Romeo’s Cafe

This little spot was recommended to my wife and I while vacationing here in St. Augustine. I gotta tell ya, there are alot of places to eat in this little town. But make this sure you try this one for sure if you want some good ltalian food that is not a chain restaurant. Service is very attentive and they don’t «hover» over you while you enjoy meal. Really cool on the inside and it is a decent size place, not huge by any means. The owner or one of the family members is always there to ensure of a pleasant experience.
Give this little spot a go while in town, you will not be disappointed.

Very Americanized Italian food… if you’re into mildly seasoned sauces with heavy doses of carbs, cream, and cheese… this is your spot. Was extremely displeased with the artichoke chicken dish… it had a promising laundry list of flavorful ingredients (think it was pan-​seared artichokes, roasted tomatoes, red peppers, herbs)… what we got was some penne pasta smothered in heavy cream and little dots of what I assume was the rest of the veggies mentioned in the description… very little to no flavor at all. The chicken itself was cut up into extremely tiny pieces and did not appear to have any crust from a pan-​sear anywhere on it… looked like the little pre-​cooked Tyson Chicken chunks you can buy in the freezer section of the grocery store. If it was pan-​seared it’d be hard to tell, it was presented down in the bottom of the cream soup the dish was served in. Using larger pieces of freshly prepared vegetables you could see and taste, and maybe larger cuts of meat presented top-​side would go a long way with this dish… especially served with a lot less cream.
Beef lasagna was extremely bland, and overflowing with layer upon layer of cheese… no matter what you ate (pasta, beef, cheese, sauce) it pretty much tasted the same… cheese. The beef had no flavor to it either, just like someone stuck a raw layer of ground beef in between the layers of pasta and cheese.
Neither of us finished our dishes, I don’t even think we got half way through… not because portions were that huge, we just couldn’t stomach any more cheese/​cream. Funny too because the dishes came out covered in cheese and the waiter was like «would you like extra cheese on that»… we just looked at him like «people ask for more?»
The table next to us ordered the pepperoni pizza and it looked like Pizza Hut delivered a traditional crust pizza… nothing Italian about it. They seemed to enjoy it though, so maybe give that a try if you’re here.
At no point in the meal did someone say «you can really taste the (insert anything non-​dairy here)»… which is a shame because it’s a beautiful location and it’s in an area that for the most part, serves excellent food people travel from all around to eat… this is not one of those places.

Mediocre Italian food. It’s a bit over priced and bland. Me and my girlfriend couldn’t eat more than half of both our entrees.

We passed by and the hostess asked us if we’d liked to eat at Romeo’s but we said «no thanks» and tried to get a table at the A1A ale house. Not gonna happen. So we went back to Romeo’s. My friend ordered the lasagna and I ordered the eggplant Parmesan. Please call it parmigiana! We waited about 45 with no appetizers before for the food and they were not busy. My friend said her lasagna was very good. Mine – 3 slices of breaded eggplant does not a plate make. And less pasta and more al dente, and the pasta was not hot. Sauce was decent. The people to right of us got a charcuterie plate that looked awesome. The people on the left got baked ziti and chicken artichoke penne. Portions are not regulated. Some very large, some not enough.
Need some tweaking. Very attentive server.

This place is very mediocre. We started with «Nana’s hearts» which were fried artichoke hearts… kind of tasted like mozzarella sticks but worse. I had the tortellini special which tasted like a lean cuisine. My husband had the short rib gnocchi and he said it was ok but barely touched it. Very over priced for the quality of the food. Please, please do yourself a favor and go somewhere else, I wish I would have.

Prime location in St. Augustine – very convenient restaurant to walk into off of Cathedral. The restaurant was cute, and the server was attentive – even offering to make a cappuccino that was not listed on the menu. The 2 stars is based solely on the food. Based on other reviews, I was surprised by their mediocre pizza. The dough was not cooked through, and overall, we were very disappointed with the taste. Also, the restaurant smelled a bit, possibly due to the bathroom that could’ve benefited from a good cleaning.

It’s hard to understand where the good reviews are coming from. We were told St. Augustine had wonderful restaurants but this one certainly isn’t one. We had to wait for over an hour to get our orders; they even forgot one of our orders. The food was just bleh … Edible but not great. Service is bad; we never got a bottle of water we ordered and had to wait a long time for the waiter to look at us. Not a good experience at all. Avoid this place if possible.

No wonder this place only had eight reviews (albeit supposedly a 4.5-star restaurant). The food took over an hour and the order was wrong. Food was mediocre at best and service was lacking. There seem to be many good places in St. Agustin; this is definitely not one of them. So even if you have to wait at other places, you’ll be better off than coming here. Don’t make the same mistake we made…

Such a cute little place in a great location. The ambience was great and server was so helpful. The lasagna was delicious, would definitely come back again on our next visit.

This place is not authentic Italian food! Please don’t even waste your time on this place! The waitress was a dol. the poor thing got stuck working on Valentine’s Day and did the best she could all on her own. The food was not what it should’ve been. My boyfriend and I ordered the meatballs appetizer and they were brought out pretty quickly like they had been sitting out. They were luke warm and once we took the first bite we were in shock on how bland they tasted. We looked around for any type of seasoning to try to bring these things to life but no salt, pepper, oregano, parmesan cheese or crushed red pepper was in site to help save these poor little balls. I then proceeded to order a glass of Chianti but they were out so I settled for a Cabernet (which I love) but this one wasn’t to my liking! Then our entrees came out. I had the chicken parm and my boyfriend had the short rib gnocchi. Where do I start. Salt? Pepper? Italian seasoning? Where were these ingredients??? Again the sauce was lacking and bland and the short ribs tasted like left over pot roast shredded meat. Short rib should have a fatty-​ness to it because t is a higher quality meat. This short rib was very lean and tasteless. Then my chicken parm was also very bland and the chicken was again like warm and dry. The cheese looked sad and wasn’t really melted. When it came to deserts we just decided we couldn’t be let down anymore so we just paid our meal and ran. We had so many left over but we didn’t even want to take them home.

