Costa Brava

Breakfast was delicious! We ordered the ham and cheddar omelette and the fruit and yogurt. Can’t wait to come back

*This is a review of their Valentine’s Day Dinner* – The reason I state this is because I have never been here before so my account on their food, service, and ambiance may be different due to the holiday.
Our dinner cost $ 230 and we enjoyed our $ 6 empanadas from the Spanish Bakery on St. George St. wayyyy more than this salty and overpriced 5-​course pseudo-​meal. Upon being seated, there was a rose laying on the table in no particular presentation… which is supposed to set the mood (??) I almost thought someone left it behind. We were seated at a table with lots of traffic from the staff yet we received no attention except for when our dishes were brought out. Our waitress didn’t spend any time informing us about the entrée choices and flat out asked «when» we wanted our champagne. Here’s a suggestion: bring it out with the rose and it will feel more like a Valentine’s dinner! Another way to set the mood is maybe have your wait staff wear something more appropriate for a $ 230 dinner than a black t-​shirt. Even the Cheesecake Factory has a uniform consisting of a pressed shirt and tie.
First course was a cheese plate and the portions were smaller than the samples handed out at Whole Foods. Blue cheese, some jam, a tiny teaspoon of honeycomb, and a couple of slices of tasteless serrano ham. I make better cheese plates when I’m at home watching Netflix.
For the appetizer, I had the clams and my boyfriend had the shrimp. The clams came with mashed celery root that was room temperature/​cold and I felt like I was eating baby food. I can see the potential but the serving size was again, tiny.
We both chose the «charred tomato soup» over a salad and the soup was just lukewarm tomatoes thrown in a blender. No charred taste. The tiny grilled cheese sandwich wedge it came with was good though… even though it was only two bites worth.
For the entrée, my boyfriend ordered the beef short ribs with gnocci and I got the sea bass. My sea bass was flaky and tender, very good. However, the portion was smaller than my palm! Did they only have ONE sea bass to split amongst all the orders that night? Also, the artichokes, olives, and sundried tomatoes it came with were ridiculously salty plus they emptied a jar of capers on top of it. The beef short ribs were tender but very fatty with hardly any real pieces of meat and the gnocci was mushy like when you mix flour with water to make a paste. This dish was better than the sea bass overall but it was served at room temperature.
We were so disappointed with the dinner, quality of the service, and ambiance that we took our dessert to go. Only after asking for the check did our waitress say «Oh yea, did you want that champagne?» On top of that, when she handed us the check she felt compelled to say «BTW, gratuity is included». She was too busy seeing $$$ that she could care less how our night went! We know waiters have a tough job and would have gladly tipped more if it was worth it.
I would have given 1 star but I understand special occasions can be overwhelming at any restaurant. Plus, the bar that shares the same space isn’t bad! We had two cocktails before our dinner and they were strong! The staff there is very friendly and checks up on you. The quality of the drinks were great and the lounge was a good intimate place to hang out while waiting for our reservation.

Was there twice (October?), once when the young female side-​bartender was very, very, good… and once when the older female server was definitely not there FOR YOU. Live music was OK. Décor, cold, cold, cold. Maybe that’s the fad, but this is MY review, so there!!! Food/​drink prices help pay for the music… so, don’t mind when there is live music, … otherwise … forget it. One star because consistency is necessary, and experience does not make a server. She may have been around the world, … but never around the block. If you go and like the service enough, find out their schedule… It pays for you and them… Added plus is that some of the paintings are quite good.

Everything was PERFECT!
My fiancée and I decided two days before the end of the year that we wanted to get married on New Years Eve. It was an insane 48 hours of calling family, booking a chapel, finding a dress and all that goes with a wedding. I called Costa Brava the day before the wedding to see if they could accommodate a party of 20 for lunch. I expected us to be in the main dining area but was fine with that because… it was a 1 day notice. We had an intimate wedding across the street at the Lightner Museum and then walked over for lunch.
EVERYTHING WAS PERFECT! They had us in a private room with these cool Mediterranean chandeliers. The service was FANTASTIC! The food was DELICIOUS! Everyone ordered of the lunch menu and raved about how great their food way. It could not have gone better if I had actually planned it! I can’t wait to visit again.

Uggggly and overrated! Their horrid Christmas buffet was $ 175.00 for two persons in one of the worst dining rooms I have sat in since I left Moscow. The service is dreadful and the décor is frightening. The walls are hung with some of the worst hotel art (sic) in the USA. The lobby is just as bad and the rooms are way under par. Never again.

