Hemingway House Bed and Breakfast — Hotel in Saint Augustine

We have stayed in B&Bs in Bermuda, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Germany and the U.S. and this is one of the most pleasing at which we have stayed. We went here for our 24th anniversary on Valentines Day weekend. We booked directly on the site based on the location and the reviews. Mario and Erica are the hosts.

Location. It's right on Charlotte street. As you know, the main attraction to St. Augustine is the Castillo de San Marcos. When you walk out to Charlotte Street, look to the left - there it is. RIGHT THERE -a four minute walk. St. George's street where there are historic buildings, food places, ice cream and chocolate and shopping, shopping, shopping and is one block away about two minute walk. The new pirate museum (not to be missed for the kids) is about four minutes walk. The beautiful Flagler college is eight minute walk away. The bridge of Lions is 10 minutes walk. It's a perfect location for all of St. Augustine. The Lincolnville Museum (not to be missed either) is a bit of a walk, get a pedal carriage to ride you down there (make sure you get his number to come and get you after the Museum or you can take a Lyft (which are easily obtained). That museum has amazing history of the area you won't believe you already knew. While you are there, you have to do the St. Augustine Distillery. (FREE SAMPLES!) You will need a bicycle carriage after that. LoL. The B&B- First off, it is an old house (1800s) but it is well cared for and insulated.. The front porch was a delight to sit on and have a drink after a day of exploring It's almost like a museum that's well kept up but you can live there. Nice furniture, well lit sitting room/breakfast room. Carpeted stairs (for sound deadening), beautiful, old well-polished wooden floors in our room and the the sitting/breakfast room. Our own room was cozy and immaculate and well appointed. It had the feeling of freshly re-done but Mario said it hadn't. There was another Valentines day balloon and a rose in the room waiting for us. The furniture is perfectly situated.but the A/C is like they have in Bermuda. Up on the wall next to the ceiling (see pic). Very quiet and kept the room nice. It has a remote control that takes a few minutes to figure out, but it worked well. Ours was s a king bed with lovely and smooth sheets. There was a night stand on both sides of the bed. There was a large television which worked but we never watched. There's so much so close, there was no need to turn it on. Bathroom- It was like new. Fully tiled, new toilet (or well kept up) Huge rain-forest shower head (it's like 12 inches wide), HOT water- I think it's got that instant hot water system hooked up because there was no waiting for a good warm shower. Fluffy white, resort plush towels and plenty of them for us both. The soaps, lotions are in a dispenser on the wall of the shower and next to the sink and both were full. Food . A very welcoming breakfast room. Mario and Erica had heart balloons and a place setting of hearts under the glass table top on every table. It's a superb, filling breakfast. Mario and Erica's staff have the coffee ready at 6:00 AM and keep it filled until after breakfast. Mario does the cooking and he's A-MA-ZING. We had fresh juice, half and half, some kind of special pre-breakfast fruit treat which was different every day (it's something French, I forgot) . The breakfast entree was different and delightful each day. Quiche one day, apple spiced pancakes the next and a third french breakfast of ham, eggs on a delicate bread (again French cooking- don't know the name). The other guests were all very interesting folks who were quite pleasant with which to converse. When you get in at night, there's complimentary wine. My spouse does and she spoke highly of the red wine provided. There is an ice maker for making your own drinks too.

It was such a wonderful B&B and it just made being a tourist feel like you were staying with family. It was a perfect vacation place provided by Mario and Erica who are apparent experts in hospitality because we sure...

Let me start by saying I RARELY leave a negative review. But this place really left a bad taste in my mouth on my wedding anniversary. I’m only giving it 2 stars because the location is literally the best part and a 5/5.

But the B&B itself is not worth the price at all as far as room quality and breakfast. You’re basically paying for the close and convenient location to St George street. We paid almost $300 for 1 night and it was beyond underwhelming. I wish we would have looked for more reviews outside of google and we would have booked a different inn.

First, they called 2 hours before check in to see when we would arrive. The day before this my Hubby called and paid extra for champagne and strawberries to be set up in the room upon arrival for our anniversary. When we arrived, they weren't set up so after waiting 15+ minutes, my husband had to ruin the surprise and tell me that it was supposed to be in the room prior to our arrival. The door to the balcony was extremely hard to get open and closed, and they don't advertise that it's a balcony overlooking the literal parking lot in the back with construction being done on the stairs so you can’t even use them to come and go. Somebody was in our parking space when we arrived and luckily they let us park in someone else's assigned spot but if there was nowhere to park then we would be responsible for finding overnight parking elsewhere.. Not to mention they cram every little car possible into the small complimentary space they have so our car was hit upon someone leaving their space and we now have a big red scratch down the side of our white vehicle.

The breakfast had us in shock and quite frankly pretty annoyed and upset. They advertise on their website this amazing breakfast, gourmet style food but then we were literally served 1 single piece of avocado toast, 3 pieces of cantaloupe and 1/2 a portion of scrambled eggs.. we thought maybe it was just a starter course and so we asked the man who brought it out and he told us no that was it. We couldn’t believe it. We were still hungry after being served a literal toddler sized portion of food that we went somewhere else and got breakfast afterwards. Should've just stayed at a hotel, even they have better breakfast than this $250+/night "bed and breakfast". Even the couple sitting next to us was disappointed in their meal and the price point for their stay. They were just as shocked as us. We won't be staying again and we will...

Overall, we enjoyed our stay at Hemingway House however, a couple of things fell short as a Bed & Breakfast, at least to our expectations. The staff was friendly and accommodating. Our check-in was at 2pm and we arrived just about that time. Mario was waiting in the driveway either by coincidence or planned which was a stress relief considering the parking. He helped us maneuver our truck to unload and then guided me to the parking area and assisted us in checking in. Breakfast was excellent which included fresh Juice, and Coffee. Some people may fine the portions small but they were perfect for us. We were very disappointed that no coffee was available until 8:00-8:30 am. They have a nice dining area to easily set up coffee station with a Keurig Machine for us early risers. There is a Starbucks down the street in the Hilton that opens up at 6am that we had to purchase $10 coffees each morning. The pictures on the site didn't reflect our room at all and we forgot to take our own pictures. We liked the King Size Bed and the room was clean however, room is small and no dresser or chair could fit in the room. So basically our room consisted of a bed and TV. We kept everything in our suitcases. Bathroom was spacious and the shower water always hot. Room service was prompt every morning, just put the "clean my room sign" on your door when you leave. Our room didn't have direct access to balcony so we had to exit our room to enjoy. There is a Bar across the street called the Backyard or something similar that is very loud on Friday and Sat night up until about midnight/1:00. Limited parking available on site, we had a truck and needed to park a short walk down the street. We heard other guest mention they had to park in a parking garage. Unfortunately, someone dinged my truck in the parking lot, and coffee splashed all over my hood and windshield but that obviously of no fault to...