Selby House Café by Michael’s On East — Restaurant in Sarasota

Had lunch with 4 people on a Sunday afternoon. Waiter from the beginning had an attitude. Didn’t know what vegetables they were serving that day. Had a smart remark about their salmon when I asked about putting it on my eggs Benedict. Then because I guess we couldn’t order fast enough for him because he didn’t know anything about their menu he then just started waiting on all the tables around us putting in their orders before ours even though we were seated 1st and we’re waiting for him to come back to us. We waited almost an hour for our food to come out. We almost left the place hungry. When our food did come out the plates were warm but the food was lukewarm, so it seemed as though the plates were sitting back in the kitchen waiting to go out. Then, to make matters worse when the check comes they hand you the hand held credit card reader that only gives you buttons to push for a tip and the lowest is 20% and the waiter is right there looking at you making you feel obligated to tip for his poor service. Btw, omelette and salad was good, eggs Benedict classic and salmon was just “ok”. Gardens here are wonderful, but we’ll skip the restaurant. As a note, the waiter did come by after our food was delivered to apologize and nothing more, but that didn’t make up for our bad experience. Unfortunately, it really ended our wonderful day at the gardens...

This cafe is in the Selby’s house, inside the Selby Botanical gardens. The house was built by the Selbys in 1921 and became their residence. Upon her death in 1971, she willed it to be a botanical garden, which opened in 1975.

The cafe has indoor and out seatings. Part of outdoor is on a terrace and part is under the huge tree. Dropping from the birds in the normal.

Self service. Decent food, on the expensive side. $60 for a beer, a Chardonnay, a wrap and the Scottish salmon salad. The salad has baby kale, roasted Brussel sprouts, toasted walnuts, a few pieces of shredded parmesan, dried cranberries. The lemon champagne vinaigrette...

The food is fine but the prices are absurd. A small salad costs $12-15. A sandwich costs $12-15. A small bag of chips is $4. And none of it is made to order; it’s all made ahead and pre-packaged like a convenience store. Our light lunch for 4 adults and a toddler cost over $70. And the worst part of it is that the Botanical Gardens doesn’t allow visitors to bring their own picnics, so if you want to make a day trip, as we did, you are stuck paying these outrageous prices. It’s not a very...