For most of us, the noontime meal is a short break from work, a quick sandwich, salad, or heaven forbid "fast food." On rare occasions we might go out as a group to a local restaurant for a sit down lunch but these times are infrequent. In Europe, the culture is oriented around food. A sit down lunch is common and occurs everyday. Perhaps that is the reason why Dolce Italia decided to add home-made daily specials to their regular lunch menu. Owned and operated by a husband and wife team from the Isle of Ischia in Italy, Dolce Italia prepares homemade Italian food just like your grandmother used to make. This is not your everyday Italian place. All the food is home-made using family recipes and served in a very casual yet comfortable setting. In addition to the usual sandwiches and paninis, there is a special dish served each day.

Monday: "Pizza Pezzo" Home-made dough, fresh tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella and Parmigiano cheese $7.99

Tuesday: "Insalata della Nonna" Arugula, grilled herbed chicken, cherry tomatoes, and feta cheese $8.99

Wednesday: "Insalata Italiana di Spinachi" Spinach salad, roasted red peppers, pancetta, goat cheese $7.99

Thursday: Panino "Sasicce e Friarielli" Home-made italian sausage, rapini broccoli, fresh mozzarella $8.99

Friday: "Insalta di Mare" Romaine lettuce topped with shrimp, tuna, and mayo $8.99

If you are looking for a break from the ordinary lunch time meal, why not consider a home-made Italian speciality for a change? I am sure you will be glad you did!

SRQ Reviews, the restaurant guide you need to find the best dining and new restaurants in Sarasota, Florida.

Dolce Italia 6606 Superior Avenue Sarasota, FL 34231 Phone: 941-921-7007 Fax: 941-921-7000

The restaurant business is a demanding business. The expectations from patrons are high and often times the consequences of not meeting patron expectations result in a lost customer. We work in the industry and understand things happen!

In the interest of full disclosure, we would like to share our recent experience and solicit your opinion. Even though the restaurant will remain unnamed in this article, it is our intention to share constructive comments with the owners so they may be able to learn and improve their service. It is not our intention to call-out or slam the restaurant in any way. In fact we like the restaurant, have frequented it a number of times, and plan to do so again.

On a beautiful sunny afternoon in Sarasota, we decided to find a place where we could be outside and enjoy a light meal and have a drink. With 100's of restaurant options from which to choose, we decided upon a place which was promoting their "Happy Hour" menu.

Upon our arrival, we asked if the "happy hour" menu would be served outside and were given an affirmative. We chose a table and were immediately greeted by our waitress. We inquired about the "happy hour" options and received a brief overview and were provided a menu. We asked a couple of questions about the drinks. There was no doubt we were there for "happy hour."  We ordered a regular mojito, a bottle of sparkling water, and 4 small plates. We enjoyed the conversation, the outdoor setting, the food, and the drinks. When we received our check we noticed the drinks did not have the "happy hour" pricing we expected. We brought this to the hostess' attention and she had a manager come to explain. We were informed by the manager the mojito was not a "happy hour" drink. Therefore we were not entitled to "happy hour" pricing. Since we made it very clear to our waitress we were interested in "happy hour," we thought she should have informed us the mojitos were not "happy hour" drinks. He apologized, said he would speak to the waitress, but said there was nothing else he could do.

Does the waitress have a responsibility to clarify and/or inform us the mojitos are not part of the "happy hour" pricing?

Should the "happy hour menu" list excluded drinks? or specify some drinks are not included in the "happy hour" pricing?

If you were the manager, would you offer to do something different?

If you were the patron, what would you expect?

Please feel free to share your comments and thoughts. Once again I want to emphasize we are interested in constructive comments which will be shared with the ownership and management of the restaurant.

Even though special meals and menus are served on most holidays, there is no holiday with more focus on food, friends, and family than Thanksgiving. Traditional turkey dinners, stuffing, vegetables, pies and desserts are served and consumed in quantities unlike any other holiday. According to the National Turkey Federation 20% of the turkeys consumed annually in the United States are served on Thanksgiving Day; 46 million and counting. Of course most people prepare their Thanksgiving meal from scratch perhaps using multi-generational family recipes and some updated new comers for inclusion. This requires planning, preparation, time, and of course work. Certainly the lover of cooking looks forward to Thanksgiving. However that is not the case for many. So what are other options to consider?

