lmj
Senior Insider
So we spent a week in SBH this year, very short for us but we wanted to check out Anguilla. We have friends who live there and we decided to branch out to another island for one major reason: the smoking that is allowed in St. Barth restaurants. Over the past several years it has gotten progressively worse, and my sensitivity to smoke is not getting any better. This year we made a concerted effort (thank you for your efforts Ellen!) to pre-arrange for 2 dinners in supposedly non-smoking areas. Ummm... not so much. Hervé at Côté Port and Franck at Le Carré both made an effort to help us but their customers did not oblige. We watched as 3 locals sitting at an adjacent table chain-smoked their way through a dozen skinny cancer sticks each during our dinner at Côté Port, and our "private" area at Le Carré was adjacent to the bar so no surprise there.
I don't know how the rest of you deal with it but I'm really discouraged, dismayed and disgusted by the refusal of the restaurant owners and/or the government to uphold the law. My understanding from our local friends is that if there is a solid roof over your head (despite open walls), then smoking is not allowed. Of course Le Carré is entirely open so it doesn't necessarily apply, but I strongly believe that Franck should institute a non-smoking area for the 70-75% of customers who don't smoke. They can do it in Paris, they can do it in Italy (and although we Italians are noted scofflaws we have not had any issues in our many trips there since the laws changed) and they can do it all over the U.S. Our town of Columbia, MD was one of the first in the country to ban all smoking in restaurants and bars about 20 years ago. Restaurant owners put up a huge fight and insisted that they would lose their restaurants, their livelihoods, and their customers to neighboring towns which still allowed smoking, that the county would lose tax revenues and that the world as we knew it would end. News flash: that never happened. You can't get a last minute reservation even on a weeknight at any restaurant in Columbia right now, every good restaurant is packed every night and they did not lose at all, they GAINED. Because people like me (and like 75% of the civilized world) who don't smoke, formerly avoided bars like the plague. Now it's no longer a health hazard for customers or the wait staff (second hand smoke has been proven to cause cancer and is often more dangerous than inhaling) and business is thriving even in a poor economy.
Our second week in Anguilla was the polar opposite in terms of our enjoyment of restaurants. As in SBH, we dined out for all lunches and dinners. Unlike SBH, the restaurants were packed despite being still a little early in the season. Nobody smoked, and every restaurant we frequented was open air and on the beach, most of them were "toes in the sand". We went to a mix of the well-known restaurants like Straw Hat, Blanchards, Mango's, Jacala, the Viceroy, etc. along with local places like Maderaman (sp?), Sandbar, and the Pumphouse. If people wanted to smoke they were considerate and went outside; also the restaurant owners did not pander to smokers by putting out ashtrays on the tables... in fact several restaurants posted their non-smoking policy on their menus. I'm not sure if there was a direct correlation but the fact is, we enjoyed our dining experiences much more in Anguilla. We were really surprised to find the meals to be of a higher calibre, the food seemed fresher and the presentations more appealing than in SBH. Anguilla was about the same price, maybe even a little more expensive than SBH, but we found every meal to be worth the cost (unlike several of our meals in SBH).
I appreciate all the positive reviews of SBH restaurants and the enthusiasm that we have always shared in the past for the meals that we enjoyed there. I just wanted to point out that restaurants can make money and be successful even if they do not allow smoking, and that the lack of smoke can enhance both the taste of the food and the overall dining experience. So for those chefs and restaurant owners who read this forum (as well as any government officials who have been remiss in enforcing the existing laws)... I'm sorry but we'll be spending less time and money in St. Barth and more time and money exploring other islands which cater to the majority of your customers who are non-smokers.
End of rant.
I don't know how the rest of you deal with it but I'm really discouraged, dismayed and disgusted by the refusal of the restaurant owners and/or the government to uphold the law. My understanding from our local friends is that if there is a solid roof over your head (despite open walls), then smoking is not allowed. Of course Le Carré is entirely open so it doesn't necessarily apply, but I strongly believe that Franck should institute a non-smoking area for the 70-75% of customers who don't smoke. They can do it in Paris, they can do it in Italy (and although we Italians are noted scofflaws we have not had any issues in our many trips there since the laws changed) and they can do it all over the U.S. Our town of Columbia, MD was one of the first in the country to ban all smoking in restaurants and bars about 20 years ago. Restaurant owners put up a huge fight and insisted that they would lose their restaurants, their livelihoods, and their customers to neighboring towns which still allowed smoking, that the county would lose tax revenues and that the world as we knew it would end. News flash: that never happened. You can't get a last minute reservation even on a weeknight at any restaurant in Columbia right now, every good restaurant is packed every night and they did not lose at all, they GAINED. Because people like me (and like 75% of the civilized world) who don't smoke, formerly avoided bars like the plague. Now it's no longer a health hazard for customers or the wait staff (second hand smoke has been proven to cause cancer and is often more dangerous than inhaling) and business is thriving even in a poor economy.
Our second week in Anguilla was the polar opposite in terms of our enjoyment of restaurants. As in SBH, we dined out for all lunches and dinners. Unlike SBH, the restaurants were packed despite being still a little early in the season. Nobody smoked, and every restaurant we frequented was open air and on the beach, most of them were "toes in the sand". We went to a mix of the well-known restaurants like Straw Hat, Blanchards, Mango's, Jacala, the Viceroy, etc. along with local places like Maderaman (sp?), Sandbar, and the Pumphouse. If people wanted to smoke they were considerate and went outside; also the restaurant owners did not pander to smokers by putting out ashtrays on the tables... in fact several restaurants posted their non-smoking policy on their menus. I'm not sure if there was a direct correlation but the fact is, we enjoyed our dining experiences much more in Anguilla. We were really surprised to find the meals to be of a higher calibre, the food seemed fresher and the presentations more appealing than in SBH. Anguilla was about the same price, maybe even a little more expensive than SBH, but we found every meal to be worth the cost (unlike several of our meals in SBH).
I appreciate all the positive reviews of SBH restaurants and the enthusiasm that we have always shared in the past for the meals that we enjoyed there. I just wanted to point out that restaurants can make money and be successful even if they do not allow smoking, and that the lack of smoke can enhance both the taste of the food and the overall dining experience. So for those chefs and restaurant owners who read this forum (as well as any government officials who have been remiss in enforcing the existing laws)... I'm sorry but we'll be spending less time and money in St. Barth and more time and money exploring other islands which cater to the majority of your customers who are non-smokers.
End of rant.
