Best waterfront restaurants with outdoor seating in Sarasota and what to eat, drink there!
Everything tastes better on the water. I don't know if that's a scientific fact, but witnessing a spectacular sunset or spotting a frolicking dolphin definitely makes for a memorable meal. Fortunately, along with our famous beaches, we have lots of waterfront restaurants here in Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte counties.
So, for the fourth year in a row, here's my guide to the region’s best waterfront restaurants offering outdoor seating. These places range from flip-flops casual to fine dining. Newly updated, the series begins with places in downtown Sarasota and on nearby City Island, Siesta Key, Lido Beach, and the Sarasota County side of Longboat Key.
The restaurants are listed in alphabetical order and accompanied with lots of food and a few drink suggestions. Reservations are recommended where applicable, and please keep in mind that hours and menu items are subject to change.
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Chart House
201 Gulf of Mexico Drive, Longboat Key; 941-383-5593, chart-house.com
An upscale chain restaurant that started about 60 years ago in Aspen, Colorado, Chart House's Longboat Key location offers guests views of the New Pass area from the terrace as well as from the expansive indoor dining room boasting high ceilings. Open daily at 4 p.m., Chart House's menu is mostly seafood with dishes such as the Key West Spiced Grouper that finds the fillet served atop a mound of mango sticky rice with a mild pineapple habanero butter. Perhaps most popular at Char House, though, are the happy hour food and drink specials served in the bar area 4:30-6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 6-6:30 on Saturday and Sunday.
Dry Dock Waterfront Grill
412 Gulf of Mexico Drive, Longboat Key; 941-383-0102, drydockwaterfrontgrill.com
A nationally acclaimed Longboat Key restaurant dating back to 1989, Dry Dock places guests on Sarasota Bay in a famously scenic setting with umbrella tables and open-air covered seating, as well as an indoor dining area with a cozy bar. The restaurant, owned by the Sarasota-based Gecko’s Hospitality Group, also happens to be one of the best in the region for fresh seafood, including stone crab claws and their famed grouper sandwich. You'll also want to consider my personal fave, the Citrus Grouper entree. The fillet is lightly breaded and sautéed, locking in all that juicy grouper goodness, with a citrus cream sauce that lovingly recalls liquified Key lime pie.
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Jack Dusty
1111 Ritz Carlton Drive, Sarasota; 941-309-2266, ritzcarlton.com
Sarasota's Ritz-Carlton manages to be positively classy yet with a most welcoming Florida casual vibe that permeates their nautical-themed restaurant Jack Dusty overlooking the harbor leading to Sarasota Bay. Specializing in seafood, popular entrees include their cioppino, whole fried snapper, and roasted grouper; while the star of the lunch menu remains the grouper sandwich topped with ponzu slaw and sriracha mayo (that you'll want paired with an order of their signature parmesan and garlic fries). Jack Dusty is also renowned for craft cocktails such as their tasty and totally Instagrammable concoction The Siren.
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Lido Beach Resort Tiki Bar
700 Ben Franklin Drive, Sarasota; 941-388-2161; lidobeachresort.com
Lido Beach Resort includes the Drift Kitchen & Bar featuring 180-degree, floor-to-ceiling views of the Gulf waters and Sarasota cityscape. The Drift Kitchen, though, is on the eighth floor of the resort. For outdoor dining right along the beach that requires you to wear nothing more than a bathing suit, visit their eternally cool poolside tiki bar. Popular menu items include the Great Pass Fish Sandwich featuring blackened or grilled local catch (grouper on my recent lunch visit) with lettuce, tomato, caramelized onions and lemon aioli on a toasted Hawaiian roll.
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Marina Jack
2 Marina Plaza, Sarasota; 941-365-4232, marinajacks.com
This downtown Sarasota dining landmark dating back to the late 1960s has several seating options, but you’re going to want a spot on The Blue Sunshine Patio. Open air with a spacious covered section and bar, it overlooks Sarasota Bay and Bayfront Park with live music most days at 5 p.m. The menu is mostly seafood, with personal favorites including the grouper Reuben sandwich — but then you might also want to try the Signature Broaster Chicken, which is surprisingly among the best fried chicken dishes I've found in town.
