restaurant suggestions for naples and sanibel
 

my husband and i are traveling to naples in 2 weeks for 4 nights at the ritz (beach) - a work trip for him - we have one night on our own and i'm curious if there are any good restaurants near the ritz that we can walk to vs eating all meals at the ritz??

also, at the end of the week we will be going to sanibel and staying at the sanibel inn and would like to have some restaurant recommendations there as well. we will have a car in sanibel but not in naples..

thanks

You won't be able to walk anywhere.

You could take a shuttle to the Golf Ritz and have dinner at Lemonia.

If you are renting a car, 10 mins away is 5th avenue - a strip with very good restaurants. I love Bistro 821, Yabba Island Grill and Pazzos...

kugs,

Can't help with restaurants in Naples but can give you some suggestions for Sanibel.
Here is a list of our favorites: Island Cow, Timbers, Bubble Room(Captiva), RC Otters(Captiva), Amy's Over Easy, Grandma Dots, and Lazy Flamingo. Oh and I almost forgot our favorite breakfast place, Lighthouse Cafe! Have a great trip.

At LaPlaya is Baleen, a wonderful restaurant right on the beach -- great for sunset fine dining. You could walk there, even via the beach if you wanted to -- 15 minutes or so -- or walk the street to get there (not all sidewalks but not real busy either) and you could take your shoes off and walk barefoot back to the Ritz on the beach by moonlight. It's one of the best restaurants in the entire area.

You also could do a super casual lunch at Buzz's Lighthouse. (You'll see the fake lighthouse sticking up). It's just a little bit north of the Ritz on the bay side of GulfShore Drive. Sit on the back deck and have grouper reubens -- don't knock 'em till you've tried 'em.

There is also Sea Witch which is close, but frankly I'd pass on that, and there is a rather large Japanese Teppan table place that has a separate regular dining room with good sushi and other dishes. It's pretty good.

I agree for really fine dining, take the Ritz shuttle over to Lemonia at the Golf Ritz.

If you do a search of this site, there are a number of posts of restaurant suggestions for Naples. So, I won't repeat them here.

I agree that you can't walk anywhere from the Ritz, but have to disagree with the estimate of 10 minutes to 5th Ave! With the traffic in the early evening it took us close to half an hour.

lisettemac, I assume that you weren't in May traffic.

Keith

I guess some people can't walk further than across a street? I named four restaurants above that you can walk to from the Ritz, Baleen may take 15 minutes, the others more like 5. I also forgot The Turtle Club which is also a 5 minute walk.

About driving times. I live four blocks south of Fifth Avenue South downtown. This morning I took my partner to his dentist who is on 41 near Pine Ridge. There was NO traffic before 8 and we flew. It was still over 10 minutes, that's just a little over half way to the Ritz. Frankly if you can drive from the Ritz to Fifth in the height of season in under a half hour, you're really doing good!
It is about 9 miles from the Ritz to Fifth Avenue South. If you do that in 10 minutes it means you're averaging nearly 60 mph mostly in 35 mph zones.

How is Lee doing?

We just got back from Sanibel last week. Our favorite restuarants were:
Twilight Cafe - this place has gourmet food and blows all other restaurants on the island away.
Island Cow - fresh food, good portions, funky atmosphere, less expensive - good for a casual night out.
Timbers - very good seafood

We also ate at the Seafood Factory and it was OK - two of us liked the food and the other two did not.
Bubble Room is not worth the $ (sorry to those who love it but the food was so-so for the price, and the atmosphere does not make up for it).
Whatever you do, do NOT eat at the Sundial's restaurant, no matter what your guidebook says. We stayed there, and while the resort was lovely the food stinks. We only had appetizers the night we arrived but that was enough to make us steer clear of the restaurants the rest of the time (we did not know that pressed, shaped calamari rings even existed - yuk!)

Also, we found that going out either at 5 or after 6:30 made it easier to get a table. Families go out at 5:30 or 6. We have a toddler but found most places with shorter waits after 6:30. By 7 you will be fine.

starrsville, thanks for asking. He's doing quite well and anxious as can be to be heading to NYC and then Europe next week.

We just ate in Redfish Blufish in Captiva (across the street from the Bubble Room). We loved this place! It is a Tapas Menu, and the food is just terrific and the wine selection is huge. The restauant is small, so reservations recommended.

I think Buzz's is walking distance. we also went to Kelly's Seafood but it was not walking distance and that was very yummy.

Mangrove Cafe on 5th Ave. south in Naples is special. Indoor and outdoor seating.

I am going to Sanibel next week and noted most of the restaurants there seem very casual..any recommendations on romantic restaurants there?

Yabba Island Grill (kinda cheezy atmosphere but GREAT food) and a place called Vergina's (sounds dirty but great place!) have fun!

Good suggestions Patrick, I mean Neopolitan. So, they let you back. I'm glad!

kyle 96 - try the riviera for your romantic dinner, and stop by dolce vita for drinks and dinner afterwards.