I've been coming to the purple rhino for about the last seven years and I always have an amazing time. The service is wonderful, the drinks are cheap, the drag shows are an absolute blast, and karaoke night on the last Friday of every month is so much fun. I'll be sad to be relocating out of Sarasota because I really will miss frequent in this establishment. read more

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This place was so fun! Me and my friends happened to enter at about 6 PM and we found out it was karaoke night. Everyone was super friendly and loving. We all cheered each other on. I then saw one of the ladies from there at the Goodwill the next day. So you know it's only good vibes in there. Please please please visit them! Be kind. read more

Purple Rhino - Patio view to the inside - Gay Bars Near Me - Sarasota, Florida

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Top notch fun entertainment. Drag Queens at their finest! An evening very well spent.

It's a local bar guys! Relax. As an outsider, I love it. Very mellow. The locals seem to love it. I have chatted up several groups. Even dropped in one first Thursday! What a kick. I'll be back. read more

Delightful little community space with a powerful mission. Remember the bar tenders are working for tips as all proceeds go to help non profits read more

It's a great place to go to hang out with friends or to meet new people in a no judgement club. The patrons are very accommodating and welcome you! The bar staff is great. Dave & Rick and Tommy who also plays the piano on Tuesday & Thursday evenings. Bob cooks up wings on Thursday and a meal on Friday ‍Leather Bingo every 2nd Sunday at 6:30pm. Hamburger nights on Wednesday ($7.50). Drag Shows on Saturday at 9:30 Diamond Divas cabaret. It's a not for profit private club, so if you enjoy it, a yearly membership of $60 is required. But the savings on drinks and food easily makes up the cost..It's Happy Hour all the time. read more

Purple Rhino - The entrance to the club... Beneva & Webber. - Gay Bars Near Me - Sarasota, Florida

Seems to be a friendly place but when you walk in the place it has an aweful smell. Not sure what is it but it is not a pleasant smell at all. read more

First time to visit purple right now. Bartender was pleasant. Drinks were good. We'll visit bar again.

We need more places like this in the 'Sota. Great drag shows and good vibes. A great place for friends visiting from out of town

Beautiful, ambiance. The patrons are really nice and the guys who run the place are wonderful. Will be back to visit.

Super cute and welcoming place! It's not a modern upscale design but if your looking for affordable drink prices and kind people then purple rhino is your place. Friendly people and a safe environment where I think there are a lot of regulars. There's a nice feeling of community here. I will be back! read more

