Panini Press

I came across Panini Press while strolling around downtown one evening, and have been back several times. I am a fiend for their chicken salad, its crunchy and delish, the fruit salad is perfectly ripened and beautifully presented with an edible orchid. Mini panini’s with tomato, basil and mozzarella were a party in my mouth. Last month, I took my MeetUp group of Sarasota Dog Lovers to Panini, the staff handled 25 people on the patio and a dozen dogs, promptly and courteously. It’s a little known downtown gem and easy on the pocketbook.

In the never-​ending quest for more work day lunch options, some coworkers and I stopped into the new Panini Press this last week. IT is located at the old micky’s location on Pineapple and Ringling. A new paint job has lightened up the building and sitting outside when it is nice out is a welcome change.
As you might expect from the name, Panini’s are the main thing going on here. I ordered the «spicy» sausage panini and my co-​workers sampled other of the short list of things offered. I have no problem with short lists at restaurants, keeps down the microwaving, but the offerings are fairly similar (turkey Vs chicken).
One thing I liked was the panini was served with plantain chips and some decent fruit as sides. A nice change. But what I didn’t like was I got 3 chips and a ton of fruit and my coworker to the right got three bits of apple and a ton of chips! Some QC is need as the plates go out, which was kind of slow as well.
The sandwich was good, not great. And in no way was that a spicy sausage hiding in my panini. I know «spicy» food in Sarasota is often toned down, but they would have been better off calling it a savory sausage instead of spicy. There is a sweet version offered as well, but I typically prefer spicy as all too often I’ve been seen breakfast links passed off as sweet sausage (which they are) but that is not what I’m looking for during lunch.
For the price, the slow service and the strange proportions of sides, the size of the sandwich, panini press gets 2 stars. With a little work I’m sure they can get up to 3 but nothing that really rocked my world.