We like to support local businesses and let our readers know who some of the best establishments are. Some are noted for a specific item because we haven’t tried all of their offerings. We hope you find this page helpful.

Restaurants, Food and Happy Hours

Best of Our Town Sarasota Happy Hour: Mattison’s 41 offers one of the best happy hours with fantastic appetizers and drinks at very reasonable prices. They even have entertainment nightly at 6 PM. Happy Hour runs all afternoon and evening.

Best of Our Town Sarasota Fresh Seafood Market: Lotsa Lobster sells fresh shelled seafood and fresh fish of the highest quality. Maine lobsters are flown in daily. Local owner Susanne and manager Caylin serve you with a smile and a laugh or two. LotsaLobsterSarasota.com

Best of Our Town Sarasota Pizza: Rico’s Pizza Gulf Gate, not all pizza is created equal. There are a few Rico’s Pizza’s in town and Rico’s Gulf Gate we believe is the best. We prefer their thin pizza as compared to the thick crust pizza. Plus, Mark Riley the owner is one of the most stand up people in Sarasota and also Ben who works there days. RicosPizzaGulfGate.com

Best of Our Town Sarasota Deli/Butcher: Geier’s Sausage Kitchen has been around for over 35 years in Sarasota. They have the best meats and deli products along with specialty products from Europe. The owners are local and great people.

Best of Our Town Sarasota Turkey Club: Geckos has one of the best turkey club sandwiches around, with real turkey, ask for crispy bacon, comes with lettuce, tomato, mayo on toasted white bread. It’s enough for two to four meals. Yum.

Best of Our Town Sarasota Seafood Platter: Walt’s Seafood Restaurant has been around for over 50 years and is run by 3rd generation family members. They have a seafood combination platter that will knock your socks off.

Best of Our Town Sarasota Ahi Tuna: Bonefish Grill on the South Trail. Ask for their tuna seared/rare, it is thick and tender. It comes with two sides. By the way, their Bang Bang shrimp is a knock out on Wednesdays for only $6. Veggies are a bit al dente, you may want to ask for them to be cooked more if you like.

Services:

Best of Our Town Sarasota Ron Horn Plumbing: Ron and his wife have been in business for over 30 years in Sarasota. Their service is professional and they back up what they promise.

Best of Our Town Sarasota Photo941: They are no ordinary photographers, mostly servicing Realtors and Builders their photos pop out at you like no other. They do stills, video and aerial photography. Your satisfaction is guaranteed. Photo941.com

Best of Our Town Sarasota Ace Hardware: Locally owned, this hardware store has virtually any nut or bolt you could ever need. Their staff is helpful and they gave out a free flag for Memorial Day!

Best of Our Town Sarasota People:
We recognize these people for the contributions they have made to help make our town a better place to live in. (We will be filling in bios shortly.)

Harvey Vangroff

Jon Thaxton

Linda Carson

Steve Seidman

Tom Knight

Lori White

Mary Lynn Desjarlais