St. Augustine Report

Went to St. Augustine for a couple of days last week- here's a short food report:

Had dinner at A1A Brewery. Sat on the balcony with a nice view of the water. The calimari appetizer was underfried for my dh's tastes, but he raved about his main dish, seafood paella. My chicken dish was pretty good too. Excellent root beer.

Had breakfast at Old City House Inn & Restaurant (next to Casa Monica). My stuffed French Toast was wonderful; my dh's belgian waffle was cold and had an odd grainy texture.

Had lunch at Milltop Pub (I think?) in St. George area. Avoid anything that is supposed to be fried since they don't have a deep frier; sorry, a hot oven just isn't the same. Otherwise, the food was okay but nothing great.

Had second dinner at Outback Crab Shack. Not affiliated with the steakhouse chain, this was a real find. A bunch of picnic tables on a deck, a mediocre singer crooning Jimmy Buffet tunes, and truly outstanding food. Amazing crab legs, chicken, and burgers. This is about 15 minutes outside of St. Augustine proper; website is below.

Link: http://www.gbronline.com/schneider/ou...

[hidetherum]

Gypsy Cab Company is pretty good. The Columbia is supposed to be good, long lines usually. A1A is decent, chain (Gordon Biersch) - Ragtime is much better up A1A in neptune beach about an hour.

I am sorry...but I live in St Augustine...the Outback Crab Shack is a huge rip-off...bet you paid good money for your food...we have been there only 3 times hopeing things would be better..still spent 70.00 for food food for 2 people.....there are so many better resturants there.....truly look some more..this place is very overrated.

Hi Paula,

This was by far the best meal we had in St. Augustine- sorry your experiences were so different from mine! Guess we'll have to agree to disagree. =)

-Candice

The Outback Crabshack is a devine, fish camp dive. This is the perfect time of year to visit....clear mild days in the Spring or Fall sitting around a large table with friends dining on HUGE platters of steamed shellfish & veggies served family style, a bucket of beer, the tune of "Margaritaville" in the air. IMHO, the key to enjoying this place is picking a nice clear day in the mid 70's and bringing a fun group of friends to dig into a pile of food elbows deep. Sitting on the porch is a MUST! It is very casual...picnic table seating, rolls of paper towels serve as napkins, condiments are passed out in beer six-pack containers, beer bottles served over ice in tin buckets.

I understand the place had some sort of facelift in the mid 90's, even installed air conditioning.

With a table of four or five, two shellfish platters with a few sides such as coldslaw, chowder or fries would make a filling lunch. Platters seemed to be around $20.00 each. Have not looked at the rest of the menu in years.

So, if you live in St. Augustine, can you give us some hints as to the better places? I'm going down next week and I'm looking for lowdown but good. Thanks.