Selva Downtown Sarasota — Restaurant in Sarasota

When you google "Best restaurants in Sarasota" Selva pops out as a "Latin American Restaurant with an Artful touch", more over they called themselves Peruvian chic! I am Peruvian and wanted to show some friends good Peruvian Artsy food but thank God they had previously dined at some other Good and Real Peruvian restaurants!! Over all the food was not bad, it was simple ok (or mediocre for an elevated palate) but even if I was mistaken, food opinions become irrelevant after such a bad service that starts from the minute you step into the restaurant; that is just a way of saying it since we were actually seated on the pavement next to the parked cars (even though we had reserved an indoor table). After arriving i approached the hostesses and requested kindly to speak to the chef explaining to them that i was Peruvian and wanted to make sure i ordered the right dishes for my guests since the dishes were supposed to have a "Twist"; they looked at me like if i had requested to have my meal for free and told me that the Chef doesn't speak to anybody that i can ask the waiter, i asked if they could send me a peruvian waiter and they said that all their waiters although not peruvian know their menu "inside out"!! Little did i know that that was the beginning of the Bad Service Experience... waiter was indifferent at the beginning and escalated to rude after realising he couldn't answer halve of my questions!, but the cherry if the cake came when an arrogant individual with a bad attitude and hand in his pockets came to us asking for explanations of why are we mistreating his waiter.... HALLO? Excuse me? Are you in the service industry? Where are your manners? Not only he was agressive but clearly with a big God complex, we adked him to leave. My husband stood up to try to put some sense into him but he simply hid behind his staff and refused to explain or even talk. We paid and tipped generously and Even the waiter apologized for his manager's behavior. We decided to leave the mediocre food and despicable service behind us only to discover many reviews (even on open table) similar to ours and depicting the unnamable Manager as Horrible to say the least! And the question arises: How can this establishment be considered among the best in Sarasota? How can it have high ratings? Something here is as wrong as the food and the arrogant manager!!...

INSECTS in the restaurant, Food has no Peruvian flavor, Pisco Sour and Maracuya Sour disgusting, Manager not professional, has no management. We arrived from NY and we chose this restaurant because of the reviews but I was mortified. In the restaurant there were animals on the table, two large spiders coming down from the ceiling to the table, I immediately shouted and we changed tables because we were in the middle of dinner, but the manager came to yell at us because we changed tables and he knew there was animals in the restaurant The manager's bad management because he didn't look for any other solution, he just made all the clients uncomfortable because he wanted me to show him the animals and the clients, the employees saw the spiders. Immediately my husband asked for the bill (we only finished the entrees), the manager began to say that we had pending dishes to serve, that he would still charge me. The bill was over $ 200.00. My husband told him that there was no problem but to deliver the food to take away. This is how the night ended, without any apology from the Manager, a bad temper and terrible management. Manager must be gentle and seek solutions to problems without yelling at customers for a lack of cleanliness in the restaurant, I wonder how the kitchen will be with the cleaning? or do they just clean for inspection? The dishes we ordered: Ceviche Selva: Terrible flavor, nothing like Peruvian food, Cuzco corn was hard and tasteless, the ceviche had no lemon, it looked like water with vinegar. Parihuela: It had no seafood flavor, sour, tasteless liquefied tomato. Pisco sour and Maracuya Sour: Terrible when tasting it tastes water, it has a bitter taste, nothing like Peruvian. From my experience the cocktail had NO PISCO, it had no flavor and it only looked like bitter water. In the end we trade it for beer. Lomo saltado: Acceptable but a lot of soy sauce, the meat was not the best, it was tough. "Tuna Tiradito": finally a delicious dish, a good combination of Tuna with watermelon. Also recommended is the "Andean Rack of Lamb". Definitely any other restaurant in Sarasota is better than this. Think...

Dinner for four at the downtown location. We’ve eaten here a couple of times over the years and really like the ambience and the food.

This time we accompany in town and had made advanced reservations. We were glad to get an outside table under cover (raining) due to a cancellation. The inside can be noisy and hard to have a conversation. Luckily also, the main windows were closed to the outside area also keeping down the inside sound.

The ambience outside is nice. Only after we were served the main course, did we realize how small the tables are. The plates barely fit on the table and in most cases hung off the table a little bit. In questioning who I believe was a manager they agreed the tables outside. we’re smaller than tables inside, so something to be aware of. During the meal my wife actually got her sleeve in her sauce.

Joanne, our server was prompt, did a good job, was attentive and never rushed us over the course of the meal. They have a pretty good selection on the beverage menu and we opted to share a bottle of wine.

We shared the short rib and lobster tostadas appetizers. Just enough for four people to have a nice taste, and not ruin their meal. We were not in a hurry, and Joanne allowed us to just order appetizers and enjoy the time together. The last thing we like is to be in and out of a nice restaurant in less than an hour. We were here to dine not to eat.

For a main course I ordered the Sea-bass. The fish was cooked perfectly and arrived warm. It was a 6-8 oz filet and was light and flaky with a nice flavor.

Two others ordered the short rib entrée and the third of the chicken. We also ordered a mac & cheese for the table. All of the food came out hot and had good presentation flavor. All around was very good. The short ribs were tender and fell off the bone.

Dinner lasted about two hours as it said before we were never rushed. Service was very good and the ambience was nice. Prices are where you would expect from a nice restaurant. I felt our table was a little small and we were cramped throughout the meal. something to think about if you decide...