Updated: July 2026
The Sandbar Seafood & Spirits on Anna Maria Island is one of the island’s most iconic beachfront restaurants, with a history that stretches back over a century. Originally a gathering place known as “The Pavilion,” the site has endured hurricanes, ownership changes, and countless reinventions, yet it has remained a central part of island life.
Most people enjoying a sunset dinner at the Sandbar have no idea how much history is tied to this stretch of sand. Long before it became the restaurant it is today, this location had already lived several other lives, some of them a lot rowdier than the toes-in-the-sand experience it’s known for now.
The Pavilion
The story begins in 1911, when this spot on the island was known simply as The Pavilion, a meeting place for visitors arriving by steamship from Tampa. A diving platform extended 100 feet offshore, and the Pavilion quickly became a favorite gathering spot for locals and tourists alike. Long before there was a menu, a bar, or a view worth photographing, this was simply the place people came to be near the water together.
The Tavern, the Jail, and a Very Florida Punishment
A decade or so after those first streets and sidewalks went in, a tavern opened on this same site, and it did not take long for barroom brawls to become a regular feature of island life. Local authorities needed a way to deal with rowdy drunks, so in 1927 the island built its first jail cell. It had no roof, no glass, and no screens, just bars, which meant that anyone locked up for the night was left to the mercy of the mosquitoes and no-see-ums, a punishment any longtime islander will tell you is far worse than it sounds.
If you have never dealt with a no-see-um bite firsthand, my No-See-Ums on Anna Maria Island: My Insider Guide covers what you are in for and how to avoid it. That biting-insect punishment continued for more than a decade, until a fire destroyed parts of the cell in the 1940s. Remarkably, the jail still stands on the island today, roofless and doorless, and it is unusual enough to have earned a mention in Ripley’s Believe It or Not, as well as a spot in my Best Instagram Spots on Anna Maria Island: My Insider Guide.
The Chiles Era
In July of 1979, Ed Chiles and a group of partners purchased the site with a clear goal: honor the history of the location while building it into a true destination restaurant. Over the next 45 years, Chiles grew the Sandbar into one of the most recognizable names in Manatee County dining, known for its beachfront seating, seafood menu, and sunset views that have become a signature part of the Anna Maria Island experience.
The look, the landscaping, and the menu evolved over the decades, but the site never lost its identity as a gathering place, the same role it has played since the days of The Pavilion.
A New Chapter for Sandbar Seafood & Spirits
In 2024, after 45 years at the helm, Ed Chiles sold the Sandbar, along with three other Chiles Hospitality properties, Beach House Waterfront Restaurant, Mar Vista Dockside, and Anna Maria Bake House, to Beachside Hospitality Group, a St. Petersburg-based restaurant company that also operates the Crabby’s chain across Florida.
It was Beachside’s first move into Manatee County and marked the end of one of the longest single-ownership runs of any restaurant on Anna Maria Island.
The Sandbar Today
Beachside invested in renovations after the 2024 hurricanes, refreshing the dining room, bar, and outdoor spaces while adding two new features Beachside Bites, a walk-up breakfast window on the south side of the building, and Sweet Willy’s Ice Cream Shoppe inside the restaurant. The Sandbar also offers valet parking and, after years of first-come, first-served seating, recently began accepting reservations, a shift I cover in more detail in my Restaurant Reservations on Anna Maria Island: My Insider Guide.
Today, Sandbar Seafood and Spirits carries forward more than a century of gathering-place history, even if most guests are there simply for the seafood, the sunset, and now the ice cream. No visit is complete without saving room for a slice of key lime pie, one of the island’s essential coastal desserts, and Sandbar’s version earns its place in my Best Key Lime Desserts on Anna Maria Island: My Insider Guide. The menu’s crab cakes and fish sandwich, are both worth seeking out, and each has earned its own mention in my Best Crab Cakes on Anna Maria Island: My Insider Guide and Best Fish Sandwich on Anna Maria Island: My Insider Guide.
If you are planning a visit, I also cover the current dining experience, along with its place among the island’s best romantic dinner spots, in my Romantic Restaurants on Anna Maria Island: My Insider Guide. The Sandbar shows up again in my Toes-in-the-Sand Dining on Anna Maria Island: My Insider Guide, since it is one of those rare places that does more than one thing exceptionally well. For the full lineup of where to eat across the island, see my Dining on Anna Maria Island: My Insider Guide.
The Sandbar has its place in my own history too. I went to school with one of its longtime general managers, which always made a visit there feel a little more personal than just another dinner out. Over the years, I have caught live music on the deck, watched weddings unfold at the Pavilion, and made more than one stop into the gift shop, which carries a genuinely great selection of Sandbar merchandise. That wedding scene was no coincidence either. The open-air Pavilion on the north side of the restaurant, the same general spot where this whole story began back in 1911, regularly hosts weddings and events, so do not be surprised if your sunset dinner comes with a first dance in the background.
If you visit during turtle season, do not be surprised either to spot a roped-off sea turtle nest tucked into the sand nearby, a reminder that this stretch of beach is shared with more than just diners and wedding guests. The wildlife-watching does not stop at turtles either. Shorebirds are a regular sight along this same stretch of Gulf, and my Birdwatching on Anna Maria Island: My Insider Guide covers where to look and what to expect.
One tradition worth knowing before you go is the nightly sunset bell. Each evening, guests on the deck are invited to guess the exact time the sun will disappear below the Gulf horizon. The moment it actually sets, a bell rings, the whole deck breaks into applause, and whoever guessed closest walks away with a bottle of bubbles. It is a small ritual, but it turns an already beautiful sunset into a genuine shared moment among total strangers, and it is one of those details that makes the Sandbar feel like more than just a restaurant with a view.
The Sandbar’s community spirit shows up in daylight hours too. Every spring, the restaurant hosts its Annual Easter Egg Hunt on the beach out back, a tradition dating to the late 1980s that now draws hundreds of families from around the world each year. Kids bring their own baskets, refreshments are served in the pavilion. The event has become another example of how the Sandbar continues to serve as a gathering place for generations of island visitors and locals.
Coastal Close
A hundred years is a long time for one small stretch of sand to hold onto its identity, but the Sandbar has managed it, from steamship landings to barroom brawls to a mosquito-infested jail cell to one of the island’s most beloved restaurants. The next time you are seated there watching the sky turn orange over the Gulf, remember that you are not just sitting at a beachfront restaurant. You are sitting in a place that has been bringing people together for more than a century.
If you’ve ever wondered how places like this came to be, I share more of the story in The History of Anna Maria Island: My Insider Guide.
— izzy