The Full Story
The Quarterdeck Restaurant & Bar, in Depth
Order the conch ceviche and take it to the top of the deck. The Quarterdeck is built three stories tall in open air, all wooden rail and sea breeze, and from the upper level you look straight down over the resort's infinity pool to the Caribbean. It is the on-site restaurant of Laru Beya Resort & Villas, and the walk-up view is doing half the work before the food arrives.
Where it sits
You will find the Quarterdeck on the Placencia Peninsula, in Belize's Stann Creek District, a short walk from the Garifuna village of Seine Bight and about three miles up the road from Placencia Village. That puts it close enough to walk over from Seine Bight and an easy golf-cart hop from the village end of the peninsula.
What the kitchen cooks
The menu pulls from three directions: Caribbean, Mexican, and Italian, built on fresh, locally sourced ingredients. The bread is made in-house daily, and the fruit and juice are tropical and local. It is the kind of range that lets a table order a plate of pasta next to a plate of curry without either feeling like an afterthought.
At dinner, the kitchen has run dishes like chipotle grilled pork chops, ribeye steak, seafood curry, and cilantro snapper. Lobster shows up in season, so whether it is on the table depends on when you walk in.
What people order
Reviewers keep coming back to a few things. The conch is the throughline: reviewers single out the conch ceviche and the conch fritters, along with the lobster. In the morning, the Belizean breakfast pulls its own attention, with stewed chicken and a dish called the Stuffed Jack getting named again and again.
The deck itself
The room, if you can call three open stories a room, is the reason many people book a table. Meals are served on the wooden deck in the open air, the pool below and the sea past it. There are no walls between you and the water. If you want the full height, ask for the upper level.
Who it's for
This one suits a traveler who wants a sit-down dinner with a real view and a menu that reaches past the standard beach-bar plate. Laru Beya says the Quarterdeck was inducted into TripAdvisor's Hall of Fame after top ratings four years running, which tells you the place has held a standard over time rather than for one good season.
Come for the conch and the deck. Time it for lobster season if you can, and if you land here for breakfast, the Stuffed Jack is the local move. For more tables up and down the peninsula, browse the rest of the Placencia listings.