Aura — Restaurant in Longboat Key

I would like to pass along, what I hope to be, some very constructive feedback for the St. Regis Management team at the Resort on Longboat Key.

As a Lifetime Titanium Elite member who has spent over 1,300 nights at Marriott, Ritz and St Regis properties over the years, I must say that I was disappointed with the experience I received today when my wife and I attempted to dine at the empty Aura restaurant located poolside on the property.

For context, the resort was extremely quiet this morning since it’s not the busy season and we arrived at the restaurant around 11:15am which was shortly after they opened. Even though there were no patrons dining at that time, we were surprised to hear that the Aura restaurant is now only open to hotel guests (I had dined there on one of my previous trips so this must be a relatively new policy).

Fortunately, my wife and I were able to grab a bite at the nearby Monkey Bar (which was fantastic and I will review separately), but I did find it kind of silly and quite pretentious that the St Regis would openly discourage their island neighbors and fellow property owners on LBK from dining at their restaurants when not busy. It would seem that the more than ample staff would actually appreciate the opportunity to earn tips for what could be regulars at their establishment.

Ironically enough, in the 1.5 hours that we had a delicious meal at the Monkey Bar, not a single person came into the Aura. The St Regis really is a beautiful property and addition to LBK, I just hope their mgmt staff begin to realize the obvious benefits of being more inviting and welcoming to fellow residents...

Excellent lunch service, Adam was a great server.

We started w the guacamole and the ceviche . Asy main meal I had the passion fruit dressed salad The skirt steak was also perfect.

Extensive cocktail and mezcal options and the mezcal paloma was my favorite as was the Hugo spritz.

Came back for a 2nd visit, the grouper tacos and the cheese burger...

Really disappointed to find out that Aura is now only for hotel guests. Manager today would not seat my party of 3 even though the restaurant was fairly empty at 11:15am. Website does not reflect this change and we drove 45 minutes with guest visiting Sarasota from...