Barnacle Bill’s Seafood

The seafood is consistently good. Most of the servers are excellent. This is one of our go to places (in either location) cuz we love the salmon piccata (which has capers and capers are brined people! That means salted) and the provencal, the crab cake salad, well any of the crab (FYI stone crabs are expensive everywhere). Love the recommendations from the servers on the fresh specials. The bread is just too yummy especially for a low carber!!! Love the pineapple vinaigrette on the mixed greens. …if you are looking for white linen tablecloths and crystal and heavy silver, go somewhere else. lots of choices in Sarasota. If you are looking for casual, good food, well you just might see us sitting next to you.

Was in the area for work and a co-​worker took me here for dinner. They have a couple cool promos…
* half-​price appetizers until 5pm
* surf «and» turf dinner for two: 2 salads, two entrees (steak/​crab, steak/​lobster), 1 dessert and a bottle of wine (~$ 90)
* surf «or» turf dinner for two: 2 salads, steak or crab/​lobster/​etc entrée, 1 dessert, and a bottle of wine (~$ 60).
They also have what I call «build your own fish dish»…you choose your desired fish (salmon, tilapia, grouper, flounder, snapper, tuna, etc), then select the sauce you want (stuffed crab, etc). It was absolutely delicious. (~$ 25)
I started with their Caesar salad — very tasty. I did not have room for dessert, but key lime pie was on the menu (so Floridian).
Our waitress was a California transplant; very friendly, maybe a little too chatty, but great service.
I will definitely go back the next time I’m in town.

I visited Barnacle Bill’s in downtown Sarasota for lunch with friends from out-​of-​town. They have visited this restaurant on a number of occasions over the years. I had an heirloom tomato and avocado salad, which tasted pretty good. I was a little disappointed in the freshness of the tomatoes, as they were cold and tasted like they were out of the fridge. Everyone knows that is the best way to ruin the flavor of tomatoes. The dressing on top was a small line across the tomatoes and almost imperceptible. I also ordered the onion rings to share. The dipping sauce with the onion rings was the best part, as the onion rings sure seemed frozen.
My friends ordered the salmon salad and the salmon piccata. One did not finish her salad or choose to take the left-​overs with her — not a good sign. The other loved her salmon piccata, which was served over spaghetti.
The presentation on all the dishes was very good. I thought the presentation and service were much better than the food.
I looked around the restaurant and realized that they were not very busy on a Saturday at noon. I did note, however, that the restaurant and rest rooms were both very clean. Apparently, the kitchen was too, during their last inspection. You can check out your favorite restaurant’s health inspection at the link, below:

Went to the 5050 taminami trail one for the early bird special. For 12.99 we ordered a crab cake meal. Portions were small nothing special. I ordered salmon with linguine and capers. It was Very salty. The waitress said stone crabs were in season As an appetizer we asked a price and we heard 6.99. So we said Ok. We received 3 small claws and got ½ lb which was about one ounce of meat. Meanwhile in Naples we had all you can eat stone crabsfor 20.00. SO WE WERE HORRIFIED when the bill came and it said this one ounce of crab was 25.99. We called Bee. The manager and basically she said tough shit and took off 3.00. Our bill was 56.00 with no alcoholic drinks… NEVER AGAIN. My poor husband was here only for a week and with hundreds of good restaurant THIS ONE IS A BIG DUD. SMALL PORTIONS… we figured their stone crabs the 3 claws were 108.00 a pound… Highway robbery

Pretty horrible experience.
Stopped in for a grouper sandwich and received a previously frozen piece of grouper and a ice cream scoop of instant mashed potatos.
That was after almost an hour wait sitting at the bar watching the staff in total chaos.
Gordon Ramsey would have a field day here.
Can’t waste anymore time on this dump.

I see by the posts over the last few months that the quality has taken a downward spiral. It’s so sad to see an institution be leveled to less than a mediocre facsimile of itself. I had to give my server a tip on customer service, awkward. I will not be back to this restaurant until something drastically changes. The owner needs to seriously look at the caliber of staff he is entrusting his business too.

After waiting 5 min for a waiter, one wisks by only to say I will be right with you. So, I will limit my time writing this review. I ordered the crab cake with potato salad and my friend ordered the blackened grouper sandwhich with fries. Our verdict? Average food for high prices. My crab cake wasn’t anything special and the potato salad tasted very bland. My friend couldn’t eat the fries due to the excessive grease making them soggy. Also, as everyone noted in the reviews the drink prices are ridiculous.
I wouldn’t return nor recommend.
My advice to management:
1. Shut down and renovate. The proximity of the toilet to the wall in the ladies room is ridiculous.
2.HIRE more staff, I waited 10 min before anyone came to take our drink orders
3. Last but not least hire a reputable executive chef, food is not worth the price.

I was not impressed and will not return. Service was great, the prime Rib was delicious (a little fatty) but good. I felt they were over priced. Margaritas were $ 7.75 and were really not well mixed and a small slice of pie was $ 6.99. The thing that really bothered me the most was you serve a great piece of meat but you served «instant potatoes!» They were tasteless and did not compliment the steak.

This place was great! Everything tasted amazing and the price wasn’t ridiculously expensive. I will definitely be going here again.

First time at this restaurant, they have a wonderful summer special going on. We had two Maine lobsters, a bone-​in ribeye, salad or soup and a dessert to share plus a bottle of wine. Excellent price, food was out of this world and service was superb. I don’t know how I went so long before trying this restaurant, this is definitely going to be one of my favorites.

