CrissConchShack

6 months ago

When it comes to conch, this is the heart of the island. Another family run local Anguilla restaurant, it specializes in conch, fresh from the harbor, where a number of conch fishers are moored right off the beach. The place is covered in conch shells, so many that my travel companion was given one for free. Conch everywhere. And, as might be expected, it’s delicious, she cooks it perfectly, tender, but in lumps, whereas at home I pound it flat. I’ll have to work with her technique, because I like this better. There are two sauces, sweet chili and a dressing like Chick-fil-A sauce, but although I liked the latter, really it might be best to just go with lemon juice, in order not to overwhelm the delicate conch perfume. Speaking of which, I took an extra order home for breakfast, but no, eat it hot, the flavor was lost cold (unless you can warm it up). Also get a Johnny cake, she does them as well as anyone on the island, nice and fluffy inside. When we were there, we spoke with a conch fisherman, and found out these large mollusks are in no danger of being fished out, they reproduce and grow quickly. He said he brings home about 500 a day! They’re everywhere on the bottom, which is heartening to hear. Like many such establishments on the island, the hours are spotty, the first time she’s open each week is Wednesday evening. We were one of only two groups there when she opened, which is also common on the island, tourists at the resorts seem to stay there, and spend $40 for a bowl of pasta at a pricey restaurant, rather than visit this lovely lady and eat her conch for twelve dollars. Fire up the rental car and left hand drive down here. Access is easy, just go to Sandy Ground past the buildings and park anywhere by her old food truck, easy to spot, it says “Criss Shack” on it. Walk to the beach and turn right, and there it is, right on the beach. Heck, the dining area is the beach. It’s just an amazing setting, altogether an experience not to be missed.

a year ago

Crack conch and conch patties is all you need to know. Order those and a johnnie cake with a couple of beers and you'll never want to leave. Double check the hours during the week because we missed them a couple times. But our persistence to eat the best conch on Anguilla was well worth it. And you just can't beat the view.

8 months ago

Rustic open casual beach bar with good finger food. They do have snapper but I never tried it. Lovely relaxed atmosphere. Service was good. They only have benches though. Chairs would be nice. Would take it to the next level and guests would be able to lean back. Definitely coming back though. It's a little gem.

a year ago

great food overall. open late but i don’t recommend going late because they will be out of a lot of the items. either close earlier or have a slightly larger inventory to last to 11pm. there should be a bigger sign of their daily menu, it’s confusing when you walk up to the restaurant there’s a large menu but they are not actually serving all those items that day. cashier got annoyed with us because we kept asking for things on their large menu and not items from their chalk board on the far right side of their counter.

3 years ago

We had arrived on a ship on a Monday so the shack opened at 12.00. We hung out for 3 hours drinking beer, punch and snacking on conch between swims..... Perfect. It's a chilled atmosphere and right on the beach