First off a brief description of this business as their isn't one on here. This is a 501c non-profit members only bar/lodge. It was opened about 3 years ago. It's a gay bar. Now that that is out of the way here is my recommendation on it... its a disaster. I am a paying member of this bar and for the $60 a year I pay for the "privilege" of attending this place here's everything I get. -A bar that is never cleaned. Their is never any sanitizer used either on the bar top, tables, or the surfaces, its just wiped down with a dry rag. The floors behind the bar are constantly wet and place constantly smells of stale beer from a jerryrigged drainage system. The floors throughout the club are always dirty and strewn with trash. -It is Infested with cock roaches and I mean everywhere. Yeah were not talking the odd roach here or there, every bar has that, no this is a truly massive infestation. In one visit I counted over 40 roaches just within eye sight of my bar stool within an hour. They crawl on the walls, the floors, all over the beer, wine and liquor bottles. Their in the coolers, the condiment baskets and the fruit containers! I've even seen them crawling into and out of the beer taps! their also all over the kitchen! And whats the bar tenders response to finding one? He smashes them where he sees them and then DOESN'T sanitize either his hands or the surface...AND THEN HE GOES AND MAKES MIXED DRINKS AND TOUCHES THE INGREDIENTS AND FOOD! -The bathrooms are frightening. The men's room smells so bad and is so filthy that its nausea inducing. the urinal is broken and has been for 2 years, it barely flushes resulting in a constant presence of festering urine. The floor is almost black with filth and nothing has been cleaned. It is also infested with cockroaches dozens and dozens of them freely walking all over the place. I've seen truck stop bathrooms in better shape. The women's room is worse. Their is a festering pile of toliet paper that has been sitting next to the toilet for 7 months! the Toilet is also broken and is in danger of falling over. And again never cleaned smells terrible and infested with roaches! -The food is terrible. They serve meals 3 nights a week and its never quality food. If I wanted to spend $12 on publix chicken and sides I'd go and buy it FROM publix for half the cost! plus the previously mentioned cleanliness problem, no washing of hands and roaches... you get the idea. -The entertainment is terrible. They host a drag show every Saturday and it is just the worst. They have a screeching, foul mouthed, troll of a woman insulting the customers, screaming about her sex dungeon antics and is just generally repulsive to watch. Some of the drag queens are decent but as a whole at its best its a bland forgettable show. On top of that they have illegal lap dances taking place. Now I'm all for a good male stripper... But when you have a strung out pasty guy in a g-string humping people in front of windows in full view of a busy intersection when lap dances are illegal in your county... it shows how little thought is put into the continued survival of your establishment. -The owners are the worst. The place is run by a man named bob and a woman named rosemary. They have literally zero interest in actually running this place. Every problem i have stated from the cleanliness, to the roaches, ect... has been brought to their attention numerous times by dozens of the members and their response is either an apathetic "not my problem" to "well why don't YOU fix it for free!". He refuses to bring in a exterminator, refuses to fix anything and spends ALL his time drinking and looking at porn on his phone whenever he is there. Not only that, after everything I have said is wrong with this place the business has passed a health inspection 3 times since it opened! Which leads me to believe the owners may be bribing the inspector in some way, I can't come to any other conclusion to explain it. So then is there anything Good about this bar? Yes, the people. In my opinion its the ONLY good thing about this totally wasted opportunity of a bar. There are only 2 gay bars in all of Sarasota and Manatee county. And as such the young crowd goes to the other bar, while the older crowd comes to rhino. I have enjoyed very much talking and socializing with a lot of good people at rhino, people from all walks of life, all types of socio-economic back rounds and politics. Its a great melting pot for the gay community. But it does not make up for the fact that this place is in every other way terrible. So in conclusion if you feel I'm unfair in my review by all means go and see it for yourself. And if the place gets better in the future I'll happily remove this review without prejudice. But until then this is sadly what it is. read more

Always an enjoyable time and the bartenders and patrons are always friendly. I don't understand the review that says this place is not clean - I have never seen it dirty and I have been there several times. This includes the ladies room. The reviewers first comment is about it being a gay bar which tells me something. If you are looking for a laid back place to go in Sarasota, you will enjoy the Purple Rhino. read more

This place is like a gay "Cheers"! Place is pretty well located on the corner of Beneva and Webber. Definitely like the concept that the people who work here are all volunteers! That's right, they donate their time for this non-profit bar! They do keep their tips, so tip them well. Their drag shows on Saturdays are likely and fun with variety of styles and music performed to. Place could use a little TLC but what bar couldn't? The friendly atmosphere, people and relaxed mood make up for it. I recommend at least a try or three!! read more

The Purple Rhino is a great place for the sense of the community. The owner and members are truly the Sarasota and surrounding areas LGBT community. Everyone knows and cares about each other!! Brock and Brian are some of the best bartenders around! Friendly and funny! The food is amazing with what they offer. Burger nights on Wednesday, Under a Buck Wing Night on Thurdays, and a Homemade meal on Fridays! The second friday of every month they have a great talent night hosted by a young, up and coming drag queen in the community. Saturday nights is Drag Night! There is a fabulous rotating cast of entertainers from all over the Tampa Bay Area. From classic queen to new queens, you have a wide variety of what you can be shown on Saturday nights. Yes they are a non-profit gay lodge which is one of the only in the US. And yes it is $60 a year but totally worth it!! Definitely worth checking out and joining. read more