Businesses like Blue Hen Cafe and Graet Goods vintage dot West King Street, the main commercial thoroughfare of the West City neighborhood in St. Augustine. | Noah Hertz, Jacksonville Today
Published on March 11, 2026 at 1:59 pm
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Alfred’s, a new restaurant and venue, is on its way in St. Augustine’s West City neighborhood. The business is the latest addition planned in the historically underserved part of town just west of St. Augustine’s historic Downtown that has getting increasingly developed in recent years.
Alfred’s is the latest project from local business owner Ryan Kunsch, who owns restaurant and venue Sarbez! on Anastasia Island and opened neighborhood bar Muggsy’s on West King Street in 2023.
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“The West King area has such great energy,” Kunsch says. “There are many voids to be filled, and the people of the neighborhood deserve cool stuff. For whatever reason people are still uncertain about the neighborhood and I find that very silly.”
Now that Kunsch’s team has permits for Alfred’s, he’s hopeful to open the doors soon, though he didn’t specify a target opening date.
Kunsch envisions Alfred’s as a community hub in West City, offering food, drinks, live music and art. It’s opening at 222 W. King St. in a building that’s had many identities over the years, including a venue back in the 1950s, before the passage of the Civil Rights Act, when that part of St. Augustine was a white neighborhood.
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Kunsch says his goal with Alfred’s is to bring together people of all backgrounds and make the neighborhood more fun for everyone.
Alfred’s welcomes neighborhood favorite
The team behind the new restaurant and venue isn’t just Kunsch. The head of the new spot’s kitchens will be Garrett Schiavone, the chef behind Real Peel Pizza, a once-popular food truck that used to have a semi-permanent location at Muggsy’s.
With the food truck now closed, Schiavone will be once again offering up his crowd favorite sourdough pizzas along with other dishes like pastas and salads at Alfred’s.
For events, Kunsch brought on local musician Chelsea Saddler to be in charge of scheduling everything from music to stand-up comedy to movie nights.
Saddler has planned events at venues around Northeast Florida, and she’s looking forward to curating a calendar that appeals to a wide variety of people, including kids. She envisions being a venue not unlike Intuition Ale Works’ Bier Hall in Jacksonville, with local acts and touring acts, along with some other events like open mic nights, comedy shows and poetry readings.
As for the name, Kunsch says the inspiration comes from his grandfather, Alfred Kunsch, who was also a business owner.
“I believe he is where I got my entrepreneurship from,” Ryan Kunsch says. “He owned his own pharmacy in Sayville on Long Island.”
If all goes according to plan, Kunsch hopes to open Alfred’s some time this spring. To keep tabs on when the restaurant and venue will open, Kunsch says to follow the business on Instagram.
