By Carlena Knight
A popular Antiguan beachside restaurant has been named among the top 10 percent eateries in the world by travel website TripAdvisor.
Beachlimerz, which is located at Fort James Beach in St John’s, received the accolade in TripAdvisor’s Travelers’ Choice 2020 listings.
Every year, the site pulls together all the reviews, ratings and saves that travellers share from across the globe and use the data gathered to spotlight the very best in nine categories. In addition to restaurants, the other categories are hotels, popular destinations, trending destinations, emerging destinations, beaches, attractions, airlines and experiences.
Gail Edwards, who owns Beachlimerz with husband Barry, said she was elated by the honour.
“I cannot begin to explain to you how excited I am,” she told Observer. “When I saw that I think it must have been in the middle of the night and then I think I woke up Barry because I was so excited.
“I sent out WhatsApp [messages] to the staff to let them know and I said we have to celebrate this somehow. I feel honoured; it’s not just excitement, it’s a real honour. It’s something that we have worked very, very hard for.
“We didn’t expect to get it in our sixth year of operation but we feel good about it,” she said.
There is no official word yet on how the feat will be celebrated. Edwards said she wants to meet with staff first and get their feedback.
“What we are planning to do, I mean we would like to open by this week but I wouldn’t want anyone to hold me to that because the date keeps changing from time to time but what I would say is what we plan to do before we open is to have a staff meeting because we would want to involve the staff in what we are going to do,” Edwards explained.
“My thought is to really involve our customers in the celebration so when we reopen we can have specials on drinks to celebrate but we would want to hear what the staff has to say about it because they are also excited,” she added.