Reef Restaurant Reviews

absolutely love the food great service, best mussels ive had in years!!!!

Fantastic service, fantastic food, fantastic view

Excellent meal & great service. I always enjoy eating here.

Went for lunch last week & the food & service were great! Going back for dinner tonight

Delicious food but expensive :( The view is wonderful!!!

Awesome restaurant with a good vibe. Nice location with a beachfront view. The restaurant has a band that performs during the evening. Seafood is good and you you pay for what you get. Drinks are reasonably priced as well.$ 5-6 a beer. . Will definitely return.

Amazing food, gorgeous food, great service! We really enjoyed our experience at the Reef! We came during happy hour and tried 6 different appetizers that were all delicious. We sat outside on the deck overlooking the ocean and it was beautiful. I definitely recommend coming here. We had a friendly, amazing waitress who was very attentive and never made us feel rushed as we enjoyed the beautiful weather.

Service was excellent!! Food was absolutely delicious

My wife and I were vacationing driving down the coastal highway exploring the area when we ran into The Reef. We decided to check it out as we are more of the adventurous type and don't consider reviews as the first source of information when looking for places to eat. The area is very nice and the ocean view is great. The food was very delicious and well priced. I love the oysters piquant, jumbo scallops and the crab legs!!

Food was delicious!!!! Great service & the view was awesome.

If you come to St. Augustine we fully recommend "The Reef." A definite drop the mic kinda meal with every course.

I have reviewed quite a few restaurants so I ve broken it down in parts which will hopefully be helpful to you. My family and I had brunch at the Reef on Mother's day.
Food: Really good spread, buffet style - all kinds of seafood and breakfast food.
Service: Our server was great! He was polite, timely, and even offered to take pictures of our family. Very good with our 5 month old, too.
Ambiance: Beautiful place. Outside you're right along what looks like a cliff overlooking the ocean. Inside there are windows everywhere and you can see the ocean as well.
Value: I can't answer this. We didn't pay lol, great parents :)
Noise: Not too bad despite a full house. Wasn't distracting so couldn't have been too loud.
I gave this restaurant a one star because my stepdad and I got terribly sick the day after our visit, and we're the only 2 people in our group who ate the shrimp that was available. No one else was sick, and I was told it was food related. I'm disappointed to include this in my review and I went back and forth on whether or not to include it. After being sick for two days, I feel it's only fair to accurately describe my experience. I hope your visit is better than mine!

Waiter a bit haughty. Food OK. Pricey for the quality... but then, remember you are paying for the oceanfront vista.

I can not put in words how much I enjoyed this place. Please stop by and judge it for yourself. $$$

We just enjoyed a perfect Christmas Eve family dinner here at the Reef. We would like to give notable mention to our server, Dennis, who more than exceeded our expectations and was quite knowledgeable about the menu. I would personally highly recommend the Award Winning Seafood Chowder. If a delicious meal with a view of the Atlantic is what you desire, you ve found the right place!

Wonderful place. Very friendly people and the food was excellent! Great place to spend my boyfriends 50th!!! Thank you for a great experience!

Amazing food! Home of the best steak and the best artichoke dip Ive ever had in my life. Great view right on the beach. We love love this place

From the time we walked in, we felt special. The food was delicious and service possibly the best I've ever had.

Ill keep this short and sweet. Our filet was tiny and over cooked. Well over cooked. Our fried green tomatoes were under cooked. Our beers took 20 minutes or more and OUR WAITER DENNIS SAID THAT HE HAD OTHER THINGS TO DO AND WALKED AWAY WHEN WE WERE ASKING QUESTIONS ABOUT THE MENU. The service is terrible, the food blah and Dennis is seriously a thirn in this business. NEVER GOING BACK!!!

