Dining in Bermuda

Newport Room

Restaurant | "Blue Ribbon Dining"

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The Newport Room is widely considered to be one of Bermuda’s top restaurants. Indeed there really is only one other on the island that in my view could be considered to be of the same or similar ilk. During my two years living in Bermuda, I have been to the Newport Room three times, most recently to celebrate my last birthday on the island.The restaurant is based within the Fairmount Princess Hotel in Southampton. Tables are greatly in demand from both local residents and visitors, so reservations are essential. For a Saturday night, I would definitely recommend booking a couple of weeks ahead. A nautical theme prevails. The entrance lobby is wooden decked and looks like ...Read More

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on July 2, 2009

Newport Room
The Fairmont - 101 South Shore Road
Southampton
+441 238 8000

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Lido

Restaurant | "A Restaurant with Ocean Views"

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The Elbow Beach Resort is part of the exclusive Mandarin Oriental chain and Lido Restaurant is one of two fine dining experiences offered at the resort (the other being the Seahorse Grill). A third sister restaurant, Mickey’s, is outdoors and literally on the beach. Lido’s has the advantage of being situated directly overlooking the beach and the Atlantic Ocean, but offers a more formal dining experience than the tables on the beach.I have dined here several times. I often had business visitors whilst I lived in Bermuda and Lido’s never failed to impress, not only with food but the stunning views. I have also brought two parties of visiting relatives here and they also came away very happy c...Read More

The Elbow Beach Resort is part of the exclusive Mandarin Oriental chain and Lido Restaurant is one of two fine dining experiences offered at the resort (the other being the Seahorse Grill). A third sister restaurant, Mickey’s, is outdoors and literally on the beach. Lido’s has the advantage of being situated directly overlooking the beach and the Atlantic Ocean, but offers a more formal dining experience than the tables on the beach.
I have dined here several times. I often had business visitors whilst I lived in Bermuda and Lido’s never failed to impress, not only with food but the stunning views. I have also brought two parties of visiting relatives here and they also came away very happy customers.

Outside the restaurant is a patio area with plenty of seating, table service is provided for drinks, snacks and great sushi. My husband and I loved coming here after work and usually did at least once a week if not more often. We never ever tired of looking out to the ocean sipping a cool glass of wine as the sun went down. Oh how I miss that. Anyway back to the main restaurant...

Entering the building, there is a nightclub straight ahead which earlier in the evening doubles as a very nice place for a pre dinner drink. I have never been here when the nightclub is in full flow, so presumably it does not start until a fair bit later. Something I and I am sure many restaurant goers would be very pleased to hear. To the left of the entrance are the bathrooms and to the right the main restaurant.

The restaurant is large and allows for the tables to be spaced a more than comfortable distance apart. The decor is light and the tables covered in crisp white linen. Ceiling to floor picture windows take up the whole of one wall and provide those exquisite ocean views. I have been fortunate to have a table right next to the window on a few occasions, including the first time I went here which was with a party of ten colleagues from overseas offices. I was delighted to be allocated a huge round table in what I thought was the prime position in the whole restaurant.

Even those tables not immediately beside the window still enjoy fabulous views and at the end of every meal I have ever enjoyed there, everyone tends to take a stroll outside along the ocean wall before heading home.

The menu is quite comprehensive for a fine dining restaurant, sometimes I find restaurants of this class offer a much smaller selection of dishes. Bermuda offers fabulous seafood as you would expect and indeed Lido’s does too, but I found that the emphasis on seafood not as significant as I had thought it would be. Indeed you can also make a selection from the grill and there are main courses in all of chicken, pork, veal and duck. Additionally pasta dishes are available as either starters or main courses and vegetarians are well catered for, by that I mean that they will have two or three to choose from for every course, as opposed to one starter and one main course. It was always interesting to know what the catch of the day is and in season, (about November to April) fresh lobster is on the menu. Sadly I don’t think I ever sampled that here.

