Veronica Fish and Oyster — Restaurant in Sarasota

So excited to try this place, pretty empty on a Tuesday night didn’t think anything of it. Sat in front of the Oyster Bar next to the bar. Most FOH staff wore their mask one would walk around with it off and put it on while delivering food/going to their table. Both bartenders did not have any sort of mask. All visible BOH staff (4 that I saw) did not have mask nor gloves!!

Had a view of the bar service well and looked into the open kitchen where you could see it from the dining room as well.

I decided to get a split bottle of Brut Rose and a dozen oysters. After ordering that right after we sat down I realized the BOH staff were not wearing mask. THEN I witnessed one staff member biting his thumb finger nail and DID NOT continue to wash his hands!! Friend and I decided to finish our apps/drinks and decided to go to another restaurant. While finishing up I couldn’t stop looking Into the kitchen and watching the staff eat and drink in the window without washing their hands and putting up food. Which is a health code violation. And the mask is now a city ordinance.

But coming from the restaurant industry and opening/operating several establishments. This is not acceptable. Places like this is going to ruin restaurants being open for others. Not wearing a mask is one thing but with an open kitchen having your cooks eat/biting their nails is extremely disgusting.

Two stars for our sever who was great, the oysters were delicious and the shucker didn’t a beautiful job of shucking them.

*update 7/15 owner responded by saying there is several sinks not in view of customers in their open kitchen. - I would hope so since that would be another health code violation if they did not. But that does not excuse the health code violation and city ordinance violation of their bartenders and full kitchen staff not wearing mask, eating on the line and biting their nails.

As for the gloves excuse. Edward Don has plenty of nitrate gloves black and purple in stock.

Also by you saying “we’re all in this together” is very irritating and would mean you enforce your employees to take precautions for your guest and be sanitary. Didn’t even mention the dirty used paper menu...

When Veronica's first opened, it was much better. The menu items were prepared better, plated better and tasted better. I'm not sure what has happened over the last year, but the restaurant is NOT up to par. Atmospherically, it still "feels" the same, but it seems they're resting a little too much on their laurels. Snap out of it!

Could they possibly smother a baked oyster even more so you don't even know there's an oyster in there? Could you add more sea salt to the potato rolls and butter - excessive and most people were scraping it off! Could you make the "whole fish" presentation (piled on one plate without thought like an overzealous buffet-goer) any worse? This is not how you used to serve it. People "eat with their eyes" as much as their tastebuds. Horrible presentation of a signature dish.

Train your service staff to "serve" customers who are going to have an average per person tab of $50.00. We had a server come to our table and crassly tell us..."hey, they gave you the wrong bread 'that's for my five top." She was reaching over to grab it when we explained, "it's our 3rd order and we consolidated it to make room." Do not grab customers' food off their table when they are clearly eating it!

Hopefully, Veronica's will clean up their act and make adjustments. The Caragiulo establishments are typically run quite well. Overall, the food is good...but the downhill can come pretty quickly if they don't...

Veronica Fish and Oyster is a gem of a restaurant in the Hillview section of Sarasota on Osprey. Use their own convenient parking (a plus in this popular area). As lifelong New Yorkers, our standards for restaurants, food, service and ambiance is two steps above the standard Florida fare. As such, Veronica's comes out at the top of a very accomplished set of Sarasota restaurants.

Greeted like friends of the family, despite it being our first trip here, we were immediately made to feel comfortable by our server, the very popular Marsi who with smiles and humor fully explained the nightly specials.

Drinks came in a flash and the mood was set by Marsi's engaging recitation of the daily specials. She had the smarts to ask how my Manhattan should be served (on ice or straight up) the sign of a veteran of the black arts of servership.

Oysters were perfectly served. Briny, chilled and fresh, they were a perfect starter.

Fish mains were done perfectly, with interesting sauces and sides. Marsi was, again, at our side but never intrusive, another telltale sign of a polished server.

As if by magic, the check came just as we were preparing to ask for it, and not a moment too soon to be intrusive.

All in all a wonderful evening for my three pals and I. In the pantheon of Sarasota...