ABOUT
MAC's RESTAURANT LTD.
A Delightful One-stop Restaurant & Bake Shop
By: Dr. Arlene Smith-Thompson
Mac's Restaurant Ltd., is a full-service restaurant, bakeshop and catering service located in Building 16 at the Cyril B. Romney Tortola Pier Park on the Island of Tortola in the beautiful Virgin Islands. The mission of this very popular restaurant is to exceed the expectations of customers they serve on a daily basis through their enticing choices of breakfast and lunch-time menu items, in addition to their wide assortment of delectable cakes and pastries that keep customers constantly coming back for more.
Our Founders
This one-stop restaurant and bakeshop is owned and operated by the gold-medal award winning Professional Chef Macgarvey Thompson, who has represented the Virgin Islands at several international competitions as part of the country’s National Culinary Team; and his wife Dr. Arlene Smith-Thompson, who is an educator by profession and currently serves as the Vice President for Academic Affairs at the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College.
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Chef Macgarvey Thompson, or Chef Mac as he is known to his customers, is a culinary wonder. He is one of the very few chefs in the Virgin Islands that cooks and bakes at a very high standard. Some of the repeat customers of Mac’s Restaurant have been patronizing his service for over 20 years. When asked about their loyalty, they would often say that they love the consistency in taste of his food, cakes and pastries. While Mac’s Restaurant has a very loyal local following, the restaurant’s versatility in Caribbean, American and even Italian cuisines, is often a delightful stop for visitors to the island.
Our History
While Chef Mac loves to cook, the making of specialty cakes and pastries is really his passion. After running a very successful restaurant and bakeshop in the 1990s and early 2000s, he took a brief hiatus from the business and decided to upgrade his skills to a more professional level. Chef Mac attended the world-renowned Le Courdon Bleu Institute in Miami, Florida and obtained a degree in Pastry Making. Upon his return to the Virgin Islands in 2009 Chef Mac became an Executive Sous Chef at the then Road Town Bakery that was operated by the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College.
In 2010, the love of Chef Mac’s life, Arlene, walked into the Road Town Bakery. As fate would have it, Chef Mac walked out to the service area at that very moment. They both knew each other in church as teenagers and even briefly performed together in the church’s popular singing group – The Regenerated Singers. Mac was the well-known and talented bass man and Arlene briefly sang in the group along with her sister Alison. They both went on to lead separate lives. Having rekindled their friendship, they trusted the timing of their lives to be together and were married in a beautiful poolside wedding ceremony in Virgin Gorda in December of that year.
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Our Cuisine
One of Arlene’s passions was to ensure that Mac became the owner of a restaurant and bakeshop once again, as his customers were really missing his service. The Thompsons started out small by managing the Energy Centre’s Café at the New Life Baptist Church in Duff’s Bottom in 2012. By 2013, the opportunity presented itself to own the Road Town Bakery where Chef Mac previously worked. The Thompsons grasped the challenge and have since been working side-by-side to build their brand and re-establish their links with past customers.
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In 2014 Mac’s Restaurant was moved to its current home at the Cyril B. Romney Tortola Pier Park. This location is convenient as it is easily accessible to locals and tourists alike in the commercial district of Road Town. On any given day, lines of customers could be seen entering the restaurant to partake of all of their favourites – whether it is a succulent beef or spinach lasagna; stuffed chicken breast; beef ribs; docouna, coconut dumplings and saltfish; Johnny cakes; coconut bread or mouth-watering raisin rolls or apple turnovers or a slice of Chef Mac’s moist plain cake – they are never disappointed.
Mac and Arlene also believe in giving back to the community. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the Thompsons took the initiative to lower their lunch prices to their customers. This gesture has been greatly appreciated by the regular patrons of the restaurant. They also believe in training the next generation of chefs in the Virgin Islands and often look for opportunities to hire apprentices. They are also always willing to give to worthy causes as part of their civic responsibility. The Thompsons are very grateful for this golden opportunity that they have been given in business, through the operation of Mac’s Restaurant Ltd., to make a difference in the lives of others through an authentic culinary experience, and thank the many customers that have supported them through the years.