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New Pass Grill
1505 Ken Thompson Parkway, Sarasota; 941-388-3050; newpassgrill.com
Every Sarasotan owes it to themselves to at least once experience the Old Florida joy of visiting City Island for a burger and a cold can of beer while seated on the docks of New Pass Grill and Bait Shop. Established in 1929, New Pass has been famously serving burgers since the 1950s. There are other menu items, but, really, go with a burger — standard or upgrade to Angus — nestled inside their remarkably hearty and flavorful buns that excel at soaking up the juices.
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Old Salty Dog
1601 Ken Thompson Parkway, Sarasota; 941-388-4311, theoldsaltydog.com/city-island
Also located on City Island overlooking the New Pass Inlet, but next to boat retailer MarineMax, this Old Salty Dog location (there are also ones on Siesta Key and Venice island) has been featured in “Man v. Food” and at least one episode of MTV’s reality show “Siesta Key.” There’s a full menu of comfort food classics (get the wings with Old Bay hot sauce) and seafood options (fresh grouper; a great fish 'n' chips with haddock), but the most famous item remains the Salty Dog. It’s a quarter-pound hot dog made by another Sarasota institution, Geier’s Sausage Kitchen, dipped in batter and fried to a golden brown. Feeling adventurous? Try the “fully loaded” hot dog Adam Richman devoured during an episode of his old hit show on Travel Channel.
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O’Leary’s Tiki Bar and Grill
5 Bayfront Drive, Sarasota; 941-953-7505; olearystikibar.com
A tropical getaway located in the shadows of downtown Sarasota’s condo canyons, O’Leary’s is the charmingly beachy sister business of nearby Marina Jack. Open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner, you can’t really go wrong pairing one of their burgers and perhaps curly fries with a margarita while enjoying one of the daily live music acts, which, yes, play a lot of Jimmy Buffett. After libations, be sure to take a stroll around surrounding Bayfront Park and admire the moored boats, perhaps a dolphin or two, and the annual free exhibit Embracing Our Differences, which runs today through March 12.
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Ophelia’s on the Bay
9105 Midnight Pass Road, Sarasota; 941-349-2212; opheliasonthebay.net
Featuring outside patio seating – plus two glass-walled dining rooms – right on Little Sarasota Bay, Ophelia’s has been a popular destination for romantic waterfront dining since opening in 1988. Serving dinner nightly from 5 to 10 p.m. with reservations highly recommended, the restaurant specializes in seafood such as the recent entree highlight Key West Yellowtail Snapper with a coconut and macadamia crumb crust. In addition to fish, the menu routinely features creative beef, lamb and duck dishes.
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Phillippi Creek Oyster Bar
5353 S. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota; 941-925-4444; creekseafood.com
Founded in 1978 and located about four miles south of downtown Sarasota on its namesake waterway, Phillippi Creek Oyster Bar serves seafood in an Old Florida setting with lots of deck seating, in addition to the indoor dining room and expansive bar. Open daily for lunch and dinner, popular menu items include the signature combo pots as well as the fried or baked seafood platters. Of course, oysters on the half shell, paired with a cold beer or tropical cocktail, is another favorite combo.
Turtles on Little Sarasota Bay
8875 Midnight Pass Road, Sarasota; 941-346-2207; turtlesrestaurant.com
Coconut palms and parakeets set the tropical scene for this laid-back dining destination on south Siesta Key overlooking Little Sarasota Bay, which has been welcoming locals and tourists alike since 1986. Open daily for lunch and dinner right at Marker 48 if arriving by sea, popular menu items include the grouper sandwich, coconut-crusted mahi-mahi, and Turtle Salad with grilled shrimp. The restaurant also serves Sunday brunch and offers a full beverage menu with classic cocktails and everybody's favorite boat drinks, including multiple margaritas.
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Wade Tatangelo is Ticket Editor for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, and Florida-Georgia Regional Dining and Entertainment Editor for the USA TODAY Network. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. He can be reached by email at wade.tatangelo@heraldtribune.com. Support local journalism by subscribing.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Best waterfront restaurants in Sarasota area with outdoor seating
