The Refinery — Restaurant in Saint John

Edit 5/20: as you may read, many of the reviewed are centered upon the great and extraordinary service that the owner has provided. The night that we were originally there, we unfortunately did not get to enjoy the presence of the owner. Upon my initial review, the owner had been genuinely interested in rectifying and showing me The Refinery experience. Even though I was not able to be present for the second opportunity offered by the owner, my close friends were able to and remarked that they “couldn’t have had better service.” I enjoyed my girlfriend and her friends remark and I genuinely appreciated the owner’s interest in offering me the experience he worked hard to sought after. Though my initial experience had been extremely poor, I felt that the owner legitimate care to provide me and other customers the best service. Between the two, I have felt the need to change my review from 1 star to 4 stars. This improvement is how strongly I felt for the dedication of the owner even in combination of my first experience. Thank you Jason for providing an authentic experience and being open to criticism even when difficult.

Original review: Our group had a terrible experience at this restaurant. We didn’t really have much of a server and the bartender was trying to help us but really just socialized at the bar with the customers the entire time.

We came in and took 15 mins for someone to even come to the table. We weren’t asked or given water until 50 mins in. The bartender/server was more interested in talking to the people at the bar and socializing rather than getting our order. We felt really targeted since people who came in after us got their waters, orders, and check at a very timely manner by the same bartender/server. I hope you trust that we were mannerful from the moment we stepped in. Even when we walked in, the first thing we asked was to make sure the kitchen was open and we were told that we still had 45 mins to order. When we put in our order and it wasn’t until 20 mins after that we were told that the restaurant didn’t have the items on their menu. When ordering a pineapple drink, the bartender didn’t know if they had pineapple or not. The staff had a really poor understanding of what the restaurant had and didn’t have. Even one of the orders just never came but we were still charged. Almost half our order either didnt come out or the restaurant didn’t have. When the food came out, it was very spaced apart. Our first entree and our last entree came out 30 mins apart. So a lot of our food became cold just waiting for all the food to come out. Afterwards, we finished our food for over 20 mins and no one came to give us our check nor could we even wave anyone down. We had to go directly to the bar to get our check.

Overall, I have never had worse service and was extremely disappointed...

On our recent trip, we saw The Refinery while stopping in at Woody’s, and also from across the street at Tap & Still, both great, high energy places. But we wondered about this charming looking place that seemed a bit on the quieter side, right next door to the craziness. Based on reviews, we decided to make a reservation.

We made it online (1/3/24) maybe an hour and a half beforehand. When we arrived, we were greeted BY NAME by Jason, the owner. Wow. He showed us personally to our table, and a wonderful evening began.

The Refinery offers diners the option of large or small “tapas” portions. We chose the tapas route, accompanied by a rum sampling. What we didn’t realize was that our sampling would come with an interpretive tour of each rum by Jason. He really takes pride in his offerings. It was wonderful.

The food was equally wonderful. We ordered the tempura battered crab, corn, and shrimp fritters; spicy shrimp; and the mofongo—a wonderful blend of mashed green plantains, pork chicharrones, and spices. Jason mentioned that some find mofongo to be a blander dish, but we decided to be adventurous, and we’re so glad we did! Between the gentle flavors of the plantain and spices, and the crispy chicharrones, it was a dish we’ll definitely order again.

The restaurant features authentic Caribbean cuisine from across the region. We savored every bite. The Refinery is top-tier when it comes to flavor and presentation, but in an atmosphere that is not at all fussy or formal. We highly...

Ate at the Refinery on a Monday night and although our drinks and food were very good we thought there were some gaps with the service. We were seated and then moved because they sat us at the wrong table which we were comfortable and happy to do but we were told they would comp our drinks and they never did 😢 first drinks were included on our bill but we didn’t say anything because we didn’t want to be rude.

Next, they were out of the Mahi mahi, salmon and the steak which was rough since we had dietary restrictions in the group but we worked it out! They also ran out of presidente beer.

It took over an hour to get our entrees and there was no acknowledgment regarding apologies for the delay or checking in with the table after we placed our order.

Lastly, one of the roughest services experienced we had was we had to ask for water twice and once the water arrived we did not get any cups and had to wait another 10 mins to ask for cups (we sat on the street so it was difficult to get waiters attention)

Overall I would not recommend this restaurant if you are visiting the USVI. There are just as good...