The Club Continental

This place awful!
The staff is horrible.
The maintenance teams are questionable.
The tenants are rude.
This place is ran all the way down.
Beware of going to this place for any purpose.

I have attended two events here and stayed at the B&B twice. If you are going to be there late into the night for en event, and you were part of the group to help set up for the event, staying there is definitely the way to go because of the discount. Otherwise, it will be steep but I don’t necessarily think it’s a good value.
The location along the river with the historic buildings and open courtyard is really scenic. The indoor space is a little tight depending on number of people and room/​buffet set up. The staff are friendly.
Parking is pretty decent, although the dirt/​unpaved lot is a little treacherous at night.

What a great place! We had the opportunity to attend a family wedding and WOW, what a setting. Right on the Saint Johns River. This location was the perfect setting for Garrett & Meg’s wedding celebration. Great food, great service and we had a blast.

It is a delight to have a real ‘dining’ experience but the food does not justify the prices.
Food is basically middle of the road although the eggplant fries are superb. $ 7.50 for espresso is really high and the coffee itself is awful.
A beautiful spot but the food needs some finesse. Overly cooked items swimming in sauce ! UGH

A nice intimate venue for a wedding. The club is off the St John River, there are large oak trees which acts as a canopy over the wedding processional and guest. The rooms inside are well decorated and had a good overall atmosphere. The staff coordinated the hor d’oeuvres, main course, cake and champagne toast to perfection. I had a great time and if my daughter or son decide to get married this is a venue I would consider.

We booked this venue as a «full club» rental for our wedding and it was absolutely wonderful! Being on the water made for an incredible backdrop for photos, and the venue as a whole is just oozing with old world charm and elegance. The staff is delightful and went above and beyond what any other venues offered in terms of personal service and communication. They were very accommodating on the day of our event and helped tremendously with setup and coordination. All of our guests were impressed with the overall presentation, the ambiance, and with the quality of food and beverages served.
The night before the wedding, I stayed in the Continental Suite inside of the main club and it was definitely the best room in the house! The bathroom was HUGE with a deep spa like tub and a roomy multi-​head shower. It also had a rooftop balcony overlooking the river and courtyard below.
The only disadvantage of choosing this venue, from our experience, was that it also functions as an exclusive dining club and hotel, so this limited some access and availability during the pre-​wedding planning. That being said, they still do a pretty good job of maintaining balance as a popular event hub as well as a hotel and as a dining club for their regular members.
I would definitely recommend this venue to any couple looking for an exquisite location that offers a fantastic experience for the wedding party and guests alike!

Great place. Spacious rooms, well appointed, very quiet, beautiful grounds, buildings and view. I will definitely stay here again when in the area.

My husband and I recently had our wedding here, and we were absolutely blown away! The venue itself is gorgeous, and has such a wealth of charm. Our guests were absolutely delighted by the aesthetics of the place, and so were we! From the fish and turtles in the coy pond, to the beautiful detail in the guest rooms, to the grand view from the courtyard, this place is stunning. Also, the food was fabulous! We had guests with many different dietary requirements, and were able to accommodate everyone with meals they were more than pleased to eat. On top of all that, the staff was phenomenal. Carla and her team were highly professional, and everyone we encountered was super friendly and helpful. If I could do it all again, I definitely would :)

When I found out that my friend was having his wedding reception at Club Continental, I was very excited and hoping that I would be able to get a room. I am very glad that I did end up staying here as it was truly a one of a kind experience.
Nestled on the St. John’s River, this place has real charm! As for the room, it was beautiful and very spacious, with a dock out to the river. I went to a few other rooms on the property as I had several friends that were also attending the wedding. I thought it was neat that all of the rooms were unique and different.
As for the reception venue — WOW! This place has true old Florida charm. The wedding was outside on the water under a beautiful oak tree. The reception was inside the beautiful ball room. The food was pretty fantastic too!
As someone that is currently planning a wedding in another city, I know how hard it is to find a wedding venue with character and charm. This place is truly a diamond in the rough. I suggest that if you ever get the chance to stay at Club Continental — jump at the opportunity!

I stayed 2 nights. This is a very pretty place. They almost lost me. My room was in the main house and there was a water issue. Breakfast french toast was not good.
But I told them about my concerns and they bent over backwards to fix. HUGE positive. Not enough for 5 stars but I found the place welcoming. Dinner was great. Very good martini. The flavors were unexpected but I liked it.
Water issue was fixed. FREE wifi.
What could they do better: robes, feather pillows, light those gorgeous fireplaces, keep the staff. they are your biggest sales feature.

