O'Steens Restaurant

O'Steens Restaurant
205 Anastasia Blvd.
St. Augustine, FL 32080
(904)829-6974

A bunch of us piled into the car on Saturday heading to St. Augustine to watch the USA/Ghana soccer match. Originally, I wanted to watch it at the Oyster Pub only to eat some oysters before this oil spill makes eating oysters impossible or too unaffordable. Gary wanted to watch it at a British pub to really get the great crowd feeling, so I agreed that would be good. Little did I know that oysters were still in my immediate future. Our group consisted of Gary, Gary Sr., Gary's brother Steve, Kelly, Frank and myself.

When we get to St. Augustine, Gary has to make a U-Turn in front of O'Steens to double back to the pub. As he does, he says that O'Steens has the best fried shrimp he has ever eaten. I notice there are people sitting in chairs outside the restaurant waiting to be seated inside. This is about lunchtime, so I don't see this as unusual at the time. We head into the pub and Frank asks the owner if they serve food. He tells us they don't, but we are welcome to order from O'Steens and bring the food inside. At this point, Gary Sr. steps up and decides to make a run for takeout. We all order our beers and get ready for the start of the soccer match.

When Gary Sr. returns about 15 minutes later he has about five shrimp platters and one oyster platter. Each comes with cole slaw, French fries, hush puppies and a wonderful dipping sauce. The oyster platter that I get is accompanied with tartar sauce. I open my platter and it is filled with goodness. O'Steens platters are stocked with seafood and we are all quite happy. They devein and butterfly their shrimp before cooking them, but what I notice the most is their batter. The batter almost reminds me of a tempura batter, but it is thicker than that, but not as thick as the batter you normally find on shrimp and oysters. It is just the right amount and I have to agree that this is the best fried shrimp I have ever eaten. The oysters are great as well. The fries are hot and crispy, the cole slaw creamy with a great flavor and hush puppies the size of golf balls.

This has to be one of the best seafood platters I have eaten in a while and cannot wait to head back to St. Augustine to dine in at this location. Upon our departure from the pub after that crushing loss to Ghana, I notice there is even a larger crowd waiting to get into O'Steens for their dinner rush.

If you are in the St. Augustine area and like seafood, I strongly suggest you check-out O'Steens. The feeling I got from seeing the people waiting for a table is that they are a favorite for people that return on vacation year after year.

For my first, but not last visit to O'Steens, I have to give them five Stiffy's.

Eat, drink and be merry!

Harry