Michael’s Tasting Room

Michael and Stephanie catered my husband’s 60^th birthday party last week. We held the event at Flagler College and it was a resounding success in no small part because of Michael and Stephanie. They were easy to work with and quickly grasped the feel of the type of party I wanted. Quality and tasty food is a must and Michael delivered a menu that made sense from start to finish, was served beautifully (I had everything passed) and was plentiful. Their recommendations for dessert (Nils at Crème de Coca) and bartenders (Cesar at Odd Birds) were spot on. Everyone worked together well, listened to what I wanted and delivered flawlessly. This was a great party with amazing food and execution. Want to do it all over again!

All said, it was some great with some ‘okay’. I would give 3.5 if I could, but I can’t give it a 3 — the entrees just needed a bit more care in the flavor /​seasoning. Definitely a great wine selection and friendly staff. The octopus was fantastic — pesto was just right. Gambas were also very well balanced, I didn’t miss the typical power punch of garlic and my wife and I enjoyed the flavor very much. We are big gambas fans too.
The meats were good, but just eh. Cooked perfectly, but my entire plate of food was barely warm and the meat was not seasoned enough. Both the short rib and steak with mofongo were a bit flavor-​boring and kind of a let down from the appetizers.
We will be back, and try again after going a few other places. I think the chef was not there, but that shouldn’t matter. It would be interesting to see if the entrees improve on another night.

Food taste to price ratio is off. The food was good but not worth the money. The meals did nothing to stimulate the taste buds and the portions were small. A little disappointed as I was expecting more, booked the restaurant for my boyfriends birthday and he wasn’t impressed either. Wouldn’t go again.

We stopped into the Tasting Room on our last night in St. Augustine and we were pleased. We made a reservation for 9pm and arrived 15 – 20 minutes early and were seated right away– perks of making late reservations maybe? The interior is very cute– great ambiance, décor is simple and makes sense, nice furniture and roomy enough not feel like you’re sitting right in top of your neighbor.
The staff was very friendly, attentive, and knowledgeable. We were checked in on many times during our dinner and I was never in need of more water or another drink.
The food was very, very good. We enjoyed many small plates– papadew peppers stuffed with goat cheese, lamb sliders, croquettes, & flatbreads. Nothing we ordered was spectacularly innovative or something I haven’t had before but it came out timely, tasted great and was enjoyed. The prices were a bit high for what you received– this is my only complaint. I didn’t feel robbed and I was satisfied when I left but two small plates and a glass of wine later I spent over $ 50/​with tip. Again, everything was enjoyed, but there are so many restaurants in St. Augustine that I’d probably try something else before returning.

Honestly don’t understand the glowing reviews of this restaurant? The food is just ok.
Our server really messed up our evening by not placing our dinner order properly. He ordered the salad but not the entrée. We had to wait 30 minutes between the salad and the short ribs, which were just ok. We will not be back :(

Mediocre. perhaps we had a very unlucky experience, but we wouldn’t go back.
The service was good — our waiter was good anyway, but the food was mediocre. We found nothing special here. I was actually giving two stars because of the horrible stinky mussels we got, but the waiter did try to make up for it, and I’ll hope, for all’s sake, that it was a one-​off.
I called in to check availability because the first couple places we tried were booked for the night (drat). She seemed unsure, like umm well. I’m not sure, I’ll have to check. at what time will it be? We get there and it’s almost empty. not a great sign, but alright.
We ordered a bottle of wine, which was good; they have a good wine list and I appreciated that there were all different types (not just Spanish wines). We opted to get a bunch of sharing plates so we could try more things.
We had the Parmesan rosemary fries they were good but ketchup and/​or aioli would have been nice).
We had the pork belly sliders. These were good; very tasty.
We had the scallop arepas. They were was bland and flavorless, though the textures were good. Needed seasoning and a sauce or something.
We had the mussels — well, some. They came to the table and smelled absurdly foul. I held my breath and ate a few so as not to be rude or have my husband say «well what a waste then why did you order them?». But thankfully my husband was the first to break and was like «omg these smell disgusting! I can’t eat this» I was like «oh thank God bc they wreak and I can’t eat another bite». They didn’t taste rotten, but they didn’t taste like anything either. I LOVE mussels and order them whenever I have the chance. perhaps not the best choice here? Never have I smelled that before, like Mt Trashmore on the table. If for whatever reason they had a bad batch, the chef should have known. someone ought to have caught that nastiness before it got to our table and said «oh I’m sorry but we’re out» or smthn. We kindly asked the waiter if he’d please take them away. I think he could smell them too, because he didn’t ask questions, was really nice and apologetic about it, and asked if we wanted something else instead, but we were kindof weary at that point and scared to order anything else. He did not charge us for them, which we do appreciate.
We had one other item. can’t remember what though. Goat cheese smthn maybe?
Oh – the bread here, with the olive oil dipping sauce, is quite good.

