We went for brunch at the Stoned Crab Restaurant in Freeport, Grand Bahama, and stayed for five hours! The atmosphere and the food made us not want to leave. Read my review with lots of mouthwatering food photos.
Whenever a new restaurant opens up on the island, it is always a huge deal. There just isn't enough variety in restaurants here in Grand Bahama. It's a small island and it is easy to feel a little trapped. So every new restaurant and business that comes to the island feels like a breath of fresh air.
A couple of months ago Blue Marlin Cove opened in the West End of Grand Bahama and I wrote about the soft opening. And now a new restaurant in Taino Beach opened up! We couldn't wait to check it out.
The Stoned Crab is right on the beach by Taino Beach. It couldn't be a more gorgeous location, and I am also excited that it's just one mile from our house. We can walk there. Or drive there if it's a brunch emergency and we need to get there ASAP. Because brunch emergencies are a real thing. 🙂
The Stoned Crab actually opened up a few weeks ago, but we kept hearing how service was pretty slow - it would take over two hours after placing the order to get the food. So we waited until they sorted all those problems out. And we made sure to go for brunch where we were not in a rush anyway. If it was dinner time and I didn't get my food for two hours, I would be a hangry mess. But brunch? I can have a coffee or a cocktail while we wait. 🙂
We got a babysitter (best decision ever!!) and met up with a bunch of our friends for brunch.
And it was such a wonderful brunch! We got there at 11, which means that the breakfast, brunch, lunch, and 'beach bites' menus were all in effect. Lots of options! From traditional shrimp and grits, crepes, pizza, wings, to blackened grouper.
The longest part of the wait was waiting for everyone in our party to slowly arrive. I'm not sure where the line is between "fashionably late" and "oops, we forgot we were meeting at 11." But it was no big deal. Our table was right by the beach and it was so nice to sit and relax without Elliot climbing and running all over the place.
Once we ordered, we got our food in about 30-40 minutes, which is pretty good by Bahamas standards, especially since we had over 10 people in our party.
Aldo and I got the pita stuffed with lamb and the pizza with spicy sausage. Both were good. The pita was so delicious and the lamb was very tender, juicy, and flavorful. It came with the most delicious potato wedges. I've tried to recreate them at home but they just don't turn out as good.
The pizza was quite good too, but nothing amazing. I'm not trying to sound negative. It was good - like good pizza should be. And it was pretty huge. We ate the whole thing. Oops!
Others at our table went for the blackened grouper, crepes with fresh fruit, shrimp and grits. I'm pretty sure there were other orders but our table was super long and I didn't want to get into everyone's business about what they ordered. Just the people around me. 🙂
Everyone loved their food. I wasn't the only one taking pictures of it!
Everyone loved their drinks too - fresh mint and ginger tea, macchiato, fresh squeezed orange juice (pro tip: ask for fresh squeezed, otherwise they'll give you the stuff from the carton).
After we ate our food, no one really wanted to leave yet. It was a perfect day, the breeze from the beach felt just right, and we wanted to keep hanging out. And we had a babysitter for four hours, so we were going to take full advantage of it.
So we ordered dessert. I never get dessert at restaurants. I'm always too full and eating out is a treat in itself - even without dessert. I was too full this time too, but I ordered the nutella cheesecake. I just couldn't resist.
Aldo got brownies with vanilla ice cream. A few others got the apple crumble. The presentation was great. The desserts were delicious. We ate everything.
I mean, seriously...
We paid our bill and got up from the table. So now it's time to go home, right? Wrong.
My babysitter called and said Elliot was taking a nap so we didn't have to rush to pick him up. So we decided to stay and relax some more, and a few other stayed as well. We ordered more coffee and sat and chatted until our butts hurt from sitting for so long.
It was a great day. The Stoned Crab is perfect for a nice relaxed lunch by the beach. The whole restaurant is so well decorated with a mix of farm style, industrial, and modern decor.
There is even a little play area for kids. Elliot is too young to play there on his own for now, but maybe in a year or two we'll be able to take him with us and get to enjoy the atmosphere while he plays.
We definitely plan on coming back for brunch, and would like to try out their dinner menu as well. The menu itself might seem a little pricey, but this restaurant includes the VAT (12%) and the service fee/tip (15%) in the prices on the menu, so there is no need to do mental math about how much your final bill will be. The prices include everything, which is super convenient. So when you compare it to other restaurants, the value is about the same and the atmosphere is just incomparable.
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