The Old Salty Dog

Decent food, but the majority of battered seafood appeared not to be made in-​house. The waitstaff were slow and inattentive, and messed up 3 of our 5 orders. It has a beautiful view and is dog friendly!

This place has an average of three stars and I think that is generous. There are not very many great restaurants that are actually on Siesta Key so I really wanted to like this one.
The location isn’t great. The restaurant is about a block outside of the village. But it does have a nice outside deck and a tiki bar kind of a feel. The service we received was good. The food wasn’t.
I have a lot of local friends who have tried this place and they all say close to the same thing, «If you go to the Old Salty Dog keep it simple» or «Get a hotdog». Well we got the Grouper Ruben, the Salmon, a water and a diet coke. The grouper ruben sandwich was mediocre, the fries where inedible, the salmon was mediocre. The only thing that was decent was the diet coke.
We also found the price of the food to be extremely high (compared to the taste and quality). The meal was a comparable price to The Cottage but the location is better there and the food from The Cottage puts this place to shame.

Had the fried oysters and they were spot on. Cool view on the patio. Would definitely go back for seconds.

Had a nice lunch and good Margs here. It’s a fun funky little place. Had a mahi sandwich, grouper rueben and peel & eat shrimp. Pretty good. Waitress was prompt and nice. Would come back. Kinda wanted to try a hot dog or grilled cheese.

A regular stop for for us in Siesta Key. It’s decent food and a solid value. We had peel and eat shrimp that was really great this go round.

This place is so mediocre. I’ve been coming to Siesta for years and finally decided to try this place after a few recommendations. The day we went it was too hot to sit outside (Florida in June after all), so we go inside and the AC was broken. I decided to tough it out, as we were starving.
Service was lacking, we were sweating, and the food was sub par. I guess if you like generic seafood and crappy mixed drinks then it will do the job. The peel and eats were decent though. I will stick with SKOB for fresh casual seafood with an outdoor environment.

I’ve been here a few times so I know not to expect anything out of this world when it comes to service, but today was the worst. Sat down and waited about ten minutes for my drink order to be taken to which I gave my full order app and entrée at once because they do look a little busy. My drinks were dropped off in normal time as was my app, but I had to flag down another waitress because I have yet to see mine and the app was less than flavorful so I needed some hot sauce! Ordered the loaded salty dog, don’t bother by the time it arrives to your table the bun is so soggy it dissolves so you have to eat it with a knife and fork. However everything else on the menu is usually terrific. Will come back again!

The food is good (with one exception noted below) and the drinks are very good. However, never order the shrimp po-​boy. The «shrimp» are small, frozen breaded shrimp out of a bag that you’d buy in the frozen food section of the grocery and they are apparently micro-​waved to warm them. We’re next to waters where great shrimp are harvested, and this place uses tasteless frozen shrimp on a sandwich (?).
I would have rated this place much lower, but this one meal doesn’t reflect the usually good food and drink so I’ll give it a 4 star review.

Very casual atmosphere. All of our food was good. Service friendly, decent selection of drinks. I had blackened grouper, we also had fish tacos, and peel and eat shrimp.

Can’t beat the view, that’s really what this place is all about. Food is over priced and just okay. Service is always good also. If your a tourist and want the experience this is your place. I have had the fish tacos and burger… we had margaritas also. They gave a generous pour so that was nice. They were strong margaritas! Like I said… this place is great cause it is right on the water but food wise they are just ok.

Perfect location with great seafood and standard options! My friends got a salty dog and Bloody Mary and a burger with Bloody Mary; both raved about the flavor of the Bloody Mary with spice and their food! I got the grinch drink with the black bean veggie burger! Mhm amazing flavor and the fried were great not too salty either!

So I guess this place is famous or something. So be it. The food is still blah and pricey. Go here to get a t-​shirt and a 2 pound hot dog or a photo or your friend trying to eat the 2 pound hot dog. Otherwise, avoid it entirely.

After several local recommendations, we decided to visit the Old Salty Dog and I deeply regret it.
We received great service from Jill, but I wants impressed with their options and got severe food poisoning from eating their fish and chips.

