costa brava

amazing sunday brunch. this place has a fantastic brunch buffet with more options than you could want and all at a great price. we walked in on a whim and were seated immediately. the atmosphere is also beautiful which adds to the whole dining experience!

95 cordova. beautiful atmosphere, superb service, excellent food! my husband and i celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary here over memorial day weekend. the duck and the sea bass are amazing! it is such a romantic atmospere. a true dining experience!

mothers day buffet 2015. the crab cake station consisted of pre made cakes with very little crab , being warmed by a small grill
as they were cooked / fried ? in the kitchen . the seafood bar was good when it was fully stocked
which never happened while we were there . we had to ask for oysters twice and only 6/8 were put out each
time . the meat station was the biggest disappoint the prime rib of beef was so over cooked it was gray
we asked for some rare prime and was told they had none . the chef came by and said he would take care of it .
he came back with skirt steak that was a color of purple and very tough .
the next skirt steak came out and it was rare but tougher as leather . this mothers day buffet 2015
was a huge disappointment for our family of 7 .

we have enjoyed the dining room at cb many times, most notably for occasion brunches.  today, mother's day, brought some disappointments.  not the restaurant's fault, but clearly an institutional issue was the valet parking.  we drove in, as we have many times before, and i waited for the attendant to open my door.  i am the woman in our party of two, and my husband was the driver.  the valet rushed to the driver's door and helped my husband out while i sat there.  and sat some more.  keys and tickets were exchanged while i continued to wait for someone to open my door, which never happened.  i let myself out of the car.  not exactly a "valet" experience.  poor training is the problem.  i expect the service to be commensurate with the reputation and ambiance of the hotel.  it was not.

our server was gracious, and the buffet food was delicious, as always, but the presentation was sloppy.  all stations needed refreshing/tidying at the 1:30 sitting, and the "centerpiece" on the dessert table--the only decoration in the entire room, was  a tragedy of thoughtlessness and neglect.  chain motels at interstate exits likely had something prettier than costa brava had on mother's day, 2017.  on a draped, elevated pedestal was a stubby cylinder vase with a few bunches of roses stuffed inside.  at least one bunch still had the rubber bands around the stems!  high school seniors decorating for their prom have better taste--and probably bigger budgets--than whoever plunked that hot mess on the dessert table.  the draping was cheap, shiny, lavender fabric that related neither to the sad roses nor to the room décor.

the seafood buffet featured raw oysters, paella, and crab legs, among other delicious offerings.  seafood forks were needed for the shellfish, but none were present.  i asked our sweet server for seafood forks, and she brought salad forks, instead.  i accepted the forks politely, but digging my seafood out with implements that were too large for the task diminished my enjoyment of the experience.

poor attention to detail is often the beginning of the demise of the reputation of a fine establishment.  casa monica and costa brava should take heed and make changes.

restaurant is located inside casa monica autograph collection hotel, so we visited it on the multiple occasions as we stayed at the hotel.
first, stopped by for the late bite after arrival to the hotel. all the food was excellent. papas bravas has very nice seasoning on them. fried calamari were soft inside and crunchy on outside, overall very tasty with the addition of jalapeño and regular peppers. burger with truffle mascarpone was very tasty, and so was the chicken sandwich.
next time we visited the restaurant for breakfast. all the food was delicious. i ordered eggs benedict, and the dish was executed perfectly – poached eggs, tasty hollandaise, very tasty. egg, bacon cheese sandwich was also very tasty and generous.
one small gripe is a regular coffee at $5 per cup – at least the coffee was good.
good service.
recommended.

christmas day buffet a severe disappointment.... they were running a buffet from noon to 9pm. it was just shy of $70/pp, plus tax & tip. we made the mistake of making reservations for 6:30 pm. we were seated promptly & the service was attentive. all the food we sampled was well prepared nicely seasoned and contained very good ingredients. the problems centered on what we didn’t get to taste. when we first got to the buffet set-up, we immediately noticed was that there were more than a few empty spaces on the tables containing the buffet, which turned out to be an omen. we enjoyed a nice selection of appetizers from that section. we moved on to the carving stations for our main course. the roast beasts were properly seasoned and cooked to perfection. the problems started when we went looking for sides for those meats. for potatoes, there was a single plate of an oddly colored mixture of mashed sweet & white potatoes. that was the only potato dish available. i’m guessing that some of those empty spaces might have contained maybe some au gratin, roasted, baked or even just plain old mashed earlier in the day, but were no longer being served. if you wanted a green vegetable with your meal, there was lettuce on the salad bar. if you were hoping for some green beans, brussels sprouts, spinach, broccoli or just some lowly peas, you were s.o.l. the 4 dessert stations continued the theme. each station sported a placard that listed the 4 or 5 selections available at this station. every one was missing at least one of the listed selections, usually the one that sounded the most interesting.

