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An escape from Beirut's dreary restaurant grind, St. Elmo’s serves elevated pub grub in a retro-urban seaside setting. Named after the patron saint of sailors, St. Elmo's is packed with crowd pleasing New England fare like the Boston clam chowder, the Nova Scotia lobster roll, the classic Fish & Chips, the rich and gooey mac-and-cheese and the soft center chocolate chip cookie.
On Sundays, head down to Zaitunay Bay to experience St. Elmo's special brunch. A cocktail of delicious food, funky ambiance and soft tunes transporting you into another dimension. A great experience that I urge you to try.
I love the Decoration:
- Reminding you of a ship, a sailor's heaven
- Blue and white floor with navigation stars
- Metallic rusted chairs of different shapes that are not too comfortable. It will make you want to leave quickly
- A long light brown leather sofa covers the main wall from side to side
- Two long mirrors make the place look bigger
- The kitchen bar
- The drinks bar where people can enjoy lunch and drinks
- Rustic wooden tables that's a bit too small to host six persons
- A nice ceiling covered with wooden beams
- I like the sailing boat next to the entrance
- The white wooden finish of the walls relaxes the eyes while enjoying the sea view.
Brunch menu sections:
- Good morning
- Breakfast sides
- Hangover cocktails
- For starters
- Mains
- Garden party
- Hot drinks, Cold drinks, Soft drinks
- Puddings & Sweets
- Ice cream parlor (your choice of Oslo ice creams & Sorbets)
- Draft beer
- Shooting gallery
- Sangrias
- Frozen cocktails
- Punch bowl
- Mojito bar
- Beers
- House elixirs
- Bloody Marias
- Wines by the glass
- Champagnes and sparklings, White wines, Rose wines, Red wines
Ali, the waiter took the order in a very professional and appetizing manner, making us want to taste all the specialties.
Pay attention sailor, three signs will help you throughout your journey:
- A star for new items
- A heart for light dishes
- A martini glass for items included in the happy hour
"St.Elmo's has two menus. One for the week days and another special for the Sunday Brunch"
We ordered:
- Nachos and 5 layers dip (multigrain nachos, served with a dip consisting of mushy black beans, lime guacamole, sour cream, shredded cheese
- Cheddar and pico de gallo.
- Salmon tartare (served on a bed of home-made tarama, topped with wild oregano and salmon rice)
- Our famous Fish&Chips (180g of beer-battered Mediterranean bass served with mushy peas, our home-made tartar sauce & Parmesan fries)
- Mac & Cheese (warm and cheesy macaroni with a crispy garlic bread crust)
- Soft center chocolate chip cookie (fresh baked 'deep pan 'cookie topped with vanilla bran ice cream
The food:
- The homemade nachos are very tasty and non oily served in a paper bag next to a glass bowl. Inside it is the signature five layer dip of sour cream, guacamole, cheddar cheese, and black beans. A unique idea never seen before in Lebanon.
- Salmon tartare is unique as well, especially with its thyme fresh leaves, capers and lemon cubes served on a bed of smooth tarama full of flavors. Presented next to two slices of sun dried tomato crunchy bread. The salmon's quality is high-end, non oily and very tasty. Bravo!
- Fish&Chips comes in a metallic iron casserole with thick French fries covered with shredded cheese and accompanied with tartar sauce and green delicious Maury peas on the side. I like it and most importantly its not oily but the external cover is chewy, not crusty and honestly I didn't know what's so special about it. "Our famous"? Not sure about that. Needs some fine-tuning.
- Mac&Cheese served into a little iron hot casserole should be named: "Our famous..." It's better than the Fish&Chips with its crusty layer, melting cheese and amazing flavors.
The desert deserves an applause! It is extraordinary good. Bravo! Adequately cooked, thin giant cookie in an iron pan topped with a cold thick Oslo ice-cream. Yummy.
Pay attention guys, details are very important to focus on:
- Remove the cables from under the stairs
- Send the plastic cups box back to the kitchen. It doesn't fit in the restaurant
- Pay attention while moving around the tables and avoid colliding with each others
- Mr Manager, calm down. Relax! Lower your voice... You don't have to be so stressed - it stresses your customers
The pluses:
- Thank you for serving Coca-Cola.
- I love your frozen Martguerita. I enjoyed them
- The ambiance is very nice and enjoyable on a sunny Sunday
- Toilets are impeccable
- I like the decoration with the tiny green trees on every table and the wooden salt and pepper mills
- I love your logo and banding: I'm a big fan!
The minuses:
- Tables are very small specially that they are made to host six guests each: Sharing appetizers in the middle is impossible.
- Smoking inside is not allowed and not accepted
- Music is a bit too loud for lunch time, even though its a Sunday party
- Too many waiters! They're a bit chaotic and lack experience especially the younger ones
- Tables are too tight and too close to one another. Every second someone bumps onto my chair for two hours straight
I really love this place... I should have come here a long time ago.
PS: The unacceptable! Smoking is not allowed indoors. This is the law! I was offered an ashtray which I refused even though I was craving for a cigar, while others around were smoking. You want to make St.Elmo's a smoking place to please the minority, just know that the majority of the people will not be happy. We are not obliged to smell the unhealthy smoke. Instead we would much rather smell the delicious aromas from your dishes.
