Bonjour, Pearl Beach Hotel

Au revoir, Tom Beach Hotel and La Plage restaurant
Bonjour, Pearl Beach Hotel – Saint Barth and Pearl Beach restaurant

That’s right. One day, the sign read Tom Beach Hotel, and the next day, it read Pearl Beach Hotel.

A couple of weeks ago, my daughter Kim came down here to visit us with one of her girlfriends, Heidi, sans husbands, for 8 fun filled days.

Almost every weekend, we go to our usual spot on St. Jean Beach. The breezes are nice, the water is beautiful and there is always activity to observe. I have watched the rejuvenation of hotel Tom Beach and its restaurant over many months. From dragging in new palm trees in early December, to setting up a makeshift beach bar in time for the Christmas holidays, the crew worked long and hard to reopen its hotel as well as its restaurant.

We were sitting on St. Jean Beach with Kim and Heidi on Saturday, March 24, 2018, the day the plywood walls came down and the new restaurant opened. Curiosity took the better of us, so we walked over there to inquire. One of the waitstaff told me that the restaurant was open for hotel guests only that day and the next, because they wanted to have a soft opening before opening it to the public on Monday. The new beach bar was not off-limits, however, so we decided to order drinks and take it all in. We were lucky that we did, because the word had spread all over the island, and it seems as if the entire population of St. Barth was there on Sunday. So much for being open for hotel guests only. It was a huge deal for islanders to see yet another place recover, and recover well, I might say. People wanted to join the celebration of the rebirth of another of Hurricane Irma’s victims. The beach parking lot was full and people partied until the sun went down.

I asked the bartender if it the bar’s name was still the Pink Parrot and he said, “No, those days are over.” I noticed that the entire staff wore shirts displaying a round palm tree logo printed on the back and learned that the owner also has a Pearl Beach restaurant in St. Tropez that uses the same logo.

A few days later, I met with the hotel manager and then made a reservation for lunch. Entering by the hotel’s front door, we walked by the rooms where I saw a new courtyard with a few small tables and chairs, and a reinvented swimming pool with waterfalls that created a relaxing ambience.

A new staircase led down to the restaurant. It was 1:30 p.m. and busy. Our beachfront table for two was in a perfect spot to watch the beach activity as well as the fashion show, with two beautiful women modeling beachy outfits from a Gustavia boutique. We shared the shrimp tempura; both of us ordered the mahi-mahi burger with homemade fries and shared a yummy crème brulée for dessert. We really enjoyed it. The restaurant is spacious, and there is a second main bar for restaurant patrons.

If you would like to reserve rooms at Pearl Beach Hotel, please contact [email protected]. New photos will be up soon. You can make restaurant reservations with our concierge, Julia Hurd before you travel, or with our on-island concierge, Aurélie Janvier, once you have arrived. Pearl Beach restaurant is currently open for lunch, but they hope to open for dinner a few nights a week and offer a beach BBQ on Sunday evenings. Bikini Saturday, with pink flamingos and a DJ, still exists and is great fun. Not to worry, we will send you a restaurant reservation form before you leave home.