RFK Rankings · Sarasota
Best Restaurants for Brunch in Sarasota (2026)
Weekend brunch · Sarasota · 7 rooms ranked · Updated June 2026
Compiled by the Restaurants for Kings editorial team · Published April 8, 2024 · Updated June 9, 2026 · Reviewed by Fredrik Filipsson, Editor-in-Chief · How we rank · Corrections
Sarasota brunch runs on two things: scratch breakfast cafes downtown and the Gulf-coast Sunday brunch that comes with a Bloody Mary bar and, on Siesta Key, live jazz over the water. The city has shifted away from the old hotel-ballroom buffet toward a la carte rooms run by serious kitchens. These seven, ranked, are where a Sarasota morning is best spent, from a downtown pancake counter to a waterfront jazz brunch.
1.The Breakfast House
The Key West-style bungalow whose lemon-lavender-ricotta blueberry pancakes were named Florida's best. Walk in early, no bookings.
The Breakfast House runs from a Key West-style bungalow at 1817 Fruitville Road downtown and is the city's reference scratch breakfast room. The star is a stack of blueberry pancakes stuffed with lemon-lavender ricotta, the dish the New York Daily News named the best blueberry pancakes in Florida, anchoring a broad pancake program, with mains roughly 12 to 18 dollars.
It carries more than six hundred Yelp reviews updated into 2026 and runs walk-in only, Tuesday to Sunday, 8:00 to 2:00, closed Mondays, with the usual weekend wait. The from-scratch cooking is the structural advantage over the chains nearby. For the best plate of pancakes in the city, this is the room.
2.Brick's Smoked Meats
The State Street smokehouse running chicken and waffles for two and a chili-ranch avocado toast. Weekend brunch from 9:30.
Brick's Smoked Meats opened on State Street downtown in 2017 and brings a Texas-barbecue kitchen to the weekend brunch table. The signatures are a Southern chicken and waffles for two, a fried half chicken with house buttermilk waffles and peach-habanero syrup, and an avocado toast with chili ranch and poached eggs, with mains roughly 15 to 26 dollars.
Sarasota Magazine singled it out among its great Sarasota brunches, and its Yelp profile carries more than nine hundred reviews updated to June 2026. Brunch runs Saturday and Sunday from 9:30, with a mix of walk-in and bookings. For a barbecue kitchen's take on brunch downtown, Brick's is the pick.
3.Station 400
The former freight depot in the Rosemary District running lemon-curd and cinnamon-roll pancakes. A voted-best local staple.
Station 400 runs at 400 North Lemon Avenue in the Rosemary District, in a historic former rail freight depot, and is the all-day breakfast staple that locals vote best brunch year after year. The kitchen is built on pancakes, lemon-curd and cinnamon-roll with vanilla-bean maple syrup, alongside its eggs Benedict, with mains roughly 12 to 18 dollars.
It is walk-in and daily, 7:30 to 2:30, with weekend waits to match its reputation. The depot setting gives the room a character the strip-mall cafes cannot match. For a reliable, all-day Sarasota breakfast from a room the city keeps voting for, Station 400 is the fixture.
4.MADE Restaurant
The Main Street room running a brisket Benedict and a build-your-own Bloody Mary bar. A Sunday brunch worth reserving.
MADE Restaurant runs at 1990 Main Street downtown and plates an upscale-casual modern-American Sunday brunch. The signature is a brisket Benedict, corn hash, pepper jack, candied bacon, sausage gravy and chipotle hollandaise, that Sarasota Magazine's editor named a personal favourite, alongside chicken and waffles and a build-your-own Bloody Mary bar, with mains roughly 15 to 24 dollars.
It takes reservations, which is the move for a Sunday brunch downtown, with walk-ins as available. The kitchen treats brunch as a proper menu rather than a holdover breakfast, which is what lifts it above the cafe pack. For a sit-down, bookable Sunday brunch on Main Street, MADE is the room.
5.Cask & Ale
The Main Street craft-cocktail bar running Million Dollar Bacon and Sunday jazz. New brunch menu launched April 2026.
Cask & Ale runs at 1548 Main Street downtown, a craft-cocktail bar that does a weekend brunch with Sunday jazz. The kitchen runs a house-sliced Million Dollar Bacon, chilaquiles and build-your-own omelets, with bottomless mimosas and Bloody Marys, and plates roughly 14 to 22 dollars.
SRQ covered its new brunch menu in April 2026, the dated proof the offering is current, with brunch Saturday and Sunday 11:00 to 3:00 and live jazz Sunday noon to 4:00. The cocktail-bar pedigree shows in the drinks program behind the brunch. For a downtown brunch with a real bar and live music on a Sunday, Cask & Ale is the pick.
6.Sunnyside Cafe
The North Trail cafe running a signature potato pancake and a house-hollandaise Benedict. A scratch room worth the short drive.
Sunnyside Cafe runs at 4900 North Tamiami Trail in the Uptown stretch and is a scratch breakfast room that has added some dinner service. The signatures are a potato pancake, orderable as a side or doubled as a main, a Greek omelet, and an eggs Benedict with house hollandaise, with breakfast mains roughly 14 to 20 dollars.
