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Reviewing Restaurants from the Sarasota Food Scene - Fall 2026 Edition (Part 2)
Last week we reviewed six restaurants/bakeries in the Sarasota area that Laurie and I have recently tried. This week we’ll round out the list with six more restaurants that we found worthy of our attention – let’s see if you agree!
Eggsperience Eatery
Eggsperience Eatery is another breakfast/lunch restaurant tucked away in a slightly rundown strip mall off of 70 in Bradenton – we have passed it often on our way to the beach and it’s been on our list for awhile. This is definitely a local’s hangout – everyone seemed to know everyone else, except for us! The inside is a bit spartan and has a slightly run-down feel, but everything was clean. The menu has all of the usual suspects with omlettes, hashes, benedicts, pancakes, and waffles. Most of the food was solid – fresh ingredients and good-sized portions. But nothing really stood out as being exceptional in any way. Also, the pancakes were some of the worst we’ve had – I had to hold the plate while Laurie cut off a piece because it was so tough. We would consider going back to give it another try, but with all the other great breakfast joints here, this one ends up in the lower portion of our list.
Overall Rating: Good; Food: Good/Average; Ambiance: Average; Service: Good; Cost: Inexpensive; Value: Good
Kitchen Social
We were very excited when we heard Kitchen Social was opening up in University Town Center – word of mouth was this place was awesome and served fantastic cocktails and food. Well, the reviews are in and we agree! We first visited this restaurant a few weeks after it opened with our good friends Matt and Cathy – the restaurant is open air with more covered outdoor tables than inside tables, which proved to be a problem when a classic summer thunderstorm rolled through just as we were being seated. The staff was fantastic as they tried to accommodate everyone who was getting pummled by the wind and rain outside. We eventually got a table inside and enjoyed a wonderful dinner. The menu is a bit eclectic, with a nice mix of specialties like cheddar and scallion biscuits to classic offerings including seafood, pasta, handhelds, pizza, and tacos. Everything tastes and feels upscale here with the open, bright and airy dining areas and modern bar. The cocktails are excellent, and the wine list well-curated as well. As a bonus, their happy hour is one of the best bargains in town – all of their appetizers (with the exception of the biscuits I mentioned earlier) are available at half price, as are the pizzas, tacos, and craft cocktails! Laurie and I recently went for a happy hour and ordered two appetizers, a pizza, and three cocktails which cost us only $50 – like I said, amazing price for that much high quality food! Definitely worth a visit!
Overall Rating: Excellent: Food: Excellent; Ambiance: Excellent; Service: Excellent; Cost: Moderate (Happy hour is inexpensive); Value: Good
Blue Kouzina
Laurie and I have walked by the always crowded Blue Kouzina in St. Armands Circle countless times, but never eaten there. Recently, they opened a second location in UTC, right next to Kitchen Social. Enter our ambitious foodie partners, Gerard and Terry, who joined us to try out this Greek/Mediterranean restaurant. The restaurant is beautiful, with a soothing ambience that transports you to the Greek Islands (which I have only seen in pictures!). All the classics are here – Greek dips with pita, spanakopita, pita wraps, kebobs, and mousaka. They also have daily specials. The dishes are beautifully presented, and everything we ordered was fresh, flavorful, and authentic. You could easily make a meal just out of the meza offerings, but I really enjoyed the entrees the best. This restaurant provides a nice, upscale experience for foodies who like an international experience, and is a welcome addition to the UTC food scene!
Overall Rating: Very Good: Food: Very Good; Ambiance: Excellent; Service: Very Good; Cost: Expensive; Value: Average
Olive & Dough
We have quite a few new pizza places opening all around us, and given how much Laurie and I love pizza, we are of the mind that you can never have too many of them! Enter Olive & Dough, a New England family owned pizza shop that has a decidedly Greek and Mediterranean feel to it – think Greek pizza, spanakopita pizza, and Mediterranean pizza to name just a few. All the other classics are available as well, along with subs, wraps, salads, and shareables. The pizza is really good, with a homemade crust that’s slightly yeasty and has a bit of heft to it (it’s nice to have an alternative to thin crust pizza, which seems to be very popular down here). The tomato sauce is also very good – homemade, with a nice zing to it and light heat as well. While they have tables, it’s a tight squeeze and this is more of a take out than eat in place. A nice addition to the local pizza scene, I’d rank this in the upper middle of all the local pizza joints around us. Located off of 64 east of 75 in a strip mall (of course!).
Overall Rating: Very Good; Food: Very Good; Ambiance: Average; Service: Good; Cost: Inexpensive/Moderate; Value: Good
Lucky 8
Lucky 8 is a small, New Orleans-influenced and eclectic restaurant located in the Southside Village district off of 41 right next to Sarasota Hospital. We learned about Lucky 8 when word got out that they had won the coveted Michelin Bib Gourmand Award which is awarded to restaurants that serve exceptional food at outstanding prices. We added it to our list of restaurants we wanted to try but never got there (it’s a bit of a hoof from our home in Lakewood Ranch). Then, we attended the Forks and Corks Grand Tasting this past January and Lucky 8 was there, serving mini slider versions of their smash burgers – they were the best thing we ate that day (and we ate ALOT!), and we actually went back for seconds. It still took us another six months to get there, but we finally went for lunch recently and it definitely lives up to the hype. So first, the place is extremely small – they probably have 10 tables, with a counter that maybe seats six and a bar that seats about 10. It has a bit of a “dive” feel to it, but at the same time, you can sense an elevated food and drink experience is about to come as well. We ate at the bar so we were able to watch the bartenders do their thing – the menu has elevated craft cocktails that were all delicious (think canteloupe old fashioned). We started with the homemade pimento dip that comes with fried saltine crackers (totally adictive!), followed by their famous smash burgers. They are served with grilled onions, American cheese, a special sauce, and a homemade bun that is covered wall to wall with sesame seeds. It was one of the juciest, tastiest burgers I’ve ever had – well worth the trip!! The menu is small but has plenty of classics to choose from – gumbo, muffuletta, shrimp, oyster, or catfish po’boys, and Lousiana shrimp and grits. Oh, and get there early if you want to snag a seat – it fills up quick with long lines to get in in the evenings (no reservations, unfortunately).
Overall rating: Excellent; Food: Excellent Ambiance: Good; Service: Very Good; Cost: Inexpensive; Value: Excellent
Salt Bar & Table
Salt Bar & Table is on Anna Maria Island – it serves dishes made with local ingredients and focuses on upscale coastal cuisine. They have a large outdoor seating area, along with a smaller indoor dining room with a nice bar as well. The decor is modern, with nicely spaced tables. We started at the bar with a couple of cocktails shared with our friends Gerard and Terry, and then transitioned to the dining room for dinner. We absolutely loved the cocktails, but our dinners ended up being good but not great. Everything was fresh and the menu had plenty of options that included lots of seafood, fresh fish, steak, and pasta. Unfortunately, execution in the kitchen was an issue – I had to send my medallions back (I ordered them medium rare, they came out medium well instead), and Laurie’s halibat was overcooked and a bit dry. For the price, we expected better. All that said, it was a fun place to dine with a nice vibe and talented waitstaff as well. We would definitely try it again, in the hopes that we just caught them on an off night.
Overall rating: Good; Food: Good; Ambiance: Very Good; Service: Very Good; Cost: Expensive; Value: Average
Hope those reviews got you salivating a bit – I’d definitely recommend giving Kitchen Social, Lucky 8, and Chateau 13 a try as they were the three standouts in my Fall Sarasota restaurant review. I’ll be back in the winter to share more reviews!
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