I had the best time here. Food was good, atmosphere was great, loved the music.
Very friendly staff. Pet friendly.

Found this place thanks to fellow Unilocalers and the positive reviews were spot on. The views are great, friendly staff, expansive menu, cool and different drinks as well as unique menu items. We had the clam chowder which was great. The fried hot dog bites were different but very good. The fried grouper firecracker wrap was one of the best things we have ever tasted. Highly recommend this hidden gem. Drove right past it the first time but glad we kept looking!

I liked the OSD for the atmosphere and drinks. The food was just average bar food, in my opinion. We had a very pleasant server, who was always checking to make sure we were good to go. We noticed something crawling on the wall and made mention of it to the server. She was very hush hush about it and went and told someone else. I notice a guy go over and grab it with a napkin. Later, when I asked what it was, she said it was a Palmetto Beetle. Anyone that knows Florida, knows that that is just a fancy way of saying cockroach. I’m not hinting that the place is filthy by any means, but definitely raises a little bit of concern. Overall, this is a decent place to grab a cold one, watch a game and have some basic bar food. There are much better option on the key and in Sarasota, so you may want to pass.

I came here when I was on vacation on a week night in December. It was around dinner time and the place wasn’t really that busy, but had a decent crowd. We sat outside, but as the night went on, it got pretty chilly – I wish they had heat lamps or something outside. I understand it’s Florida, but there are times of the year when it gets cold out at night. I almost bought a sweatshirt which would have been fine to wear and stay warm enough outside, but they «just had a busy weekend» so they only had one left in my size. It was in red, which def. is not my color, so I ended up passing. I didn’t want to spend $ 40 on a sweatshirt that I wasn’t really that excited about.
One of the reasons I wanted to come here was because I wanted to try somewhere new, especially since I was on vacation, and I saw it had been on man vs. food. I never bothered watching the episode, so I’m not really sure why it was on there. I am not a seafood eater at all, but my boyfriend it. We ordered the conch fritters as an appetizer, which he thought were ok. I think if I liked seafood, I would have liked them. I tried one, but I didn’t care for it since I don’t like seafood anyway. They did have a nice, crisp outside and were not dried out on the inside.
For dinner I ordered their (in)famous «salty dog» which is a hot dog dipped in beer batter and deep fried. Fries were good, hot dog itself was ok. It’s not really a place I’m going to wish was in Ohio. Service was ok, nothing outstanding. It was a cool place to go to that was right on the water though. If I lived down there, I would probably go there every once in awhile. Nice hang out place to grab a drink with food that’s not overly priced.

Prepared for fried food? Well then, good, dig in! Place is good for a nice hot dog or fish and chips. They have other food as well, but I wanted to stick with what they were known for, so I had the fish and chips. We sat on the upper level, outside. I thought the fish was very good. While they don’t go light on the fried batter, the fish was light and very filling. I’ve had fish and chips in England, and it definitely can hold its own in terms of flavor. I shared my meal, and it was plenty for two people. Didn’t realize it until later, but there’s also a bar inside.
Enjoyed the outdoor seating, although not a ton to look at in terms of sights. Not my healthiest of meals, but it was definitely enjoyable.

I saw this place on Man vs Food and decided I had to try it when I visited Sarasota again. My husband and I went close to closing, sat outside on the patio (which I thought had a cool vibe) and we both ordered The Salty Dog and a beer.
First of all, I really like Hot Dogs period so keep that in mind. Maybe it was the beer talking but I thought it was amazing! I usually add Ketchup but was sparing this time as it was just delicious and juicy without adding sauce.
I honestly don’t remember anything about the service, I was too excited for my Hot Dog. I do remember that it came out pretty fast which is always a good thing!
Bottom Line: If you like Hot Dogs you should probably try one deep fried, it was tasty!

If a plane with family lands in Sarasota, my family goes here for their first Florida meal. May be the fried hot dogs, or the fried onion rings, or the drink of the day~all are draws.
Today was no exception. Have to say the salmon salad looked fabulous, New England clam chowder was consumed quickly, but my salty dog was fabulous. Fries were crispy.
The stars are over the top due to the great times we’ve had here as a family.