Hosted Meal

The first time I discovered Tommy Bahama had restaurants was in Hawaii.

I mean, I knew there Tommy Bahama stores, obviously. But restaurants?

Uh. No.

I was in Hawaii on a press trip, we were shopping (as you do) at The Shops at Mauna Lani on the big island and a fellow travel writer suggested we have lunch at Tommy Bahama.

Really? They have food?

Yes. Yes they do.

We went upstairs into one of they most idyllic locations for a meal I have ever seen. It was open-air, like many restaurants in Hawaii, and a warm ocean breeze wafted over us as we ordered.

Mauna Lani Tommy Bahama location. Photo courtesy of Tommy Bahama.

In all honesty, I can’t remember what I ordered aside from the cake. They have this cake. This totally amazing cake. It’s called Pina Colada Cake and it’s a vanilla cake with Myers Dark Rum, diced pineapple, white chocolate mousse and toasted coconut. I really didn’t need dessert but the description sounded so fabulous, I had to order it. It was absolutely delicious but astonishingly huge. We were leaving the next morning and I had absolutely no business getting the rest of that cake to go but I did it anyway. I carted that to-go bag right onto the plane and I inhaled that leftover cake in the middle of the flight and everyone around me was drooling with envy.

So. No Tommy Bahama restaurants for several years.

There are not a lot of locations and there just didn’t happen to be one anywhere near where I was traveling until. Until February when I went on a girlfriends getaway to both Destin and Sarasota and both locations had a Tommy Bahama restaurant. It was time to contact that PR person who had been asking me to visit a location and tell him I would finally be near one and, well actually, I would be near two and could totally visit both of them if he wanted and this is how I managed to eat two equally wonderful meals at two completely different Tommy Bahama restaurants and unreservedly recommend both.

Our first visit was to the Sarasota location on St. Armands Circle close to Lido Key, Siesta Key, Longboat Key, and Ana Maria Island. Since we were staying on Siesta Key, it was an easy drive for us and was located in a really nice little village with lots of upscale shops which we enjoyed browsing. This is the only restaurant that is not in the same location as the store but you can enter it through the back of the store or around the corner though its own private entrance. We were shown upstairs to the second story dining room which had a really nice view of the area through the large windows.

Sarasota Tommy Bahama location. Photo courtesy of Tommy Bahama.

The island style furnishings were a pleasure but it was the friendly service that really made our meal memorable. Our waitress absolutely could not have been nicer and the general manager, Thai Branton, came out and spent quite a while just talking and visiting with us. We thought nothing could top the lovely experience we were having and then they brought out the food. The food. First, I had the Crab Bisque. Now, I’m pretty picky about my crab bisque. It has to be not too crabby/fishy and have just the right amount of cream and sherry. This was perfect. Hot, creamy, and wonderful.

Delicious bisque.

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