Spiga — Restaurant in Saint Martin (France)

My husband and I vacation in St Martin every March Our vacation for many of those years, has always included Spiga in Grand Case as our final nights meal before heading home to the states. This year was no different. My husband made our reservation a month in advance for our final night. We were so looking forward to the excellent food and service. When we arrived, we gave the gentleman who greeted us our names and reservation. He found us on the list and went to ask the owner where we were to be sat for the evening. He then came back and guided us all the way through the entire restaurant and sat us at a 4 top in the back lower room where the only other diners were a family with small children and an infant. Now as we walked through the restaurant there were 3 separate two tops in the front dining room and the front porch. Why were we being sat at a 4 top in the back? After ordering our wine and our meal I looked back and the 2 tops were still unoccupied so I asked the waitress if we could move to another table. She again asked the owner and came back and said “there is a table in the front dining room but it was small” I thought that odd because a two top would be a smaller table??? We said that’s fineand asked to be moved to the table. She again had to go ask the owner. Needless to say we were moved but felt that we were begrudgingly. Service continued through out the night at a level much lower than we have ever experienced in the many years prior. We began to really think that we were being treated differently than other guests in the restaurant that evening. We did have lovely food as we alway do but the experience was really making us more and more uncomfortable. After we paid our bill and tipped our server I went to find the owner who my husband and I have spoken to many times prior. I asked if she would step outside the restaurant with me and she obliged. I told her that after many years of wonderful dinners at her establishment we felt as if we were unwelcome or unwanted. I reminded her of our personal conversations table side the spring after Erma and how appreciative she was for our patronage when most the island was still attempting to come back. I expressed to her how we felt unwanted in her establishment. She just said “I’m sorry you feel that way”. I said her server asked her specifically where to seat us and she was the one who told him the 4 top in the back? She proclaimed she hadn’t and it was a seating chart. Wouldn’t the server know the where to put us if a seating chart was made for the evening?? I very quietly and respectfully explained how we felt after our evening and she continued with the “I’m sorry you feel that way” approach. She didn’t seem concerned at all with our conversation. Then she asked about our server who I said was wonderful and that we had paid our bill and left him a gratuity and I was just trying to let her know how unappreciated as customers we felt. She remained unfazed by my comments. Her body language spoke volumes and I knew she did not care at all and no matter what I said it wasn’t going to effect her what so ever. I then ended with me saying that we would never return or reccomend her establishment again. She replied”I’m sorry you feel that way” and let us walk away. It unfortunate because a big part of our yearly trip included this...

Food quality? Excellent! Wait staff service? Quite acceptable for a moderately busy weekday evening. Overall experience? Unfortunately VERY negative, following the approach of the rude and frankly aggressive manager, Lara ("owner" I was later firmly corrected) when we dared to question the addition of $12 for plain water during our meal and our subsequent very polite note that it would be better to discuss with guests in advance that there would be a charge of $6 per bottle of plain ("flat" in European terms) water before their order, as they might wish to order something different instead, at that charge. ( Note: we had also quite willingly paid the traditional 200% or more markup for a bottle of red wine to go with our meal, plus the bill for appetizers, main courses, and desserts.) So when after eating we received, along with the unexpectedly high bill, the slim piece of paper saying "Dear Guest, Thank you for dining with us. We cannot add tips to credit card slips" , and then also got an unwanted and confrontational visit in public from this woman, it was particularly frustrating to have the experience of wanting to have a nice meal out, pay a reasonable and expected sum and tip ( and be able to include that decent tip for our waiter) and not be harassed because we didn't "know" that we could have water to accompany our meal and wine but only have it complimentary by questioning the waiter as to "flat: cost?" "Gas( i.e.mineral): cost?"..or just SPECIFY simply 2 glasses of water, presumably what we call tap water, and not be charged $$ without explanation. The same simple( albeit bottled) water is readily available at local grocery stores for less than $2 in the U.S. My spouse is European and we have traveled quite a bit but never encountered this type of rude and, frankly, shaming behavior. Too bad. We'll seek good food elsewhere in St. Martin when we are there, because we've no interest in returning for poor treatment. Sorry, Waiter.. you...

Stayed in Grand Case and was in search of some great Italian food and found this restaurant. After reading some posts on trip adviser, I made reservations with a party of 7 of us. We sat at a big table near the bar. I will have to say, it is not easy to impress me as I am a chef by trade and very picky about my food. This restaurant exceeded all of my expectations by far. The service was excellent, the food was so delicious and fresh. My friends thanked me for suggesting this restaurant and were all so happy with their meals. In the end the owner came over to see how everything was and took our desert order as well. We were only in Grand Case for 4 nights and needed to find one last place to eat on the last night of our stay, so where do you think we went again? that's right.... Spiga! Thank you to the nice waiter I believe his name was Lugo, sorry If I spelled this wrong, and thank you to the owner and her husband the chef for making our experience at the restaurant, one will never forget. I will return next April for my 60th Birthday , well my birthday is March 27th but to celebrate the big 60 and for sure go to Spiga to once again experience some fantastic food and...