Published on June 28, 2025

When you find a spot that’s been selling seafood for more than a century, you know they must really have a good thing going. Aunt Kate’s Restaurant is a St. Augustine-area stalwart that sits along the shore of the meandering Tolomoto River, which runs parallel to the Atlantic. Located just north of St. Augustine proper, it feels worlds away from the bustling brick-paved streets of the old town and the booming cannon at Castillo de San Marcos. Just off U.S. A1A (known here as the Jimmy Buffett Memorial Highway), the relaxed restaurant is less than half a mile from the sparkling sands of the Atlantic, but it’s the river that gave it its start.

It all began with some amazing oysters. One fateful day back in 1900, Gilded Age tycoon Henry Flagler went out for a sail and decided to come to the North Shore, where he asked Catherine “Kate” and Frank Usina to make his boating party some roasted oysters. The money the couple earned from cooking those simple bivalves was a windfall to them, so they kept it up and continued to prepare fresh-caught local seafood for St. Augustine’s winter visitors and called their venture Usina's Pavilion. It was eventually expanded to include sightseeing boats and fishing-gear rental—operating for decades and changing hands and names over the years—until the building was sadly destroyed by a fire in 2001.

You might think that would be the end of the story, but in 2009, the establishment was rebuilt by the Usina family as Aunt Kate’s Restaurant in honor of the original matriarch who was determined to get the seafood business going. Today, the rambling structure features an eatery, a bar, and a deck outside that offers umbrella-shaded tables embraced by the low arms of sprawling live oak trees that still bear signs of the fire that claimed the former building. Inside, the walls are lined with historical memorabilia and pictures, including a portrait of Aunt Kate, who continues to watch over this riverside enterprise with pride.

When my extended family went to the restaurant on a Sunday for an early lunch, we took advantage of the pleasant breezes and riverside views offered by the large deck. Since we arrived with several hungry children, we gladly said yes when our waiter asked if we wanted a bread basket. Our pleasure turned to delight when we realized that, instead of the usual plain rolls, it included apple hoecakes, pumpkin bread, and cornbread flecked with locally famous datil peppers. While the Fried Oyster Platter and St. Augustine-Style Shrimp are still hits there, I was tempted by other items like The Snowbird Salad (a refreshing combination of mixed greens, Granny Smith apples, raisins, pecans, and feta cheese with a Satsuma orange vinaigrette that added just the right amount of zing) and the Blackened Fish Tacos (which feature well-seasoned mahi with a bold Southwestern slaw). The wide assortment of sides like homemade mac and cheese, collard greens, black beans and rice, and cheese grits provide a delicious break from the usual seafood-restaurant options. I wanted to try their Key Lime Pie (which I saw described in multiple places online as the best you could find north of the Keys) but ended up being too full from my lunch, so I’ll just have to wait until my next visit.

The memorable food here would be enough to bring me back, but the ambience is what really seals the deal. Boaters can sail right up to the dock and step ashore for a meal on the deck, where the sunset views facing west over the Tolomoto River are a wonder to behold. There are additional wooden tables below on a narrow stretch of beach, where the children in our party enjoyed digging in the sand for shells and other treasures. My nephew even found a small shard of blue-and-white pottery that exactly matched the pattern on a historic teapot we had admired in a display cabinet at the restaurant’s entry. Unearthing this small but priceless artifact reminded us that coming to a place like this is, in a very real way, making the past tangible.