Rusty's Bistro — Restaurant in Clearwater

Rusty's is the fine dining restaurant in the Sheraton at Clearwater Beach. We went here the first night of our three night stay, mostly because we were too tired from traveling to leave the hotel, but we weren't disappointed.

First the gripes. Our waiter was NOT masked which made us uncomfortable. Also, we called several times from the room to see if they had a table but they didn't answer the phone. When we went in person, despite seeming completely empty they said they couldn't seat us for an hour. Back to the room to wait. Not a huge deal, really, but could have been better. Lastly, I wish there had been more originality on the menu, but my survey of menus in this area suggests that is not what people come here for.

We ordered the fried olives, the rock shrimp bisque, the seared sea scallops with lime aioli, and the filet and crab cake. All of the food, including the complimentary bread basket, was excellent. The dessert menu was enticing (let lime creme brulee!) but we opted to skip dessert.

The olives were the curiosity. Green olives stuffed with beef, battered and fried, with a wedge of grilled lemon. They were kind of like fried pickles at other southern cooking places. They were crispy and the breading didn't fall off. They were good but I wouldn't make a special trip just for them.

The bisque was creamy and complex and the sweetness of the sherry came through. There were several large chunks of shrimp that were cooked perfectly. The portion was perfect for two to share as an appetizer without filing you up too much. If you're going to do a seafood bisque, you should do it well, and they did.

The seared scallops were large, plump, and perfectly cooked. The lime aioli was an excellent pairing and the capers in the sauce provided just enough bite to ba a good accent. The grilled cauliflower was a nice complement.

The filet was small (4 oz) but perfectly medium rare with a crusty exterior. The crab cake was small but very tasty and they didn't stretch it with too much bread crumb filling. The grilled asparagus was really very good. I could have had a plate of just that, and the mashed potatoes were smooth and creamy. If you're a big eater this might not fill you up but it was a perfect portion size for me.

The ambiance was nice. Not too dark and not noisy at all. Enough space between tables to feel comfortably socially distanced.

In summary, my only real complaint was the lack of originality. They served standard fine dining fare and did it well. We enjoyed our dinner and given what we had, the prices were...

Okay, first I never write a review of anything because I doubt it really helps anyone and I don’t like to bash a place because it may have had an off night. However, since I was staying at the hotel and ate at Rusty’s 3 times I thought I could review it honestly and perhaps they’ll make some improvements. To begin, the breakfast buffet is horrible. Cold eggs, cold French toast, cold everything that is supposed to be hot. The buffet containers get opened too many times and the food is not replaced (probably because not a lot of customers) and everything is cold. The service staff are for the most part disengaged and cold. No friendly conversation here. There are exceptions. The hostesses were very nice in the morning. On to cleanliness. The glasses are already at your table and are dirty. Kind of like they were halfheartedly washed the night before. Sort of like what you’d expect if your kids washed the dishes at home but really didn’t want to (those of you with kids will understand) watermarked with leftover bits on occasion. Now I will say some good things about dinner. The steak and cake was very good and the server I had was Martin. He was professional and took care of everything. The real complaint about dinner was they were putting everyone in the same area of the restaurant. Crowding everyone on top of each other when the entire restaurant was empty. It might have been thought of as a way to keep cleanup easy for the staff when it closed but it made conversations at tables difficult (everyone now knows everything about everyone’s trip) and exasperated the crying toddler at the next table problem. Because dinner, the food anyway, was good I’m going to give it an overly generous 3 stars out of 5. If I take out that one meal this would get 1 star at best. Hire staff that care, get management that inspects food and cleanliness, strategically seat the large families with children, and...

I need to try this place again. I tried it for the first time on Valentines day with a reservation we made more than a week in advance. To be fair it was a set menu and I hate set menus, but I realize they do these on nights they have a high volume of people and want to make it seem more personal yet quick. We only had 3 hours total. 2 hours to eat and 1 hour of drive time because we only had a sitter for 3 hours that's why we were so specific with reservation time. We showed up 20 minutes early for our reservation and we're told to sit outside in the lobby. We checked back in at our reservation time and were told to have a seat in the lobby untill they came for us. We were offered alcohol for the inconvenience, but we dont drink so we just sat in the lobby for a while. We were finally sat very very very late about 30 to 45 minutes late. After being sat they did mention the kitchen was backed up. We were served another hour later and I could tell the waiter was trying his best to pace things out to make it less noticeable things were coming out slow. Sadly the food came out about the time we had to leave to get the kids so we did have to pack up all the food and eat it at home after picking up the kids. I'm probably more disappointed that we didn't get to eat nice food at a nice resteraunt kid free even though we did have a reservation and a little more than 2 hours in the actual resteraunt. I don't want to judge them too harshly on the Loooong wait because it was a busy night. I think I will try to go back again on a regular night and see how it goes. The food was good.....cold but good. It probably would have been better fresh. The...