Pat the bartender has a great head of hair , but wears a Bernie all the time. Pool x2 darts, slot machines,paying real Dough yo. Drink prices are insanely low. The banter throughout is on point. No smoking inside Outdoors is . Dani. Yeah that's with an I, is a blonde bombshell. Online Golden tee and silver strike bowling on site. Located on the prime area of historic gulf gate. Perpendicular to some of the best pizza your ever have Shaners pizza Lisa will wow you with her charm To sum it up ..BEST BAR IN GULF GATE read more

The Thirsty Turtle - Bars Near Me - Sarasota, Florida

Really cool bar with PBR and Coors Banquet beer. I throughly enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it to anyone. read more

See all

Went in for a couple cocktails. Noticed a TouchTunes jukebox and decided to play some music. As soon as one of my selections didn't match the bartenders taste preference she skipped all my remaining tracks. No refund no decent response to me honestly questioning "why?". Why have a jukebox if your music is all that can be played? Beyond the rude way she executed this interaction. She was crass, loud and bullheaded. I will not come back, nor recommend it to anyone in the area. read more

The Thirsty Turtle - a row of bar stools in front of a window - Bars Near Me - Sarasota, Florida

Where do I start with this? Imagine, you're locked up in a pandemic for a year, you walk into a bar and it's completely empty and socially distant. Well, you won't get that with the Thirsty Turtle! When you walk in, you get that classic second hand smoke that woke culture made us get rid of. Then, they have touchtunes and hearing some nice Pitbull while playing pool really hits the spot. Make sure to bring quarters! Tired of paying for $6 beers? You can expect to pay no more than $4.5 here! Don't even get me started on the service. It was amazing! Overall, this was an excellent dive bar and well worth the drive! They're open until 2am and trust me, I could see them being open later. I probably won't go back here again because I live in Chicago but hey, can't complain for my first visit! read more

Note: smoking is allowed in this bar. That is my main reason for 3 stars. If you're a smoker who loves a chill dive bar, this place is great. I really liked the atmosphere and the service was good. It seemed like a place with far less tourists and I liked that, too. Overall worth grabbing a drink, the smoke was just too much for more than one for us. read more

We visited again Monday night 3/2/09, and were treated great. This place is hidden in the Gulf Gate Area. The bartender was awesome, noticed after my first drink I didnt like a straw, but did like a lime, and every drink after was to my liking. Something little, but it goes a long way, especially for industry people. I could do with out all the country music that played, when no one put money in the jukebox. So I put a 5 spot in, and problem was fixed. We like the joint!! read more

The Thirsty Turtle - the front of the building - Bars Near Me - Sarasota, Florida

Great local bar! There was hand sanitizer at every table which I thought was nice. Theres also pool, darts and other games here!

We decided to check it out since online it said it was on the water, which technically it is but there is no view of the water. We walked inside to have a server not say "hello" or greet us in a friendly manner which then told us it was, "seat yourself". We didn't know that and there was no signs stating that. The inside had a few tables but there were no customers inside. We sat outside and noticed many tables still covered with dirty dishes, glasses and trash. Our server came over and introduced herself and warned us that they were "slammed" at the moment (which we totally understand) but she only brought 2 waters and there were 3 of us. There were 3 servers outside and only 12 tables (including ours) that had customers at them. My daughter ordered a virgin banana margarita, my husband ordered a dirty mojito (he said it was delicious) and I ordered a virgin mango margarita (mine was good). My daughters tasted like lime juice. We asked for a new one and our server seemed frustrated. She brought one back that was banana and it was tasted like banana. My daughter ordered shrimp on the tail while I ordered the combo with seafood salad sandwich and Cesar salad, which was suppose to come with fries. My husband ordered the combo with seafood salad, clam chowder and asked for onions rings instead of fries. Our food came out about 15 minutes later with no fries and no onion rings. My husband asked where they were and our server who again seemed frustrated responded with "yeah they're coming". During this time we noticed the other tables were still dirty. However, we did notice a male server cleaning up the tables he was assigned to and was friendly to his tables and asking if they needed anything. Our server never asked us once if we needed anything else. Finally 10 minutes later, after we've finished our lunch she brought out the onions rings. Then 5 minutes later the fries. Both orders were really hot with 0 warning from the server. We asked for the bill and the server said "oh we're computer issues", but then she brought it over a minute later which was $70. We paid and left, all while the tables were still sitting there dirty. We were really hopeful to find a great place on vacation to go back to. Sadly, we were not impressed with the food, service and appearance at all. read more

Met up with a friend here last night, very roomy, bartender was nice and attentive. Will be back tonight.

Best dive bar ever been to. The definitive Florida escape. Staff is great. Lots of other good spots around here, despite what Surf Side Free Ride says. A very different atmosphere than the villiage. read more

Love the Thirsty Turtle!! Dive bar extraordinaire! Double dart board, double pool tables, cheap drinks, fun specials (buy 4 shots get a t-shirt!!!!) What more can you ask for?!? read more

My favorite bar in Gulf Gate! Decent prices, loud music, pool tables, darts, LOTS of TV's, golf arcade games, a boxing game, and super friendly bartenders. Way less douche bags than the rest of the bars, too. Great hangout spot! read more

ahh the Thirsty Turtle. Used to come here often. Always a great time with friends. Favorite part is the juke box; my friends and I would put in a bunch of money and have the perfect soundtrack for the evening. The bartenders are all really cool, and drinks are priced well. They also have a punching bag machine that tells you how hard you punch, and the guys tend to flock to it and spend the evening competing. I miss starting my night of bar crawling here. haha read more

First time visiting this place and Mike provided great service. Drinks are cheaper than most places in the area also. However, it was extremely smokey and not the most enjoyable bar. I would go back if the weather was nicer and could sit outside away from smoke. read more

Deff one of my favorite bars in gulf gate! Good cheap drinks, nice staff. Amy, chad and Jackie are all really great!