I'm gonna start by saying that the staff and service was great, everything else was awful! I decided to have my wedding reception at this place per recommendation of a distant friend, if I could travel back in time I would stay far, far away. I had been coordinating my event with the wedding coordinator for about a year, signed contracts, verbally agreed on things then suddenly 3 weeks before my wedding, she takes another position with a different company. I was kind of frustrated because I figured something would go wrong. But I talked to the new event coordinator and she assured me everything was fine. I had already paid for the room rental and food in full months prior and made sure that I wouldn't have to pay anything else on my wedding night. The entrees I chose were from the $36 per plate options, Caribbean jerk chicken and bronzed mahi mahi. It was to my understanding that the reason these plates were $36 is because 6% sales tax and the 20% gratuity was already added in so everything and everyone would be taken care of. I was once a server so I don't ever complain about tipping 20%.

Night of the wedding, everything was going smoothly, everyone was mingling and I was getting everyone sat down so the servers could take their orders. I had paid for 50 people's entrees, only 45 showed up, no big deal, I was going to let the waiters keep it as an extra tip. When our plates got served, I had ordered the mahi and my husband ordered the chicken. My piece of mahi was about 4oz, I had about 7 squash and 4 little potatoes on my plate. The fish was so dry, I couldn't even eat it! I wasn't going to complain because I didn't want to let anything ruin my perfect day! I was letting it go. But don't forget that I'm paying $36 for a 4 oz piece of fish. The bartender comes up to my mom and asks if we were ready to pay, and my mom told them it was already taken care of and the bartender looked at her funny and said no ma'am, so my mom comes to get me and I talk to her and I tell her no, that I had already paid for everything. She goes to get her manager and she tells me that the $400 extra dollars was for sales tax and gratuity, which was supposed to already be added into each of the plates when I paid. I had made sure when I made the final deposit that I wouldn't have to pay anything else on my wedding day. I had to argue with them for an hour before they finally said I was right. I was so upset because my guests were offering to pay that money. I missed my sparkler exit, I have no pictures of my husband and I with sparklers over us because everyone had already left.

If I would have known that the 6% sales tax and 20% gratuity wasn't included in the plate price then I would have paid that when I put the deposit down. I wasn't trying to get out of paying gratuity , the servers were excellent. I wanted everything to be paid for the night of the wedding so I wouldn't have to worry about money that night.

So if you want to pay a lot of money for really crappy food then go right ahead. But please consider somewhere else, I wish I would have.

The service was horrible it never came waited 10 to 15 minutes nobody ever came in while we were sitting there waiting for service watched one of the waiters not only did they clean the table next to us then they threw from the top landing a clean tablecloth down to the table that s about the time we decided let s leave.
My recommendation is stay away!!!!!!

Great apps, awesome seafood chowder, tasty steak, Strong drinks, superb ocean view.

Absolutely awesome!
Fantastic food and fantastic view!
Right on the ocean <3
Wasn't too busy when we went in, but it was somewhat early yet for a Friday dinner.
Wasn't a long wait, but if you plan to go at peak hours reservations are recommended.

What our group had (& all of it was delicious and worth every penny):
*Fried Manchego cheese with honey raspberry drizzle (our app)
*Herb Rubbed Tuna (seared) with green beans, rice (pickled ginger, wasabi, sesame soy sauce & bit of seaweed salad included)
*Award winning shrimp & grits in datil pepper & lime sauce (I don't Like grits at all and this was tasty)
*Fried shrimp plate with datil pepper cocktail sauce (she replaced the fries with mashed potatoes) and green beans
* kids had kraft mac & cheese and cheese pizza (great kids menu options - very simple: 5.95 for any of them; other three options were chicken strips, fried shrimp, & burger.)

For drinks we tried the red sangria and a margarita on the rocks, both very good; sangria not overly sweet though i personally prefer it more fresh fruit (has some, just I really like extra fruit)
Also nice was that there was live music (on our end anyway; not sure about the other side of the restaurant since the entrance comes right up the middle.)
Afterwards, we walked out onto the terrace to enjoy the view for a bit (no one was sitting out there anyways because it was all wet from rain off & on all afternoon)
We will definitely be back!

We stopped at The Reef while traveling through town. We had a phenomenal meal while watching the waves crash. Our server Heather was amazing and we ordered our meal based on her recommendation. We feel very lucky to have stumbled upon The Reef

Great ambiance right on the ocean, great food, great service!

