Columbia Restaurant - Saint Augustine

Columbia Restaurant is really good! I wouldn’t say it’s the best restaurant in St. Augustine, but I’ve been coming here every time I come to this city ever since I was a kid, and it’s essentially become tradition. Columbia Restaurant is BUSY (even on weekdays) so BE SURE to make a reservation. If you try to walk in, be prepared to wait up to 40 minutes on weekdays and even longer on weekends. Regarding service, this is really the only thing that can be hit or miss (hence the 4 stars instead of 5) this last time we visited a few days ago, we sat at our table for about 15 minutes before we had to go to the front and ask for someone to take our order. This seems to be somewhat abnormal though as every other time we have come we’ve never had this issue. As for the food, it’s always generally very good. Is it the best Spanish/Cuban food in all of Florida? No. But I don’t think Columbia claims it is they offer good comfort Spanish food that everyone of all generations at the table will enjoy. If you’re coming for the first time, you need to try their signature salad. If you don’t order it, you’re missing out. They bring an entire cart to your table and toss the salad with all the ingredients right there in front of you! It’s always a nice experience and the waiters that toss the salad strike up great conversation. They even give a whole piece of Cuban bread with your salad lots of food! For the main meal, you can’t go wrong with one of their meat dishes. The meat is always seasoned very nicely and portions are big. Most dishes come with a vegetable, rice, beans, potatoes, yucca, or a variety of other sides. It’s highly customizable so if there is anything you don’t like, they can accommodate. Our only complaint recently is the rising prices (prices really seem a bit too high for the food you’re getting), but the city might just be too expensive for them to lower prices any more, so I understand to an extent. Obviously, if you travel outside St. Augustine to a smaller town without any tourism sector, you could probably find equivalent food for about half the price. However, the atmosphere is great! We love the design of the restaurant and that is perhaps one of the signature features of Columbia Restaurant. They even have a small gift shop toward the front where you can buy some of the decorations that you find around the restaurant. If you like their salad dressing enough, you can find it here too as well as other signature ingredients in their recipes! All in all, Columbia is a solid option for St. Augustine it is iconic to this city and we will continue to come every time we visit. We look forward to coming again!

Beautiful decor! The place is all decked out. Perfect for a date night or a friend's meet up. Our server was very attentive and knowledgeable on the menu. The food was sub par. Just didn't meet the bar for me. Especially it being so pricey. I expected it to be better.

Tonight the dinner experience was the hands down that I think my husband and I ever had! The service was absolutely incredible and the food was also! Our waitress (Danica Roberts) was amazing throughout the meal. When she packed our remains, she took off our soup so we had a full bowl and even gave us fresh bread because she said we had no soup without bread. She filled the floor of the To-Go dish for our left dessert with extra white chocolate sauce, so that the bread pudding would not dry out. She even showed us pictures of her wedding! During dinner we had 2 different managers who were asked for our experience. I don't mean how typical everything is and then go. No, they were full of conversations! We were even invited to join the staff on a trip to the Bahamas! I've never seen anything like that. It will be very difficult to complete this service anywhere. I don't even do justice in this post. Every detail was perfect and it was obvious that they really care for their customers.

Thanks Gina for absolutely excellent service. Wonderful food recommendations. atmospheres absolutely beautiful and romantic. The reception was so friendly that the lady gave us great seats. What was the pleasure of spending my birthday there. The food is very authentic and unique. My favorite must be the bread and the flan dessert.

We went to a late lunch and dinner and didn't know you needed a reservation, but we could sit at the bar right away. The hostess and our server were so nice and the food was so good!! I was there. Augustine many times, but this was my first time to go here and I'm so glad I did it! Next time I'm in St. Augustine!