Ricky T’s Bar & Grille

I never miss coming here for breakfast when I stay at the beach. The Crab Benedict is amazing. Tons of crabmeat cooked perfectly! It can get crowded and can be loud, but the food is delicious

If you are going to have a bar and restaurant in one than both dining and drinking should be given equal priority and made to feel comfortable. Sadly that is not the case here.
Last week during our first visit to Treasure Island we were happy to discover such a popular dining option across from our hotel. The place was packed which was a good indication to us that the food was good, and they served all three meals.
So we found ourselves here for dinner our second night in town. We fought our way through the live band and crowd outside, only to be greeted by more crowds and another band inside. Many people were standing around enjoying cocktails although we did spy a few empty tables in the far back. Unsure if there was a wait, or a hostess for that matter (no one greeted us) we decided to seat ourselves and get the attention of the bartender who let us know we could sit anywhere.
We had glanced at the menu the day before and had a good idea of what we wanted and that was a good thing because the place was very dark inside. There were light fixtures above our tables but not turned on. When I inquired with the waitress on if she could turn them on I was told the lighting is off when the band is there. To me this seems unjust and made me as a diner feel less important than the drinkers
I ordered a chicken dish meal, one of the pricier items on the menu that was to come with a salad, a seasonal vegetable, and a starch. It sounded like a lot of food to me but I was looking forward to the seasonal veggies and asked the server if I was reading this correctly. She said yes. However when my order came it was minus the veggies and after another inquiry was told that because of my dish already having a veggie in it that did not come with the veggies. This was despite the fact that menu said it did and the waitress confirmed so at the time of my order. She did however obtain a side of veggies for me at no cost.
To make a long story short the food was good, but not fantastic. Service was slow as far as refilling my water. The atmosphere however was horrible! Besides dining in darkness, the noise level between the outside front band, inside band, drinkers, AND another live band out back was just too much. I had to scream at my partner across the table to have a conversation. All the while having drinkers bump my chair and squeeze past me in route to the bathroom.
The next day we decided to give them another go — this time much earlier and outside. Again the place was packed. No hostess outside so we seated ourselves. We were approached after 15 minutes for our water order, another 10 minutes pasted till we got said water and a menu. Forty five minutes later we were still waiting for our order to be PLACED with no waitress in sight. By this time the outside band was playing and the place was starting to fill. All the other tables around us were drinkers and no food orders. We decided enough was enough and we’d never be missed and drank our water and left.
Not really sure what the appeal is for a diner, and considering our treatment I think they should abandon food all together and just be a bar.

Moved to Treasure Island a couple months ago and found Ricky T’s the second night I was here. Great local pub with a nice mix of tourists and regulars. 3 full bars… tiki bar out front, large bar inside and another bar out back. Live entertainment at all three bars. Very good pub food and excellent bartenders, especially Sean, Jenny, Angie and Mitchell (aka Eddie Van Halen).

First time here. Everything was delicious. Went for breakfast. We had the prime rib with eggs, toast, and grits and the country fried steak and eggs. Portions are huge, service quick and friendly!

After watching sunset on the beach we walked around to find a fun place to sit and snack and drink. We were hoping for a dessert but didn’t notice until we were already seated that they have no desserts here.
They had live music going which was fun and the singer was good. It’s self seat so we grabbed one of the only open tables and a waitress came over pretty quickly.
Since they didn’t have dessert we went with chips and guac, and both got rum punch drinks. Guac was very good. Chips were stale drinks were just okay.
As it often does in Florida, the weather rapidly changed and rain started falling so grabbed our check, met the waitress at the cash register and took off for our hotel.
Overall: B–
No dessert. Good live music!

Very good. Went for breakfast on a Thursday morning. Servings are huge and very good. Always a busy place especially on weekends. Will go back again.

Great place for fun, drinks and food. Wife had salmon salad and loved it. Chowder was fantastic. Attentive and friendly bar tenders and the live music made for a great time. A must visit for bar hoppers.

I like the atmosphere and the prices are not to bad. The fish n chips was not very good. The fish tastes oily and no real flavor. We also got a kids meal cheese burger and was way over cooked.
We stopped by at night and the outside bar was fun with entertaining music. To bad the food is not entertaining.

This place had a foul odor and was extremely dirty. Our table was sticky, there was spilled food all over the floor, and the restrooms were completely a mess. Our table had old food crusted to the edge of the table and this place didn’t look like it had every been cleaned. Seriously, this place was in bad shape. The food was ok, but I would never go back to this place.

A real dive but good bands and a fun place if you like to party. Service has always been below average. Staff has a personality of a brick wall. I used to go and party there for years on and off because my crazy friends hung out there. Never liked it and still don’t. I go elsewhere now. Too many regulars and old timers for my liking.

This place was recommend by our hotel.
I’ll keep this short and sweet.
We came here for breakfast 10:35 and now they are serving lunch.
I sit here and write this review already been waiting 1plus hour for our food, unacceptable. I ordered scrambled eggs and hash.
The coffee was terrible and I’m not sure if I’ll be able to leave a review about the food, we have a baseball game to catch.
Avoid this place if you don’t have a life.

