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11 Places to Visit on Siesta Key Before the July 31st Premier of MTV’s Siesta Key

Posted by Best Western Siesta Key onJuly 22, 2017 in The Beach, Things To Do.

Bars, restaurants and clubs including some filmed for the MTV series premiering July 31

MTV’s soon-to-air reality series “Siesta Key” follows the lives of young adults on the island. Yet several bars, restaurants and clubs, some of which were used as filming locations for the show, already draw in scores of young visitors and residents.

Even if you be won’t appearing on television anytime soon, you can still visit these places. Many are in walking distance of each other on Ocean Boulevard and Midnight Pass Road, making them ideal for a night of bar-hopping.

Before “Siesta Key” premieres July 31, here are 11 of the best nightlife spots in Siesta Key.

3.14 Pi Craft Beer and Spirits

5263 Ocean Blvd.; 941-346-1188; siestapi.com

Few things are more enticing to nighttime crowds than the combination of pizza and beer, both of which 3.14 Pi has plenty of.

Pizza sizes range from a personal 12-inch pizza to an 18-inch better shared with a group, with specialty pies including seafood and buffalo chicken. It also has a selection of pub grub including buffalo wings, fries and hot dogs.

The craft beer selection features a good amount of local and regional breweries and the bar has hosted tap takeovers, including one by local brewery JDub’s slated for Aug. 25.

And on Wednesdays at 10 p.m., it hosts a karaoke night where participants get a free slice of cheese pizza for their first song.

Beach Club Siesta Key

5151 Ocean Blvd.; 941-349-6311; beachclubsiestakey.com

Soon celebrating its 70th anniversary, Beach Club serves as the unofficial hub for Siesta Key nightlife.

It features a steady rotation of music including live bands and DJs into the later hours. Fittingly, Beach Club hosted a rap concert by “Siesta Key” cast member Pauly.

Beach Club also has a number of specialty late nights such as Ladies Night on Wednesdays, Sink or Swim bottomless drinks for $15 on Thursdays and half-off service industry nights Mondays. And every day it has happy hour 12-7 p.m., with $5 craft beers 5-8 p.m.

If you need something to help sop up all that alcohol, Beach Club features an in-house pizzeria.

Blase Cafe

5263 Ocean Blvd.; 941-349-9822; theblasecafe.com

If you’re looking for an upscale but still fairly casual drinking spot on Siesta Key, it’s worth dropping into Blase Cafe.

The martini bar features a plethora of drinks including some Florida-themed ones such as the key lime pie martini and Siesta Killer cocktail (coconut rum and cream with pineapple and orange juice.) There’s also a handful of beers, but martinis are the focus.

Like its drinks, the menu blends the higher-end and casual with dishes like burgers, sliders and shrimp and cheese grits, for a better-than-average bite between the bar-hopping.

And in the evenings, there’s live music outside on a stage between Blase Cafe and 3.14 Pi.

City Pizza

6645 Midnight Pass Road; 941-349-4490; siestapizza.com

Siesta Key has more than its fair share of pizza joints within Siesta Village, but it’s worth making the trip to Midnight Pass Road to visit City Pizza.

The restaurant offers a variety of sizes and types of pizzas, including its Black Pearl, which features shrimp and clams, along with individual slices starting at $3. The menu also includes a number of other Italian-American and seafood staples.

It draws a diverse crowd, ranging from families sharing a whole pie to people grabbing a slice of cheese during a night out on the town.

If it’s the latter, City Pizza also features its own bar, stocked with liquor and beer taps.

The Cottage

153 Avenida Messina; 941-312-9300; cottagesiestakey.com

The Cottage takes a beach cottage, a fixture of Siesta Key, and reconfigures it into one of Siesta Village’s hippest food and drink spots.

The menu features a number of tapas and sides for a bite along with sandwiches and entrees. Its drink list includes a number of craft cocktails such as Siesta Sangria and jalapeno watermelon margaritas, as well as local and regional craft beers.

You can either drink at the bar inside or move out to the back patio area, featuring live music nightly and foliage that helps accentuate The Cottage’s Old Florida feel.

The restaurant also features a lengthy 11 a.m.-6 p.m. “Siesta hour” with deals including $2 domestic beers, $5 craft beers and well drinks and $7 cocktails.

