Anyone living in SW Florida for any length of time knows of Chef Rolf from his TV show & AYCE specials at the Waterfront Cafe. We were thrilled to hear that he opened a restaurant in Sarasota. While my wife was working out of town, I felt confident of getting a fresh meal at Chef Rolf's New Florida Kitchen, sadly not this time. I ordered the lobster special, 2 lobsters for $29.95 ptomaine poisoning is free! The lobsters came out with drawn butter, cole slaw, & bread service. Eating lobster regularly, I started by nibbling the meat out of the tiny legs, next breaking off the arm & claw, I broke off the claw & pincher, (shedder) dipping the claw meat in the drawn butter, pulling it out with my teeth, chewing & swallowing while getting a foul odor from the claw shell, the waiter approached asking how is the lobster, I answered I'm not sure, it doesn't smell fresh, offering him the shell. He responded by offering me another lobster, same thing, a foul odor in the shell, he took the lobsters to the back, returning he stated, he threw all the lobsters out. He offered me the diver scallops over mushroom risotto, I accepted, I stated I retired from the business, before retiring they came out with a new shipping pack, where the lobsters are packed upright in a compartmentalized styrofoam case, much like a wine or Pellegrino case with an ice pack on top. They're shipped overnite good for 24 hours, in some conditions up to 48 hours, certainly not Florida's high 80s degree temps. The waiter agreed that's how they were packaged. The more I thought about it the angrier I became, when that case was opened, the odor had to be overwhelming, rather than throw them out, he soaked them in boiling water in an attempt to wash out the decomposing odor, using me as a guinea pig, risking my health. What a low DESPICABLE act! In a vain attempt to make things right, I wasn't charged for the gelato I had for dessert, what a Prince! This FOOL is risking his 20 year reputation to save a few $$$, putting money before a customer's health. Upon arriving home, I rushed to the bathroom, 3 loose BMs, my stomach churning until 3 am. The next morning I arrived at the Doctor's office with a 100.3 degree fever, my body continuing to fight of the ptomaine poisoning from the rotten lobster. read more

1 star food at 5 star prices. Arrived with a reservation but still had to wait. Took server 15 minutes to find correct menus. Ordered simple drinks. 20 minutes later the wrong drinks were served. An hour after order was taken, our appetizers and salads were delivered Salad was not prepared correctly and I had to reorder. Mussels order tasted liked shellfish was frozen and heated. After many server updates, our Main order comes after two hours. Most of our dishes were cold including the steak, (substituted because they ran out of menu selection) as well as the lobster, and flounder. Sides were almost non existent on the plate and an extra order of Brussel Sprouts were cold. Lots of people in the kitchen and yet dinner was very slow and terrible. Unfortunately the Quality delivered for the price charged and the overall experience was one of the worst dining experiences we had in Sarasota. Would definitely not recommend this restaurant to anyone. Sarasota has many local wonderful eating establishments at this price level and it's so disappointing that this place missed the mark. read more

This was the worst experience I've ever had!! The food was cold and had no flavor.. The service awful- no menu knowledge at all!!! I wouldn't waste your time or money at this establishment!! read more

Brunch was great. Eggs amazing as was the Brie and eggs Benedict. Mimosa included.

Since I can't put 0 stars, I want to verbally give this place minus 100 stars. THE FOOD WAS HORRIBLE. This is the worst meal my family has had in sarasota, since we moved here 15 years ago. We eat out 20 times per month, and satisfied 99% of the time with the restaurants in sarasota. For free, this place would be expensive. read more

We went there for brunch on Sunday. Looks good when you enter with nice decor and cloth tablecloths but it was very deceiving. The cute little sailboat cruet was dirty and greasy the wine glasses on the adjacent table looked very cloudy and unwashed. The rumpled paper menu was quite extensive but the food was just OK. Also disappointing since the food was not hot and the "chilled" fruit salad side was on the warm plate. The waiter could have looked a bit sharper if his shirt had been laundered as well as the table linens. Nice try but needs work to warrant the prices. read more

The food is consistently good and the service even better. I miss my weekly meal here since all this craziness has occurred. So today I am ordering delivery from Chef Rolf's via grub hub. read more

It was absolutely horrible. The scallops tasted like sewage. Everything was over cooked, over salted, and mushy. I left feeling nauseas and it was a horrible experience. Do NOT go here. It is incredibly overpriced and disgusting. read more

We went yesterday evening at 7:30, and the one star is for the beautiful setting and the pianist , since they were the only things present - no receptionist, no servers, no guests. We left and no one knew. read more