Disappointing this time. I’ve come here periodically for at least 10 years and I had always enjoyed myself in the past. I have some great memories from here: the best waiter I’ve ever experienced, that Bananas Foster, and some fine holiday buffets over the last few years (including that wonderful antipasti one year). But they seem to be heading in the wrong direction. Even compared to Thanksgiving dinner a month before this wasn’t impressive: there just wasn’t as much food, it wasn’t as busy (I actually enjoyed the crowd at Thanksgiving), and the quality wasn’t that good.
The first plate I picked up here wasn’t cleaned well. The bread for the cheeses was hard. They didn’t have any favorites from past buffets, with the exception of crab cakes with remoulade sauce (I like sweet remoulade sauce). Some things I liked at the Thanksgiving buffet a month before that weren’t here this time: bread pudding, petit fours, and smoked salmon. Plus the turkey with accompaniments wasn’t as good as at Thanksgiving (e.g. no cranberry sauce). Some of the food was good of course and the Champagne/​Mimosas were unlimited.
But at $ 69 I don’t know that that’s enough to make me want to do the Casa Monica’s holiday buffets any more.

We recently dined here for a business related meeting. The waiter seemed bothered by our desire to eat and order wine for a table of 6. I ordered the salmon, a featured dish cooked in parchment paper. The fish was raw when served, after several attempts to get the servers attention, my dish was returned to the kitchen. I was surprised when the same plate was returned from the kitchen still under cooked. It appears that the re-​heating in the microwave was not adequate. I asked for it to be removed from the bill. The server did not ask if I wanted a different dish, nor did a manager inquire about it. First and last time for me.

Pretentious is probably the best description. A long wait for meals to be ready and nothing from the food. No taste. And still expensive. Will not come back. At the opposite, the bar area looks nice with good music and a better ambiance.

First time in this newly formatted restaurant in the Casa Monica Hotel. The red upholstered chairs and crisp starched tablecloths and napkins are no more. Was not happy with the new look. The white vinyl chairs, and silver leatherette booths took away from the warmth and elegance of the Henry Flagler past. The designer missed the mark. The décor had an IHOP feel. It was so beautiful before. What happened Mr Kessler?
Your employees still provide good service.
The food and drinks are still good. I enjoyed the salmon dish cooked in parchment paper, and the Lamb
Pita dish was enjoyed by my gentleman also. The martini was good, and the blood orange marguerite,
with sugar along the edge was enjoyed, but that orange slice on the edge was not a blood orange.
The lobby area also suffered the same fate as the restaurant. I would suggest put it back the way it was. Before it all went together beautifully. The original designer seeing it again would be writhing in pain.
The new look is tacky.
This Autograph Hotel is still my favorite in the Ancient
City, but please preserve it. I will be back.

Came in for romantic anniversary dinner with my wife. Main course lamb and beef was good. But the overall experience wasn’t.
Seems like restaurant is trying to position themselves an «Upscale» mark, but:
1. Made reservations in advance and asked the hostess to sit us at the most romantic table (restaurant was ¹⁄₃ full at the moment). She leads us to and sits us under the table with THE BRIGHTEST projector light in the whole restaurant… Romantic = intimate, cozy atmosphere with DEEMED lights. She doesn’t seem to understand it. Or just doesn’t care…
2. … so we ordered and got our drinks, then later still feeling uncomfortable under the bright lights, asked our waiter to move us to another table. «Go right ahead» — said he and left. We grabbed our drinks, menus, utensils etc… and moved it all by ourselves in a most romantic way possible to another table.
3. Menu items lacking details (for example fried calamari came covered in some sweet sauce which gives unusual taste to it. Original description states: «KESSLER CALAMARI Tomatoes, Kalamata, Green Olives, Asiago, Cilantro 14» — nothing about sweet sauce. Our waiter was puzzled as well).
So as you see, all components must work in harmony — that’s why it is called «a dining EXPERIENCE». We had a bad EXPERIENCE and highly unlikely that we will ever be back to this place.

This restaurant is located in the Casa Monica. Beautifully decorated interior, even better service. We had breakfast here and I have to say for such a simple meal, it was delicious and the perfect fuel to start out day. Service was only attentive and friendly.

Fancy, great, server was great person, food excellent deserve to pay every penny. They make you feeel like its your home

The food was very good. Subtle flavors. Nothing was overdone. The ambiance was surprisingly relaxed for a place with such grand furnishings, high ceilings, Moroccan architecture and decorative touches. Hip soundtrack. Good service. I had the salmon Provençal and my husband had scallops. We started with shrimp ajillo. Finished with key lime pie.

