Sarasota: Caragiulos (December 2016)

My spouse and I dined with one family member for dinner at Caragiulos on a Monday evening in late December 2016. (We visited Caragiulos previously because we have family who live in the area.) The restaurant is open for lunch and dinner daily except no lunch on Sundays. Caragiulo’s only accepts reservations for parties of six or more people via telephone. The owners also operate nearby Nancy’s Bar-B-Q and Owen’s Fish Camp, as well as a restaurant on St. Armand’s called Shore. You can park in the nearby Palm Avenue Garage or on the street.
 

Since 1990, Caragiulos has occupied a storefront on Palm Avenue in downtown Sarasota. The owner previously operated a bakery in Brooklyn, but he later travelled to Florida with his five sons in search of the perfect spot to open a simple Italian restaurant. As the story goes, the family drove around Florida for two weeks without finding anything; when Tony Caragiulo became frustrated, he pulled the car over next to an empty building on Palm Avenue and declared it the right place to build his business. And it was!

Caragiulos offers a comfortable, laid-back environment with seating in several areas: in the bar area (either at the long L-shaped bar or at one of the tables beside it), in the main dining room (surrounded by two walls of windows that overlook Palm Avenue and the outdoor dining area), and a covered side courtyard for al fresco dining.

The restaurant serves Italian-American comfort food in a casual atmosphere. The focaccia bread that accompanies your entree is baked onsite, as is the biscotti, and the mozzarella is made fresh. On our most recent visit, we shared a family-style chop salad (containing chicken, salami, pepperoncini, olives, garbanzo beans, tomatoes, and Parmesan cheese tossed in a creamy dressing), followed by several entrees, including chicken Parmesan (served with spaghetti) and orecchiette (with sausage, broccoli rabe, and cherry tomatoes). In addition to pastas and pizzas, the restaurant also serves protein entrees like steak and salmon. Caragiulos offers a full liquor license including beer, wine, and cocktails. We tried a delicious key lime martini that tasted just like the dessert, served in a glass with a graham-cracker-crusted rim.

As always, we enjoyed our visit to Caragiulos, with its relaxed vibe, tasty cuisine, and pleasant service.