Hillview Grill

Had a nice lunch here with a friend. We had the BLT and a glass of wine for lunch. Very good food, wine was reasonable price. Service was quick and Italian owner came over to talk with us. Cute little place I was going to bring other friends back, but mixed it up with the Italian restaurant a few doors down. Too bad, would have rather come back. Give it a try.

They were able to accommodate our large group. The 12 of us enjoyed the experience. We had a fine representation of their menu with all of our orders. The crowd was very happy with their food. The atmosphere was comfortable, cosy, and not noisy. The staff was very attentive to our needs and many requests. We plan to return.

Food was excellent and so was the service. Maybe because the place was almost empty, on a Friday evening no less. It could be that the owners have turned the place around but nobody yet realizes it. I would definitely go back.

This place has really gone downhill. It’s hard to comprehend how much this place had changed over the years. The food is still good, but the service is on life support. I really would like to see this place survive! Three stars, mostly because of the food.

My party consisting of 11 people and I came in on a Tuesday night and at first we were a little apprehensive because there restaurant was practically empty. We can’t imagine why! The food was incredible and the staff was willing to comply with all our needs/​demands. I would definitely recommend this restaurant to everyone and we will definitely be back again. On a side note, our waiter, Thomas, was very pleasant and very professional. Overall it was a great evening!

Ribs were pretty good… nothing special. Staff was having trouble getting it together. didn’t make for a pleasant meal.

AVOID. while this used to be a reliable goto restaurant, there are new owners. The food is still good but the service is beyond terrible. we had three waiters come by to take our orders. it took about 20 minutes to get a bottle of wine. I could go on, but trust me… just avoid the restaurant for at least a few months until, hopefully, the new owners figure out how to run a restaurant.

Very disappointing. We are locals and have gone to Hillview for years. There is new management and the prices have gone up and the quality of the dishes is much lower. I had the boom boom shrimp. $ 9 for 7 small, tough shrimp. A small side of rice $ 3,ok, but it had food from other dishes in it, gross! My husband had blackened fish tacos. No blackening, mediocre fish. Between the new menu, high prices, and quality of food, we won’t be back. It is a shame because we have eaten there at least once a week for years. Time to find a new place! Oh and no soap or towels in the men’s room.
Brother went tonight and had wings. He said they were terrible and took 40 minutes to come out. Seems things are getting worse!

Had a terrific dinner here. The #3 burger was really an exclamation point to the Greek flatbread appetizer. Service was great as well.

Great happy
Hour and a casual ambience. A new chef from Hawaii has turned this menu around. Great seafood and. Veggie platter option. I’ll be back.

I would say the Tuna is a five star item. This is a small storefront restaurant near Sarasota Hospital that serves locals and seasonal residents. The menu has a great variety of items to choose from but if you like Sushi grade Tuna, it is the best item on the menu, Watch for the daily specials,

This is more if a 3.5₄.0 rating. On may 17 we came here for dinner on a Saturday night, as we were on vacation, I must say it was empty compared to the places in the same street. I don’t know why, as our waitress was great, food was exactly as described on the menu, tasted very good, I wouldn’t recommend getting steak, not that it was bad, but don’t expect it to be steak house quality. I would recommend this place, they definitely need to build their clientele.

