Vernon's First Coast Kitchen & Bar — Restaurant in Florida

I chose Vernons based on the reviews I have read, many of which seem to be on the plus side. Our party of 8 is a monthly dinner group and the reviews were sort of mixed. We began with drinks at the bar and during happy hour drinks with hosue brands are actually a good value. I ordered a drink with Tito's and my wife ordered a prosecco. Was surprised the bill was $23 before tip! Others in the party ordered happy hour branda and paid around $10 for two drinks. The bar, at least during the time we were there, was understaffed and it took forever to get our orders in as the bartender was managing a table of 10 women along with another 10 at the bar. so service was rathger slow and he was not very attentive. Around 6:15pm he did get help and service picked up.

The ambiance is quite nice. Comfortable seating a wonderful view by the windows which overlook a small lake and waterfalls. It was also amazingly quiet as the restaurant was not full. Maybe because our group eats earlier than most. Reservations were at 6:00PM and we left the bar aat about 6:25PM.

Most of the group enjoyed their meals. The filet, while a bit on the small side, (could they spare it?), was flavorful. Although if you're going to serve steak a 1/2 mile down the road from Ruth's Chris, you should at least be competitive on portion size. the Grouper (Tender and flakey) was enjoyed by two folks however a third thought it was overcooked and dry, there was more rice than anything else & the whole dish was rather bland. The special was a pan seared flounder and that person said the portion was actually too large to finish but the dish was quite tasty. Two of us had the frutti de Mare which include scallops, prawn and lobster. I have to say the seafood was had excellent flavor albeit bordered on slightly under-cooked. The seafood rested on a bed of bucatini in a cream sauce which was tasty but a bit too thick and heavy. The wait staff was friendly, knowledgeable and attentive. Withe a party of 8, the service charges were included in the bill and they happily provided separate bills for each couple.

In the end, Vernon's is worthy of a second chance. Mt three star rating may be hard on Vernon's but I tend to be a low star grader unless a place is...

I am a local to Ponte Vedra Beach. We have attended brunches in various places like Valley smoke the Palm Valley Fish Camp, The Seahorse over at PonteVedra and inn & Club Horsay over in downtown Jacksonville among others. My point in this preface is to set the tone that I have no issue with paying for high end dining. Furthermore if I am going to eat out, I prefer a more Foodie Chef based restaurant so my bill tends to land on a higher spectrum. For a brunch of this dor I would expect to not pay any more than $18-$25 this is not the Breakers! And if they would’ve been true to form of what is stated on their website which is $23 for an all American buffet style breakfast; Then I wouldn’t even be writing this review right now. That being said we were seated by the hostess shortly after greeted by our server who asked us if we had ever been there before and as she proceeded to explain the breakdown I could barely hear myself think let alone the words that are coming out of her mouth because of the musician blasting music to the height of what you would experience at a club. I am not in my 20s anymore I don’t enjoy obscenely loud music and I like to enjoy the company that I am with and be able to hold a comfortable conversation without feeling that I am yelling. From my understanding because I read and researched the restaurant prior to attending when she described the breakdown of the $15 additional for unlimited mimosas it would’ve been correct in regards to the extent of the charge on my card but we were with our daughter and not drinking so I said no to the mimosas and expected to get a $23 charge for my husband and I. I gave her my card at the end as my daughter was a bit fussy and also very much annoyed with the obscenely loud music that my husband and her went for a walk prior to us wrapping up breakfast. So it wasn’t until I had paid and concluded my brunch that I noticed an $85 bill for pancakes omelettes and bacon. So for anyone who does their due diligence and researches pricing and style of restaurant prior to attending buyers beware the pricing that is stated online is incorrect! Expect to get over charge for a...

Felt like I was in a Delta lounge. Our server poured coffee once and never saw her again. I had 5 plates piles with other garbage. The server gave us a discount because of this but I still felt obligated to tip. I left 20% tip, I really should have left 0%. Was pretty sad. There is obviously no team work. Any one of the servers that were working other tables could have jumped in….serious guys, I was an F&B manager for years, none of my team would work like this.

My fried eggs from the buffet were asked for over easy but steamed on one side , browned bad on the other.

Kids using hands on the buffet, gross. There was a hard boiled egg on the buffet that appeared to have had a bite taken out and placed back on the buffet. A server was told but we are not sure they understood.

Others ordered off the menu, but when they got their food, it looked exactly like the buffet food.

The quality of food was not there. Just typical lounge food. The service was absolutely not there. This is one of the reasons I usually eat...