Michael's St. Augustine — Restaurant in Florida

Summery: My wife and I visited Michael's for our 3rd wedding anniversary. This restaurant offers a delightful dining experience with excellent service, delicious food, and a decent atmosphere, depending on where your table is located. It is a bit pricey, but the food seemed to mostly worth it. Here's a detailed breakdown of my visit:

Food: ★★★★☆ (4.5 Stars) Service: ★★★★★ (5 Stars) Atmosphere: ★★★☆☆ (3.5 Stars)

Pro Tips: Parking: Make sure you have the St. Augustine parking app and your license plate number handy for easier parking. Finding a spot can be tough.

Anniversary Perk: If you're celebrating an anniversary (probably birthday as well), let your server know for a complimentary dessert.

Service: Our server, Maggie, was fantastic. She was friendly, attentive, and even chatted with us a bit, making us feel right at home. She also helped us move to a more comfortable table when one became available, which was great since our original table was a bit cramped, and we sat next to the side door.

Food Order: Appetizers: Cheese Board and Spanish Mushrooms Entrées: 22oz Bone-in Ribeye with Mushroom Crust and Picana Wagyu Steak Dessert: Banana Pudding Beverage: Cappuccino

Food Quality: The steaks were cooked perfectly, with juicy, tender, and flavorful meat. The ribeye was especially outstanding—one of the best I've had in a long time. My wife enjoyed her Picana Wagyu steak, but she thought it could have used a bit more flavor. Maybe if you're a fan of meat's natural flavor, you'll probably love it, but for those who like a bit more taste, it is bland and lacking in the flavor department.

The mushroom crust wasn’t exactly a crust but rather a tasty mushroom in a sauce on top of the steak—still delicious, just different from what you might expect.

The cheese board was tasty although pricey. It would have been nice to have more bread / crackers to go with all the cheese, as only a couple of the cheeses had something to put them on. Which meant the rest we end up eating straight cheese on a fork.

For dessert, the banana pudding was a unique twist—more like a cheesecake than traditional bread pudding—and it was a hit. The cappuccino rounded out the meal perfectly.

Atmosphere: The main dining area has a classy vibe, but we sat in the back room, which wasn't quite as nice. Our first table was a two top table by a door that wouldn't close properly, letting in the hot, muggy air. It was a bit annoying to have to keep closing it for every person who came through, but Maggie quickly moved us to a better spot across from us as we needed the extra room for what we ordered anyway.

Parking: Parking is a bit of a challenge in the public lot behind the restaurant. We got lucky with a spot opening up, but be prepared for a walk if needed. This is pretty standard for St. Augustine.

Overall, this restaurant provides a great dining experience with tasty food and top-notch service. While it is a bit pricey, it's well worth it for a special occasion as long as you don't sit by the door in...

A HUGE let down.

My boyfriend (who recently returned from his culinary training at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris) and I ate here this past weekend to celebrate our anniversary. Our entire experience was nothing short of a disappointment.

We chose Michael’s because he is looking for restaurants to apply to when he returns from his final training at Le Cordon Bleu in January. Safe to say Michael’s is off the list.

We were seated promptly per our 6:30 reservation and then proceeded to wait 20 minutes for our server to visit our table. The hostess noticed we hadn’t been waited on and went to grab her. Our waitress was very nice however we are young (under 21) and she (along with other staff) did not treat us like equal adults.

We ordered the beet salad and cast iron shrimp appetizers. The dishes were okay but certainly nothing spectacular and showed a lack of creativity and attention to detail.

We ordered the ribeye with chimichurri and brandy peppercorn sauces, the grilled broccolini, and whipped potatoes to share as our main. Simple dishes, but it’s never a bad idea to judge a restaurant based on how they execute the simple, straightforward (maybe even boring) dishes. We specified a medium rare steak but were served a VERY rare steak — my boyfriend commented that even in Paris they would call it very rare and that’s saying something. When we flagged down our waitress to let her know our steak was under cooked, she proceeded to attempt to explain the difference between rare, medium rare, medium, etc. However, being that one of us has full culinary training it was very obvious she didn’t have a clear understanding of what she was trying to explain, or rather convince us of. As people who have worked in the service industry, the first thing you learn is that the customer is “always right” and the back and forth of attempting to persuade us our rare steak was medium rare, was highly unprofessional. We were also told that they are supposed to have the customer check the steak's temperature (by cutting into it) upon its arrival at the table, which they did not ask us to do.

By the time we finished discussing our dissatisfaction with the steak our sides were cold. Not to mention the grilled broccolini with herb gremolata tasted very bland — like broccoli tossed in oil. The whipped potatoes with garlic herb butter were also bland, very grainy and tasted old. Both dishes I (girlfriend with very basic cooking abilities) could have made at home. The sauces had very little flavor and were not well prepared — the chimichurri was basic and had very large chunks of parsley in it. The peppercorn sauce was extremely over salted and had very little pepper.

The food was uninspiring and did not have the Puerto Rican twist we were told by our waitress to expect. Not what we were expecting from a restaurant this expensive.

We opted out of dessert as the $160 spent on bad service and mediocre food was more...

My wife and I had dinner at Michael's for our anniversary and what a meal it was! I can't say enough for the food, the service, and the ambiance. Beautiful interior with comfortable "sofa" seating. Our server, Oliver, was extremely attentive and informative making our first visit welcoming and providing us with the necessary information to make the best menu choices. Located Downtown, you do need to find parking and walk over to the restaurant through the wonderful streets of St. Augustine.

The Red Pomegranate Sangria was incredibly delicious and complex, perfectly balanced, and quite strong. We learned the sangria is made from whatever bottles of wine have been opened previously for several days and may contain some of their pricier selections. If you love wine, this is the place for you. The wine list is quite extensive. Beers are only in bottles or cans, but they offer a wide variety of local selections. Frankly, I'd suggest the Sangria.

They offer a "Date Night Experience" for only $200 (for two) which includes three appetizers, an amazing tomahawk marinade aged ribeye, and one dessert. Because it was our anniversary, they actually gave us two desserts.

The appetizers were the bread, the shrimp, and the camembert. All were incredibly flavorful and delicious. But the tomahawk...what exceptional flavor and tenderness, and the meat on the bone so satisfying to tear off with your teeth! Propriety be damned, I got my face dirty on this one and do not care. Huge portion that we were able to take at least half home for additional meals. Comes with a bowl of vegetables including a superb layered scalloped potato piece that was crunchy on the outside and tender within. For additional we chose the mushroom "crust" which was a cacophony of large mushrooms smothering the meat and making for an exciting accompaniment.

We took the desserts home and ate them later, a Dark Chocolate Tort and Tres Leches both decadent and delicious.

From the presentation of the food, the table cleanups by whoever happened to walk by and see the need while our server took care of another table, water refills, and general friendliness, the experience was definitely elevated all around. I don't think we'll wait until our next anniversary before we return for another go at that delightful menu!

Pro Tips:

There is an outside garden seating area that is first come first serve. We ate inside but it looked very nice if you enjoy outside dining.

Let them know if you have any special dietary needs and they will bend over backwards to accommodate!

The owner is opening two more restaurants, another downtown and seafood restaurant at a hotel by Vilano Beach! Can't wait to try...