Ridley's Porch - Sarasota

It should not be on a yelp. This restaurant is for members only and their guests....We drove far to eat there.....

Good food at the Ritz-Carlton Beach Club restaurant. Sandwiches and salads delish and French fries very crisp and tasty.

My family and I were super excited to try out this place, mostly because many people have reviewed as a restaurant only for the guests of the hotel. So, our expectations were a bit high considering it is at the Ritz. We found that the food had no quality, service was not great. Our kids had hot dogs, which you can 't really go wrong with that. We had the off the menu Oysters (huge mistake), they are not fresh, and they come covered in some sort of hot sauce and seasonings that you are not told about. Awful to say the least. I ordered a cob salad with grilled chicken , well my grilled chicken definitely came from a premade Whole foods type of thing, that comes cold in very small white cubes. Not exactly what I was expecting. Probably the worst cob salad I 've had in a while. My husband had a steak, that came over cooked (burned), and two small grilled tomatoes. Again, not the presentation expected from the Ritz. The best part was asking for Iced water, they brough us a glass full of ice, which we had to picking at, since the water they serve doesn 't come cold? Service was not great at all. No one come to check on us, so we waited awhile for our wine. The only reason we are giving a star, is because you are greeted at the door by the very nice valet parking guys, and they do a great job making you feel special. Other than that, restaurant is not really clean. Your elbows get stuck on the table. That is how sticky it was. Not to mention that it was close to $300.00 for junk food and bad service (including tip). Definitely not going back.

I think they were either terribly understaffed or just didn’t prioritize time. We had reservations and showed up on time only to be told they couldn’t seat us just yet and to have a drink at the bar while we wait. Not a problem even though I thought it odd that there were only 6 tables occupied and many tables empty. We ended up waiting 30 minutes at the bar before our table was ready. Another 5-10 for a waitress to bring waters/bread menus. We ordered an appetizer (sweet potato bites which were delicious) but after that took another 15 or so minutes, we figured that it would most likely be another hour before we would even see an entree so we decided to change plans from there. Everything was delicious and servers were very nice but was just a little slow in my opinion.

Only stopped in for a quick bitem. Best wedge salad we ever had! Chicken sandwhich was good too. Service was perfect and we'll definitely go again.