Best Italian in st. augustine. It’s a small place right across from the bridge of lions. I had the special which was lamb. Amazing. Even the carrots were some of the best I’ve ever had. All the flavors were amazing. Chicky chicky parm parm also great. Owner selected an awesome red wine for us. Now onto Nutella cheesecake dessert.

We ended up here because the restaurant the travel guidebook recommended, around the corner, had a ridiculous wait time. We were starving and decided to just eat «wherever». This place was almost empty and we weren’t expecting much, but wow, did we luck out! The lamb special was exceptionally good! They really know how to braise meat. We’ll definitely have to eat here the next time we’re in town.

Romeos took the place of one of my fav French Restaurants– I am a local and a big foodie (picky! Lol) decided to stop in for a glass of wine and an appetizer just to check it out– they’ve only been open about 2 months– Sat at the bar– the staff was awesome and friendly I had their white wine blend– very good also ordered their meatball appetizer (3 VERY large meatballs-​$ 9) great sauce and the meatballs were incredible (has to be a blend of veal, pork, and a little beef) authentic Italian with Frank Sinatra playing in the background ! Doesn’t get any better ! Will be making this a go– to favorite! Can’t wait to try one of their entrees. The ONLY thing they could improve are the bar stools! Little uncomfortable but I’ll take it for some Fabulous Italian Cuisine! We are lucky here in St Augustine to have such awesome family owned restaurants!

I’ve been wanting to try this place so tonight we finally did. The menu looks small but it has more than enough once you sit down and look at it.
They have several different appetizer’s, sandwiches, pizzas, entrees, and desserts. The food we had was great. We had mushroom risotto, baked ziti, lasagna, and fried sugar dough (it’s very similar to funnel cake) for dessert.
Everything came out hot and delicious! The portions are very large so you can easily share it with others. I can’t wait to go back to try more options!

We were kind of looking elsewhere to eat, but saw that there was no crowd here. I checked Unilocal for the reviews and saw that it was pretty solid. The food was good, servers were friendly. A bit pricey, but the portions were rather large. I would go again if I couldn’t find anywhere else to go in St. Aug.

We ended up at this restaurant on Christmas evening, when half the options in town were closed. It was a great surprise actually! Staff was extremely friend and did their best to accommodate so many people without any apparent stress to the customers.
Food was pretty tasty and prices were fair!

We have now gone there twice and have been wowed with the service and quality of the food. It is great to have a downtown Italian Café and not «a pizza joint». Long tie coming…
The setting is casual and café like however the service and food is high class. A perfect combination for St Augustine. In the two visits we have had over 8 items as an entrée and a few of the appetizers and NO ONE has been disappointed. A must stop on the restaurant scene in St Augustine.

This review is solely based on the food, not service. I did not dine in the restaurant, just picked up lunch. The woman that helped me was extremely friendly. I couldn’t decide on a panini, and she recommended the Meatball. She said they make them at the shop and they are delicious. She wasn’t wrong. The bread was perfect and the meatballs were amazing. So tender and flavorful. I asked for extra marinara and didn’t even use it, as I didn’t want to take away from the flavor of the meat. I will be going back to try something else in the near future.
Some recommendations to the restaurant. I was a little disappointed that the owner, who was sitting towards the back hall of the restaurant, didn’t come out while I was waiting for my food. They have only been open for a couple weeks, and owner interaction is extremely important in this area. And if at all possible, fresh pasta would be a hit, as it sets you apart from every other Italian joint in the city. Look forward to my next visit!

Great menu, good prices & great service. Husband & son shared a pizza & I got the Romeo panini. Food was excellent & my panini had the best presentation ever!

We decided to stop by Castillo De San Marcos while visiting St. Augustine’s. Walking around really kicked up my appetite. We got greeted by a server when we walked by earlier (5:30pm) … as a server was drumming up diners for the evening. It was a bit too early for dinner and he mentioned it was their second night serving dinner after opening night, the night before.
The server seemed sweet enough and it was a toss up between here and Harry’s. (Typically an hour wait for Harry’s). We decided to come to Romeo’s. When we arrived the second time (7:15), the place was packed! Luckily, we only had to wait a few minutes to be seated.
We ordered three items from the menu, pasta fagioli for starters, and two entrees, the short rib gnocchi and chicken artichoke pasta. I’ve never had good gnocchi, so I was slightly hesitant to order it here, but it had me at short rib!
The pasta fagioli took a bit to come out, so we checked with our waitress Chelsea and it came out shortly after that. Immediately after that came our entrees. We asked for the soup to come out early instead of all at once. Luckily a manager came out and took care of it! It was really nice to be checked on immediately. Thank you Aunt Paula!
The fagioli was just ok, and the chicken artichoke was slightly spicy and the short rib gnocchi (my dish) was amazing & delish! After my bad gnocchi experience, I’m sold! The dish had an abundance of short rib, yes! (See half eaten dish with fork full of short rib!)
This is one of the many family owned restaurants here. Thank you for a yummy dinner!