New chef. New format. This place had gotten tired. They’ve redecorated and redesigned the menu. And it’s really, really fine! I live in town and occasionally go for a drink and appetizers in the hotel bar. They have great bar snacks (the three color hummus and the «fish bites» are my faves!) and a really pleasant atmosphere. it’s back on my list!

My boyfriend and I visited St. Augustine for our anniversary and we wanted to do a nice dinner. We decided on 95 Cordova after walking around the city and seeing how beautiful the Casa Monica hotel was (the restaurant is in the hotel). We ended up making a reservation for 8pm at about 5:30 and they had no trouble fitting us in. The interior of the restaurant had beautiful details– the mosaic artwork covering the walls especially stood out. Once we were seated we were told that they had just released their new tapas style menu a couple of days before. The new concept was called Costa Brava. The drink menu had some unique offerings– I opted for one of the champagne cocktails that had muddled raspberry and it was refreshing! For an appetizer we got the hummus which came with three flavors, and all 3 were delicious and tasted freshly made. For dinner I ordered the local shrimp ajillo and the small portion of the seared red snapper. I was expecting the shrimp to have a little more flavor based on the spices included on the menu, but they still tasted extremely fresh and were cooked to perfection. The snapper dish was my favorite. The fish itself was incredibly flavorful and also came with a caper relish that was unique and paired well with the fish. It also came with a side of couscous which I also enjoyed. My boyfriend had the skirt steak and he said it was flavorful and filling. The server was fairly attentive throughout our meal.
We enjoyed our experience very much and would likely return to this restaurant to try some of their other dishes should we find ourselves in St. Augustine again.

Beautiful room and gorgeous hotel. I only Wish the Staff and restaurant was better. Attempted to have dessert and drinks at the bar. The bartender flirted with servers and ignored us. The food took a very long to come out and our drinks set empty. The pool was closed to a very loud wedding. All together not a good experience. We will not be coming back.

The service was fantastic and the lobster bisque was very tasty… that being said I was not overly impressed with the meal. I had the pork chop and for the price not all that. I think if you charge those kind of prices your should produce that kind of meal. Will not go back —
I was staying at the hotel and really liked it, loved the service but again the food was just MEH.

My wife and I went to 95 Cordova a long time back for dinner once. I remember I enjoyed it. Maybe not a five star experience, but definitely had a pleasant time. This past weekend, we had the opportunity to stay at Casa Monica for friends’ wedding. The day after the wedding, the newly wed couple invited us to their Sunday brunch. So I have to preface my review with that I do not know how much the brunch was. But boy it was a great brunch.
The restaurant was as beautiful as I remember it. Very nicely decorated and the private back area is great for a large party. We got seated and the server came to take our drink orders — Coffee and mimosa. Done and done. Then we went to the buffet room. Yes, a buffet room. It was a spacious room with huge selections of hot dishes, cold dishes, everything from waffles to cheese plates, to prime ribs, to snow crab legs… from your traditional eggs, sausage, and bacon classic breakfast combo to pork chops, bread pudding and lasagna.
We had a great time stuffing ourselves and chatting about the wedding while our very friendly and attentive server kept our coffee mugs and mimosa glasses full. I can’t imagine the brunch is cheap, but It was a great selection, friendly service, beautiful restaurant with great atmosphere.

95 Cordova @ Casa Monica, Saint Augustine
Booked 95 Cordova for my husbands birthday. I love casa Monica! It’s elegant and perfect!!!
There were 6 of us for dinner; we were seated promptly at a very elegant table fit for a king! However, our server was not on point.
Her delivery lacked the finesse of the place. The food was superb, tasty, perfectly cooked. The drinks were awesome and the deserts were amazing!
I think that for the amount of money paid (over $ 300) better service was needed.
Would we go back? Yes! Give the place a second and last chance!
Picture: Duck two ways!

Just before we photographed a wedding, a very tasty dish caught my attention: Duck and Spinach salad with goat cheese and raspberries. So we decided to take a risk and sit down. The waiter took more than 5 minutes to come and say hello (which got me nervous and annoyed).
After drilling him with a few questions, we had our decision. Dinner comes with some really good roasted garlic bread rolls. So we got a side of french fries, since the soup wasn’t finished yet :(. And of course, the duck and spinach salad. It came out pretty fast, and the duck tasted like bacon (yum!) and I still to this day don’t really care for fruit in my salad (raspberries in this case). The fries were a little plain and needed a dipping sauce or more seasoning.
Overall, I thought the salad would be bigger. The sides are larger than I expected though, and the food is really good.