Belize City, Tues. Apr. 28, 2009 - Nerie’s is a well-known restaurant in Belizethat has been operating for almost 15 years. Nerie’s, which was named after themother and daughter of the family owned operation, now has two branches in BelizeCity, one on Douglas Jones Street and the other at the corner of Queen and DalyStreets. Manager of the Branch located at the corner of Queen and Daly Street,Karl Pickwoad, Nerie’s son, told us a little more about this restaurant, whichserves tasty Belizean dishes, as well as mouth-watering desserts and healthy,fresh, natural juices, from Sunday to Sunday.

Karl said that thefamily first operated supermarkets. They had a small one at their home, whichat that time was on Amara Avenue and another, “Little Store”, which was at thecorner of Hyde's Lane and New Road. His mother decided that she wanted toventure into restauranting and so they retained a location on Freetown Road, atthat time next to the HL”s Burger King and began operation.

It started off small,like a saloon, having 7 tables and 2 employees and offering take out. Pickwoadtold us that compared to the grocery store business, the restaurants are muchmore work, especially ensuring that customers leave satisfied.

The menu then was notas elaborate as the one they have now, said Pickwoad. They offered localBelizean dishes, including oxtail and stew cow-foot.

They served Belizeansfrom that location for 8 years before they opened their bigger, granderlocation at the corner of Queen and Daly Streets, consisting of an upper andlower flat. They had more customers by that time and had become much morepopular. So from 7 tables and 2 employees, they have now grown to 16 tables atthat branch, 10 on Douglas Jones and a total of 11 employees.

The menu is moreelaborate, added Pickwoad as they now offer breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessertsand juices. The branch out this side also has a bar upstairs, which complementsthe meal when dining at night. Televisions are available and you can enjoy thenice Caribbean Sea breeze and beautiful view from a corner table upstairs.

For breakfast, you canhave fry jacks, flour tortillas, beans, ham and eggs, stuffed jacks, cornflakes with milk and bananas, coffee, tea, longaniza eggs, (which is a Spanishbreakfast) and stuffed jacks, to name a few.

In the lower flatthere is also a television for entertainment and an aquarium with colorfulfishes to look at.

The restaurant onQueen Street is opened from 7:30 in the mornings and closes at 9:30 at night,while the branch on Douglas Jones is opened from 7:00a.m.-5:00p.m. That branchis not opened on Sundays.

Pickwoad said that inMarch last year, the family business was featured on a Travel Channel, on ashow called Passport to Latin America. They were later featured on anothertravel channel, this one a Taiwanese channel.

They were grateful,knowing that they work hard. They try their utmost to keep quality control, andcan always positively say that the two restaurants have the same taste when itcomes to food. When something is not prepared the way it should and does nothave the accurate taste, that is thrown out and a second amount is prepared.

Reiterating that thework load compared to a supermarket is far less, at the end of the day, allyour hard work pays off, said Pickwoad, smiling.