The Boathouse St. Augustine — Restaurant in Saint Augustine

I reserved a table way in advance for 2 for a birthday for last night for my wife and I. We've lived and eaten everywhere in St. Aug for decades but this spot and decided to try it.

The reservation was clearly noted as a BDay and it wasn't even acknowledged by any of the staff from the hostess that had no personality to the waiter that was very polite but way too busy to serve us - and not with customers, with kitchen work, it appeared. Not even saying happy birthday was new to us. I knew right away that training was lacking at the highest levels and what they have working there are NOT professional service people. They're kids. That was the first thing that really didn't impress whatsoever. The staff and atmosphere are too dumbed down for the price of the food. That is a serios disconnect and they are all way too busy doing other work to care for the guest. Not at all attentive. It was like eating really well prepared meals at a nicer place while commanding big ticket prices with a bar staff and open space indoor seating - loud as can be with few guests and piped in music from the band outside that played until 9pm. It was music you need to be drinking to appreciate, I suppose. Not our style at all.

The place is trying to have it both ways, lazy and laid back and formal and elegant cuisine. No. It doesn't work. The place is definitely nice and there is a lot of potential there, and the outdoor patio is large and spacious. But the place was empty when we arrived at 8:30pm and we couldn't set a reservation a month or so in advance for a 7pm sunset outdoor seating because it wasn't available. Huh? That place was not busy to that extent and it made the dinner that much later and less special. Huge negative.

The food tasted good. The chef who made the recipes is spot on for the items we ate but portions are anemic. We ordered two iced teas, perfectly freshly made and tasted as such. We went with a calamari and the seasoning and crisp was outstanding, as was the freshness. The marinara was boring though, and not nearly enough for the portion. You'd need three times what they served to suffice. Everything is served in real bowls and plates except with plastic souffle cups as sauce containers. Again, trying to be folksy and cheaply cutting corners when a 3oz ceramic ramekin would have worked perfectly. Again, trying to accommodate two different vibes isn't working. Either make the bar less of a hangout for underdressed locals and raise the standards to match the prices, or lower the prices and build a local folksy clientele not really into the fine dining thing that wears sandals and drinks a lot. Fine. But choose.

For dinner, this is where it got disjointed. The dinner took 1.25hrs to arrive to the table. In that time, we saw our waiter three times in total. Once for the drink and app order, to deliver the drinks and app together which took a long while and take the food order. He didn't have any other tables. Then he evaporated to do work in the kitchen, they were cleaning all around us as if we weren't eating and talking. There were four tables in total in the dining room, none outside by this point and about 20ppl in the bar. Hardly full but unable to accept earlier reservations? The wait time for the food was due to employees not doing their main jobs which is customer service. It's not even a question that the staff was too busy closing to handle a guest. Disheartening.

The food arrived just as I was ready to pay for the calamari and teas and leave to eat McDonalds by this point. We were starving by 945pm. I ordered a pork chop and my wife a pasta. They were tasty but very expensive for what you receive. The pork chop was tiny, there was too much sauce on the plate and far too little meat and potatoes. This dish was drenched in sauces spread all over the plate to make it appear bigger. It's not. I would not recommend adding any sauces to the dish in favor putting them all on the side and being totally underwhelmed by the portion at that price. The pasta was the same issue. We...

It had been several years since we had dined at what was then the Creekside winery. We went back for the first time in many years tonight. It was a very bad experience. First of all, the menu is a little schizophrenic. It is part Louisiana Part Asian and part may be southern Ish. Many if not most of the entrées for sushi and sashimi dishes, which I did not expect. In my mind, the atmosphere for such a restaurant is quiet, understated, table cloths, and napkins, minimalist, decor, and very clean. This was none of that the piped in country music was very loud, which is fine with me. It appears to be a dog friendly restaurant, which is also OK with me. But, the dogs were friendly to each other. It could be because they have a restaurant cat. The cat went around, begging from each table. It was sort of cute, but not when the cat tangled with the dogs. I asked for fried catfish, with an oyster on the half shell starter. . The cat went around, begging from each table. It was sort of cute, but not when the cat tangled with the dogs. I asked for fried catfish, with a oyster on the half shell starter. About five minutes after the order the kit about five minutes after I placed my order, the server came out and said that they didn’t have any catfish, but their grouper tasted just like catfish. I said that would surprise me. So I canceled my appetizer of oysters and ordered a dinner of fried oysters. My husband just ordered the large Caesar salad. I ordered one side, which was a delicious bowl of perfect collard greens. It came with a horseradish cup of coleslaw. Once the server had brought us our entrées, we never saw him again. I had a Mojito, which I suspect was made with a mix, and water my husband had iced tea. We never got asked if we wanted a refill. They never took away the dirty plates or even the menus. Before he presented us with our check, he asked us. How was the dinner? I told him the oysters were too small to be served as a dinner entrée, and they tasted exactly like bread.. He apologized, but didn’t offer to send a manager or the chef. I will say that all the servers were literally running to keep up with the crowd. I gave the rest of my oy The cat. He wasn’t sure about them, but finally, he did eat them also the tartar sauce. The place was packed. And I can’t understand why my husband salad with no protein was $18. The other dishes were similarly priced way on the high side. The portions were unremarkable. I suspect there’s somebody who knows what they’re doing in the kitchen because the collard greens were excellent and, the cat Like the oysters. We had bread pudding for dessert, which was plentiful and OK. But even as we were finishing our dessert, all of the plates and menus were still stacked up on the other side of the table.. We under tipped, not necessarily reflecting the below average entrées, but, because we had one Paper, napkins, each, no beverage refills, and it was impossible to fly somebody down to get another napkin because they were running to keep up with the other customers. We might go back, but it could be...

I really really really wanted this to be good ...but it wasn't. Hopefully it's because it's so new but the old vibe of the Oyster house just isn't there...yet. it's going to take a lot of work though. To say for the price we were underwhelmed is an understatement. We started off with the fish dip and steamed oysters. The presentation on the fish dip was great but the taste was a disappointment to say the least. I had to add salt pepper and a ton of crystals hot sauce (uggghhh) to get anything out of it worth salvaging. A little garlic and maybe a slice of lemon might have helped. But c'mon man, it's St. Augustine...how about some datil sauce? At least!

The "Gulf" oysters tasted like fresh water pearl oysters....totally devoid of any taste of the ocean. The cocktail sauce was bland....and the drawn butter was more like butter flavored canola oil.

My wife opted for the house salad and crab stew. The crab stew was more like white gravy with just a hint of the promised "fully loaded lump crab". Way too thick and she literally dumped the rest of the crystals hot sauce (uggghhh) in it to make it palatable.

I ordered the fried Mahi with cole slaw and truffle fries. The mahi was the glimmer of hope of meal redemption. The breading was light and well seasoned. The mahi was moist and tender. Very tasty till I bit into what I can only describe as a possible battered slice of vertebrae. Bummer. There went the light.

The truffle fries literally tasted like McDonald's fries without the salt and without the truffle taste or herb seasoning you would expect. And the slaw.....the slaw....served unceremoniously in a plastic to go container. Basically 1/3 of a cup of tasteless mayo, no celery seed, vinegar or anything just drowning the cabbage in the 1/4 cup plastic container. Hardly what you would think of for a $26.99 dish.

I'll chalk up the 2 star rating on the service to the fact our waiter was over burdened with tables even though it really wasn't that busy. He didn't even ask if we enjoyed the meal when we asked for the check... I think he already knew.

I do hope they can turn it around. It's a great location and we have many fond memories of past meals under both previous Ownerships. But the Southern seafood/Sushi bar fusion just felt weird out on the marsh under...