Semi-Home Made

Perhaps offering the most flexibly and range of options, semi-home made allows you to devise a balanced menu of store bought prepared and home-made items. The options can range from prepared but not cooked to fully cooked heat and serve. You decide the balance, what you want to make, and plan accordingly. In Sarasota there are a number of markets offering a wide variety of choices. Some examples are: Publix, Whole Foods Market, Morton's Gourmet Market, Fresh Market, The Butcher's Block, and Alpine Steak House (home of the TurDucKen.) Dining Out For many, preparing a home based Thanksgiving dinner is still too big a task to consider. Fortunately the dining options in Sarasota are great. So finding a restaurant which will meet your needs is not necessarily a problem.  We conducted an informal survey and found about 50% of the Sarasota based restaurants were planning to be closed on Thanksgiving. Since the number of restaurants will be limited, planning ahead and making reservations become more critical than usual. Here are a highlights of Sarasota area restaurants serving on Thanksgiving Day.

Sarasota Restaurants Serving a Traditional Multi-Course Thanksgiving Day Menu

Two Chefs Casual Dining

Lavanda

Patrick's

Sarasota Restaurants Serving a Thanksgiving Day Special Entrée

Blu Smoke Island Grill and Bar

Libby's Cafe and Bar

Ophelia's on the Bay

Bijou Cafe

Divino

MoZaic

Thanksgiving on your terms...dine it or dine out...homemade from scratch or semi-home made, the choice is yours. The most important thing is to enjoy the holiday!

SRQ Reviews, the restaurant guide you need to find the best dining in Sarasota, Florida.

Destination Dining: New Restaurants in Sarasotais designed to be a dynamic, ever changing, evolving flow of information on new places to dine in Sarasota and surrounding areas. SRQ Reviews will attempt to provide timely, informative updates, brief notes, comments, and initial impressions on the newest places to dine in Sarasota.

Generally we will keep a restaurant on this list for a 3-6 month period. Once a detailed review has been completed by SRQ Reviews, we will provide a link to the information.

The list of new restaurants in Sarasota, updated October 4, 2010

• Enjoy!, 1888 Main Street, Sarasota, 941-720-3132
• Sake House, 1987 Ringling Blvd, Sarasota, 941-312-6256
• Bit of Boston,  1939 Tamiami Trail South, Venice,  941-496-4587
• Bread of Life,  6713 14th Street West,  Bradenton,  941-752-3600
• Crazy Cravings,  4904 Fruitville Road,  Sarasota,  941-341-9206
• Il Panificio,  2215 Gulf Gate Drive,  Gulf Gate,   941-921-5570
• King George Pub,  6525 Superior Avenue,  Gulf Gate, ,  941-925-1966
• Mangrove Grill,  102 Riviera Dunes Way, Palmetto,  941-723-2556
• Pita Shack,  5214 Ocean Blvd,  Siesta Key,  941-706-2844,
• Retropolitan Grille,  437 Burns Court Lane,  Sarasota,  941-362-0627
• Voocaray,  6566 Gateway Avenue,  Gulf Gate,  941-926-2266
• The Olive Tree, 1454 Main Street, Sarasota, 941-366-4180 (opening soon)
• Michelle’s Brown Bag Cafe, 32 South Osprey Avenue, Sarasota, 941-365-5858
• Coco Grill, 2881 Clark Road, Sarasota, 941-312-4711
• Eduardo’s Cantina, 8126 Lakewood Main Street, Lakewood Ranch, 941-907-9449
• Main St Trattoria, 8131 Lakewood Main Street, Lakewood Ranch, 941-907-1518

This is a “bumper crop” of new entrants on the Sarasota dining scene. We have started to visit a few and will be adding our reviews and comments in the near future. In the meantime, if you know of a new dining spot, please do not hesitate to contact us and we will include it on “The List.”

SRQ Reviews, the restaurant guide you need to find the best dining in Sarasota, Florida.