The Best Sarasota Restaurants for Dining - Part 2

Last week I started my countdown of the top 10 absolute best fine-dining restaurants in Sarasota, FL. This week, I finish the countdown by sharing Laurie’s and my top five restaurants in Sarasota – start making your plans to visit if you don’t live here already, and we’ll start making the dinner reservations for when you arrive!!

Beautiful downtown Sarasota

Necking down the long list of fantastic restaurants in Sarasota, FL to the top 10 was an almost impossible task – I had to leave off many of our favorites! And that doesn’t even count all the restaurants we want to go to but haven’t had time to visit yet. For the record, since we arrived in Sarasota and year-and-a-half ago, Laurie and I have dined at over 75 different restaurants, and many of them multiple times! They have ranged from dumps with great food, to elegant high-end restaurants that rival anything we have experienced in Washington DC, New York City, San Francisco, and New Orleans to name a few of our favorite foodie cities.

In future posts I’ll cover some of our other favorites but for now, we are focused on the absolute best fine dining restaurants in Sarasota! Starting where we left off last week, here’s the final countdown of the top five fine dining restaurants in Sarasota (and SURPRISE – there’s a tie for the top spot)!

5. indigenous

Indigenous restaurant, and their famous wild mushroom bisque and parmesan beignets

Indigenous is a gem of a restaurant located off the beaten path in downtown Sarasota on the edge of a residential neighborhood. Small in size, this restaurant has both indoor and outdoor seating spread across a front porch as well as a couple of cozy dining rooms. They also have a small wine bar in a separate building in the back with 3-4 tables that are available on a first-come, first-served basis. If you want a table, best to get your reservations at least a month in advance as this place is very popular, especially in season. Everything on the menu is locally sourced, with an emphasis on sustainable seafood and fish. The menu is small, eclectic and creative, with offerings ranging from lemon pickled shrimp and corn to pistachio baked falafel to their decadent (and absolutely delicious!) wild mushroom bisque. You can’t go wrong with any dish here, but the fish is out of this world so focus your attention there if you are lucky enough to get a reservation here! Also, the “My Uncles Burger” is one of the best burgers I’ve ever tasted, and that’s saying something! The wine list is small but interesting with plenty of choices by the glass and bottle (no hard liquor/cocktails are served here though which is a bit strange). And even though this definitely qualifies as a fine dining establishment, the prices are very reasonable given the quality and caliber of the food.

4. Selva Grill

Selva Grill, and their lobster tostadas

Selva is a Peruvian restaurant that specializes in a unique, creative, authentic but modern take on south American cooking. They have two locations in Sarasota – one downtown and one at University Town Center (our favorite!). The menu is broad and deep in selections, with a wide range of ceviche’s, innovative appetizers, and entrees from the sea and land. Selections range from lamb, ribeye, duck, and chicken to short ribs, sea bass, and snapper to name just a few. What sets this restaurant apart is the creative mix of flavors, spices, and textures used by the chefs to create amazing and entirely unique dishes, all plated beautifully. For example, my duck was served with green pea risotto, a roasted red pepper salsa, chimichurri and finished with passionfruit puree. Tasted together, it was an explosion of surprising and exciting flavors I would have never thought would go well together. The cocktail list is extensive with a large number of fruit-based mojitos that are the best I have ever tasted. The dining room is modern and elegant, and quiet as well with well-spaced tables. The New York Times food critic reviewed Selva recently and noted that Selva “was serving possibly the best food in Sarasota. Everything on the menu is worth trying.” He is right!

3. Hyde Park Prime Steak House

Hyde Park Prime Steak House

This downtown Sarasota mainstay is a high-end classic steakhouse with a modern twist. The outdoor patio is light and airy, with a casual atmosphere. Step inside the restaurant, and you walk into a more elegant, traditional steakhouse with low light, velvet red banquettes to sit on, and beautiful dark wood tables. Everything here is fresh and cooked to perfection. All the classics you would look for in a steakhouse are here – seafood appetizers, salads (Caesar, wedge, and chop), and a wide selection of steaks and chops, including dry aged and Wagyu. The wine list is extensive with representation from around the world, but a nice emphasis on American offerings. Dinner starts with a fantastic breadbasket with hot homemade soft pretzels, rolls, and butter with sea salt, pepper, and olive oil sprinkled on top. We’ve actually never made it to desert, but what we have seen looks fantastic as well. Best steaks, bar none, in Sarasota. Pricey, but well worth it!

1 (Tie) Meliora

Meliora entrance, and their Rohan duck

Absolutely fantastic restaurant owned and run by a chef who used to work at Rose’s Luxury, one of the best (and one of our favorite!) restaurants in Washington DC. This place opened in March 2022 in the Southside Village of Sarasota. The cuisine here is amazingly creative and inventive, and impossible to categorize since the offerings span a wide range of cultures and influences. The menu has two sections – cold and hot. Most of the offerings are small plates, meant to be shared and sized for two. A few are larger portions that could be shared by four. Everything we tasted was superb, with explosions of flavor and cooked to perfection. The presentation of the food is about as gorgeous as it gets too. For our meal, we selected the Japanese Milk Bread with Cultured Butter (a must-have starter to the meal); Tuna with Fried Ginger, Tamari, Cilantro, and Sesame; Cold Pork with Sesame, Fermented Kohlrabi, and Lime; Fried Potato with Mushroom, Velouté, and Marsala; Gnocchi Parmesan Cream and Brown Butter; and Rohan Duck with Bao bun, Pear, Fermented Turnip, and Hoisin. And best, the menu changes on a weekly basis so you can always try new things. The service is superb, with a wait staff that knows the food well and can guide you through the menu and the phasing of your dishes. The wine list is extensive with everything offered by the glass, and the cocktails are inventive and tasty – the Merriweather is a thing of beauty and a must to kick off the evening – check out my video of the drink below. The dining room is modern in design, and reasonably quiet so you can carry on a conversation without shouting. A fantastic restaurant for a special occasion!

The Merriweather cocktail with Green Hat gin, Thai basil, Chandon rose, and rosemary

1 (Tie) KOJO

KOJO bar, and their spicy Wagyu noodles

KOJO is an Asian-Fusion themed restaurant in downtown Sarasota with a modern sensibility and absolutely superb food! The dining room is large with comfortable seating and nice lighting as well. The bar is cozy, the bartenders are knowledgeable and friendly, and the cocktails exciting, creative, and inspired. The dining room serves innovative Asian cuisine using a mix of small and large plates. The Bao Buns are amazing (Fried Chicken and Pork Belly are our favorites) as are many of the small plates like Shrimp Tempura and Fried Rice. Large plates span the range from poultry, seafood, fish, and the ultimate item on the menu – Grilled Australian Wagyu Skirt Steak served with shiso salsa verde & garlic-soy butter – simply the best most tender steak we have ever tasted! The servers know the menu and helped us navigate it to understand how much to order. Our server’s recommendation was to order as we go which is what we did, and the dishes came out shortly after, so it was a nicely paced and relaxing dinner. Nice wine list as well. Absolutely superb!!