Been here a couple of times for breakfast and it was very good. Last time for breakfast the wait for our food was a disaster. Half hour after ordering. This was not because they were busy the waitress screwd up majorley.

His is like 3 bars in one. A front patio bar with live music and lots of smokers. A somewhat seedy indoor locals bar. And he outdoor patio bar on back. My personal favorite. Lots of TVs and seemingly a step up.

One of the best restaurants on the island! Everything you order to eat is great, and service is also great! They also have entertainment a lot

This place was busy but our service was very good. The waitress was nice and very attentive. Our food was really good. The giant cheese sticks were delicious. We had fish tacos, a fish basket and a pork tenderloin sandwich. All were very good. We plan to return.
Returned a day later for Happy Hour drinks. The live music was great. Beer was good, although domestics here means cheap beers get the special price. We met some nice people and had a fun time.

Every time we visit treasure Island, Ricky T’s IA always on our place to eat. By far a local favorite foid. I love the Chorizo Benedict. Sorry no picture, I just dung in. Best breakfast and evening entertainment.

A spent retro crash pad strip of hotel/​motels and the Walgreen parking lot are the view a block from the beach.
But had a pleasant selection of craft beers on draft. Four or more variations of fries served in a paper cone. Crisp truffle fries with moist potatoey center. Cuban sandwich was decent. My wife really liked the prime rib sliders and au jus dipping sauce. Everything is typical beach and Florida.
I liked the staff. Truthfully, they were a very earnest mutt hodge podge who made me enjoy my lunch. Thanks.

This would be a 5 star review if the staff displayed more personality. The atmosphere is great. We went about 730 pm just to get cheese fries. There was live music, the place was busy, and from what we could see from our high top by the bar, the place was clean.
Once we peeked at the menu, there were other items that caught our eye. Fried green tomatoes can’t be found near where we live so we added that. My friend is a «mozzarella stick addict» and so we had to order those as well. And when I saw the fried grouped bites, I had to try those as well.
I hardly ever have fried foods any more, (trying to watch calories and eat healthy) but I was on a long vacation so I splurged. I was NOT expecting to eat the best fried foods I’ve ever had in my 53 years. Not only was it very lightly breaded, but they used Panko crumbs to coat the food.
I tried very hard to find one tiny mark of grease from these fried foods but had NO LUCK! I’m not convinced they are cooked in oil, they sure tasted clean, dry, (not dirty greasy) and absolutely fresh and delicious!
The fried green tomatoes were wonderful. They were nice slices of tomato. I LOVED the Grouper fish bites, as they were dipped in Panko, and nice full chunks of fish that tasted fresh.
The mozzarella sticks made the social media feeds. They were HUGE, fresh, lightly breaded with Panko as well and perfectly cooked. There was no way to eat a whole one with the other food I had. But they were excellent heated the next day.
The humorous piece to this is that we went there purposely because we saw the menu had cheesy fries when we looked for nearby restaurants, but had to take them home because we didn’t eat one we were so excited and pleased with the other food we ordered.
The prices are very reasonable. (Especially for being on the beach access road). We were so excited to have found this gem of a place to go to on this night, and to know its there for the future trips made there, across the state from where we live.
I only complete these reviews when a business is extremely surprising to me. (Be it on the awesome side, or the «horrible» side) and this is a place that I would recommend to any adults who want a laid back, casual atmosphere, and like music playing at night. I can’t speak for any other time of day, but this is a great option based on what we tried.
Having worked in restaurants for 20 years of my life, I would suggest to the management to work on encouraging staff use their personalities more. I am basing this off of my only experience on a busy night, but of which I monitored the bar tender, 2 servers, a «runner/​busboy» with many «missed» opportunities to use their personalities to help make the experience feel more personalized. If there was no music, the feel of the atmosphere would be very different!
Can’t wait to go back!

This place is always a good time. Have been here a few times now and really like the setup and the fact that they seem to always have live music going on out back. Drink prices are reasonable as well. For the most part I have had good experiences with the service but have had a couple occasions of a rude bartender but whatever. The location is pretty good as it isnt to far from a bunch of other places to bounce around. This place usually gets pretty crowded as there are some hotels right across the street so get a seat and save it!

It’s a challenge to leave a review for a place I’ve been to a thousand times since 1998 when I bought a place here on TI.
Though I’m not on the island fulltime, I make Ricky T’s a regular stop when here and have enjoyed how they’ve matured and honed what makes them unique in the simplest of great qualities.
That Ricky T’s has lasted and evolved is testimony that the place has a sustained appeal for always friendly service, a quality food offering and ever good, dependably enjoyable live music.
If you’re on Treasure Island, you haven’t ‘arrived’ until you take in an evening or two out on the patio enjoying the friendly atmosphere over a casual meal/​snack, the great music and that great Ricky T’s hospitality.