You should know that we came here to see the Northwestern Wildcats break the NCAA’s longest bowl losing streak (9 in a row, before this Gator Bowl, we last won a bowl game when Truman was President) by defeating a good but unlucky Mississippi State Bulldogs team. I might have given an alley dumpster five stars I’m so elated. But I think that honestly, this place does deserve the five stars, though it might not be for everybody.
The reviews here on Unilocal are more consistently high, as compared to the reviews on TripAdvisor or Travelocity, I think because Unilocalers on the whole are a little more likely to appreciate the unique, the unusual, as opposed to the general traveling public, but it could also just be random variation. This place was a very pleasant surprise after reading the mixed reviews found elsewhere. First off, the rates weren’t very high, given the Gator Bowl/​New Year’s Eve dates, in fact, the rates were quite off-​season, very affordable. This place has rich history and character, the grounds are gorgeous, I’m so glad I brought my Kindle because this is the place to read some F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Some of the unfair reviews I read online, warned that the place was «old and needs renovation,» but we’re not talking about a motel built in the 1990s that needs new carpeting, this is a genteel, century-​old mansion, built by members of the the Johnson (Palmolive barons) family before the ’20’s started roaring (and yet, the soap products in the bathroom are Unilever products I believe). Yes, our bathtub needs a new porcelain glaze, and some painting needs doing on the walls, but we’re not talking about a modern, anonymous chain hotel. In fact, this really isn’t a hotel, but rather a big, roomy, historic bed and breakfast, without the potpourri, and with better service. We arrived late New Year’s Eve, hungry. The Club was busy with a members’ New Year’s Eve Party (very competent cover band, champagne in the 1950s style glasses, guests in tuxes and party dresses), and although we had no reservations, and were dressed in our Big Ten colors, they served us an elegant three course dinner.
Don’t be like us, the bar and restaurant isn’t always open, call ahead of arrival to find out. The service all around is excellent, the on-​site management is so much better than the scripted, artificial and often idiotic impersonal customer service at the major hotels. Complimentary breakfast is more than just continental, they will cook up some eggs for you if you ask, but it starts and ends early (7 – 9). The view of the river on one side, the courtyard on the other is just phenomenal. This charming location turned out to be the perfect base for local golf, make sure you bring your bags.
There are nice tennis courts here, but I don’t play so I can’t rate them. I’ll bet the place is even more fun in-​season, they have a quaint outdoor pool, lots of shady trees on the grounds. Every room is different, we stayed in the «Italian,» one of the cheaper rooms, but so big and comfortable, I want to try one of the better rooms. It’s not a hotel, so stop at the Target on Roosevelt (US17) on your way in from the airport for all those terrorist liquids you won’t have coming from the airport, like hair conditioner, body lotion, champagne (Go ‘Cats!). It is an old place, you might want to bring a travel powerstrip, the Chief of Staff and I had more stuff to charge up than our room had outlets. Free Wi-​fi was pretty quick and dependable.
I highly recommend this place for a romantic getaway, visitors like us coming for the Gator Bowl, golf, or even business. It’s a perfect venue for a special occasion like a wedding or other special party. It’s too charming for just an overnight, plan to stay here a few nights.

