St. Augustine for first-time visitors

Best restaurants

St. Augustine's restaurant scene is shaped by two facts of geography: the Atlantic is close enough to put grouper and shrimp on most menus by lunch, and the historic district draws enough foot traffic to keep a row of mediocre tourist kitchens permanently in business. This list ignores the latter. What follows are twelve places that earn their rent — a craft kitchen on West Castillo Drive, a riverfront seafood room on Avenida Menendez, a fish camp on the south side of town, a King Street breakfast counter, a barbecue smokehouse on Cordova Street, and a handful of others worth the walk. They span American craft cooking, Florida seafood, Mexican, British, and a breakfast-only cafe; hours run from 05:30 starts to 23:00 finishes; addresses cluster in 32084 but reach out to Anastasia Boulevard and Ponce de Leon Boulevard. The list is built for visitors who would rather eat one good dinner than three forgettable ones, and for locals who already know which doors to walk past on St. George Street.