Sarasota Magazine named it among its great Sarasota brunches. It is walk-in, closed Mondays, otherwise daytime daily with Wednesday-to-Saturday dinner. The from-scratch kitchen and the house hollandaise are the reasons to make the short drive up the Trail. For a scratch-cooked Sarasota brunch away from the downtown crush, Sunnyside is the answer.
7.Ophelia's on the Bay
The Siesta Key waterfront room running a Sunday jazz brunch over Little Sarasota Bay. Reserve for the special-occasion table.
Ophelia's on the Bay runs on Midnight Pass Road on Siesta Key, on Little Sarasota Bay, and its Sunday jazz brunch is the city's special-occasion waterfront option. The brunch menu runs a Parisian Benedict, buttermilk blueberry waffles and a Bananas Foster French toast, from a kitchen known for crab cakes on fried green tomato, at around 27 dollars a head.
It is an established Sarasota Magazine-listed fine-dining room and the brunch runs Sunday 11:00 to 2:00 with reservations recommended. The bay view and the live music make it the destination rather than the everyday brunch. For a waterfront, occasion brunch with jazz over the water, Ophelia's is the Siesta Key pick.
Not for everyone
Famous, but not the brunch you want
Café L'Europe, St. Armands Circle. The 1973 fine-dining icon at 431 St. Armands Circle has closed, and the space reopened in 2025 as a different concept. Yelp now lists the old name as closed. Do not send a brunch table to St. Armands looking for Cafe L'Europe; it is gone.
Columbia Restaurant, St. Armands Circle. Sarasota's oldest restaurant, the 1959 Spanish-Cuban institution on the Circle, serves lunch and dinner only and no genuine brunch. It is the highest-traffic tourist room on St. Armands, and people wrongly expect a weekend brunch. Go for the 1905 Salad and sangria at lunch, not for brunch.
The old hotel-ballroom buffet. Sarasota's brunch scene has moved away from the old hotel-ballroom buffet toward a la carte rooms, as Sarasota Magazine notes. The generic resort buffet is the format to avoid, priced as a tourist event rather than a meal. The downtown and Siesta Key rooms above are the city's real brunch now.
How to brunch in Sarasota
Sarasota brunch splits between the daily downtown cafes and the weekend-only sit-down rooms, and the choice sets the morning. The Breakfast House, Station 400 and Sunnyside run scratch breakfast most days and take no bookings; MADE, Cask & Ale and Ophelia's run weekend brunch menus and reward a reservation. The cafe is the everyday table; the weekend room is the event.
Reserve the weekend rooms and time the cafes. MADE, Cask & Ale and Ophelia's all run weekend or Sunday brunch and take bookings, so reserve, especially for Ophelia's bay-view tables on Siesta Key. The Breakfast House, Station 400 and Sunnyside are walk-in, so the lever is the first turn at opening before the weekend wait builds. Note the Monday closures at the Breakfast House and Sunnyside.
Match the location to the day. A downtown brunch at the Breakfast House, Station 400 or MADE puts Main Street, the Rosemary District and the bayfront within a short walk; a Siesta Key brunch at Ophelia's pairs with the beach and the bay. Skip St. Armands Circle for brunch specifically, the famous rooms there are lunch and dinner, not morning.
Frequently asked
What is the best brunch in Sarasota?
The Breakfast House on the Fruitville corridor downtown, a Key West-style bungalow whose lemon-lavender-ricotta blueberry pancakes the New York Daily News named the best in Florida. Mains run 12 to 18 dollars. It is walk-in only, Tuesday to Sunday, closed Mondays, so arrive early to beat the weekend wait.
Where is the best Sunday brunch in Sarasota?
For a sit-down Sunday brunch, MADE on Main Street runs a brisket Benedict and a Bloody Mary bar and takes reservations; Ophelia's on the Bay on Siesta Key runs a jazz brunch over the water. Cask & Ale on Main Street pairs a weekend brunch with live Sunday jazz. All three reward a booking.
Does Sarasota take brunch reservations?
At the weekend rooms, yes. MADE, Cask & Ale and Ophelia's on the Bay take bookings and you should use them, especially for Ophelia's bay-view tables. The scratch cafes, the Breakfast House, Station 400 and Sunnyside, are walk-in only, so timing is the lever there: arrive at opening before the weekend line builds.
When is brunch served in Sarasota?
The downtown cafes run daily from around 7:30 or 8:00 to mid-afternoon; the Breakfast House and Sunnyside are closed Mondays. The weekend rooms run brunch Saturday and Sunday, with Brick's from 9:30, Cask & Ale 11:00 to 3:00, and Ophelia's Sunday only 11:00 to 2:00. So a weekday is for the cafes and a weekend for the sit-down rooms.
How much does brunch cost in Sarasota?
The scratch cafes run 12 to 18 dollars a main, the value end. The weekend sit-down rooms run higher: Brick's 15 to 26 dollars, MADE 15 to 24, and Ophelia's Sunday jazz brunch around 27 a head. A cafe brunch with coffee lands near 18 to 22 dollars, a waterfront jazz brunch nearer 30 to 40.
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