Best Live Music Restaurants in Lakewood Ranch

We had a 1:30 reservation on Sunday but we found they were putting the food away about 2:30 PM so would advise an earlier reservation to be able to take your time and have a leisurely brunch.

Sage is probably the most beautiful restaurant in Sarasota or its environs, and the professionalism of the staff is the highest level we have seen in the area. Unlike most joints which stop serving by 9:00 PM, Sage serves dinner until 10:00 PM on weekdays and 11:00 PM on Friday and Saturday, with last reservation at 9:30. We walked there in 4 minutes from seeing the Ballet at the Sarasota Opera House, and I called ahead to say the performance was delayed (it was an actual world premiere). Bless them, they kept the kitchen open just for us, the last diners, and we had the best after-theatre experience since we've lived in Florida, like the old days when we lived on the Upper West Side and went to Lincoln Center.

We were looking for a unique restaurant close to I-75, for the drive home from St. Petersburg to Naples. How fortunate that we found Mademoiselle Paris. The escargot was some of the best we’ve had, and the duck breast was absolute perfection. The service was friendly and attentive, and made for a thoroughly enjoyable evening. Highly recommend.

Kona Grill is a beautiful restaurant, but unfortunately, the service and wait time were not up to par. I believe we may have had an inexperienced waiter who was unaware that Kona offers a prix-fixe menu. I indicated that we would order the prix-fixe on the OpenTable app. He did not present that menu to us and was also unaware that it came with a glass of wine. When we ordered our wine off the menu, and he later understood what we wanted to order, the manager, Autumn (who was outstanding, by the way), had to correct the mistake. She allowed us to keep the wine we ordered even though we were supposed to get the house wine. We entered the restaurant at 4:50 for a 5:00 reservation. It was nearly empty. We didn't leave until 6:45 because of all the mishaps. All in all, he tried his best, and the food was acceptable. It wasn't as good as I had hoped, but overall, the meal was acceptable, and the atmosphere was festive.

Without a doubt the Wednesday night prime rib special is worth the money. The meal itself was wonderful, flavorful, plenteous and hot! That's a lot to say about one meal. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and our server was terrific.