O'Steen's Restaurant — Restaurant in Saint Augustine

I've lived in St. Augustine 16 years and this is my first experience at O'steens!

Upon arrival we registered at the window outside for a spot to eat. We thought the wait would be much longer given the amount of people waiting patiently along the bench outside but soon we understood that many of them were waiting on to-go orders. It did not take long for us to be seated.

O'steens closes at 8:30pm and we arrived just in time for the hour to be 8pm. We peeked inside through the window at the cozy, close-quarters kind of dining room. This place must be popular and the patrons all seem like they could be regulars, I thought. It looked like the servers and staff were beginning to wind down their evening.

We noticed a lot of fried selections on the menu and I'm sure they've got all their dishes down to a science! I ordered a cup of their Minorcan clam chowder, their broiled deviled crab-cake patties with pickled beets and fried okra as my sides. The hush puppies that came barked at me to butter them! I even got fancy with the datil pepper sauce that called to me from the bottle on the table. The tartar sauce paired with my crab-cake was perfect!

Every bit of my food was so, so satisfying. My companion ordered the broiled sea scallops with black beans and green beans.

Our meals hit the spot so much that we decided to order ice cream to finish. When we learned the ice cream were just little cups of ice cream with no chocolate sauce option, we swung for pie instead! We are so glad we did. The Coconut Cream pie--woo! I am not usually inclined to pie but I thoroughly enjoyed the flakey crust they use. Hearty coconut shavings on top of the whipped cream... It was everything I needed after such a good dinner! My companion ordered the banana cream pie and it was a winner as well.

I really enjoyed our experience and the good eats! Thanks so much to our server Kathy. She helped me pick the right entreé by answering my question about it with her perspective on its taste, and if it wasn't for her guidance I might not have ordinarily given pie a try tonight. We are happy guests and we know now where to go to have happy bellies just like this again.

Note: Make sure you are prepared to pay cash as O'steens does not accept credit or debit cards. This did not affect my experience overall. I happily made use of the ATM conveniently located outside their back door before we got settled into our quaint little...

The reason for my low rating is that the wait times are horrendous! My family and I were originally told that wait time was 35 minutes. We had to wait an hour a twenty five minutes before we were seated. If you have a party of 5 or more, I don’t recommend dining here unless you are prepared to wait an hour plus! The restaurant is small, and this place is wildly popular, because the food is good, but they seriously need to make this place bigger!

It’s not right to have your patrons wait hours on end to get a meal to eat! We spent the day touring St Augustine, and decided to go to Osteens for dinner. I had my 4 hungry kids with me. They were hot, hungry and crying because we had to wait so long. Each time I asked how much longer was the wait, they told me 10-15 minutes. I had to feed my kids goldfish because it was taking so long and they we were all so hungry.

There are covered seating areas in the back of the restaurant. And during our long time waiting there outside we noticed that to go orders were going faster. So if you don’t want to wait for hours, I recommend calling in your order, and then eating out back at the table. Also, it is cash only. They do have an atm on the premises. The parking is very limited and tight, it’s right beside the restaurant and the wait area, so if you have little kids be sure they stay near you because vehicles are parking and driving through very close by. Our server was fast and attentive, but I had lost my appetite from waiting so long and trying to keep my kids calm. I hope this helps other families so that you don’t have to experience the disappointment and headaches that we went...

This place is so good that you can score 1000 bonus points with your mother-in-law if you bring here by 10:30 AM and sit her down early on the long bench up-front. If she likes shrimp even in the slightest then she will be AMAZED at how fresh and tender the fried shrimp are here. Do this first of the vacation because you both may be wanting to go back one more time before you leave town. Everyone who has tried this place already knows the reviews don't even measure up to how great the HOMEADE SEAFOOD FOOD IS! We always get the fried shrimp...well, I get a double. This time I was [ALSO] desiring a good-charred steak! (I had been told that it was very good last year when we came and I did not forget since then!) Hey, its vacation so I ordered both...NY Strip and Large Shrimp Plate. By the way, the steak comes with FRIED ONION RINGS! I think it's the only way to get Rings is to order Steak...Well let me tell you...That Steak was the best steak I have had in a while and it far out beat more expensive places in town....I will share with you what the rest of our party had: Shrimp, Shrimp, Shrimp, and Shrimp. We ALL loved it. It was my Moms first time and she was on that bench at 10:30 AM! We love this place. We love the kindness here. We love the food here! We can't wait to come...