would appreciate recommendations for good restaurants on sanibel island.

try chowhound.com

Try the Mucky Duck! English Pub atmosphere and right on the beach. Great Food!

The Timbers, Moonlight or Sunlight cafe, Mad hatter, Mucky Duck is on Captiva. Get a Sanibel guide and there will be recommendations.

Is the Bubble Room still there? It may also be on Captiva.

The bubble room is definetly still there. We head for it the first night we land every time. Love that bubble bread.

The Timbers had the best jumbo shrimp cocktail that we had in Florida this trip. The best restaurant that we ate at was the Greenhouse. It is not as well known as some of the others but the food was outstanding. Sort of Italian/Mediterranean.

We love the Lazy Flamingo--there is 2 and we prefer the original one--right before the bridge to Captiva! The original owner of the Bubble Room has a new restaurant on Sanibel-Katie Gardenia's --Good Luck!!

Love the Riviera on West Gulf Drive, great ambiance, fine dining, my favorite Sanibel restaurant hands down. The Lazy Flamingo is casual, bar type atmosphere, great mesquite grilled grouper sandwich. Just tried Key Lime Bistro on Captiva last weekend. Had a table outside, there was a guy playing the sax, the food was excellent, the martinis were perfect...

Second the Mucky Duck suggestion. Yes, Jo, it is on Captiva -- about a minute's drive north of Sanibel.

We ate at the Lazy Flamingo before the bridge . It was OK food(not great) even the grouper sandwich. The service was horrible. We were the only table seated besides another couple. Wouldn't recommend it. The Mucky Duck was fabulous. The food was excellent, service was fast and it was a beautiful sunset. Ask for a table near the window. (or eat at a table outside and listen to the live music) However, there are no reservations. They start taking names on "the list" at 4:45pm for dinner. And will not seat anyone until 5:00pm. The line was outside and there were no more parking spots within 15 minutes.It was accidentally good timing on our part. I would highly recommend the Mucky Duck. We'll definitely return.

Another vote for Mucky Duck, Bubble Room,(great desserts!) definitely casual dress, but "fun" atmosphere. The Green Flash is good; a bit more upscale - all on Captiva. Lots of good restaurants on Sanibel - try a bunch!

the Bubble Room lots of fun, i dont know if they take reservations the crowd usually starts at 6pm if you cant get in for dinner try it for lunch. Mucky ducks is also fun

Recommendation: Lazy Flammingo - excellent grilled grouper sandwich and countless beers to choose from. Also, try the restaurant at Casa Ybel resort(can't think of the name). Terrific adult dining with beautiful view and good service.

Warning:
Stay clear of Katie's Kitchen. Worst restaurant experience I've ever had. Poor, expensive food, bad service, and absolutely rude, incompetent management.

I believe it must have been the Lazy Flamingo that my husband and I ate at. I thought the place was a dive, but the mussels marinara were out of this world - I swear, the mussels down that way look like mutants they're so big!

We also loved the Bubble Room, especially the desserts, and Matzaluna on Sanibel for Italian in a relaxed atmosphere.

Lazy Flamingo is a dive...but that's the beauty of it. Excellent fresh stone crab claws. When you're tired of fine dining and just want some pub grub, head here for the beer (no mixed drinks served) or Sanibel Grill for something served with an umbrella. Italian...head to Riveria. Second all mentions of the Bubble Room, Green Flash and Timbers. And for a little different experience, try Traders. It's a kitchy restarant within a store. All meals very fresh and browse while you wait.

www.tradersstoreandcafe.com

I love Traders. I prefer the Bonita Springs one but Sanibel one is good also. It is a concept by Chicos FAS ,the very hot women's clothing chain. They started on Sanibel.

Do a search for a more contemporary review on the Mucky Duck and Mad Hatter. I'll keep my mouth shut on the Bubble Room. A tired concept with an exhausted menu...(guess I couldn't keep my mouth shut.) Other better places to go than those. Mucky Duck is fun for lunch and for cocktail hour on the beach. Just avoid the first sitting.

A Lazy Flamingo story. Several years ago we were having oysters and beer at our favorite Lazy (at Cap-San village between Sanibel & Captiva.) It was full but not crowded and in walked John Kennedy Jr. and his wife, Caroline. They played the ring toss game for a while, drank beer, ate oysters and just had a quiet evening for themselves. They then returned to South Seas where they were staying.

The next day their publicist or secretary or whatever returned to the Flamingo with generous remembrances for the staff and their gratitude that no press was called and no one fawned over them. That sort of sums up the atmosphere of these little islands for me. Everyone just trying to catch a relaxed time for themselves with little or no pretension.

The Hungry Heron has great seafood.Their menu is packed with more than 250 different menu items. The ambiance isn't great. But, the food was fabulous.Very fresh & alot of local recommended it to us. Hope you enjoy it.It's on Palm Ridge Road in Sanibel.

A few years ago we went to the Hungry Heron on a Tuesday for all you can eat shrimp. Very good, different flavors (almond, beer batter, coconut), ate so much shrimp we couldn't choke down another bite of seafood all week. We also like McT's, The Timbers, Cheeburger Cheeburger, Lazy Flamingo, and the Bubble Room on Captiva.

Mucky Duck wonderful? We must have been there on an off night, or we all had "off" meals. I dunno....Great location though!