Seafood Kitchen of St. Augustine — Restaurant in Florida

Would have to give them a 3.5 out of 5 stars.

We were on vacation from South Carolina, looking for a great "hole in the wall" seafood place to eat at. Most of the time, the little family run hole in the wall places are the best. Read a few reviews of different places and found this place to be one of the best reviewed. Plus, it was on the way back to our condo after going into St. Augustine shopping that day.

We arrived with a family of 7 and were sat down as soon as we walked in. We got there at 6pm so it was not crowded at all yet. As soon as we sat down, the waitress, who was great by the way, took our drink and appetizer order. I ordered the Gator Bites and they came out very fast. The Gator bites were VERY Delicious. So, 1 star for that. The sweat tea was very bland, and being from SC, I love my sweat tea. Need to take .5 Stars from that.

I ordered the Seafood platter, all fried. My wife ordered the Shrimp and Oysters (Fried), our 2 kids ordered the Kids Shrimp, Mother-In-Law ordered the Gator Bites as an Entree, and Sister-in-Law ordered the Steak and Shrimp to share with my niece.

I'll start with the cons of the meal. -I knew it would take awhile for our order to come out, since most of our stuff was fried, one ordered a steak and their were 7 of us. But, we had 5 other tables that came in after us that received their food (some ordered the platters as well) before us. It ended up taking a little longer than I expected to get the food. The waitress was a little upset about it, but it was not her fault. -My sister-in-law found a hair, fried into her shrimp, and the response she received was, we get that a lot. -Lipstick on one of the plastic glasses -gnat in the drink

Now the pros: my food was delicious. The fried shrimp was amazing, some of the best I had. Sister-In-Laws steak was good Gator bites, like I said, were delicious Wife loved her Fried Oysters and Shrimp The kids portions were good.

Ok place to eat, just need to pick up the pace on the orders and when someone has hair in their food, the manager/owner needs to come out to speak to the customers. No one ever came out to...

Five of us ate a late “lunch” here, all of us ordering dinners. If you’re looking to eat great, classic Florida seafood meals (and chicken and pork, too) with the options of fried, grilled, blackened, etc., and a large array of salads, soups, great southern sides (coleslaw, collards, broccoli salad, spicy baked beans, sweet potatoes, fries, etc. etc.) and more, look no further. We had fried oysters, fried shrimp, blackened shrimp, swordfish, and blackened chicken, plus hush puppies, collards, coleslaw, broccoli salad, fries, and a lot of ice tea. Everything, no joke, was excellent! Everything! Really! All the seafood was exceptionally fresh, perfectly cooked, lightly battered and fried, or flavorfully blackened or grilled, and the sides were all great and the real deal. The coleslaw was homemade, not too sweet, with fresh cut cabbage, the collards were deliciously slow cooked with a touch of spice and bacon, the hush puppies were fresh and perfectly deep fried etc. etc. Even just a straight/plain baked sweet potato was done right with a great sweet potato. Also, the portions are full and the prices reasonable, and the service was great. This place puts to shame other restaurants in the area offering similar fare. This was the best food I’ve eaten in any restaurant in FL, regardless of price, food type, or level of supposed quality/pedigree, over numerous trips and years, and it was all offered without pretension. Thank you...

Really expected a good experience at a well reviewed local seafood place. My Google reviews are most often good, but this experience was the worse ever.

Yes, it was a Friday evening, but wait time for table was not that long. We chose to order take out as we had a nice beachfront home nearby and other food was desired by family.

Placed order for two popular appointments and advised would be ready in about 20-25 minutes. I offered to pay first as we left shortly for food nearby. Returned after 28 minutes and asked for order. Told it was just getting made and would be ready shortly. Questioned the time delay but got no answer.

Stood by for 10 minutes, watching several other to-go orders arrive and leave with food.

Finally asked for manager to question delay and explain I had offered to pay first, thinking that may explain delay.

Was met with the most arrogant and inconsiderate response and attitude from the make manager. Given excuses that "it was busy" and there were "others here before" me and "they were working as fast as they can go"

No apology or explanation as to why I was told 25 minutes if in fact it was gonna be so much longer. This prompted even more argumentative responses, to which I requested and received a full refund for my order.

My suggestion is find another place locally to enjoy some seafood.....and for management/owner to evaluate the staff attitudes...