This is our favorite restaurant in Saint Augustine and we have dinner here every time we visit. We always do the tasting menu with wine pairing and we are never disappointed. The staff is very friendly and Michael always knows when we’re coming :) I’d give them 6 stars if I could.

My wife, visiting son and I had dinner here, my son being the one who picked it out from his research. Absolutely delicious food but it is expensive. Fortunately it was one of the rare restaurants where I left and didn’t mind having to pay what we did. We all shared all the apps and entrees and everything was great. Staff was excellent as well. We ate outside on the patio and that was very nice. We will definitely go back for a special dinner.

Second time eating here. You are always a little nervous going back to a memorable restaurant because what if the one fabulous meal you had was an outlier? It wasn’t, Michael’s is amazing every time. I mean really, Tuna on a potato chip– can still drool over it! Good wine selection, friendly staff, good ambiance.

Best place we ate in St. Augustine. We were panicking, looking for reservations on Christmas Eve and were luckily enough to find an open table here.
It is a decently sized restaurant, with a dining room, outdoor dining, and a smaller dining room section. It felt very intimate, and it had good ambiance with lighting and live music. The live music was a nice touch in that it wasn’t super loud, so that you could still enjoy conversation at the dinner table.
Our server was extremely nice (I forgot his name, but he was Swedish/​Polish!). He checked on us just the right amount and was very pleasant to interact with.
We ordered vegetable risotto (came with purple and green cauliflower, mushrooms, butternut squash, and arugula on top — divine!!), hanger steak (slightly overcooked, not my favorite, came with fries so it was like their version of steak and frites), chicken fried oysters (buttermilk fried small oysters served in small cast iron pan on top of creamed kale, which tastes just like creamed spinach, very good!), panna cotta (served in mason jar with peach compote and lady fingers on the side; wish they left the lady fingers off but the panna cotta was rich and so good with the peaches) and the sea salt brownie (super rich slab of brownie with ganache on top and sea salt, good for chocolate lovers). Our party raved that this was the best food they’ve had all trip, and I can concur.
They have 2 oz tastings of wine (great for me since I can’t drink much), and apparently they have a soda maker since they made a club soda for one of us. I did not get to try the scallops arepa, but they looked very good — about 5 large scallops sitting on top of their own little arepas. The menu seems fairly different than the ones in the Unilocal pictures. They do have a small section for small plates but also for mains and salads. It seemed Spanish influenced but not heavily so.
Well done, thank you for salvaging our trip and breaking our streak of crappy food in St. Augustine.

I’m a Chef and I love the food here at the tasting room. I come for the great wine list and tapas are very authentic. I’m never disappointed when I come. A must try!

Incredible food, service and atmosphere. We chefs table with 5 courses paired with wine. The chef picks everything you eat, brings it out to you then explains what he made. Very very special experience. Everything we ate was fresh and delicious. The one little knock was that my steak was over cooked for me. But it was not enough to take away from the evening.

Amazing food, cozy atmosphere and friendly staff. Each time we go, we request to sit with Franchot, who is incredibly knowledgable about the menu and friendly to chat with. Great place for a dinner date or for a small group.
Order the patatas Bravas. Eat those, then order some more because they’re delicious!

We came here at 6.30pm. There was a sign at the door which said that they would be closed at 8.00pm. There where only 4 tables occupied. But the waitress told us that we couldn’t have a table because we don’t had a reservation and they had computer problems. We had walked half an hour to go there and see didn’t react flexible. I don’t go there anymore.

We saw the Tasting Room on Unilocal,expecting to be under dressed and turned away. We weren’t — we were seated immediately and had a wonderful experience. Granted, we were decently dressed, just not dressy.
Staff was awesome from the beginning and took great care of my wife and me. Wine suggestions were on point, paired well with each of our tapas selections. Small plates were outstanding, each better than the last. The pork belly was a stand out as was the marinated manchego cheese.
A definite must if you are looking for something beyond the tourist fare.

Incredible! There is no better way to describe this place. We went during lunch and had very few people there but we loved it because we got VIP treatment. Our server was very attentive and friendly. We had a 1 yr old with us and she was very patient and even catered to him. We ordered sangrías, a red and a white one. The red (pomegrante) was my favorite, the white was guava flavored. We ordered 2 appetizers, crispy pork belly and clams Jerez that were delicious! Our entrees were even better! The arroz verde was creamy like a risotto. The shrimp and grits didn’t disappoint either! We all loved it.. And I mean the1 year old too! He is a future foodie and Unilocaler!

