What to Eat on Sanibel Island Florida
What to eat on Sanibel Island Florida – the best food finds on the gorgeous gulf shore barrier island known for its gorgeous white sand beaches and tons of gorgeous shells. Our favorite food finds for breakfast, lunch, and dinner on Sanibel Island!
This post is sponsored by the Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel and the Lee County Visitor and Convention Bureau. We were recently invited to visit Fort Myers and Sanibel for a couple of days of good food, gorgeous white sand beaches, and fun in the Florida sun!
What to Eat on Sanibel Island Florida
Sanibel is known for their spectacular shells and white sandy beaches – but it should also be known for all of the amazingly good FOOD!
Sanibel has tons of good picks waiting for you to find – from sweets and treats to fresh fish and some killer cocktails – we spent most of our short time on Sanibel eating and drinking EVERYTHING!
Good thing the beaches are so lovely for a stroll, because we had a LOT of walking off calories to do.
While this list ins't exhaustive (there are SO many good spots on Sanibel and we were in town a brief time, that we are sure to have missed some great foodie finds – please let us know what we missed in the comments below so we can check them next time!)
Breakfast on Sanibel
When you think of a beach town, breakfast might be one meal you overlook – but on Sanibel it shouldn't be!
From hearty home-cooked classics to fresh seafood and Florida fruits, Sanibel has you covered for good breakfasts – here are some of our picks.
Sanibel Bean
If you're looking for great coffee on Sanibel – The Sanibel Bean should be your first stop!
From Cubanos (our favorite – nothing better than a Cuban coffee to start your day!), to lattes and cappuccinos – the Sanibel Bean has good coffee, offers pastries and breakfast sandwiches – either to-go or to enjoy in-store.
Totally Baked on Sanibel
We could have spent the entire trip at Totally Baked eating our way through their fresh baked goods, both sweet and savory.
If you're picking up sweets for a crowd, or looking for coffee and a donut to start your vacation off right, head right to Totally Baked for some good treats.
Totally baked offers a lot of sweet ways to start your day – but we HAD to try the pink sprinkle donuts (which were totally adorable), and the fresh hot beignets.
We regret not trying one of the homemade breakfast sandwiches, but when pink icing and sprinkles are involved, we are powerless!
Both were solid – buttery, rich, and sweet without being overpowering.
Totally baked on Sanibel isn't great for breakfast though – they also make fresh carved sandwiches on their homemade bread (we about drooled all over our shirt walking into the store when we saw their roasted ham ready to be carved…), from-scratch gumbo and chowder, and tons of desserts!
And of course, we had to try one of their sprinkle sugar cookies. It was soft, buttery, sweet, and solid!
Island Cow
The Island Cow was one of our favorites on Sanibel – and based on how packed it seemed to always be, we are not the only person who would say that!
The Island Cow is right off Periwinkle in the middle of Sanibel, making it incredibly easy to get to.
It's a fun, casual, and laid back restaurant decked out in tons of cow and bright beach themed decor with a full coffee bar (offering Starbucks drinks), as well as a fun party bar out back.
There is tons of free parking in their lot making it a great spot for Breakfast, Lunch, or Dinner (though we only got to try it for breakfast – but it was so good, we went twice in a row!)
You can't help but have a good time at the Island Cow!
Our favorite breakfast on Sanibel was from the Island Cow – the Loaded Seafood Omelette!
We loved the Seafood Omelette at the Island Cow so much, we ate it two days in a row.
Deliciously huge shrimp, scallops, and crawfish – with light and fluffy eggs and perfectly melted cheese made the seafood omelette at the Island Cow on of our absolute favorite meals on Sanibel Island, hands down!
The Island Cow also brings you a fresh muffin when you sit down to your table – but we saved all our room for the perfectly crisp potatoes and all that good seafood.
The best part of the omelette is the price – we don't think we could make a seafood omelette with huge shrimp and scallops packed inside for less than it is on the menu – talk about an awesome deal!
The Island Cow was always packed – often with a line – but trust us, it is totally worth it!
Lunch on Sanibel
Schnappers Hots
Schnappers hots has good fresh hot dogs, hamburgers, ice cream and other beach-stand style classics for a quick lunch on the go.
Walk up and order from the window, and hang in one of the picnic tables or head to the beach with your goods!
Bubble Room
The Bubble Room is over the bridge on Captiva Island, a short drive from where we were staying on Sanibel.
We're going to share more about the Bubble Room in a post coming soon, but we can't talk about all of the tasty treats to find on Sanibel and not mention the Bubble Room!
Right as you pull up, you know you're in for something unique – the Bubble Room is bright, colorful, and fun from the second you enter the parking lot – you can see a lot of the kitschy collections from Hollywood and other classic Americana decorations as you walk into the restaurant.
Don't miss the “Merry Christmas” sign out front – The Bubble Room has declared everyday to be Christmas!
Once inside, it's all about the food.
We started off our meal with cocktails – a Bloody Mary for our husband, and the bright blue Captiva Cooler (complete in a fishbowl with Swedish Fish swimming around).
We then moved onto soups – our husband ordered the creamy and rich She Crab Soup, overflowing with fresh crab meat – and we had the gumbo-like Moon over Miami that was thick, spicy, and bursting with flavor!
