fellow HOs.
Does anyone have experience with St Augustine or Amelia/Fernandina beach? Heading there in June and clueless for spot to take kids for the one night. Would love any help!
(post deleted by author)
Amelia/Fernandina is about an hour from St Aug if traffic gods smile on you, so the answer will be different depending on which you choose.
There’s a great pizza joint called Pizzalleys on St George in the historic district in St Augustine. It would be my first choice for kids.
A1A Aleworks has pretty solid burgers.
Cant help much on Amelia… I prefer St Augustine.
1 Like
Any other St. Augustine tips? Heading there on Sunday.
I’ll defer to vinouspleasure on this, but we did have a good dinner at https://sainte-george.com with some friends last year. I’ve heard good things about La Nouvelle https://www.lanousta.com but haven’t been, so cant vouch. In the “old city”, there are tons of bars with music and mediocre burgers, so there’s that as well.
What I can say is that, if you have the time, visit the Alligator Farm on St Augustine Beach.
Some places may be closed for Easter Sunday & others that usually don’t will need reservations
Sadly I cannot offer much help. Ended up just doing Publix subs for dinner. Exhausted after driving 7 plus hours we just hit it up bc it was literally next door to our hotel. They were nice subs with boars
Head colds cuts tbh. We stayed in Vilano beach and found it lovely for the night. Wish we had more time spend there
2 Likes
Those look good, a bit more than I’d like to spend though. Thanks tho!
The best I can do is this excerpt from my Best Paces to Eat Near I-95 blog post, in which I relied on others –
At Exit 318 for St. Augustine via FL-16E, you have a couple of choices. You can head east and turn left (north) on US 1/Ponce de Leon to #3009 and Brisky’s BBQ for some excellent moist end brisket as reported by vinouspleasure of Hungry Onion fame, turn right one US 1 to Hazel’s Hot Dogs at 2400 N Ponce deLeon, for hot dogs with toppings to suit every taste, and top notch French fries .
1 Like
Head across the Bridge of Lions. On the right hand side is a converted gas station with a small sign that says “O’Steens”
Take cash and some patience. Put your name on the list and go browse the antique shop next door.
They don’t take reservations or credit cards, and it has all the ambience of a converted gas ststion, but they put out the best fried shrimp on the planet, and the sides are straight from your southern Meemaw’s recipe box.
2 Likes
SteveR – agree on theAlligator Farm. Amazing place.
Thanks for these recs. Our favorite for dinner and cocktails this trip was St. Augustine Fish Camp for extremely fresh, well-prepared seafood. I got a broiled platter with sea scallops, shrimp, cod, sauteed summer squash with onion, and butter beans with bacon that was great. My DH had fried cod, jumbo shrimp, slaw, and french fries, and our kiddo had homemade chicken strips and steak fries. All good – especially the fried shrimp. I wish they made their own fries, but quibble. On another visit we had conch fritters (fine, mostly breading), spicy peel-n-eat cocktail shrimp, and a wonderful shrimp ceviche. Bourbon list and cocktails were legit. Cheap bubbly was…cheap.
Our best breakfast was at Les Petits Pleasures – very good French pastries, OK coffee. Our favorite iced coffee and lunch of the trip were at Juniper Market. Coffee ice cubes! Another fun and tasty meal was at a Colombian restaurant called La Cucina Latin Market & Catering. Ka Meli food truck also had good iced coffee. We also returned to Mojo BBQ out of nostalgia for dinner and drinks,.and it was mostly pretty good. St. Augustine distillery was fine for a freebie but the bourbon was…not. The gin and vodka were decent, however. Next door at Ice Plant the cocktails and pimento cheese were good, but most of the menu was expensive.
OK: Gaufres & Goods (bit of a tourist trap, but sometimes convenience rules)
Meh: Georgie’s Diner, Coffee House Realty Cafe
Left without ordering: Columbia Restaurant, Beaches (and almost left Coffee House above…should have)
We were hoping to get to O’Steens (no ATM), Cafe Alcazar (for coffee and cake), Hazel’s Hot Dogs, Paladar, Brazas, and elsewhere but time/circumstances/touring didn’t permit.
7 Likes
Sorry I missed your post but you seem to have separated the wheat from the chaff on your own. Osprey tacos and the brewery next door is a fun dinner, you can bring tacos to the brewery or beer to osprey’s outdoor only seating. O’steens is very good and instead of waiting in the antique shop as someone suggested upthread, it’s a short walk to a British pub. o’steens will call the pub when your table is ready.
There are a couple of other places to try but you done good!
3 Likes
Thank you, this makes me happy. I hate missed opportunity!
1 Like
I actually usually go to the pub but it can be a bit tenuous to get the bill settled and glasses drained so I skipped it as a suggestion for a first timer.
1 Like
My sense is that Osteens understands this and once they call the pub, the table is held. Once we were at the pub, our table was ready but the bartender told the wrong couple. When we didn’t show up, o’steens called the pub again to check on us.
I guess the other thing to add is that they have fantastic fried chicken if you’re willing to wait 20 minutes. We typically split a large order of shrimp and a fried chicken dinner.
liptor for dessert 
are you in st aug a lot? I have a list of places to try from a foodie friend who lives there year round.
2 Likes
Even as a seasoned veteran I wouldnt attempt the pub in busy season (which is just coming to an end)…in the summer it’s a pretty sure bet.
Im in Tampa so I try to slip up every couple of years…its been a few years though!
we rent our condo jan-apr so haven’t been during the busy season. the wait can run well over an hour offseason, can’t imagine the what it’s like busy season.
we’re back in May, if you’re interested, keep an eye on this thread and I’ll post reviews.
3 Likes
We’ll be back in Indian Rocks Beach next year mid-Jan to late Feb so we won’t overlap. We might not be driving anyway, but flying to/from Tampa & renting a car for the month. We’ll need Tampa recs. (looking at you Sunshine 842) as every night in Tampa cant be dinner at Berns.
1 Like
This almost smells like a meetup! I think its Greygarious who lives not very far away…
1 Like
No worries. Start a new topic and/or aend me a PM
1 Like