This review is for the Happy Hour. Went there last week and again tonight. Love this happy hour, we have tried the calamari, grouper sandwich, flatbread and Thai chili shrimp. All very good, and what a deal. Last week had the mojito, not the best in Sarasota, but not too sweet and very drinkable. Larry had the martini, good not exceptional. Tried the sangria, would be nice if the sangria had time to absorb the fruit, but it was made to order. The bar area is clean, nicely lit, and and overall a very pleasant experience. The bartender is friendly and was working like crazy tonight, making drinks for the bar and restaurant. To complicate things, 13 elderly women occupied all of the bar tables for 3 hours, and required 13 checks. Heard one argue about the price of her soup. You kidding, you sat there for 3 hours. Will we be back you ask? Absolutely and plan on trying their wine dinner. read more

Last night was my wife's birthday and she chose this restaurant because it offered crab legs, which is her favorite. Bad choice!!! She said the worst crab legs she ever had. Her experience was a joy compared to mine. I ordered filet and lobster. The meat from the lobster tail was green and tasted terrible. We will NEVER return!! Most must already know, since there was only one other table with diners and they were loudly complaining about their food. read more

OUTSTANDING food and cocktails!!!! Filet, triple tail, and salmon were all wonderful! Roy the bartender was phenomenal and SO incredibly kind. I could not speak higher of this restaurant. read more

There's a reason their dining room is always empty. Rude and obnoxious wait staff. Our dinner arrived maybe 60 seconds after our salad plates were cleared. When I mentioned that to our waitress , as she was walking away, she yelled, "She's complaining "!!! I asked her to give us a little time before we ordered dessert. When we were ready, we waved her over. We heard her say, "Now they are waving me over!" Stay away - Average food for high prices and over priced wine. read more

We called to make a reservation for 5 yesterday for 7PM, and no one answered the phone or returned our call. We ended up having to reserve through open table. Upon arrival, we found the dining room and outside tables with table cloths were only used for breakfast and lunch and they said to go out by the pool for seating. It was wet and dark, as we found our way through the pool gate. No one greeted us. There were several tables filled, but no hostess. After an older woman finally jumped up from a table, she said we could sit where we liked. We were given menus and a plate of oil and a basket of bread by the older woman. No one came by to introduce themselves and take our drink order. When we asked the woman, she told us the bartender would come by when he could get around to it. We then asked her for individual bread plates and we were told the oil plate was it, that's what we get. We said we would each like a bread plate and then she reluctantly gave us a stack of paper plates to pass out. We were then told they were out of shrimp, and two other entrees. We then got up and left and had a wonderful dinner down the street, with an actual hostess ,waitress, tablecloths, and individual china bread plates. Now, mind you, we were loyal customers of Chef Rolf at his Nokomis and Sarasota locations for the last 8 years!! This was a very sad and extremely disappointing experience that we were all looking forward to! Save your time and money and spend it somewhere else!! I hope Chef sees this and is appalled, as he should be!!! read more

We had our neighborhood Christmas party tonight. Food and service were both excellent.

I tried this restaurant with my husband and another couple last night we had the flounder and were more than impressed probably the best fish I have had in Sarasota. The sides were large and shareable the sautéed spinach to die for. Our service was OUTSTANDING, Jennifer made us feel welcome and special and had many menu and drink suggestions that were spot on. We will be back the food and our waitress made it a great evening. read more

I really don't like to bash something so badly. But, my birthday dinner was a complete bust and after $300, 6 of us hadn't enjoyed a single meal. I have never used the word terrible to describe anyone's cooking, but terrible! It's comical a place can serve 3 pieces of wilted romaine lettuce with a half a cherry tomatoe and call it an arugula salad. ( ; All food mushy, overcooked, over salted. After finally getting "butter" ...an hour later, I honestly believe it was margarine. Which is probably why we didn't get it the first 3 times we asked. Niece asked me to taste her scallop and it was rancid! Even her pasta was overcooked flavorless mush. I'm sorry, hurts me to talk about someone's business this way but it was so bad it was mind boggling. There were only 3 tables occupied. I felt sorry for a man and 2 young boys that hadn't seen any food for at least 45 minutes. Met the other table on the way out, asked them their experience... They looked at me at said, That was so disappointing! read more

Pretty restaurant, very open spaced, and great staff. This is my 5th time at this restaurant, I went in and sat at the bar, and ordered buffalo chicken strips which are my favorite so far! Definitely recommend for others to come in and try this awesome restaurant read more

The presentation was creative and masterful. The quality top notch. While prices are on par with other 5 star restaurants in Sarasota, the portions are enough for two people to split. The service was excellent. And they had a wonderful piano playing in the dining room. You need to give Chef Rolf a try. You'll be back. read more

This is the best kept secret for early dining.3 courses for $20 and it was terrific. The trout was done to perfection. My husband had the steak served with mashed potatoes. read more

Visiting Rolf's for the 3rd time this week. Rolf's is our new found gem; right next to Fleming's in same parking lot. Great happy hour daily with 1/2 price apps and special drinks. Lisa the bartender is great! We have had the flat bread, Carpaccio, dumplings, Oysters, one of the special German dishes and the trout. All amazing. Try this place; Chef Rolf does an incredible job. read more

Had a wonderful dinner. Food was superb and Marcin was outstanding. Great addition with piano player. Wonderful evening.