Amazing food and service. I had the mahi mahi and it was delicious. The outdoor sitting is right on the beach. Inside sitting is nice too but the atmosphere is lovely on the back dining area. Calamari wasn't as crispy as I like but still very good. Great happy hour. I'd recommend getting there at 4:30 if you don't want to wait. Our waiter was Matthew D and he was fabulous. Very clean facilities. A little on the pricy side but certainly worth it. Will be back.

My husband and I are here on vacation, amazing food with great views!

Great service great food the best view of the ocean

We ordered over the phone for pick up. The person taking the order knew little about the food and even had to call back to ask how I wanted the fish cooked in which I told her on the phone initially. I ordered the shrimp imperial in which I was told came with 4 shrimp, so thinking for $24, they were jumbo shrimp. WRONG! Upon inspecting my food once back in the car I noticed that the shrimp were SMALL, in which I could eat the shrimp and crab filling in one bite. The green beans, which was the only option of vegetable, we're crunchy with no seasoning and thankfully the mashed potatoes were good and we're the best thing about the whole meal. My husband had the blackened mahi which he said had a burnt aftertaste and had the same sides and same opinion of them. We paid $50 for 2 entrees and it was horrible! The only reason I gave 2 stars was because it was convenient to our location on Vilano and was able to eat the food but it was far from being worth what we spent.

We really enjoyed our dining experience. The entrees were beyond expectations & the waitstaff was very cordial & accommodating. We will definitely return.

Good view and good food. Kind of pricey, but I d say it s worth it.

A very nice restaurant with a nice beach view. Service by the staff is great, and the food is good too. Ordered a North Beach Mahi Mahi with clams and scallop. Place is not busy, which is great and makes the place quiet for a relaxing peaceful meal. The restaurant has a bar section which serves to segregate the noise from the crowd in the bar section. A real hidden gem!

We always stop here when heading north on the A1A. We have never moved from the appetizer section of the menu, duck pepper poppers, mussels and oysters are always ordered and then we usually add a few others. Today we had the spicy seafood chowder, tuna and fried green tomatoes! Delicious.

If your a fan of mostly frozen food and horrible service than have at it. The orange juice (drink) was similar quality to what inmates receive. My wife and I both agreed we would rather eat at McDonald's than the buffet again. We went in the recommendation of a freind. I rate him as one star now as well.

Beautiful afternoon! Super yummy North Beach Mule, steak & heirloom tomato!

This is our go-to restaurant for brunch and lunch every time we're in St. Augustine! Really amazing brunch buffet including fresh made omlettes to order, prime rib, crab legs, waffles and more. Bottomless mimosas. Can sit inside or out. If coming for lunch, try their fish and chips, it's awesome! Reservations recommended for brunch, it usually fills up!

Fantastic ambiance and food with live entertainment Friday and Saturday.

The food was delicious but the server never came back after our appetizers and first round of drinks. Also, the restaurant was only serving appetizers (we got there around 1pm). Could have been due to the coming hurricane, but still kind of disappointing we weren't at least given the chance to have another round of drinks and apps.

The food and atmosphere were AMAZING. If possible, get a table outside - the view is stunning. The staff is super polite and we were pleasantly surprised when the waiter told us about happy hour (on a Saturday). Reservations are a must - make sure you get a table. I highly recommend this place.

Go somewhere else to eat!!! Dirty and aweful food experience.
Lunch ticket $76
Waited over a hour for our entree and the appetizers were burnt and so we felt after eating there

The front entry way smelled like puke. The restaurant didn t smell much better...likely because of the old, cheap carpet throughout. We sat down and decided to leave after our waiter made us feel uneasy. He just wasn t cordial...a little off. We ate at Cap s down the street instead and had a great experience.

Not a fan. For the price, things should have been perfect. Everything I had tasted like salt. Disappointed to say the least. I gave it 2 stars because our server was nice and honest. Save yourself the trouble and hit Aunt Kate's across the street.....

