We have friends visiting near us early Oct. and they are staying only a couple days in Clearwater.
Our plan is to meet them for dinner one night and since we live in Sarasota we are thinking about meeting them for dinner in the St. Pete Beach area. My preference would be a place at or near the beach that has good food and casual atmosphere.
Outdoor dining would be great but mainly I'd like to find a place that reflects "Florida" cuisine so that our Nashville friends can get something here they would not typically get at home.
Any suggestions appreciated.

We like the Sloppy Pelican:

http://www.sloppypelican.com/

Definitely nothing fancy but it is absolutely "Florida"!

Drive 10 more minutes to Treasure Island go to Sloppy Joe's!

Have them order the fish tacos blackened with rice and beans. They also have a great cuban sandwich!

The 4th Street Shrimp Store in St Pete is amazing, casual seafood. Prices are good and it is fresh. It's not on the water.

I went down in the spring. I really enjoyed Shrimpy's best out of all the places I went. The shrimp po boy was excellent.

http://www.shrimpyspub.com/

Thanks for the great advice! They all sound good although I am leaning toward the places on the water.

You might try Bongos Beachside Bistro, located behind the Grand Plaza hotel. We ate there last spring while visiting the area. The food was good, but what really made it fun was that the seating was literally on the beach.

Living in Sarasota, I would think going to a restaurant, maybe on Longboat Key, for stone crabs would be great!
One restaurant we liked in Treasure Island was Caddy's: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restauran...d_Florida.html Very laid back and directly on the beach. We always got grouper sandwiches which were good but we went for the location. They even had lounge chairs stacked to the side of the restaurant for your use. Sunsets are beautiful!