it was obvious that somewhere during the day, the kitchen found itself incapable of maintaining the buffet or maybe they just stopped caring. in short, they turned this event into the culinary equivalent of getting socks & underwear for your christmas present.

still a great place downtown. went with a large group - we have been there numerous times for special occasions. this last visit did not disappoint. the service and food remains top notch - the entire staff supporting our group was on their games and made the evening special. looking around, there was a wide variety of dishes chosen with many clean plates at the end - a very good sign. also, great selection of wines and...they used the correct glassware! we will certainly be going again - try it and you will be a repeat customer for special events/occasions.

the best!. absolutely the greatest service and the best food i have ever tasted in my life!

liked it "with reservations". we were here for a special occasion. atmosphere was great! nice and quiet. easy to speak to person across the table. service was excellent. on the subject of food: salads were fine ( we had the wedge and the arugula salads). i asked for extra goat cheese on the arugula salad and they gladly obliged. entrees were very nice. pork osso bucco had nice flavor. more sauce would be better as when we make veal osso bucco at home we plate it with more sauce--so that's a personal preference. the pork dish was a bit heavy for a summer meal--it was recommended by the waiter over the duck. we think it would be better for a winter choice. my sea bass was excellent. done perfectly (i am a stickler for properly prepared fish). the waiter said the sea bass was a hands down fav of many diners. i agree. i enjoyed the meal though think it would be better with a lighter side--like a pilaf or risotto for summertime. that said, i'd order it again. dessert was sorely lacking. we tried the saffron pound cake with a pistachio ice cream. it took a looong time to arrive. it was a bit dense and the ice cream lacked a bit of flavor. overall the meal was excellent until the dessert. we'd eat here again.

amazing food, needs better service!!!. 95 cordova @ casa monica, saint augustine

booked 95 cordova for my husbands birthday. i love casa monica!! it's elegant and perfect!!!

there were 6 of us for dinner; we were seated promptly at a very elegant table fit for a king! however, our server was not on point.

her delivery lacked the finesse of the place. the food was superb, tasty, perfectly cooked. the drinks were awesome and the deserts were amazing!

i think that for the amount of money paid (over $300) better service was needed.

would we go back? yes!! give the place a second and last chance!!

horrible service, good food. overall, the food was pretty good, but service was horrible. we arrived with a dinner reservation on december 29th and were told by maitre d to wait a few minutes. half hour later, i realized the maitre d forgot about us. he then said "our table" was ready and motioned for us to sit at a table that was already occupied. realizing his mistake, he moved the occupants of that table someplace else and sat us down. which was pretty embarrassing for all concerned. server was no better. forgot water, bread; served entrees with appetizer plates still on table. i discreetly pointed it out only to see him make the same mistake with desserts. food was tasty, well prepared and served hot. too bad the terrible service detracts from the overall experience.

it was very mediocre. i had the ny strip and have made much better ny strip at home for a tenth the price. our meals took forever to come out of the kitchen and the "hunter platter" appetizer had bland somewhat dry cheese and tasteless prociuto. however, my boyfriend's sea bass was delicious. overall i think the restaurant tricks their customers into thinking the food is superb by charging high prices and sneaking in a couple of fancy ingredients on the menu. your money will not be well spent.

absolutely one of the worst meals i have ever had. stuffed chicken dish was horrible. husband's steak was way overlooked. bartender and valet were great but the rest of the staff seemed pretentious. avoid.

came here for our 20th anniversary - initially service seemed ok- got seated right away and even got the the seat that we requested. the food way ok- the chicken dish that i got had way too much sun dried tomatoes that totally overpowered the dish. not to mention my poor husband who ordered the ribeye steak (the waiter forgot to ask him how he wanted it prepared) got his steak and it was very bloody- sent it back and then it was overdone!!! with prices like this we expected and deserved much more!!! when the manager came around finally to see how our meal was and we told him how we felt tried to make up things by giving us free desert. at this point too little too late. don't recommend!!!

...my dad, jr, and i had a delicious meal out at the casa monica hotel’s restaurant (95 cordova) in the center of town.  it’s one the nicer places in the city, and was visited by former president clinton recently!  i chose the sea bass for my entree, since it’s pretty much my favorite meal and i don’t get the opportunity to have it too often.  it came with garlic whipped potatoes and steamed asparagus.  rich and filling! the next day, my uncle, jr and i went for lunch at one of my favorite spots from our previous trip – mexican/mayan cuisine at casa maya. they used to be located in the building on the right (with the orange steps), and had 2 outside tables and 6-8 inside.  now they’re in a large, beautiful two story building with a second floor dec