Terry's Grill-Caye Caulker

For our first night on an island that is known for going slow, we ended up at a restaurant that takes that motto seriously, Terry’s Grill.

There are several grill restaurants on Caye Caulker. The idea is that you sit down, pick what you want, and your food is then grilled up to order. No pre-done chicken, or fish sitting under a heat lamp; just simple, fresh, tasty grub. As I was doing my research, I read about three grill restaurants that seemed to be in a bit of a competition with one another, Terry’s, Rose’s, and Fran’s. We managed to hit two out three, Terry’s being the first.

We plopped down at one of the outdoor picnic tables at Terry’s, which is located near the quiet beach at the back of the island.

Terry’s is as island casual as it gets.

This being our first night, we had to try the island’s most well-known drink (besides Belikin beer of course), rum punch. 

Now if you think this is something like Hawaiian Punch with a splash of rum in it, you would be mistaken. The punch in the rum punch is a delightful mix of fresh fruit juice.

We sipped our drinks and waited, and waited, and waited some more. This is not a restaurant to go to if you are in a hurry. You’re on a small island, I’m not sure where you would have to be, so the waiting shouldn’t be an issue. It was still an issue for some people however, who got up and left. Maybe they were just super hungry?

We passed the time by talking about all of our various adventures to date, ranking things like our favorite meals, best ice cream, coolest beach, etc… and then dreaming about the places we want to go in the future. I also did a bit of eavesdropping.

A group of girls sat at a table behind us. From their conversation, I gathered they had just met that night, presumably at a hostel or other accommodation. One of the girls was a one-upper. When one girl talked about swimming with sting rays, One-Upper of course swam with sharks, without a cage. When one girl talked about going bungee jumping, One-Upper of course bungee jumped off of the highest bungee in the world. On and on it went.  I could already imagine the other girls congregating in the hostel that night, formulating a plan to ditch One-Upper for the rest of their time on the island. I assumed this would be quite difficult given the island’s small size.

Our food eventually made its way to our table.

I ordered the jerk chicken. 

Terry himself came over and explained his process, which included first smoking, then grilling the chicken, hence the wait. Terry takes his cooking seriously. He doesn’t like to rush things, in his exact words,

“It’s gotta be right!”

Shannon got the BBQ pork ribs. 

All of the dishes that evening came with the same sides, coleslaw and rice. I’m not a big fan of coleslaw, so for me to say it’s good is a compliment. Both sides were tasty.

The food is good, but I think the best part of Terry’s Grill, is Terry. When he wasn’t flipping chicken on the grill, or wrangling his four year old son, he was roaming around conversing with guests. Part grill master, part comedian, and part philosopher, make sure you get a chance to chat with Terry. He will happily share his views on everything from parenting, to entrepreneurship, to properly grilling chicken.

I’m so glad we ended up eating at Terry’s Grill on our first night. It was like being thrown into the deep end of go slow island life. We left with our tummies satisfied, our bodies relaxed, and our minds filled with new memories.