the best have been on St Barth, but L'Esprit surpasses them all. The inviting garden setting strung with small globe lights and brimming with tropical pink flowers under towering palms and a uniquely textured pine could have been the draw to this lovely gem of a restaurant - if it weren't for the food. The menu presented on simple printer paper on a clipboard has such unassuming titles as "Chocolat et Coco" and "Duck Spring Rolls" that do no justice whatsoever to the perfect explosion of flavor complements you should expect. The duck spring rolls were intensely flavored with a natural combination of ingredients and perfectly paired with an angel hair fine salad of cabbage, mango, and cilantro and paired with a mild cream that finished with just a mild hint of heat. I think I could write a novel on the perfection of the Chilean sea bass perfectly paired with tiny French cockles and impeccably cooked vegetables in a deliciously mild artichoke broth. Words fail. And there is no way I could do justice to the chocolate mousse topped with homemade coconut ice cream and wrapped in a chocolate shell. Nor could words approach the intense raspberry flavor of the raspberries on a meringue half shell. The menu and my husband both agreed that the raspberry flavor was intensified by the balsamic, but the flavor was so perfectly balanced that the only detectable flavor was the most amazing raspberry ever. We will be back every time we visit St, Barth - and probably at least twice more...

L'Espirit is an amazing restaurant is a must stop place if you're in St. Barths. We dined here on our first night on the island for dinner and we're so glad we did.

We made a reservation at the restaurant through our hotel concierge, and we arrived a few minutes before our dinner reservation (they have parking on the street outside the restaurant if you have a car). We were greeted by a restaurant employee (I think he was the owner) and we were shown to our table in the beautiful restaurant. I think most of the other guests were locals to the island so we felt we were in for an amazing experience!

We dined here during off season and they had a Prix Fixed menu (75 Euros, including appetizer, entree, and dessert). They also provide a complimentary starter appetizer as well. We ordered a bottle of wine to start (ranging from 60 Euros and up) and they had a great selection on their menu.

The employees all were very knowledgable about the menu and offered their suggestions. I ordered the Beef Carpaccio, Black Pork Loin and the Pina Colada Glacee. All items were truly amazing, fresh and flavorful, and this was an extremely memorable restaurant and we definitely will come back the next time we're in St. Barths. Highly...

From the minute we arrived we were neglected. We were told that someone named Christoph?? would be our server but he (if that was his name) only asked if we wanted water then never delivered it. One of the 3 amazing ladies that serve here finally got us some water and all three of them took turns getting items for us as they clearly knew we were being ignored. The food was absolutely fantastic, although we had no idea what we were going to be eating as we had no server to explain anything (what a pleasure to discover that the scallops included a huge portion of foie gras) - however, don’t miss this place - we’ve eaten here dozens of times and never had a bad morsel to eat. It was just extremely disappointing as we are here for three weeks and chose L’esprit for my wife’s birthday on...