Cap's On the Water — Restaurant in Saint Augustine

UPDATE: CAPS HAS RETURNED TRUFFLE FRIES TO THE MENU, THE FOOD AND SERVICE WERE BACK TO 5 STARS, AND THE ATMOSPHERE WAS PERFECT. I am writing an updated review for Caps on the Water. Leaving the previous review for comparison. Previously, we gave Cap's a 1 star because we had a very disappointing experience in February. As stated below, we decided to go there for dinner again last night. We had out of town company and crossed our fingers on the way over. Here's what won our 5 star review: We were seated outside, not in the dreary indoor dining area. We had a lovely view of the water and some shade. Couldn't ask for better. Our server was excellent, and when we ordered the calamari appetizer, he recommended getting the spicy sweet Asian chili sauce on the side rather than on the calamari as the kitchen prepares it. His recommendation was a game changer. Previously the calamari were so heavily coated in chili sauce it was overpowering and made the calamari gummy. This way, the calamari were light and crisp, and could just be dipped in the sauce for a perfect bite. The oysters Rockefeller were execellent, as were the raw local oysters. We had intended to focus on seafood, but one of the specials was Steak Oscar, so we all ordered it. The steak was perfectly cooked to order and topped with a huge delicious crab cake. Asparagus is a traditional element for Steak Oscar, but we were given a choice of any two sides. I chose the asparagus, which was perfectly cooked - not mushy or undercooked - and for the other side, I chose the truffle fries. The truffle fries were SOOOOOO GOOD! One minor ding - the Béarnaise sauce was a tad bland and weirdly sweet: needs more lemon and tarragon. Portions were generous, so we had plenty to bring home for leftovers. I was so happy Caps has restored the excellent quality we were used to, and in my humble opinion, Caps has redeemed themselves. Highly recommend.

PREVIOUS REVIEW: Last time we ate at Caps we sat inside which was a mistake. We usually sit outside which is wonderful, but inside looks a really bad do-it-yourself bumbling attempt at redecorating. Our server was very nice. The food; however, was mediocre at best: No more truffle fries on the menu. These used to be delicious. What happened? I was very disappointed. PLEASE BRING BACK THE TRUFFLE FRIES IF YOU ARE READING THIS REVIEW. Hubby ordered the Vanilla Grouper and his was the best dinner in our group. I ordered the Fried Shrimp which were about the quality you'd expect at Denny's, or maybe not that good. And they were served with 8 (yes EIGHT) heavy hushpuppies. Who eats eight heavy hushpuppies? Two hushpuppies and some French fries would have made more sense. I would have ordered the Truffle Fries for an up-charge if they were available, but I wasn't given any options. Just Greasy shrimp and eight hushpuppies. Although the service was great, I gave a 1 star rating because the inside dining room was awful, and only one person in our group liked the food. Lord help me, we are going back again tonight. We will certainly sit outside, see how it goes, and post an...

I am more than aware of the irony of my name in posting this, but I had to.

Cap's on the Water is clearly a destination spot. It has gorgeous ambiance, great front of house staff, and that's where things go downhill from there.

Our server, Chris (yes I remembered your name!) was a bit underwhelming when it came to giving us recommendations, everything was "okay" but nothing stood out. Alright, that was the first red flag. Again, not his fault, he doesn't make the food.

I was told that the special was steak frites. Having seen DUTCH FRIES on the menu, I was initially very excited to try it. I am dutch. If you tell me you have dutch fries, I am going to try them.

The plate that was set down in front of me for the price of $55 was... strange? There was a giant pile of fried onions on the side of it, a paper bag of frozen french fries that had been tossed in a paper bag for looks, and my steak, which was a perfect kidney bean shape.

Steak frites is a simple dish. Steak. Fries. Nothing major.

The steak was cooked well. A perfect medium rare. But it had NO seasoning on it. Not a lick of salt. Just a pellet of compound butter.

The fries had NO seasoning. None. No salt. Nothing. They were lukewarm. The pile of fried onions was sad and soggy.

For. Fifty. Five. Dollars.

Where was the mayo? The traditional mayo that is a must for any true Dutch or Belgium fries? Nothing.

No, I was handed... Heinz Mayo packets.

For... again... a fifty five dollar dish.

The fries? Frozen fries. Not house made. I asked if they were the same fries served as their appetizer dutch fries. Our server said yes. I would have walked out had I ordered them and received those sad excuses for potatoes. I heard one of the owners was dutch. Sir, don't pretend to serve dutch fries, you dishonor the entire country by doing such. Go home, eat the real thing, bring it here. That was not dutch fries nor should it ever be labeled such.

Yes, I did ask for salt.

Yes, I did tell our waiter.

No, the restaurant did nothing.

It's such a travesty. The cocktails? Fantastic, except for the fly in my second drink. But the taste was great.

Were we comped anything? Nope.

Now, my partner had the fried shrimp, hush puppies, and coleslaw and it was fantastic. Perfect local shrimp fried up well.

Served with pre-made cocktail sauce and tartar sauce in plastic cups.

Cap's on the Water either needs to dress down what they have, or dress it up, but they're having such an identity crisis. You pull up and must valet, which is high end. The service and front of house is very white table cloth.

But the food? I would have paid $30 for steak frites. In fact, if you want French Laundry quality steak frites at Bouchon Bistro in Yountville, they're HALF the price that this travesty was. And you get actual french fries...

I was so excited to try Caps after lots of recommendations. I have to say it was a total letdown. We arrived early due to them not taking reservations, which was a great idea because when we got there by 5:15 there was no wait for a Saturday. Upon dropping our car off at valet, we approached the hostess stand where there were five girls behind the hostess stand, no one greeted us or acknowledged us for several moments. I had been told that not only the food was outstanding here, but the service as well. NOT MY EXPERIENCE! Our waitress, whose name was Leah, we only learned this by looking and seeing her name on our check at the end of the meal, as she never introduced herself. In fact, she walked up to our table, and her first words out of her mouth were “what can I get you to drink?” Not, What brings you in today, is your first time here?? As we heard from numerous servers around us. My boyfriend excused himself from the table to let her know that I was celebrating my birthday that evening. It was my actual birthday that day. She very curtly responded to him and let him know that they didn’t do anything for birthdays. Which is fine but not once did she ever wish me a happy birthday during our meal nor at the end of it after paying. Ok now food: I started with She crab soup and we also got the beef tips. Both were good. I have had better she crab soup in the keys. This one was a little heavy on the Sherry. Beef tips were fine, tender but, nothing special. We had asked our server if there were any recommendations or if they were famous for anything. Her response was “we’re famous for a lot of things” OK great! 🙄 She really needs to work on having a personality and having a better presentation. My boyfriend and I are both in the service industry and we’re blown away by her lack of hospitality. I opted for the shrimp sauté and my boyfriend got to the crusted catch of the day. I will say that his dish was really good even though the skin was left on the fish which he is not a fan of it was overall very tasty. I did not like the shrimp sautee. It was a very strong seafood flavor. I know that sounds weird because it is a shrimp dish. I understand that but, it was not a light seafood flavor. It was very pungent. I probably ate two bites of it , she boxed it up and asked me if I liked it. Obviously I didn’t because I didn’t eat But two bites. I let her know It was not my cuppa tea. She did not even offer to take it off the tab. We opted for dessert because I hadn’t ate hardly anything. The banana pudding was really good and I had an espresso martini which was also good unfortunately that was probably the highlight of the meal for me. Needless to say, I was very disappointed in my choice for celebrating my birthday. I would...