I ordered the Mahi Mahi Tacos with Mexican rice and Ice Tea. The ingredients were fresh and the tea was brewed. I liked the tacos and the flavor was above average. The rice tasted too salty. This was my first time at this restaurant and maybe I should have ordered one of the other fish entries. The wait staff was friendly and took good care of me making sure I had plenty of tea and lemons.

Early Bird is the way to go. Fried Shrimp was good, only 5 – 6 pieces though. Rice was also good, friendly waitress. Parking is an issue with the road closures though.

The waitress was horrible. She kept telling us excuses as to why she kept screwing up. She said she works lunches and doesn’t know the dinner menu. Instead of asking what the side was because she wasn’t sure, she let them give us a side we didn’t ask for. She made us wait for our drinks and bread. If I hadn’t left a ten dollar bill, my boyfriend was not leaving her a tip, she would have got nothing! I had the seafood strudel, which was bland and only had shrimp and scallops, not lobster like the menu says. My boyfriend said his stuffed flounder was fair. We will not be back.

Endless menu options and they all look delicious. I went with the:
Tuna Niçoise salad
Key Lime Pie
…and they were both outstanding.
Delicious bread is served while you wait for your meal. The service was friendly, helpful, and attentive. They even learned my name for personable touch. The prices are very reasonable for the quality of food and service.
I’ll definitely give this place another go when I’m in the area.

DON’T ASK TO PUT YOUR TABLES TOGETHER!!! Our server Christian was amazing. If it wasn’t for him we would have gotten up and left. The manager Scott was ruddiest person we’ve met in a very long time. He needs management training on how to politely talk to his customers. If I owned the restaurant, he would be the first person I’d fire. It’s all in the delivery…

We were wondering at the Main Street downtown Sarasota and found the restaurant. Now we only ha 50 minutes left before concert and decided to try it regardless any review. It was exciting adventure to try something new. Since the time we have not much, we will go for several appetizer menu.
The first dish is the oyster Rockefeller. The oyster is a bit small that I couldn’t taste it since all the cheese, spinach, and shallots are filling the half shell. The season is ok. The second dish is the shrimp and lobster chimichanga. This is the first time I have the the lobster this way. Inside the Chimichanga are Celery, Shallots, Tomato, Asiago Cheese, Select Herbs and Spices Folded in a Flour Tortilla and Deep Fried. This is a nice creation lobster wrap in Mexican style. The last appetizer dish is the most value dish. Escaragot En Croute: Escargot Sautéed in a Classic White Wine and Garlic Butter Sauce served in a Puff Pastry vol au vent. The puff pastry is great with the escargot lay on top. Snails on the pillow top bed. That why the escargot is soft. Just kidding. This dish is less than $ 10.
Our main dish is the crab cake sandwich with fries. They gave you an inch thick crab cake. It mix are A blend of Crabmeat, selected Herbs and Spices, Sautéed and served on a Fresh Baked Roll. The crab cake is nice and they the restaurant winning dish. My wife likes it.
Overall we are in and out the restaurant in 40 minutes to make to the concert. The service is average.

This is a great lunch place. The portions are big too. I usually order the crab cakes and shrimp scampi pasta.

I thought it was just ok. Went there with my family for lunch. It was nice to see that they had lunch menus even on weekends. Happy hour prices on drinks at 1 pm. The place is not much to look at, but very spacious seems very clean. Our server was nice. Many elderly patrons. I ordered a cup of sea food chowder to start and grouper sandwich. The chowder was good. Creamy. Needed salt and was not as hot as I prefer. The sandwich was not the best I’ve ever had. They claim its a «real» grouper, but I had my doubts. It tasted too fishy (in my opinion) to be grouper. The fish was a bit undercooked, so maybe that’s why? Not a generous chunk either, but was pretty cheap, so can’t complain. Like I said, it was just okay lunch.

Oh my WOW.
Went here on 9÷13÷14 (N Tamiami Trail location) and I honestly cannot stop dreaming of our dinner. It was beyond a doubt one of the most incredible dining experiences I have ever had.
First– the interior is not much to rave about. It’s clear it was built large to accommodate winter snowbirds and thus was largely empty on my visit… But the service was attentive.
Appetizer: got the crab meat mushrooms — amazing! 4 LARGE mushrooms stuffed with the most delicious crab meat.
Entrée: ordered off the «fresh catch» menu, which is a list of amazing fresh fish you can have prepared any way you like. Many fish I had never heard of! But our server new pros and cons to each and was a huge help. I ended up ordering the fresh catch Corvina served Diane style = baked crab meat stuffing in the fish, and topped with Lemon and more crab meat stuffing… Absolutely amazing.
Dessert: house made key lime pie. My god… It melted in my mouth.

We decided to try Barnacle Bill’s because a staff member at the Hyatt recommended it. Overall it wasn’t bad. The portions are big and I doubt you will leave hungry. The menu is huge. They have over a 100 items. My husband and I decided to try a special. You get a bottle of wine (cheap wine retails from $ 4.99-$ 7.99; we looked it up), two salads, two entrees, and you share a desert for $ 59.00. Not a bad deal at all.
I would like to at least give this place 4 stars but the food was so bland. You do get a large portion but it was lacking flavor. With so many options I feel like it fell short. It was not the worst place that we dined at but it could use some improvement.
We did finish the night off on a good note, key lime pie. That was very good!