Wonderful restaurant . The service was impeccable. The food was delicious.
You can see that great care was put into each entree. I highly recommend this outstanding fine dinning establishment.

Always, always great! The Reef is one of my favorite restaurants! I over love the view, the food and service! I've done several events here throughout the years and we've never had a problem!

The manager was extremely rude we started to walk in we were coming in from the beach and the manager stopped us before we came in and said I m this is a fancy restaurant you can t come in here like that, bc we were dressed in beach cover ups etc. we had 8 people and more than enough money to pay for it. His stuck up attitude turned us away so we spent our money somewhere else. I can t imagime the place was that fancy bc it looks like a trash dump.

Can t make a comment on how friendly the staff is because we sat for 15 minutes without being acknowledged by any of the servers. In a place that had maybe 5 tables seated I found that pretty unacceptable. Left and went for oysters down the street.

Good food, nice view, a little pricey but worth it.

Delicious food, beautiful surroundings, JoAnn was an excellent waitress,

Beautiful view, great food, amazing staff, but if you don't get there early. The line will be long.

Excellent view and our table was ready upon arrival. We made a reservation and glad we did because you can see it s the place to eat. Friendly service all the way around.

Amazing atmosphere-right on the water!! Great food! Great service ! Ask for Laura!!

Nice spot on the water. The seafood was very good.

Great place for a celebration with family, friends or couples. Beautiful location and great food served buffet style.

The service was great with a spectacular view and sound of the ocean waves. The food was good, we had the most delicious and tender prime rib we can remember.

Great chowder... Scott our waiter was a treat, professional and personable. Great evening with our friend...

Nice beach front restaurant. And the plates are pretty. The staff are very nice. Expensive !! That's about it.

Great views of the water. Food was fine. The pelican fly-bys were pretty amazing.

Nice ocean view, nice atmosphere, good food but pricey, small portions

Service was average. My friend found a hair in her food, she s blonde and the hair was dark brown. Food was overpriced for the quality.

Everything we ordered was so deliciously seasoned and so brilliantly cooked, we'd be insane to rate this place anything less than 5 stars And dont even get me started on the beautiful beach front view!!

Great view of the ocean good ambience and great food

Good food, great views, friendly and curious wait staff

HAVEN'T BEEN FOR TEN YEARS. OH, HOW WONDERFUL THE FOOD, THE CHARM, THE WAITERS. MOST DEFINITELY AWESOMELY IMPROVED. I REALLY WAS IMPRESSED.

Don't have many choices in my opinion, and very costly. $90.00 for 2 people is crazy.

@The Reef GREAT Food over the Top on The Beach Bobby Bar Tender Awesome

Beautiful venue! It is right on the beach. The muscles were excellent. The staff was a little off putting. It was just one person, so overall the experience was very good. They have good happy hour deals.

Sunday Brunch at the Reef is a spectacular gastronomic event! Make sure you go hungry, because this place has everything. From extremely fresh shrimp to King Crab legs to waffles with fresh whipped cream and strawberries to sliced beef with horseradish sauce, the list just goes on and on. I could not possibly do justice to the amount of food served with unlimited mimosas by the way! This meal was fantastic, and I would highly recommend brunch at The Reef anytime you are ready for a very large, and extensive selection. We were seated promptly, greeted courteously, and even the manager came over to say hello, as he recognized one of the members of our group. All in all, it was a very satisfying and delicious opportunity to chow down and catch up with friends. Oh, and did I mention, The Reef is right on the ocean, so you have spectacular views while you are enjoying your meal.

The best thing I can say about the Reef is the atmosphere is excellent. The food was mediocre. Certainly not gourmet. Our waiter was nice. Service was great. Again the only thing that missed the mark was the food. Maybe I would go again and maybe not.

Delicious food. Vegetable risotto was delicious, as was the fried calamari.
Coffee was better than expected too.

My multiple appetizers were so fresh and tasty. Wine selection was also great and presented swiftly and elegantly. See you soon