A gluten-free bakery on San Marco Avenue whose baked goods are organic, dairy-free and naturally sweetened, with coffee, wellness lattes and toast alongside. Every purchase sends a donation to organizations fighting hunger in the city, and seating is a few tables, so plan on taking it with you.
St. Augustine's oldest Irish pub by its own count, open since 1992 in an 1878 family home by the Old City Gate. Owner Kelli Meacham spent 16 years as a county deputy before buying it, the porch is where the regulars people-watch, and it goes 21 and over after 7 p.m.
Go early. It turns into a late-night spot later in the evening.
Argentine live-fire cooking from husband and wife Nick and Christie Carrera, on the San Sebastian River where the shrimp boats dock, MICHELIN Recommended in 2026. This is the original room; a second Asado Life has since opened in Jacksonville.
A self-serve tap house and sports bar just south of the City Gate on St. George Street. Its Instagram bio says 13 TVs to watch your fav teams, and recent posts promote college football game days.
BellyUp! St. Augustine / Over 50
Over 50 St. Augustine
Nobody publishes the noise level, and it is the thing that decides the night.
Good places to eat and drink in St. Augustine, minus the nightclubs. When a spot gets loud later or draws a lot of kids, the card tells you.
32 spots
St. Augustine's oldest Irish pub by its own count, open since 1992 in an 1878 family home by the Old City Gate. Owner Kelli Meacham spent 16 years as a county deputy before buying it, the porch is where the regulars people-watch, and it goes 21 and over after 7 p.m.
Go early. It turns into a late-night spot later in the evening.
Argentine live-fire cooking from husband and wife Nick and Christie Carrera, on the San Sebastian River where the shrimp boats dock, MICHELIN Recommended in 2026. This is the original room; a second Asado Life has since opened in Jacksonville.
Named for Catherine Usina, whose oyster roast for Henry Flagler's party in 1900 started a family tradition on the Tolomato River. The Usinas opened Aunt Kate's under the live oaks in 2009, boaters can tie up at the floating dock, and the steamed oysters and pilau are the family recipes.
Live music some nights. Go before the band starts if you want to talk.
The only restaurant directly on the ocean in St. Augustine Beach by its own account, where A Street meets the sand, dating to 1965. Kids get tables at the foot of the restaurant's own dune and well-behaved dogs are welcome, both straight from its homepage.
A broken-down convenience store rebuilt around 2001 into a breakfast spot and a music room that books national touring acts and comedians. Weekend breakfast buffet, dogs welcome on the patio, and in its own words: tourists for brunch, hipsters for the music, retirees for the pork barbecue.
This is a music venue. It is loud when a show is on.
On the Tolomato River with a 100-foot dock for visiting boats, a big sunset deck, a tiki bar, an oyster bar and a wine list of more than 500 bottles. No standard reservations, just a live waitlist and free valet, and pet dogs stay home: service animals only, per its own site.
A Second Spanish Period family home, restored and opened as Casa Maya in 2015, now known for octopus, ceviche and seafood paella. The patio has its own stage with live music three or four nights a week, and the restaurant says up front that the upstairs group room has no elevator.
Live music some nights. Go before the band starts if you want to talk.
An outdoor amphitheater under what the park calls the city's second oldest live oak, just off the busiest block of St. George Street, with seating for more than 250. Shows are free unless noted and open to all ages, usually 7 to 10 p.m., and it is a Sing Out Loud Festival stage in September.
This is a music venue. It is loud when a show is on.
A 1920 building at the Vilano Bridge roundabout with a Mediterranean kitchen that grows its own herbs and buys from local farms and fish markets. The Flamingo Room has live piano seven nights a week, and the courtyard does al fresco among tropical plants and fountains.
Live music some nights. Go before the band starts if you want to talk.
A family barbecue truck parked for good at Marina Munch, the food truck park at English Landing Marina, smoking with rubs from family recipes. It can sell out, so Visit St. Augustine's advice is to show up early.
Old Florida home cooking on St. George Street for more than 35 years: gator tail, fried green tomatoes, shrimp and grits. The name honors the original Cracker cowboys, and the garden patio welcomes dogs, which the cafe says on its own site instead of leaving you to guess.
Comfort food and shrub-based cocktails on Aviles Street, the narrow cobblestone lane it calls the oldest street in the USA, in the space that used to be Cellar 6. It adds an optional surcharge that funds health, dental and vision insurance, maternity leave and paid time off for its staff, and it says so on its own site.
A fast casual boater stop inside Cat's Paw Marina on the San Sebastian River, from the same family as The BoatHouse up the road. Half-pound baskets of local shrimp, grouper and mahi, and a place its own site pitches to kids and parents alike.
A French bistro that opened in February 2024 in the Jefferson House on Bridge Street, the Victorian that used to hold Preserved. Chef Michael Lugo brought in Matthieu Landillon from Marseille, and you choose between the dining room, the wraparound porch and the garden patio. Walk-ins are usually seated.