This. Was. Delicious.
The end!
J/​K!
When you walk in, the place is very nicely decorated, dark, romantic, they have a beautiful outside patio area also, but it was hot so we ate inside. Some of the other reviews were complaining about the service, but we had a wonderful server, she was friendly, and patient (we had a one year old with us!), now we were her only table but she was great!
Great wine list! We got a white and a red sangria, they were so good! The red was pomigranate and on the sweeter side, the white was guava and very light tasting… Happy!
Now the food! We basically wanted to try everything, but being were not millionaires we had to make decisions! We got the clams «jerez” — nice small clams in a tasty broth of wine, butter, and seasoning, with chorizo sausage (surprisingly the chorizo was my least favorite thing in any dish it was tough and seemed over cooked!) The other app we got was crispy pork belly-​holy moly! This dish was excellent! 4 large chunks of pork very crispy on the ends and nice tender meat and fat in the middle with a tomato jam drizzled on top… Mouth watering!!!
Now the entrees: the shrimp and grits — large highly seasoned shrimp on a bed of grits with that same choriso and some roasted veggies, (carrots and Brussel sprouts), very good dish
Arroz verde– so good, this was like a veggie risotto, rice cooked with peas, mushrooms, asparagus, pesto, Parmesan… Just delicious! This dish had a great layer of flavors and there was something that i couldnt pick out.
We were stuffed by the time we were finished, excellent lunch and i cant wait to come back for dinner!

Holy cow!
This is the quintessential wine-lover’s date place. The food is as good as it gets, the service is always 5-​star, and the wine list is perfect. Their corkage fee is a little higher than most, but this is tourist central, so it is to be expected.
Come here, fall in love. Then repeat.

Last leg of a fabulous road trip to foodie towns, historic sites and the great outdoors… I certainly had high hopes for the city of St Augustine; sadly, I was not very impressed so I was hoping Michael’s Tasting Room would be a turning point (as it had a solid 4 star rating on Unilocal and further recommended by a local shop owner).
The entrance was certainly inline with the local architecture and the atmosphere walking into the outdoor dining courtyard was one that made for a very romantic setting. The inside was a different vibe but equally as comfortable. We opted to take a seat not the patio since the live music being played inside was way too loud to enjoy conversation.
Michael’s is a traditional spanish tapas restaurant but also serve individual entrees as well. We love variety and sharing plates so we ordered our first dish of CHAMPIÑONES AL JEREZ (a simple dish of sautéed mushrooms in a garlic and sherry broth). The broth was delicious but the dish as a whole disappointed. Pretty sure the dish consisted of only Cremini mushrooms; they were good but boring… some mushroom variety would’ve given the dish more flavors, textures and excitement.
Bread with extra virgin olive oil… don’t know if they added salt or if the oil was infused with something for added flavor; either way, the bread and oil was excellent (and complimentary)… and was perfect for soaking up the garlic and sherry broth.
We finished the mushrooms rather quick but we hadn’t seen the waiter since ordering that first dish, so at this point we haven’t ordered our second course. Finally he arrives, takes the order for our next two share dishes and leaves… including the empty mushroom plate…
BABY OCTOPUS arrives… lightly seasoned, cooked right… very good dish
Also arriving was our order of MEJILLONES CON FRITAS… we expected a bowl of steamed mussels in a white wine broth; not realizing «CON FRITAS» on the menu only to be shocked to see our mussels were covered with french fries with saffron aioli and truffle oil. On their own the mussels «COULD HAVE» been delicious and sure the truffle fries «MAY HAVE» been delicious too but the combination of the broth and aioli sauce did the dish no justice… just did not work.
Again… we waited for our waiter to remove plates we are done with… and even though we had a bottle of wine, it would’ve been nice to fill our water glasses as well.
He «finally» arrives… AFTER I flag down another waiter to get him. He is apologetic but clearly flustered with too many tables to service. Extremely nice guy and his apology seemed sincere but efficient he was not.
Our last dish of CHORIZO AL VINO arrives… a dish made up of chorizo sausage, red peppers and onions sautéed in red wine. Sounds simple enough but unfortunately they overcooked the sausage.
The dishes on the menu show creativity and the restaurant has potential but disappointed overall with a lack of good service and most the dishes missed their mark.

If this training server knew what he was talking about he would not given us the wrong information nor with the manager Brittany had defended him instead of apologizing for him not knowing how was prepared.
I appreciate your lengthy response however as a person he’s been emptied service for over 35 years I do smell a rotten egg.
I am responding to the owner’s comment about my review. No one was apologetic about not knowing what or how the items were made.