Restaurant chain Ocean Prime will open its much-anticipated Sarasota location at the end of December in the heart of The Quay Sarasota. The Sarasota outpost will be the brand’s 19th location, and its fourth in Florida—there are three other Ocean Primes in Tampa, Orlando and Naples.

Ocean Prime’s parent company, Cameron Mitchell Restaurants, was founded by Cameron Mitchell, remains the company’s CEO. Mitchell has owned a home on Siesta Key for 20 years and says he's thrilled to bring Ocean Prime to our area.

“It’s all about location, and Ocean Prime Sarasota is an incredible location,” Mitchell says. “I’ve always wanted to open a restaurant here but I was waiting for the Quay, specifically. When you think about the hotel rooms, condos, proximity to the bay the amazing neighborhoods nearby and the walkability, I think it’s a blessing that we’ve waited this long.

"This is a passion project for me, sure—it’s a great location. But it’s personal for me, too, because I live here and love it here," he continues.

Mitchell began working in the restaurant industry in 1980, when he took his first job as a busboy. He says he can’t wait for 2030, so he can say he’s been in the business for 50 years, and that when he says he’s going to work, he’s lying. To him, nothing about his business is work because he loves it so much.

“I always wanted to be the president of a restaurant company,” he says. “I was rejected the first time I applied to the Culinary Institute of America, but the restaurant business had already gotten into my blood. I knew I needed to go [to the Culinary Institute] in order to make all this happen. I finally got in, and that school laid the foundation for me to build this.”

His company, which is based out of Ohio, where Mitchell was born and raised, now owns and operates 64 restaurants around the country.

“We opened the first Ocean Prime because we wanted to combine a high-end steakhouse with great fresh seafood,” Mitchell says. “It’s evolved over the years. For example, we used to season our steaks with what we called ‘steak dust,’ but we’ve learned through every taste study that we’ve done that people prefer simply salt, pepper and clarified butter, so that’s what we do.”

Mitchell and his wife frequently visited Sarasota growing up, and knew they wanted to buy a home here when the time was right. Eventually, Mitchell was ready to put his restaurateur skills to work locally.

“While our company has restaurants all over the country, our heart is in Ohio and the surrounding midwest," Mitchell says. "People in that area of the country like to migrate down to the west coast of Florida, so opening restaurants here is a natural extension of our brand.”

He declines to choose a favorite item on the Ocean Prime menu, which offers steaks, seafood entrées, sushi, fresh oysters and more, but does divulge that his wife’s favorite dish is the Sonoma goat cheese ravioli.

“It’s been on the menu since day one,” he says. “It’s rare for a brand of our age to have a unique menu item that sticks around that long. And my wife, she just loves it.”

He describes Sarasota’s Ocean Prime as a place where people can gather for all sorts of occasions, or even to just grab a drink and an appetizer overlooking Sarasota Bay. The restaurant will have two outdoor terraces that will seat more than 100 guests in total; overall, the 9,500-square-foot restaurant will have 350 seats, including two bars and two private dining rooms.

Ocean Prime Sarasota will open at the end of December at The Quay Sarasota, 501 Quay Commons, Sarasota. For more information, click here.