When Sugar Champagne Bar opened in late March this year, owner Ronnie Shugar announced the restaurant’s indoor dining room would require each guest to spend $150 when dining from 6 p.m. until close (4 p.m. to 6 p.m. has no minimum). It’s a steep price, especially in an increasingly volatile economy, and it may have deterred locals from walking into the bubblegum pink South Pineapple Avenue bar, where you’ll see a matching pink Rolls Royce parked out front and wrapped in the bar’s logo. 

But looked at through the lens of camp, it’s hard not to wonder if Shugar’s pricing isn’t a gimmick.

Susan Sontag tackled the idea of camp in her 1964 essay “Notes on ‘Camp.’” She describes it as a love of clever devices and exaggerations that you’re offended by and drawn to at the same time. Sugar Champagne’s homage to camp is its Instagram-bait interiors and over-the-top (and objectionable) $150 minimum.

And yet we just can’t stop talking about it.

Upon arrival, the restaurant’s host makes no mention of the minimum spend as she escorts us inside, where a mishmash of patterns and décor could be construed as an assault on the senses, but somehow manages to work. Teal velvet banquettes and swivel chairs pair with teal accents on other chairs embroidered with jungle scenes (complete with leopards), which pair with the teal in Art Nouveau wallpaper—and everything is complemented by a throughline of pink. Case in point: an electric keyboard inside a custom pink stand, all designed to look like a squished baby grand piano. It’s campy, all right.

The drink menu features steeply priced glasses of Champagne ranging from $34 to $75, alongside craft cocktails ($20 to $29) and the best “Pornstar Martini” I’ve ever had ($27). You might expect a bar that demands a minimum spend to take itself more seriously, but Sugar’s version of the early-2000s tongue-in-cheek cocktail—a combination of tart passionfruit purée tempered by Madagascar vanilla and vodka and topped with Champagne—is a reminder of why the drink has maintained a cult following from which older millennials can’t escape.

If you plan on snacking while sipping, it’s impossible not to hit the $150 minimum. “Snacking” is the key word; each dish provides just a couple of bites. They’re delicious, but you will not leave full. 

Like the pink and teal interior, caviar is inescapable and adorns every dish at Sugar. The caviar dip ($42) with raw vegetables, whipped crème fraîche and onion, topped with a generous scoop of caviar, is the largest dish. But caviar on this dip is an unnecessary garnish that’s overwhelmed by stronger flavors—same with smoky, salty salmon in the salmon cornets (bite-sized cones filled with smoked salmon topped with crème fraîche and everything bagel seasoning, $29). Even my favorite dish of the evening, “Deviled Egg Suprême” ($27), would be just as fabulous without a dollop of caviar on top. Black garlic (aged garlic cloves that turn black and umami) and truffles flavor the deviled egg filling, adding earthy base notes that create a satisfying, savory bite.

Potato latkes ($37) are the only items on which the caviar is given the lift it deserves—unless you count the menu’s traditional caviar service of either Osetra, Siberian Supreme or Beluga hybrid ($156 to $774, depending on portion size). Despite the overzealous caviar toppers and price tags, however, each dish is satisfying thanks to its otherwise thoughtful flavor profiles.

The service at Sugar outshines everything, cutting through the camp. It’s genuine, warm and collaborative. A primary server is assigned to each party, but other staff make appearances at each table at least once, ensuring that no one goes without. It also softens the sticker shock at the end of the meal. Despite my financial gripes, it was a fantastic night.

If Sugar is attempting camp, it’s doing it right. If it’s not, that’s OK, too. Think about Sarasota and all its loved and hated landmarks, like the 26-foot Unconditional Surrender statue at Marina Jack, the purple seashell-shaped Van Wezel and the pink flamingos at Sarasota Jungle Gardens (what’s more camp than a pink bird?). Why not spend a night at Sugar—where you can be picked up and brought to the front door in that pink Rolls Royce—as long as you can afford it? 

SUGAR CHAMPAGNE BAR | 127 S. Pineapple Ave., Sarasota, (941) 233-9133, sugarbarsrq.com