We are full time residents in Sarasota and have been going to the Hillview Grill for many years. Last year, we noticed that the quality of the food (and service) had deteriorated substantially. The portions were smaller; the prices were higher; and the friendly servers (who we knew by name) had left. However, the major disappointment was: the food had taken a major turn for the worse. Therefore, we decided never to go back again.
However, tonight we thought we’d give Hillview Grill another try. What a mistake! It was unbelievable that a small piece of grouper with a little bit of rice and a few beans was $ 25. They used to serve huge portions with generous amounts of side dishes. Not anymore! The fish was lukewarm, tasteless, and came with a sorry-​looking cheap southwestern sauce on top (which was supposed to be served on the side — not on the fish as requested). I’m not even sure it was really grouper (it tasted more like the cheaper — mahi-​mahi — despite their claims to the contrary).
My companion ordered «the special» — scallops and shrimp in a «light» cream sauce with pasta for $ 26. The scallops were under-​cooked; there were only two small shrimp; and the «light» cream sauce was thick, heavy, overly rich, and barely edible. What a change from the old Hillview Grill with terrific food, reasonable prices, and great service. Even the nice host who usually wore a blue pin-​striped shirt at the door was gone (or maybe he was hiding out somewhere).
Now it comes to pass that this restaurant is being operated by a manager-​owner who is an unfriendly, militant woman (and her husband) who only seem to care about cutting costs. This woman was rude, arrogant, and defensive when we nicely pointed out that my companion’s meal was sub-​par. In fact, I took one taste of her scallop pasta dish and was looking for a napkin to spit it out — the sauce was that bad. However, the owner was not the least bit interested in our comments and said that there was nothing that she could do about it. When she asked me how my fish tasted — I said, «it wasn’t good, it wasn’t horrible — it was edible.» She’ll defend her position by blaming us for not complaining sooner, but it was Valentine’s Day, and my companion and I did not want to make a scene. It was only when I tasted my companion’s dish that I realized why she looked so unhappy.
The owner has accused us of just wanting a free meal — but, that’s such a typical response from a person with this type of defiant mindset. We couldn’t have cared less about the cost of the meal — we only wanted to enjoy our food and have a nice romantic evening out on Valentine’s Day. Also, we have read the other reviews here and noticed that we’re certainly not the only patrons who have been extremely disappointed with the food and the insensitive and rude treatment from the owners. The fact is, we do not like speaking with the owner of a restaurant to tell her how wonderful the restaurant used to be (before she owned it) — and how it has changed for the worse since she’s taken over. However, it was so obvious to us that these owners are only interested in: cutting back on expenses, using inferior ingredients, and raising their prices — that we just had to say something. In our view: Peter and Tracy Geannopulos have absolutely ruined this restaurant.
We used to love dining at this place, but needless to say, we’re never going back. I’m sure that many other people must have noticed the change between the old Hillview Grill and this bad imitation of it. We sincerely hope that these owners will learn how to value their customers before the many good restaurants in the area take away all their business. However, on a positive note, our waitress was very nice, and the valet who parked the car was terrific!

I have been to the Hillview Grill several times, usually on Thursday. The first few times I was pretty happy, but lately the burgers are over-​charred (if you love the charred burger taste, you will be very happy). The service, which used to be excellent, has faultered lately. Hopefully things will improve. I won’t give up on this restaurant altogether. If noise bothers you, avoid Thursday night.

A quick update: The gazpacho soup is not quite as good as it was nearly 4 years ago, but the Salmon BLT I had was EXCELLENT! Better beer selection, too… Prices are up moderately, but competitive…
By the way, the place was a bit more crowded than last time we were in. Did someone spill our secret? C’mon! I thought we had a deal?!?

I’m very underhwelmed by this place. On a weekday, 12:30 pm, off-​season, there’s no hostess or server in sight to seat you, lots of empty tables and booths. Was with a friend, we ordered 2 entrees, Gyros sandwich and the Chicken Cobb Salad w/​grilled chicken. Food was slow to materialize, it took 30 minutes, during which time I went to the rest room, then out to my car parked a block away and back before it arrived. But service was pleasant and attentive, not their fault about the timing.
Cobb Salad. Very skimpy. ½ a hard boiled egg, cut into 2 quarters, a sprinkling of bacon, a nice portion of blue cheese, and 2 tiny strips of avocado. ½ of a chicken breast. Bleu cheese dressing was ok. But the Romaine lettuce was rusty red and brown, obviously from a bag. I had to pick out several pieces too brown to eat, although I ate some that were brown on the edges. Then I just gave up eating the lettuce. Blech. This is NOT FRESH food.
The Gyros was right out of a box, and not the best quality from a box, either. It was served on a brittle, dry, toasted pita that was smaller than the portion of gyros meat (I think it was 3 slices of meat), so you couldn’t fold the pita without it cracking in half. One should have the option of folding the gyros inside a nice soft piece of pita, but I’m willing to bet that pita bread was STALE to begin with (thus the toasting), so it wouldn’t have been pleasant to eat it untoasted. Also NOT FRESH.
This place seems to be the darling of the wealthy and elderly, although it couldn’t be about the banal food. It exemplifies my major complaint about Sarasota’s darling restaurants — their patrons are elderly (hey, I’m 61) and IMO, ignorant of good quality, flavor and freshness. These patrons have lost their senses of smell and taste, as well as their ability to see clearly, Thus places like this get away with serving poor quality food.
I’d been there before for hamburgers, which were good, not great. That was in-​season and the wait was ridiculous. What’s the draw here? I can’t figure it out.