Three rooms in one building a block south of the fort: the Irish pub, Johnny's Oyster Bar upstairs with a deck over Matanzas Bay, and the Backyard's island bar. The house belonged to William Diskmuits, first president of First Florida National Bank, and the music runs daily.
Go early. It turns into a late-night spot later in the evening.
An 1880s gristmill that became a bar in the 1950s, with live music every day and a treehouse-style room upstairs whose balcony hangs over St. George Street. The 2016 renovation turned up a forgotten water well and a two-foot gopher tortoise shell, and the 300-year-old pecky cypress went back on the walls.
This is a music venue. It is loud when a show is on.
The St. Augustine member of the Jacksonville-area Mojo family, in the Old City since 2012, smoking across regional styles from Kansas City burnt ends to Carolina vinegar pork. Dogs are welcome on both patios, where the staff keeps water bowls ready, and plan on city parking because the lot is for staff.
A Hawaiian-style food truck on Anastasia Island since 2002, cutting fish fresh every morning and packing it in biodegradable sugarcane boxes. After Hurricane Matthew knocked out the island's power, Nalu's opened for two weeks on donations and became a base for fresh water and supplies.
Family-owned for 16 years: owner Adamo and his two sons cook from recipes handed down through the family and greet the tables themselves. It sits on Aviles Street, the brick pedestrian lane of galleries, and the room fills fast enough that Visit St. Augustine suggests arriving early on weekends.
A house with a longer resume than most of the city: Don Miguel Ysnardy built it around 1790, it served as one of St. Augustine's first hotels, and in 1961 it was moved to this spot on the bayfront. The O.C. White family has run it since 1992, with a garden patio, a balcony for the sunset over the bay, and live music in the evenings.
Live music some nights. Go before the band starts if you want to talk.
A boat-in crab shack on Six Mile Creek off the St. Johns River, first opened in 1984, wrecked by Hurricanes Matthew and Irma and rebuilt with the building raised and a dock for up to 100 boats. Reopened under new ownership in 2024, from the family behind The BoatHouse and Grouper Shack.
A craft beer and grilled cheese arcade bar just over the Bridge of Lions, with more than 35 machines from pinball to skee-ball, all on quarters, and a patio with bonfires when it cools off. Family friendly until 8 p.m., 18 and over until 10, then 21 and over, and there are no french fries, which it is not sorry about.
This is a music venue. It is loud when a show is on.
The MacDonald family sailed from England on their own yacht in 1979, found this Victorian house on San Marco Avenue in 1980, and opened the Raintree in 1981. The founders' daughter and grandson still run it: dine in the Victorian rooms or the courtyard with its gazebos and koi fountain, and leave room for the dessert bar.
A flower-filled courtyard and upstairs bay views make Saint a tempting Italian dinner spot. Explore the menu and seating choices, then book the table you want.
A fish camp built to feel turn-of-the-century, on the Intracoastal marsh at the end of Dondanville Road, serving gator tail, frog legs and open pit barbecue. Its website now returns a 404 and listings mention new owners, so everything here comes from Visit St. Augustine and needs confirming before you go.
A barbecue cafe inside the Fountain of Youth parking lot, serving BBQ, wraps and subs with beer, wine and ice cream. Its own site tells the story of European roasting meeting Indigenous smoking, which is a fair amount of history for a lunch stop.
A cigar bar and listening room on the cobblestone stretch of Charlotte Street, locally owned for more than 23 years, with live music daily, hundreds of craft beers and a fire pit outside. Buy a draft before 7 p.m. and a hand-rolled cigar comes with it.
This is a music venue. It is loud when a show is on.
Two bartenders turned a former Phillips 66 station into a Key West style beach restaurant in 1990. The upstairs deck is open air, with fans in summer and heaters in winter, the chowder is a Great Chowder Debate regular, and the bar pours St. Augustine Distillery spirits.
The old Creekside Dinery on Gonzales Creek, reopened by Nathan Stuart and Margo Klar and now The BoatHouse, with a deck of about 4,500 square feet over the marsh, a fire pit and weekend music. Sushi and a raw bar next to the fried seafood, and weekend brunch with bottomless mimosas.
Live music some nights. Go before the band starts if you want to talk.
The Ponce family has run this spot on Salt Run since 1946, when the old Coast Guard gunnery station became a four-room hotel. Eat on the deck under a palm or in grass huts built over the water, walk-up only, with a 200-slip marina and live music on the Lounge Deck.
Live music some nights. Go before the band starts if you want to talk.
One of the few true oceanfront dining rooms left in Northeast Florida, built by the Usina family on land they held for generations and run by that family since 2002. Tablecloths without the stiffness, Florida-grown beef, and a brunch that comes with a glass of champagne.
The martini bar of the Casablanca Inn, spilling out onto the front verandah over Matanzas Bay. Its own site says there is no live music right now, while Visit St. Augustine still lists Friday jazz, which is exactly the kind of mismatch this site exists to measure.
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