The Old Salty Dog - on the Sarasota Restaurants scene since 1986

The Old Salty Dog, in May of 2015, opened a third location.

This one on the Venice restaurants scene, right on the Intracoastal Waterway, offers a scenic view of the marina in which it is located.

It’s a fun casual place to relax while dining.

This location, also, is open and airy with a large indoor dining room as well as an outdoor patio, half covered by a roof, with ceiling fans to keep the air moving on hot summer days and nights.

It was 82° and just fabulous weather during my visit.

There’s also a bar that extends from inside to the outside deck.

And they full liquor service with everything from beer to your favorite tropical frozen drinks.

I happened to stroll into the Old Salty Dog about 4 p.m. on a Saturday after a matinee movie in nearby Venice. I was thirsty and hungry and had heard about the opening of this new third location about a month earlier so I thought I’d give it a try.

The Old Salty Dog

At this time of the day, between lunch and dinner, the establishment was mostly empty except for a sparsely populated bar. So my lunch companion and I had the choice of any table on the outside back deck, overlooking the marina and the scores of boats tied up; a nice scenic view.

If you’ve read many of my restaurant reviews here on escape-to-sarasota.com you’ll know that I like nice outdoor places with scenic views, or waterside restaurants. After all, this is Florida and there’s nothing like al fresco dining near water, for me, anyway!

This particular afternoon our waitress, Kristen, arrived promptly and notified us that it was Happy Hour (how luck for us!) and that a number of beers were offered for $2.50 for a pint. We ordered a couple of Yuenglings and they soon appeared, as the bar was just a short stone’s throw from our table.

Now, the menu here is pretty wide and I don’t know why I did this...and I tend to stay away from fried foods.... 

But, I just had a taste for some onion rings, which I hadn’t had in ages. So I ordered them from the appetizer list ($6.99) and my lunch companion and I noshed on them.

Now, these were big onion rings, light and fluffy and golden brown, beer battered. They were big and plentiful in the basket. There was no way even two of us were going to finish the whole basket.

For the main lunch dish we both ordered the Traditional English Fish & Chips ($15.95), again, for me, more fried food, which is truly something I do not do very often anymore. I guess it was just “to be” for this day.

Same thing here as with the onion rings; light and fluffy, and golden brown were the two rather large cod fish pieces. It was like, “wow, how am I going to finish all this?”

Well, there was so much I couldn’t finish it all. I did eat all the fish, but could not finish the chips (French fries).

And, it was all delicious; it must have been their special beer batter, the same as they use for the onion rings.

If you are a “fiend for fried,” I would definitely recommend the Traditional English Fish & Chips at the Old Salty Dog.

Other items you might find interesting and tasty from the Old Salty Dog menu include Caribbean Jerk Fish Tacos ($14.99), Mango Mahi Wrap ($13.99) and Philip’s Captain’s Plate with Mahi and shrimp, grilled or blackened, with a lobster tail ($28.99).

The Old Salty Dog menu has traditional sandwiches as well, like: the Turkey, Bacon & Swiss ($10.99), a Chicken Breast Sandwich with your choice of how it’s cooked ($9.99) and their Famous “Salty Dog” hot dog, dipped in beer batter and deep fried ($7.99); you can also have the “Salty Dog” version that has been seen on the Travel Channel’s “Man vs Food” show, which comes “loaded” ($13.59).

They also have a trio of Burgers to try ($8.99 - $11.99).

All their sandwiches come with your choice of side dish or you may substitute a salad, as well, and baskets come with fries.

They also have more seafood available in their appetizer, baskets and entrees portions of their menu, including Grouper, which you can order blackened with Cajun spices, deep fried or charbroiled ($15.99).

For dessert, Key Lime Pie is on the menu ($5.99) as well as Chocolate Explosion ($6.29)!

As mentioned above, there are now 3 locations and menus may vary by location and are subject to change along with prices, but I hope you get the feel of it from this review.

By the way, they also offer daily specials, a kids menu, happy hour and take out, too!

This newest location in Venice is right by the South Bridge (some call it the Circus Bridge) overlooking the marina and intracoastal, right at Marine Max, 1475 Tamiami Trail S. 941-483-1000.

Their other Sarasota Restaurants locations: Siesta Key Village, 5023 Ocean Blvd, north end of the village. 941-349-0158 and City Island, overlooking “New Pass” on Sarasota Bay near the Longboat Key Bridge, located in another marina. 941-388-4311.

Hours: Sunday – Thursday: 11 a.m. – 9:30 p.m., Friday – Saturday: 11 a.m. – 10 p.m.

Enjoy & bon appétit!

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