Best Restaurants for Special Occasions in Englewood

Columbia is the heart and soul of Sarasota and St. Armandt Circle. It's been there over 50 years and for me it's like going home. The 1905 salad is so wonderful the black bean soup, Cuban sandwich, chicken and yellow rice, paella and so much more oh when the yellow rice, I always love that. It's something different and everyone loves it. I call it the Joe's of Miami Beach - it's the only restaurant in town that they lineup and wait to get into! ❤️🎈🌴

Great spot on Sarasota Bay for delicious seafood and drinks. The grouper sandwich is the best in the area. The outdoor patio is the best setting, where you can watch the boats wander by or come to be stored in the adjacent boathouse. Plan ahead as reservations are scarce and you’ll face long waits without one.

We have eaten at the Venice location dozens of times and enjoy the prompt service and good advice on choices of food and wine pairings by our excellent server, George (whom we did ask for seating in his section tonight) on the occasion of birthday of my sweetheart, Cyndi. There was a special wine offer that night, a 2014 Barolo, that I decided to take advantage of the close-out price. What a complex and delightful heavier wine paired with a pasta dish based on a mild white sauce, supporting the flavors of the earthy mushrooms and flavorful but mild sausage as main attractions. We split an arugula salad that was limited in the number of ingredients but the greens were very remarkably fresh and the dressing light, tangy, with a hint of citrus. This salad by itself would make for a great light mid-day meal. Cyndi was persuaded to wander from her normal salmon order tonight and try ravioli with a light white wine cheese sauce and pears. The suggested choice of a small-vineyard white wine from France was well-paired with the mild flavors of the dish. All-in-all, despite coming to Cassariano for many years, this particular combination of food and wines was the best we could remember enjoying in Florida and certainly represents preparation and service that deserves a "Bravo!" Maybe two "Bravos." Venice is lucky to have Cassariano, and everyone who calls Venice home is especially thankful this time of year that the restaurant was spared significant hurricane damage. Many thanks to George, Ivan, and the kitchen staff for the memorable birthday celebration and evening that you made for us. P. S. Make sure to order some of their limoncello to finish--

We celebrated our 26th wedding anniversary at Ophelia's and we really enjoyed it. Our server Chester was amazing! We sat outside (we heard during a full moon its absolutely breakthtaking). loved the ambiance. We started off dinner with the mussels - delish! They bring you extra bread to soak up all the juices. The portion is a good size definitely for 2 people. We also ordered the scallops and the lobster risotto. And we had the peanut butter tower for desert. 10 out of 10 for sure. Highly recommend

Our lunches were delicious as always. The server was outstanding. My ONLY complaint is that they keep the background music too loud. Makes it hard to talk. We did ask them to please turn it down but they didn’t. I go to lunch with friends to socialize- not to listen to music.