It’s no small achievement to be the No. 1 restaurant in Sarasota on TripAdvisor. The travel website lists 828 restaurants and counting and Sarasota has a discerning and notoriously exacting population. 

Antoine’s Restaurant has been open in its current location, across the street from the Baltimore Orioles stadium, for less than a year and in that time has become a fixture in TripAdvisor’s top spot. Chef-Owner Angela Georges and her husband and partner Olivier Georges credit their success to attention to detail, extreme passion, unwavering dedication and exceptionally tasty Belgian food. You’d be forgiven for thinking Antoine’s is a restaurant serving fine French cuisine, but whilst Chef Angela speaks five languages including French, her cuisine is Belgian. Olivier and Angela met in Belgium and bonded over their shared love of the hospitality industry and desire to delight people with their talents. They were living quite happily when Olivier’s friend, Gaetan Daskalides, called from Sarasota with an interesting offer. Daskalides moved to Sarasota because of his father and was working at a restaurant downtown called Brasserie Belge where the owner was looking for another Belgian server. Angela received an offer at around the same time that would have involved the pair relocating to China. Olivier journeyed to Sarasota and began work almost immediately, even though he could barely speak English. He called Angela and described this corner of paradise and the decision was made. Brasserie Belge was short-lived but Angela and Olivier were determined to make their own place a success. The first incarnation of Antoine’s was on Fruitville, but the couple didn’t love the space, so they kept looking and kept cooking, building a devoted following with their flavorful pots of steamed mussels, homemade pastas and daily specials utilizing only the freshest locally sourced ingredients. When they found and transformed the space they now call home, they spent almost 24 hours a day, 7 days a week working to make it a success. The couple cooked dishes until 3am some nights before they could justify the hiring of a dishwasher, but they persevered and soon the restaurant was packed every night. In the kitchen, Chef Angela whips up dishes such as Scallops with Tangerine Beurre Blanc and an Escargot special so popular that it is now available every day, while in the front of the restaurant, Olivier proves to be the most charming dinner host one could ask for as he personally serves every table to ensure consistency of experience.