Bars 64-65, Siesta Key

Waitress: A manhattan?  Do you usually order that?  That drink is usually for older people.


Bar 64: The Boatyard Waterfront Bar and Grill

We have a confession to make.  It's been a few months since our last beach bar but we're back at it.  And there's no better way to start off our 2013 year of continuing the beach bar challenge than with Chris and John from Florida Beach Bar!

We had a great time, even though the waitress did make fun of Ryan's drink selection of a manhattan. 

Bar 65: The Sniki Tiki

Ryan made a bar in college called the Sneaky Tiki- not spelled the same as this one but we had great expectations nonetheless. 

It didn't disappoint.

The fire department made an appearance after someone had a few too many tiki drinks.  His face literally fell in his soup.  The Sniki Tiki did a great job of recognizing this and calling in the rescue.  Definitely an unexpected night.

It was a very relaxing night with great drinks (manhattan and a corona- yes, again), a great band, and of course, great company.

During this trip, our friends, Bri and Nate, told us that they passed a Trader Vic's.  Now, although this bar isn't on the list, we had to stop there.  Ryan has been looking for this bar for  a long time.

Why? 

Because he loves Mai Tai's and Trader Vic is known for making the original in 1944.

 

It was the best Mai Tai I've had.  If a bar ever serves you one with pineapple juice, orange juice, or grenadine- send it back.  This is the only way to drink one- Rum, Lemon Juice, Lime Juice, Curacao, Orgeat, and Sugar.  Except no substitutions.

When you go there, ask Janice to make it for you.  She was a FANTASTIC bartender and really made our first trip to Trader Vic's great!

We had a great time and can't wait to go back to our favorite area- Siesta Key!

Bars 59-63 Ellenton, Goodland and Marco Island

We'll always have Woodys

Wow, we did this bars back in September but sometimes life has a way of getting away from you. Depsite the fact that we now have 3 Great Danes in the house we are hoping to get to a lot more beach bars this year than we did last.

We had a really good time in Marco Island in September of 2012 with Sarah's parents and extremely good friends Bob and Beth.


Bar 59- Woody's River Roo
WE LOVE THIS PLACE! This has been a favorite for a while and a stop on our way to Venice and Siesta Key. We thought it would be great to take our family and friends and it did not dissapoint.

 Outside Woody's getting ready to start our fun weekend!

 Posing like a couple of kangaroos

Bahama Mama and a Jai Alai- Yumm!

Look at what we found!

Bar 60- Stan's Idle Hour

We were incredibly saddened to learn that just a few months before our trip that Stan had passed away and the bar was closed during the interium. We still went and explored it and it looked like it would be a really good time. The bar has since re-opened and we hope to make it back sometime soon.



 These Packer fans would have been right at home at Stan's!

Bar 61-Snook INN
We stopped here for lunch after an airboat ride. We were pleasantly surprised to find fantastic live music and a place to sit right by the water- two of our must-have's for beach bars!
The food and drinks were good! Sarah had a Bloody Mary and Ryan had a frozen Samba Cherry- Torched cherry rum, pina colada, strawberry and creme de banana. We even split an order of oysters.

Bar 62- Stilts
When you see a view like this it is no wonder how this bar got it's name. It is set back a little from the beach but raised so you still have a glorious view of the ocean.

Talk about stilts!!

Our order was fairly balanced. Two IPAs, Two Blue Moons, a Vodka Cranberry and a Sneaky Tiki. They also had a great guitar player and all in all it made for a relaxing afternoon. 

Bar 63: Quinn's On The Beach

Quinn's is part of one of the hotels. In general these aren't our favorite bars as they just have a different feel to it. We really enjoying being able to sit right off of the beach and our drinks were good. Parking wasn't very convenient so overall we just rate this as an okay experience. However, after visiting 63 bars we have seen a lot of really good ones and it takes a bit to impress us!  

Jai Alai beers, Rum Runner, Miami Vice, Dirty Banana

Taking a walk on the beach

Slurping down the last of a Dirty Banana!

 A job well done! 

Fantastic view from the beach!

Saying goodbye to Beach Bar 63!

Bar 57-58 Melbourne

Bartender at Bonefish Willys: What can I get for you?
Sarah: A Kona Fire Rock Pale Ale

Wow, it has been a long time since we've been to a beach bar. We've been going through a bit of withdrawl. It has been a busy few months for us. We just moved in to a new house and have been really busy getting it to the point we want it. We've made a lot of progress but still have a long ways to go. We've been here just about two months now and things are just now starting to feel like home. We decided to take a break from our weekend activities and hit up a couple beach bars. We picked two great bars to get back in the swing of things!

Friday, April 13, 2012

Bar 57: Squid Lips
We had dinner and drinks sitting on the outside deck of Squid Lips.

The atmosphere is really laid back (haven't found a beach bar that isn't!) and it was exactly what we needed on that Friday night.

The food was really good and I believe Ryan finished his drink in about 15 minutes.



Squid Ink and Mango in Paradise



Squid Lips decided that they needed a beach so they built one! They had live music playing (always a plus in our book) and we would have sat at these tables for another drink it we didn't have another bar in the area we wanted to visit.

Bar 58: Bonefish Willys

This reminded me of a backyard party on the water. Again, the live musician did his best to set the mood. It took a while to get a seat at the bar and the wait for a table outside was about 45 minutes but as it is with these places it's worth it.

We sat at the bar outside. I had a Kona Firerock Pale Ale and Ryan had a Pina Colada. The Pina colada wasn't great, we've definitely had better. You can tell this is a local hang out and that just helps the atmosphere. You almost feel like an outsider visiting Cheers for the first time.

So,as always, there is a tie-in to the quote we start off with on the blog. In some ways it is realted to our beach bar trip or just a snap shot of that time in our life. On April 20th, we welcomed Kona in to our household. She is an 8 week old great dane and we're already in love. Not surprisingly, we've been thinking about a puppy for a while and we were brain storming names on one of our October beach bar trips. The name Kona came up and it just stuck. We're really looking forward to finding some bars where she can join us.

Bars 54-56: Cocoa Beach

Ryan: Should we have order a Category 4 or 5 Hurricane?
Sarah: We have 3 bars to hit today.
Ryan: Category 4 sounds good.

Bar 54: Sandbar Sports Grill
This is a fun place just off of the beach. The atmosphere is great and the staff is really friendly! A few even had on Ohio State jerseys. Our kind of place!

We started our Saturday with a Category 4 Hurricane and watching Wisconsin win at the Sandbar Sports Grill.



We also had the fish tacos which are one of their specialities. Yumm! We would definitely recommend them.

Bar 55: Captain J's Sky Deck

I wanted a Shark Bite drink but even though it was on the menu, they didn't serve it.  I settled for a Raspberry Vodka Lemonade. 

Overall a good place with a nice view but we have enjoyed other bars more.

Bar 56: The Beach Shack

We had a classic beach drink, Sex On The Beach, but it had watermelon schnapps in it.  Pretty interesting twist on a classic and it paid off.

October in Florida is a perfect time to go to the beach because the weather is comfortable and the beach isn't crowded.  Sarah will cheers to that :)