When my brother got married, this was the place he and his soon-​to-​be bride chose to hold the wedding and reception. Located on the St. John River, the Club Continental is a private club that also serves as a bed and breakfast as well as a special events facility.
Some quick background on it; built in 1923, this sprawling estate served as the winter home of Caleb Johnson, who apparently was the heir to the Palmolive Soap Empire (never thought of soap as having its own empire). The property seems to have changed hands in the late 1930’s to another family, which I believe is where it still stays to a greater or lesser degree. In 1966 the family decided to make it a private club. Since that time it’s expanded in various forms (adding tennis courts, buying the properties surrounding it, constructing and renovating buildings) to what it is today.
Now I didn’t have a chance to check out any of the rooms, or the tennis courts, or the pool. But I did have the chance to check out the grounds and the main club house. Driving onto the place, it had a real Old Spanish feel to it. I’m not exactly sure what that means to be honest. The property is full of those large trees with the hanging branches — Spanish Moss I believe it’s called. Ahh, Spanish Moss/​Spanish feel. Now I got it.
Anyway, the place was gorgeous. It certainly possessed a sense of the romantic. The buildings are beautiful. The entrance of the club is preceded by a neat little enclosed garden featuring a couple of fountains, a number of stone benches, and a little pond with the obligatory koi. Behind the club is a concrete outcropping that looks over a lush lawn, which itself is looking over the river. The little concrete area is where the actual wedding ceremony took place.
The inside of the club is very well-​kept. The interior is full of pictures that tell the story of the club’s history in vivid imagery. The layout is a bit odd though. When you first come in (from the main entrance) you find yourself in a small hall. Turn right and you’re in the dance room. Take a couple of steps forward and you find yourself in a small foyer with a bar. On the left is a small serving area, which we actually used as a kids area. This is connected to a larger dining room area that runs parallel to the foyer that served as the buffet.
As you move forward from this dining room you find yourself in a small… anteroom, for lack of a better word. This is where the head table was located, which was an odd choice given that only two other tables fit in this area. This little room did look onto the dance room where the DJ and dance floor was located. And next to the both this anteroom and dance room was a larger bar area, which also served as a dining room, and incidentally was where the majority of the guests were seated for dinner. Unfortunately the view to this room was completely obstructed from where we sat at the head table.
The staff was phenomenal. They had an on-​site event planner that made everything run smoothly. Plus the serving staff (cook-​to-​order-​chef, waiters/​waitresses, bartenders) made sure we were all taken care of. After the ceremony the wedding party was dying of thirst and famished. When we made our way to the area where we were taking pictures, there were waitresses waiting for us with trays of water and food. Much appreciated.
The only real downside was the food. I was not impressed in the least. At best, the selections were very bland and at worst, some dishes were difficult to stomach. The food just wasn’t very good. Of course when my brother asked, I told him it was wonderful (I don’t want to ruin his special day). But when he told me how much he had spent, I was shocked. Not worth the price at all. Incidentally the four bucks I spent on a double cheeseburger, order of fries and a sweet tea when I hit the McDonald’s drive-​thru on the way back to the hotel… heaven. The food is the sole reason why this place does not earn the five-​star review.
The Club Continental was a wonderful place for a wedding and reception. My family and I had a great time and it created a lot of good memories for us all. I think you’ll love it too.
Mahalo, and enjoy.

We want to come back! We want to come back and hug all the people who made our much needed mini vacation so amazing. We spent 4 days and 3 nights here, breakfast was superb, the restaurant here you must try it, and the wedding area outside near the Winterbourne is where we want to have a wedding reception one day with all of our family and friends gathered around. We’ll get enough money to do it one day! St. Augustine is about 1 hour away from here, but we almost didn’t want to leave our hotel suite. We were enjoying the 2-​person jacuzzi waaay too much! We took pictures here and it seemed very haunted, lots of orbs in the photos. Little Jon Massey is said to still be haunting the place, River Suite 103. We stayed above in River Suite 203. Unfortunately, we didn’t check in until late Sunday so we missed the Brunch but I overheard that the brunch is also wonderful. Club Continental, you have stolen my heart, with your pools, your charms and old world mystique. Even the tennis court looked like something Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin would’ve enjoyed a game or two on. Also lovely was the old Spanish Moss hanging from the canopy of every old tree. The next time we go back we are looking forward to enjoying the new furniture in the room, the old stock was being replaced on the day we left! Thanks most to Harry who made us feel so welcome from beginning to end.

We stayed at this B&B for a wedding this past weekend and it was fabulous! The Jacksonville area doesn’t have many nice places to stay but this place was great. The entire place is very nicely kept and clean. The rate was also extremely reasonable and cheaper then some of the surrounding area hotels. It is very homey with large rooms. We stayed in the River Suites so the view was beautiful. The staff were friendly and very accommodating. Amazing service! :)

Lovely!
I drove up and was shocked that I was staying in such a gorgeous building for my business trip. The staff was friendly and the building was just amazing. My room was a small room (which I asked for) and the bed and the furniture was all antique and lovely.
I was in the main house so I don’t know about the other buildings — but this one did not have an elevator which loses one star in my book because I’m a small woman traveling alone and it was very hard to get all of my stuff down those stairs at 5am when I had to leave to catch my flight.
I even ate dinner in the restaurant and have no complaints. The view is amazing, the staff friendly and prompt and the food just melted in my mouth!
Well worth a look for a romantic getaway if you’re in the area — a bit of a waste for a business trip :(

This place is amazing, I cant tell you how much I am paying for a room because I am getting a corporate rate. but I can tell you this, it is not expensive. first of all my general contractors wife found this place while we were on a job site. I said sure I take a room, she said brace yourself it is retro. well I pulled up and yep it is old but very well kept. large rooms with spectacular views of the Saint John river. (see the awesome photos) good breakfast in the morning and off to work I go. plus if you stay here you get to go to the private club right next door.