The Castle Grill — Restaurant in Charlotte Amalie

Bottom line: the front of the house staff - specifically the bartenders pretending to be waitresses/waitress -absolutely suck. We were two parents and five kids ages 1 to 9. We tried to eat there on our first night at the hotel, but the female bartender didn't want to go up a few stairs to wait on us on the main floor of the restaurant for the vast majority of tables were. She told us to let her know what we wanted to order when we were ready. I went down to the bar to place our food order, but she ignored me and took two other parties orders that arrived after us, but who sat next to the bar at the smaller tables. Feeling disrespected, we left and ate elsewhere in town.

On Friday, 12/8/23, around the same time, we sat in the in the upstairs dining area and a waitress served us without incident. The food was delicious.

On Sunday, 12/10/23, at 7:05 pm, we returned to the same initial experience with the bar staff. They told us the same dining area where we ate Friday night was not part of the restaurant and was only for "chillin." We would have to sit in the upstairs half that didn't have a clean, available table, or order "to go" and sit in the other side of the open restaurant section (with no service). We were a party of seven and there was only a dirty four top available. We told them we would wait for them to bus it (and hopefully add a few chairs). They responded it was only a four top.

As a result, we ordered to go (our kids were tired and it was our last night) and they still charged the obligatory 18% gratuity to carry the food from the kitchen to my wife's waiting hands. When she questions them about it, they told her it was a "takeout charge." Now on my last night in St Thomas, I'm eating my $38 snapper from a styrofoam box and plastic bag at a patio table overlooking the parking lot. Pathetic. Clearly a lack of management and supervision. There's no accountability for how the customer is treated.

This place should be called the Castle BAR and stop pretending to be a restaurant. The bartenders do a tremendous disservice to the back of the house/chefs. The mandatory gratuity added to the check, regardless of whether you eat there or not, is clearly responsible for the pathetic service. There just isn't an incentive to provide good service. Avoid the place like the plague. There are just too many better alternatives with better service just a...

I had lunch and dinner at The Castle Grill on June 6, 2023.

For lunch: I ordered and sat at the bar. The food came out quickly. I ordered the ceviche (Snapper, Tigers Milk, Citrus Glazed Sweet Potato, Onion, Plantain Crisps) and a virgin pina colada. The food had great texture, it was moist, and had good combination of flavors; however, it could’ve used more seasoning. The Virgin Pina Colada was good.

For dinner: I sat in the dining area and ordered Frutti Di Mare Risotto (Arborio Rice, Shrimp, Calamari, Scallops, Saffron, Parmesan) and a watermelon sangria. The food came out in a timely manner. The server was cordial, polite, and professional. The risotto was very tasty and cooked perfectly. I enjoyed it. The portion size was adequate. I like sangria, so wanted to try the watermelon sangria because I expected it to have an additional umph to the flavor with the watermelon. The sangria was just alright. Nothing spectacular as I could not taste watermelon in it.

I was looking forward to the Tuesday night karaoke; however, it was cancelled due to...

The views are incredible, and the staff were nice, albeit a bit slow for drinks due to a super busy night that we went. We sat at the bar for dinner and decided to split a handful of appetizers instead of ordering entrees.

The firecracker shrimp was delicious, but our other apps weren’t much to write home about. The tuna appetizer (Tiradito Nikkei) was okay, but the tuna tasted previously frozen and the avocado on top was reminiscent of the packaged avocado dips that you can get at Starbucks. My partner had the pork belly tacos and he didn’t finish them because they were overcooked and the flavor wasn’t very good. The truffle fries were pretty good, but we’ve had better on island.

We both agreed it’s a fun spot for drinks and views, but the food isn’t really worth going out of...