4 Nights in Sarasota with Kids

[BigBonesBradley]

My wife and I will be in Sarasota for four nights over Christmas with our children (5 and 3). We plan to bring our kids to dinner every night and would appreciate your suggestions for the best restaurants where it wouldn't be rude to do so. If there are any high end restaurants where two (fairly) well behaved children wouldn't be frowned upon, we would love to hear about them.

[foleyd7]

I just posted a simialr topic in Sarasota because I'm also heading down in Feb with kids who are 5 and 3.
Doesn't sound like good news that you didn't get any responses to your post.
Where did you go and what would you recommend (or recommend to avoid).

[Millie82]

Go to Crab Joints. Seafood shacks. That sort of thing... kids are always welcome and they LOVE seeing the bright Colors and such... the laid back places are for you! (I know, I am Mom to a 3 year old!)

[Mother of four]

Where will you be staying in Sarasota? North, south, on the keys???

[foleyd7]

I don't have his address on me. It's not the keys, but not sure if it is considered North or South.

[foleyd7]

I think he is kind of between North and South. His address is around Southgate where Weber Street meets route 41/45..... about a mile from Siesta Drive.

[foleyd7]

I'm finally looping back to this post from our visit a few months ago and wanted to highlight a few great places we found.
For dinner, we hit Libby's (without the kids) for a night. The place was pretty good - - I enjoyed my steak but didn't like my wife's Chicken dish (served pretty much like Americanized Chicken Parm). We went on a Wed night around 7:30 and the place was packed. The selection of 1/2 priced wines on Wed really helped. It wasn't tremendous, but I'd give it another shot when I return.
We went to another dinner place with the kids but it was so forgettable that I actually forget the name of the place. Some family seafood type place right on the river in Sarasota.
We had lunch at the Salty Dog just across from the Aquarium one afternoon. Not fine dining by any means, but a decent mid-day stop to sit outside with our kids and get a pitcher of beer, a burger, and something for the kids.
The winner of the Sarasota trip? The breakfast places. We went to 4 breakfast places all with the kids. 3 of them were amazing and 1 was totally overrated. The overrated one? Not surprisingly - - - the Broken Egg in Siesta Key. A tourist trap with big lines and big expectations but no follow through. Any random roadside diner would be as good or better.
The 3 amazing ones?
Station 400 (Sarasota) http://www.station400.com/
Sun Garden Café (Siesta Key) http://www.sol-food.net/Sun_Garden/Me...
The Breakfast House (Sarasota
)At Station 400 I got their pumpkin pecan pancakes and they were to die for. Ditto for my wife’s Spanish omelet with chiorzo, manchego, potato, and paprika.
At Sun Garden, I got excellent sweet potato pancakes and my wife got one of the egg sandwiches. We also tried their biscuits with white turkey sausage gravy. Not a typical Southern white gravy for biscuits, but a very interesting rendition and very good.
At The Breakfast House I got a seafood omelet that was very fluffy and full of lobster and shrimp (of which both were well cooked and tender). We also tried the biscuits and gravy here and it was a more traditional southern white gravy with sausage; very nice.
Of these last 3 breakfast places I can’t choose one over the other - - they were all excellent and all had options for kids to choose from too.
I’m dying to get back to Sarasota for the beaches and the breakfasts.

[Longboat]

When I intellectually go through my list of >best< restaurants in Sarasota, I can't recall seeing children in the 5 and under age in their dining rooms very often, if at all -- although it may be that families with kids dine earlier than I. Restaurants are very polite here and no one will object to having the kids anywhere but I don't think the kids would be very happy. Were it me, I'd kind of stick with the chain restaurants -- Carrabbas, the Outback, places like that. Marina Jack's might be something to think about -- they're on the web. I'm sure that the Amish places are kid friendly but I've never been to one of them and don't know for certain. Yoders is the best known of that group. And neighborhood Italian places always work for kids, as you know.

[foleyd7]

Chain restaurants are out. I'd rather eat in that experience that for dinner.
What are some of the good "neighborhood" Italian places you would recommend?

[Longboat]

In general, I agree with you on chain restaurants and yet when you drive past you see lines outside Carrabbas, Outback, Bonefish Grill, etc. I’ve eaten once at Carrabbas, once at Outback (elsewhere) and never at Bonefish. There are some decent chains in town and I’m not ashamed to say that I like Hyde Park (steak) a lot and Roy’s somewhat.
For Italian “neighborhood places” I really only know Longboat (my neighborhood). I would pick Cafe Don Giovanni, which is pretty good. For upscale Italian, I would suggest Divino in Sarasota. The best Italian (and I’m from the NYC area and think I know Italian!) in the area is Bologna Café. That said, it’s more like a deli in ambiance and not a fancy outing at all, although the food is excellent. It’s run by a young husband and wife from Italy, with authentic accents and all…. (With the exception of Bologna Café, I don’t think Sarasota has a first class Italian restaurant, period).
I recognize that I have strong opinions but I dine out pretty much every night and take restaurants seriously. As always, these are my opinions and your mileage may vary.

[foleyd7]

PS: When I dine without kids we tend to go for the 7:30 or 8 pm timeslot. When I dine with kids we go 5:30 or so. I generally find this to be pretty commong with people to dine with kids - - - very seldom do I see any kids below age 10 out at a restaurant past 8 pm.

[Longboat]

I have to make one comment about the times to dine at Sarasota restaurants. When I lived in Paris we used to go to restaurants at 9 PM to 10 PM. When I moved from Paris to NYC I used to go to restaurants at 9 PM and then eventually at 8 PM to 8:30 PM. My father lives in the Delray Beach area and when I go to visit him in season it’s NYC hours and tough to get a reservation before 9 PM. When I moved to the Sarasota area I discovered that the hours are sort of Midwest: you can get into virtually any restaurant you want here in season if you’ll go at 8:30 -- but know in advance that at that hour the specials are sold out and you’ll close the restaurant. Also, Sarasota restaurants (and I like the restaurants a great deal) are run on Midwest standards: if you order a steak medium rare, to a NYer or Californian or European you’ll get the steak medium to medium well done; and fish ordered “moist” can tend to be dry. This continues to be a source of great frustration. You have to be very specific in negotiating the temperature of your meals with the server. If in doubt, order it rare and send it back if necessary.

[Floridabound]

Interesting. Thank you, Longboat, for the pointer to Bologna Cafe. We'll be in Venice in the near future and this restaurant seems to be just the type I like.

It seems to be a small restaurant, so I assume reservations are a must.

[Longboat]

Yup.

The Antipasto Italiano is outstanding.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbc...

[irwin]

That Herald Tribune article was published in 2006. Big changes have taken place since the article.

[Longboat]

Can you share what these big changes are?

[ParenteN2]

One change is that the Antipasto Italiano listed as $14.90 in the article is now listed as $19 on the menu and says that it serves 2. In fact, they charge you $19 x 2 = $38 for an appetizer! I complained that their menu was deceiving but they refused to respond.