Service and style is formal and attentive but not intrusive. Great attention is taken with the presentation of the food, which in my opinion makes the dining experience particularly special. I have always been extremely pleased with the standard of food and being the Bermuda based hostess, I am always confident that I can bring guests here or recommend this restaurant and know that everybody will go away happy at the end of the night. With wine, prices per head average around $150 for three courses.
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Member Rating 4 out of 5 on July 6, 2009

Lido
Elbow Beach Sea Terrace
Hamilton, Bermuda PG 04
(441) 236-9884

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Harbourfront

Restaurant | "Not Simply Sushi"

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When I first moved to Bermuda the Harbourfront Restaurant in Bermuda used to occupy a spot on Front Street, Hamilton’s main shopping street. The entrance was tiny, but the premises reasonably large and pleasant if starting to get a little dated. It had a good reputation for seafood on the island.About two years ago, the Front Street restaurant was closed down and relocated into the same buildings as the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute (BUEI). The new position is an enviable spot, literally on the harbour front, but just on the outskirts of the Hamilton town centre. As residents it was easy for us to drive here, a visitor would probably prefer to catch a cab or a bus from the...Read More

When I first moved to Bermuda the Harbourfront Restaurant in Bermuda used to occupy a spot on Front Street, Hamilton’s main shopping street. The entrance was tiny, but the premises reasonably large and pleasant if starting to get a little dated. It had a good reputation for seafood on the island.

About two years ago, the Front Street restaurant was closed down and relocated into the same buildings as the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute (BUEI). The new position is an enviable spot, literally on the harbour front, but just on the outskirts of the Hamilton town centre. As residents it was easy for us to drive here, a visitor would probably prefer to catch a cab or a bus from the town centre. If coming over for lunch, then it would be well worth combining with a visit to the very interesting BUEI centre. (IGOUGO's address shown is out of date).

The restaurant is divided into two very distinct areas, although divided mainly by the style of decor and not by brick walls, you can see from one area to the other. Overlooking the harbour is the contemporary styled fine dining restaurant. I have eaten here only a couple of times and these were business dinners, although the restaurant is popular with local residents, holiday makers and business people alike. The decor is light and fresh, lemon and white table linen and the tables nicely spaced out.

Unsurprisingly, the main focus of the menu is seafood. There are other options, but these are vastly outnumbers by the fish and shellfish options. I would describe the menu as extensive. To start there are about fifteen options to choose from of which about ten would be seafood, a couple vegetarian and the remaining few meat or poultry options. Then there are a half dozen pasta dishes, three of which are seafood. For the main course, meat lovers can make a selection from the grill and the rest have about a dozen other options, about half of which would be fish but also chicken, veal, duck and pork. It is also possible to make selections from the sushi menu. I have often found that an extensive menu such as this can lead to a reduction in quality, but I have not found that to be the case at the Harbourfront and in its new location its previous strong reputation continues. Service is formal in this side of the restaurant, but not overly stuffy. It is a smart restaurant but no need to stand on ceremony.

My favourite part of the restaurant was the other side though, the sushi bar. During our last few months of living in Bermuda, my husband and I were here for Saturday lunch most days. The sushi bar is decorated in red and black and a traditional Japanese look has been captured very effectively. The restaurant has a website, but I do not think the photographs of this part of the restaurant do it the justice it deserves. There are a few seating options, some booths for up to four people down one wall, tables in the main area and there is seating along the sushi counter itself on the other side of the room. We liked to take a seat here at the bar so we could watch the sushi chefs at work. Behind them is an artistic display of saki barrels and there is also a wall mounted digital photo display which reels through some excellent pictures of the proprietors visits to Japan.

The sushi is incredibly good. There is a lot to choose from on the menu; tempura, maki, maki mono, sashimi, nigiri, temaki and maki specials. After sampling much of the menu on various visits, we found our favourites and started to have the same things every time. We reached the point when we barely needed to order!

On one occasion we came here with my in-laws, who are very wary of food that does not fall into British "meat and two veg" style. We were determined they would try our favourite lunchtime spot though. This time we sat in one of the comfortable booths and as they were bewildered by the menu, my husband and I ordered for everybody. We started with vegetable tempura, which eased their nerves and then moved onto the sashimi and a selection of rolls. It went down reasonably well and they cleared their plates, although they did draw the line at chopsticks and ate with their knives and forks.

Since returning to the UK, we have not managed to find anywhere serving sushi as good as the Harbourfront and we also miss the "special sauce" that was frequently served. I would love the recipe for it. Along with the views of the Atlantic, the Harbourfront is one of the things I miss most about Bermuda.

