An employee at the Sarasota restaurant said, “We only found out about a week ago” that we were closing permanently.
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One of my favorite restaurants in Sarasota’s University Town Center neighborhood is closing for good after about eight years in business.
The district, near the Sarasota-Manatee County border and Interstate 75, began its rise as a restaurant hub about a decade ago when Seasons 52, Brio Tuscan Grille and The Cheesecake Factory opened along with The Mall at University Town Center in 2014. Rusty Bucket Restaurant and Tavern, BurgerFi and Jpan Sushi and Grill then opened across the street from the mall on the west side of North Cattlemen Road in 2016, giving the UTC area one of the largest restaurant lists in the entire bi-county region.
Unfortunately, while many more restaurants have opened in the area, not all of the original UTC restaurants have made it. Broward County-based BurgerFi closed in 2022, and now Rusty Bucket, which I always liked for its cold beer and Midwestern-style comfort food, is closing later this month.
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The Rusty Bucket restaurant at UTC in Sarasota will close permanently
Rusty Bucket, located right next to Rocco’s Tacos, is billed as a “casual American restaurant and tavern where people come together to laugh, smile and have a good time over food that makes everyone happy.” Rusty Bucket opened in 2002 in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio, and grew to 20 locations, according to its website. Today, most of Rusty Bucket’s locations are in Ohio, with the Sarasota location being the only one in Florida.
I tried several times to reach Rusty Bucket’s Ohio headquarters by phone and email after being told that the Rusty Bucket location in UTC, which I had just visited on July 6, was closing. On Tuesday, August 6, I called the restaurant and spoke with a bartender who said they could speak officially.
“We’re closing permanently on August 18th,” said the bartender, who gave his name as Skyler Wolf. “We only found out about a week ago.”
Rusty Bucket, one of my favorite restaurants in the University Town Center
In November, I included Rusty Bucket on my list of top 10 restaurants in University Town Center, praising its casual bar atmosphere, plenty of TVs showing sports, and menu full of comfort food that will leave you deeply satisfied, along with a solid beer and cocktail selection and nice happy hour deals.
When I visited several times in October and November, the menu included just about every comfort food imaginable, from burgers and pizza to meatloaf and beef stroganoff. I recommend the light, chewy pizza with its dough made fresh daily. In fact, I’ve enjoyed several of their pizzas, but the best was the Sicilian ($16.79). It’s topped with Italian sausage, tavern ham, bell peppers, caramelized onions and excellent cup-and-char pepperoni from Ezzo Sausage Company, also based in Columbus, Ohio.
I noticed that the same high-quality tavern ham that’s on the Sicilian pizza must have been used on Rusty Bucket’s surprisingly good Cuban sandwich ($16.29). Served with a side of seasoned fries, the ham was paired with tender braised pork, Swiss cheese, house-made mustard and pickles. Yes, who would have thought an Ohio company would serve such a lovingly prepared version of a Florida classic?
The chicken wings at Rusty Bucket were also impressive. They were only $7.65 during happy hour, I ordered the Joe’s Regular and asked for them to be crispy. They were just right, the sauce was medium hot in the back, there was plenty of butter in the front, and there was a thick blue cheese for dipping. Yes, Rusty Bucket’s happy hour, 3-6pm Monday through Friday, was hard to beat. In addition to the deal on the wings, I enjoyed a 20-ounce glass of Samuel Adams Boston Lager for just $6.79.
Rusty Bucket will be missed, especially during the holidays
Recently, on July 6 to be exact, my wife and I had another pleasant experience at the Rusty Bucket after a visit to the new Twin Peaks sports bar that had opened nearby. While sitting at the bar with another couple drinking perfectly poured 20-ounce pints of Guinness ($7.99), we happily ate the quesadilla with blackened chicken, cheddar, pepper jack cheese, black beans and corn salsa ($14.99). And even better? The sliders with juicy slices of beef covered in caramelized onions, American cheese and pickle chips on mini brioche buns ($15.99). Yes, we will miss Rusty Bucket, especially during the holidays.
The holidays start early at University Town Center—last year on November 11 with a parade featuring Santa—and of all the area restaurants, none is better located than Rusty Bucket. In addition to the cozy wooden bar and indoor dining room that feels like it was transplanted from Ohio or perhaps my home state of Pennsylvania, there’s the covered outdoor area. It overlooks the traffic circle and the giant Christmas tree, and offers a front-row seat view of the nightly light shows. Here’s hoping something equally charming takes the prime spot that Rusty Bucket occupies. Unfortunately, I doubt that will happen before this year’s holiday season.
The closure of Rusty Bucket follows the departure of Fat Point Brewing and the opening of Naked Farmer
So my list of top 10 restaurants in the UTC area that I published in November will soon be down to eight. In addition to the soon-to-be-closed Rusty Bucket, Fat Point Brewing recently closed. Fat Point was founded in Charlotte County and opened a taproom and restaurant in the former BurgerFi space in July 2023. I enjoyed going there several times before it closed in May.
Luckily, an exciting restaurant also recently opened in the same West District of the UTC area. Naked Farmer, the self-described “fine-casual” restaurant founded in St. Petersburg in 2020, opened its University Town Center location on June 19. Originally slated to open in summer 2023, Naked Farmer specializes in “local, farm-fresh foods.” I look forward to visiting Naked Farmer in the near future.
When you go
The Rusty Bucket Restaurant and Tavern is located at 257 N Cattlemen Road, Sarasota. For more information, call 941-355-6666 or visit myrustybucket.com.
Wade Tatangelo is ticket editor for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and Florida regional dining and entertainment editor for the USA TODAY Network. Follow him on ÞjórsárdenFacebook and Instagram. Email him at [email protected]. Support local journalism by subscribing.