Fabulous new restaurant here in Sarasota bartender is just great the appetizers are outstanding the menu is best and everything is great and the price read more

Although the fish (sea bass with quite tasty but a tad bit too salty) and the flounder fish and chips was very good, our experience today for a noon time meal left us laughing at how awful it was. Let me explain, the restaurant was at best approx 20% occupied. My husband and I were seated in the rear room (plenty of booth and other seating available with a few tables taken in the main dining room), next to a table of six and another long table set up for 10-12. After we ordered water and a cocktail, the large table begins to fill up with 12 women and 1 man all talking at the same time...time goes on and more guests arrive at this table (right next to us). y the time they all arrived several more table were added so I'm guessing there were 16 at this table. They settle down and one by one begin describing how they've dealt with the death of their spouse. I don't mean to sound unkind and appreciate this group's desire to have a nice brunch, my issue is with Rolf's in their unprofessional approach to seating and attending to their guests. The waiter (who was doing his best) is trying to take their orders (is it the brunch menu with a free glass of champagne or the regular menu with no free drink included) etc. I ask the waiter why when there were so many open tables we were seated next to this very large and loud group..his answer ( it is the chef's choice). I assume he meant seating at the rear of the restaurant, but it was the person who sat us that should have been attentive to where large parties were seated versus other guests. Once I asked the waiter about this he offered to relocate us. Too late we were almost ready to leave. Very bad experience and certainly not worthy of the prices charged. Too many other good places to eat in Sarasota. We won't be back. read more

Rough night at Chef Rolf's! Sat in the Bar area for dinner as my wife was out of town. The bartenders were our waitstaff and there were 2 of them with about 5 people in the bar area total. Took a little while for someone to acknowledge us and ask if I wanted a menu. The waiter came back to take my order and was one of those who "did it by memory" and did not write anything down. I ordered a wedge salad and a filet, medium well. The filet was a la carte so I perused through the sides and the only thing that sounded good was cole slaw?? I also added sauteed mushrooms as they are my favorite! Ok, the waiter brought my salad and then came back 3 or 4 times and said she was bringing bread to the table. Salad was ok, blue cheese dressing had NO taste. That's pretty hard to do with Blue cheese dressing. Still no bread! Kept telling me the kitchen was really busy and they were sorry for the wait. My meal then came and it was a 3/4 inch thick filet that was butterflied! (cut in half). It was well done. Normally they ask if you want if butterflied so that is cooks more thoroughly, I didn't want it that way. Still no bread. Then I got a little dish of cole slaw (for $6) and asked for my mushrooms. She said she forgot to put them in and the kitchen was too busy to make any. Then the bread came. It was burnt. That will be $48 please with only a soft drink. I paid the bill and left. Both waiters came over and apologized for the night. I had said nothing about my disappointment. Were they used to apologizing, I don't know. Run away from Chef Rolf's- go somewhere-anywhere else. There are way too many eateries in this area than to have to eat mediocre food with bad service. And insist that they write your order down too!!! read more

Went for happy hour and ordered off of happy hour menu. When we got our bill we were charged full price. Talked to the manager but he would not change our bill. He said were were seated in the wrong section. This is the first and might I add last time we will go to this restraunt. We thought we were seated in the bar area. The food is average. read more

Recently opened in the old Roy's next to Fleming's. Parking is a problem as the Valet guys block all the empty parking spots with rubber cones which they think(Valet guys) that doing so will force you to let them park your car and thus gain a tip. The result can force a restaurant out of business as many will drive away rather than give their valuable cars to a car jockey that doesn't know how to drive many of today's complicated pieces of machinery. There is some parking across the street in Siberia. Fare is mostly seafood with some space on the menu for meat eater's. Tonight chef Rolf was not here over seeing the kitchen which seems strange as this restaurant just opened a few days ago. Happy hour starts at 3:30PM with early bird specials. Entrees range in price with a low of $19.00 to a high of $69.00. with many choices in between. Service is on the inexperienced side as can be expected in a new restaurant. Hopefully with more supervision and Chef Rolf's presence they can succeed. read more