My spouse and I dined at the Chart House with
several family members on a Sunday night (Christmas Day) in
late December 2016. The Chart House is open for dinner
daily and lunch on weekends. You can reserve your table online using the Open
Table reservation system or via telephone. Parking (complimentary) is offered
in a dedicated surface lot.
The
Chart House is part of a national chain owned by Landry’s restaurant group.
(Landry’s operates a multitude of restaurants including Morton’s The Steakhouse,
Aquarium, McCormick & Schmicks, The Boathouse, Kemah Boardwalk, Saltgrass
Steak House, Golden Nugget, Vic & Anthony’s Steakhouse, Simms Steakhouse,
Rainforest Café, Muer Seafood Restaurants, Landry’s Seafood, Peohe’s, Harlow’s,
Grotto, Babin’s Seafood House, Cadillac Bar, La Griglia, Brenner’s Steakhouse,
CJ Claim Jumper, Big Fish, Cameron’s Steakhouse, Charley’s Crab, Fisherman’s
Wharf, The Flying Dutchman, Bubba Gump, Rusty Pelicans, Willie G’s, Lillie’s,
Lighthouse Buffet, Mitchell’s Fish Market, and Pleasure Pier.) The Chart House
concept was conceived over 55 years ago and has expanded to 26 waterfront
restaurants across the United States. The restaurants provide fine dining,
excellent service, and impressive views. They offer a frequent-diner card where
you accrue points towards dollars off.
The
Sarasota-area location of the Chart House is located on Longboat Key. The
restaurant offers indoor dining in the raised bar area (which offers happy hour
drink and food specials), on the raised dining area platform, or the
floor-level dining area, all of which are adjoined and open to each other in
the expansive high-ceilinged space. The Sarasota location offers outdoor dining
on a covered deck overlooking the bay. The restaurant is mostly
handicap-accessible. High ceilings, light-wood, interesting lighting, white-tablecloth-clad
tables, padded chairs, and a few semi-circular booths create a clean
contemporary look. Additionally, this location offers a salad bar, positioned inconspicuously
at the rear corner of the dining room.
The Chart House serves a variety of seafood and steaks. We
shared a few chopped salads to begin our meal, accompanied by a delicious bread
basket. We ordered a variety of fish entrees (cobia, mahi mahi, snapper, and
coconut shrimp [the shrimp has an amazing presentation!]) and steak dishes
(filet mignon, NY strip), followed by the key lime pie and their signature hot chocolate
lava cake (which you must order ahead because it takes 30 minutes to prepare) for
dessert.