We dove into some of the Bubble Room's best seafood picks next – our husband had the lightly battered Errol Fin, and we had the Gone Fishin' Grouper Sandwich (we ordered it without the bun to try to save a bit of extra space for dessert – the grouper was so perfectly cooked and blackened to perfection – so glad we did!)
No trip to the Bubble Room is complete without cake though – and this was probably one of the hardest decisions we had to make while staying on Sanibel!
The Bubble Room is known for their good cakes – and after you're done eating, your waiter brings around a tray that is packed with cheesecakes, layer cakes, and tons of gorgeous desserts ready to be gobbled up.
They are all bright and beautiful – it was hard to not take the tray and dive right in.
We ended up going for the famous Orange Crunch Cake – and we are so glad we did. It was good – light fluffy cake with a sweet orange icing and crunchy brown sugar bits in between layers of cake.
We could eat that cake every day – we are glad we live so far from the Bubble Room, or we'd be in big trouble!
We decided to finish off our lunch with an Irish Coffee – a solid boozy end to an over the top good lunch!
Jerry's Foods Supermarket
If you're looking for a laid-back lunch or meal you can make and bring to the beach or BBQ at your rental, look no further than Jerry's Foods.
Jerry's Market is an good small-chain grocery store in Sanibel that has everything you need for an drool-worthy good time on Sanibel – from gorgeous fresh fish (many pre-marinated in drool-worthy marinades), great vegetables, gourmet sandwiches and cheeses, as well as their own Starbucks, Jerrys had so much.
We were bummed we weren't in town longer, because our hotel had solid BBQs and Jerry's had some fresh fish begging to be grilled by the beach.
When you walk into Jerry's, don't head in too quickly – walk through the courtyard, checking out the numerous gorgeous tropical birds they have on display.
The birds have large, cozy cages and often shout “hello” as you walk past – they were such a fun feature. We wish our kids could have seen them – they would have loved it!
Dinner on Sanibel
Traders
Traders is the solid romantic restaurant for a nice night out in Sanibel – from an upscale casual dining room, to the fun bar area (they often have live music on weekends), to the store offering tons of Floridian goods – Traders was a great romantic date night spot!
The cocktails were spectacular – sweet and fresh – but not cloyingly sweet.
The sangria was lovely and bright (sangria sometimes is too sweet for us, but we could've sipped gallons of Trader's sangria all night long…), and the mojitos were light, refreshing, and boozy to get the night going.
We opted for classics like Fried Green Tomatoes and Shrimp, Oysters, and fresh seafood – and loved every bite!
One of our favorite dishes from Trader's was the pan fried scallops with lobster revioli we ordered – the scallops were cooked perfectly – with a crunchy caramelized top and solid springy middle – and tasted heavenly alongside the bright yellow and black ravioli with tons of decadent lobster meat inside.
Traders was the solid spot to head to for a more romantic meal on Sanibel – the decor is upscale casual and clean, less cluttered than bright bar decor that abounds on Sanibel.
The Fish House
The Fish House on Sanibel offers tons of Key West Style Floridian dishes everyone knows and loves – and is a great, fun, and laid back spot for dinner right off Periwinkle drive.
The Fish House offered a ton of gluten free options, making it a great choice for dieters or GF diners – even many breadcrumb staples were made gluten free at the Sanibel Fish House, which was a nice surprise and great for GF vacationers in Sanibel!
We sampled the gluten-free crab cakes and mussels to start which were good appetizers – and then moved on to stuffed shrimp (another appetizer we couldn't pass up splitting), and the Hogfish.
We had never had hogfish before – but it is a light, buttery, and un-fishy fish with a pleasant texture. It is hard to find outside of Florida, but we will be keeping our eyes open for more hogfish in the future because it was really, good!
Clam Shack
While the Clam Shack is a bit of a departure from Sanibel's Floridian charm – it is adorned with all things New England, in the style of a Massachusetts Clam Shack – the Clam Shack had some of our favorite foods on the trip!
The calamari, which was on our plate about 4 whole minutes after we ordered it, was some of the best calamari we have ever eaten – it was cooked perfectly, lightly battered, and a good crunchy golden brown.
We love New England style calamari – topped with a jardiniere or banana peppers like the clam shack serves them – for a slightly spicy and tart twist to the legendary appetizer.
The real star at the Clam Shack, however, is the lobster roll.
We can't say enough about this sandwich – from the insanely affordable pricetag, to the heaps and heaps of rich, sweet lobster meat piled inside, to the perfectly toasted and buttery piece of texas toast it is served in – the lobster roll was purely heaven-sent!
The crispy and crunchy fries the lobster roll came with are lightly battered and well seasoned to take this classic New England seafood staple up a notch.
You might be wondering where the mayonnaise in this lobster roll is – they actually don't add any – and we didn't miss it one bit!
The lobster meat is so tender, fresh, and juicy there was no need for anything else – but the fresh drawn butter to drizzle over the sandwich was of course a great addition we couldn't pass up!
What are YOUR favorite eats and drinks on Sanibel? Which spot did we miss that should be at the top of our list for our next visit to Sanibel?
Leave us your answers below!