Crescent Club

6519 Midnight Pass Road; 941-349-1311

Everyone should know their local dive bar, and the one to visit in Siesta Key is Crescent Club.

With a sign boasting “an island tradition since 1949,” the establishment offers a remnant of another era when Siesta Key wasn’t increasingly condos, mansions and high-end rentals.

Though the clientele skews older, any young person can appreciate a cheap drink, and Crescent Club certainly offers that. It’s a good place for a stiff one or a bottle of Bud Light or Miller Lite, with Bell’s Two Hearted Ale about as fancy as you’re getting.

If you don’t feel like drinking in, Crescent Club also features a drive-through package store.

Daiquiri Deck

5250 Ocean Blvd. and 1250 Stickney Point Road; 941-349-8697 and 941-312-2422; daiquirideck.com

Daiquiri Deck is a staple of Siesta Key nightlife, so much so that it now has multiple locations in the area.

The bar and restaurant is known for its titular frozen daiquiris, essentially alcoholic Slurpees here. But it features a variety of other drinks and a 3-7 p.m. happy hour that includes $12 pitchers, $3.50 pints and two-for-one small frozen daiquiris or well drinks.

The original Daiquiri Deck, which now has four locations, is in the heart of Siesta Key’s Ocean Boulevard main strip.

In May, it opened a second South Siesta Key spot in a multi-floor building. The top deck is the way to go, offering a nice overlooking view of Siesta Key.

Gilligan’s Island Bar & Grill

5253 Ocean Blvd.; 941-346-8122; gilligansislandbar.com

The name of Gilligan’s Island Bar & Grill may conjure images of the wholesome ’60s sitcom, but it’s actually one of the busiest late-night spots in Siesta Key.

Outside there’s a large, sprawling tiki bar that offers the ideal backdrop for sipping a tropical drink. There’s another bar inside, as well as a dance floor.

It features DJ music starting at 10 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Thursday at 10 p.m. is also ladies night, where women drink for free with a $5 cover.

“Siesta Key” film crews visited Gilligan’s while shooting the series, which makes sense, as it’s where young people the cast members’ age are likely to end up on Siesta Key during the weekend.

The Hub Baja Grill

5148 Ocean Blvd.; 941-349-6800; thehubsiestakey.com

Though The Hub Baja Grill is primarily a restaurant offering Mexican and casual cuisine, it’s also a popular Siesta Key bar thanks to its margaritas and happy hour.

Drink-wise, the restaurant is known for its variety of margaritas, which start at $8.50 or $25 for a pitcher if you’re with a group of people.

It also features other mixed drinks, wines and beer, including a decent selection of local options including JDub’s and Motorworks Brewing.

The Hub’s “fiesta hour” from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday to Friday, then 10 p.m. to closing time midnight all week, features $7.50 margaritas, $2 draft beers, $3 well drinks and $4 wines.

LeLu Coffee Lounge

5251 Ocean Blvd.; 941-346-5358; lelucoffee.com

If you need to unwind from the more hectic spots on Siesta Key, or just want to avoid them entirely, there’s this coffee house located next to Gilligan’s.

LeLu offers a variety of caffeinated beverages including its signature coconut mocha. It also has coffee-based cocktails such as espresso martinis, as well as other mixed drinks and beers.

On Saturday nights, it features live jazz music. Just make sure you don’t come in too late; closing time is 10 p.m. Saturday and Friday, 7 p.m. Sunday and 5 p.m. the rest of the week.

Nursing a hangover from a night of tropical cocktails? LeLu opens at 7:30 a.m. and offers a breakfast menu, too.

Siesta Key Oyster Bar

5238 Ocean Blvd.; 941-346-5443; skob.com

Though this Siesta Key mainstay is first and foremost an oyster bar, it’s actually a pretty solid bar as well.

Open until 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday and midnight the rest of the week, S.K.O.B. offers a good place to grab a cold beer while in Siesta Key. It’s decorated with the dollar bills of patrons who’ve visited in the past.

It also hosts a steady rotation of live music both during the day and night.

And S.K.O.B. features one of the most unusual happy hour deals of any Siesta Key bar — half off a dozen oysters on the half shell or a platter of steamed crawfish from 3-6 p.m. every day.