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Member Rating 5 out of 5 on July 6, 2009

Harbourfront
21 Front Street
Hamilton, Bermuda
(441) 295-4207

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Pickled Onion

Restaurant | "Feeling Pickled"

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Three years ago my husband made a spur of the moment decision to apply for a job he saw advertised in Bermuda. Before we knew it, we were heading over there for a reconnaissance trip to Bermuda in May 2006. Bermuda is a stunningly beautiful place, but when we arrived that Friday night it was raining and gloomy and our first impression was not that good. This proved to be a very unusual first impression as most people are won over on the journey from the airport. After dumping our things in the guest house that had been booked for us we set out for a walk into Hamilton at about 7.30pm. I don’t know why but we found it quite an intimidating place initially, with gangs of youths hanging...Read More

Three years ago my husband made a spur of the moment decision to apply for a job he saw advertised in Bermuda. Before we knew it, we were heading over there for a reconnaissance trip to Bermuda in May 2006. Bermuda is a stunningly beautiful place, but when we arrived that Friday night it was raining and gloomy and our first impression was not that good. This proved to be a very unusual first impression as most people are won over on the journey from the airport.

After dumping our things in the guest house that had been booked for us we set out for a walk into Hamilton at about 7.30pm. I don’t know why but we found it quite an intimidating place initially, with gangs of youths hanging around on the street. We walked down Front Street, one of the main shopping streets in Hamilton and the first place we decided to venture into was the Pickled Onion. I recollect we were attracted by the name and by the outside tables along the first floor verandah and it seemed a lively busy spot.

The restaurant occupies what we call the first floor in UK, the street level floor being known as the ground floor. We headed up the stairs still feeling a little glum, but we cheered up immediately when we entered a fashionable bar restaurant and were greeted with warmth and friendliness. We had a lovely evening here and it was our visit to the Pickled Onion that made us start to feel more positive about Bermuda and we went on to enjoy the next few days and indeed a few months later we returned to start our ex-pat life.

During our two years in Bermuda, the Pickled Onion remained a firm favourite. It was closed for a short spell whilst it was being renovated, however reopened with not much more than a face lift and change of colour scheme, but the layout remained essentially the same. So open entering the restaurant, you first enter the bar area. On certain nights of the week, like Friday when we first visited, this area will be very lively and attracts locals and ex-pats alike. At other times, it is quite easy to get a seat at the bar and perhaps a snack or light meal, my husband and I often met and sat here for lunch. We found the bar staff very friendly and got to know a couple, although as they were doing the drinks orders for all the tables as well, they did look quite swamped at times. Set back slightly from the bar, there are some booths which are not generally set out for eating, although you can eat here if you want to, mainly people can use these tables for drinks. Those that cannot get a table, will end up just standing around in the area between the booths and the bar itself.

Beyond this area, up a couple of steps is the main dining area and beyond this is the verandah with tables overlooking Front Street and the harbour. The outside tables can be very popular at times, we would sometimes select one of these but other times we would be happy to sit inside out of the sun.

The dining is a casual experience and the menu a typical "gastro pub" style, a bit of everything. The pizzas are delicious as are the burgers, but if you have healthier tastes then there is also a good selection of salads, fish and chicken dishes. A full range of soft and alcoholic beverages is on offer including several wines by the glass.

I would recommend the Pickled Onion for either dinner or lunch any day of the week. The restaurant makes a smooth transition from being family orientated during the day and early evening to being a lively night spot later on. This is not fine dining but the food is reliably good, service generally efficient and the prices won’t break the bank.
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Member Rating 4 out of 5 on July 6, 2009

Pickled Onion
53 Front St
Hamilton, Bermuda
(441) 295-2263

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Aqua Seaside Restaurant

Restaurant | "One for the Star Spotters...?"

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Another week into my new role in Bermuda brought another set of corporate visitors from Europe. It is surprising how many people need to spend at least a week here on essential business matters around this time of year. I have never felt so important. Anyway this was a good opportunity to try out another of Bermuda’s expensive restaurants without too much concern for the budget.The venue was chosen by a member of my finance team and when I mentioned it to my husband in a bar that evening, a Scotsman sitting on my other side overheard and informed me that this was Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones’ restaurant, very famous and that he (the Scotsman) designed it.In fact the...Read More

Member Rating 3 out of 5 on July 2, 2009

Aqua Seaside Restaurant
Ariel Sand Resort - 34 Shore Road, Devonshire
Hamilton

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Bermuda Journals

Dining in Bermuda

Newport Room

Lido

Harbourfront

Pickled Onion

Aqua Seaside Restaurant

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