I have eaten here twice with my family and enjoyed it very much. Both times we happened to go on a Thursday, so I ordered their Thursday burger and beer special ($ 9). I have to say that both times the burger was excellent and cooked to perfection. Their blue cheese burger (along with a draft of Sierra Nevada) is especially good. Hell, the kids hamburger is good! My wife has tried the pasta dishes, and they too, are surprisingly tasty and well-​prepared. Service is efficient and both times our food came out of the kitchen within ten minutes of ordering.
My only complaint is that the restaurant is small and surrounds the bar area, which can be excessively loud at times. Last night, some blow-​hard from Ohio was sitting at the bar loudly telling everyone what was wrong with Florida. There was just no way to «tune» this idiot out. But hey! Floridians are used to tourist know-​it-​alls like that, so go to the Hillview Grill on thursday and get the Hamburger and a beer special. You won’t be sorry!

Came at 6:30 on a Thursday for their $ 9 burger & beer night and didn’t have to wait so I was pleasantly surprised. Although it is off-​season so that probably has something to do with it!
I really enjoyed my Cigar City Maduro Brown Ale and hope to be able to find it back home.
For the burger I made my own — avocado & swiss. My burger came out cooked perfectly (medium rare) which it almost never does because most places like to cook burgers medium. Very refreshing. Fries were good but nothing special. I really enjoyed the burger except for the roll — it needed something else, maybe to be grilled or toasted?
Waitress was friendly & helpful.
3 drinks + 3 burgers for $ 27, you can’t beat that!

This review is not about food. You see, I didn’t get a chance to eat. My friends and I were kicked out by the classless buffoon manning the host station.
I’ve been lucky enough to have dined in restaurants all over the world. I’ve been visiting Sarasota every year for most of my life. But what I saw go down at the Hillview grill was beyond comprehension.
I wish I could say my party got tossed for dancing on the tables or for participating in a wild food fight. (Okay, that’s highly unlikely since they are my elderly friends.) But no. Our party was bounced for simply inquiring what time we would be seated.
Here’s the edited version: We had a reservation, but after standing around for 15 minutes, the gentleman in our party asked the host when we would be seated. That’s when the host went postal. He snapped, «when I tell you you’ll be seated.» It deteriorated from there. My gentlemen friend is a soft-​spoken grandfather, hardly threatening, and never raised his voice. T
I felt like I was in a Seinfeld episode – remember the car reservation scene with Jerry and Elaine?
The host became belligerent and told us to «go someplace else» and we didn’t have a reservation anymore. Then he dramatically erased our name from the reservation book.
This has never happened to me anywhere. Not in New York, not in LA, not in London, not in Beijing, not in Paris, not in Sydney. Nor had it happened to anyone in my party (all well-​traveled and well-​heeled.)
So, dude at the host stand, you obviously hate your job. Get out of the hospitality business ASAP before you cost your boss anymore business. After you threw us out, we had a wonderful sushi dinner, just around the corner. And by the way, the women in our party think you need a toner on your over-​processed, bleached hair – it’s way too brassy. Try a different box of Miss Clairol. There. I said it. I feel better. Meow.

This is a neighborhood place in the busy SMH area. We had a reservation on a Friday night and though they were busy we were seated promptly.
It was hard to pass up their current $ 9.00 burger and brew special which I imagine will disappear with each arriving snowbird, which this place seems to attract. The burger special is offered in a few different configurations; choices of cheese, grilled onions, mushrooms, bacon etc., along with a choice of French fries, sweet potato fries, Cole slaw or chips. It is nice to have choices on such a «value» offering.
The burger was large and served with lettuce and tomato cooked exactly as ordered; medium rare. It tasted good and I ate the whole thing, but somehow it looked better than it tasted. Why can’t higher end restaurants make burgers that are tasty like Five Guys or In-​N-​Out?
My wife cut her large burger and ate only half also leaving a handful of sweet potato fries. At the end of eating, the waitress scooped it up so quickly that we couldn’t request taking it with us, although I did call out «Miss» and was ignored or unheard. I would think a server would inquire if you wanted to take it with you, or seeing a large portion uneaten if everything was alright. Thinking about it now it was borderline rude, «Are you done» would have been nice. Oh well, it was a busy night.
Friends (who are only occasional meat eaters) love their ribs. This is a casual place with good menu choices and reasonable pricing.
I’m giving them 4 starts for value and atmosphere. The food and service gets 3 stars. Come on Unilocal, lets get half stars I know we can handle it!