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Sarasota: Aristo

1603 North Tamiami Trail , Phone: 941-316-0505
www.aristorestaurants.com

Reviewed by: doug s from FL, review #3432

When: 2010

Outstanding food, with generous portions, a cozy atmosphere and very affordable prices for the area!!

Directions: On US 41, just North of the Van Wezel on the West side.

My parents had been here before and thought it would be a nice place to enjoy our Easter Sunday dinner. The restaurant is very cozy and resembles a restaurant you'd find in Europe.

When I first examined the menu, I was amazed at the diversity in the styles of cooking: Italian, German, Greek, Spanish and American. The best part was how well they were able to do justification to all of them!!

We started out with an order of mussels Rosalba, served Calabrian style, which brought large, full steamed mussels served in a broth of butter, marsala wine and herbs. The appetizer was enough to share at the table of 4 and they were only $8!! I knew this was going to be very good...

The salads were ample; larger than usual dinner salads and all with fresh greens (no iceberg lettuce)and excellent, home prepared dressings.

For our main courses, my parents both had the rack of lamb which feature 8 chops each, prepared to perfection. They came served with your choice of potatoes, rice or spaetzle (the owner is Swiss) and some fresh steamed veggies. Both took a box home with a couple of chops as there was just too much to eat.

My wife had the filet Oscar which featured two perfectly cooked medallions of filet mignon with an Oscar sauce (asparagus, crab meat and Bearnaise Sauce) over the top of each one. It was OUTSTANDING!

For myself, I had the stuffed pork chop that really wasn't stuffed but served with a sauce over the top of spinach, bacon and Asiago cheese. The chop was over an inch and half thick and cooked perfectly!! The "stuffing" added so much flavor to the chop I couldn't hold myself back from consuming every last bit of it!! This meal was $16!!

For dessert, we went with the dessert combo ($15) which brought you 3 desserts of your choice. We went with the Linzter torte, chocolate mousse and bananas Foster which were flambeed tableside. They even left us the extra caramel sauce which went on everything else in the dessert tray!!

There is an ample wine list, which is quite reasonable, and the service was just great! If you're in Sarasota and looking for a great fine dining meal without killing the budget, head to Aristo!!!

This review is the opinion of a Slow Travel member and not of slowtrav.com.

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