I absolutely love this place. During my short time in Marco Island, I hit this restaurant twice…read more The turkey sandwich is to die for. In fact, I craved it so much that I had to go back a second time to get it. The staff was friendly. The restaurant was clean. A great place for lunch, a pizza, or even to take home some delicious Italian food

I've been a regular at The Italian Deli for years. The quality has fluctuated, but I've always…read moregiven them the benefit of the doubt and kept coming back. After my experience on Thursday, February 12th, that's over. At 6:05 PM, I placed a small online order (mozzarella sticks, a calzone, and a sandwich) through their website, as I always do. Estimated pickup: 29 to 34 minutes. I arrived at 6:41 with my wife and kids in the car. Food wasn't ready, but "five more minutes." Fine. Five turned into twenty. Twenty turned into forty. During that time, I watched the staff take phone orders and quote every customer "20 to 25 minutes," no matter the order size. When I asked what the holdup was, the staff, who were genuinely doing their best, explained that new kitchen staff were struggling. My son was starving, so I left to grab him food elsewhere and came back about 30 minutes later, confident my order would be waiting. It wasn't. At 7:35 PM, ninety minutes after placing a three-item order, nothing was ready. I asked the staff why they were still quoting 20-minute turnarounds when the reality was 90+ minutes. I suggested they pause online ordering to let the kitchen recover. They told me the owner, Jared Grifoni, has instructed them to keep online orders on and to continue telling customers 20 minutes, despite knowing the kitchen is nowhere close to meeting that timeline. That's not a bad night. That's a policy decision to mislead customers for the sake of revenue. I requested a refund. As it was being processed, two of my three items finally came out. When the staff asked the kitchen about the last item, the answer was: "I have no idea when we'll get to that." I left at 7:46 PM, one hour and forty-one minutes after ordering. To be clear: the staff on the floor that night are not to blame. They were put in a no-win situation and handled it as well as anyone could. The issue is ownership making a conscious choice to overload the kitchen, deceive customers about wait times, and let the staff absorb the fallout. When I arrived, the restaurant was nearly full. When I left, it was almost empty. I won't be adding myself to either count again.

During our visit to Marco Island, friends highly recommended HavAnnA Café, so we stopped in for…read morelunch--and it instantly became a place we know we'll return to. The restaurant feels like a colorful, garden‑style hideaway, full of charm, warmth, and the delight of discovering a true local gem. And of course, the two resident chickens, Popcorn and Carmel, add their own quirky personality to the experience. Our server, Mimi, was excellent--friendly, attentive, and genuinely welcoming. The café is tucked away along the back roads of Chokoloskee, surrounded by the kind of old‑Florida scenery that's becoming rare. The food was outstanding. We started with tostones (fried plantains with garlic), then enjoyed the pork sandwich with chips and the pork plate with rice, beans, and two perfectly cooked sweet plantains. Every bite was rich with authentic Cuban flavor. We finished with the flan, which was so good we could have easily ordered a second. With its lovely outdoor seating, light radio music floating through the air, and a staff that treats you like family, HavAnnA Café delivers an experience that feels both heartfelt and memorable. The only thing missing was a hammock--I could have taken a nap and geared up for an early dinner. The seafood stew looked especially tempting for next time. A wonderful stop in a part of Florida that still holds its original soul. And by the way, don't leave without grabbing a bottle of their hot sauce--sweet, flavorful, and just the right amount of kick!!!

Wonderful spot for a good breakfast and pasties. We always stop when in town. The breakfast…read moresandwiches are the bomb.

The Diving Pelican was okay, but nothing really stood out food-wise. Everything was pretty average…read moreoverall. It does seem like it would be a fun spot in the evenings when the bar is busier though! The highlight of our visit was definitely the lady running the bar -- she was fun, friendly, and gave the place a great atmosphere.

A thatched roof, outdoor bar, that not only has cold drinks, but excellent food as well…read more I stopped in on a Thursday afternoon and was immediately greeted by a pleasant and welcoming employee from behind the bar. I grabbed a seat at the bar and after perusing the menu decided on the Gator Basket ($24.99). I also ordered their "Diving Pelican" draft beer to drink ($8.00). The Gator basket arrived within 15 minutes. This consisted of small cut up pieces of breaded deep fried gator tail along with fries. The gator tail was very good - tasty, moist, cooked perfectly and served hot with their Everglades Tartar Sauce. My drink was cold and refreshing. It tasted similar to Shock Top. I enjoyed my meal and the relaxing atmosphere of the Tiki style Bar. It's a great motorcycle ride down here to Everglades City and this is the perfect place to grab a bite to eat and enjoy a cold drink. There were a lot of interesting things on their menu and I'm looking forward to coming back to try their Grouper Reuben. Check them out.

Tucked away along the water way. A bit of a hidden spot, but worth the little side track. Great…read moreviews of the water on the deck. Quick order of gator tots, fried green tomatoes, and key lime pie. All tasty after a nice ride in an airboat along the mangroves We missed stone crab season, but I'm sure it would be good. Gator bites- slightly batter, nice little bite. Fried green tomatoes-nice tartness to the bite with a nice light batter. Key Lime - made in house. Nice soft graham cracker crust. nice consistency , not too sweet, nice flavor notes. PROS: Seating options. Indoors/outdoors Key lime pie!! CONS: mosquitos

Pros: 1) delicious stone crabs; 2) life music; 3) free parking; 4) beautiful view…read more Cons: 1) birds especially near the tree, do not sit there otherwise they would poop on you and your food; 2) some food was so so

Exactly what you would expect in the middle of the swap! If you want a cold beer and some grub, you…read moredon't have another option. I will stop here every time I'm in Big Cypress.

I get the novelty and long run this place has had. But I just can't get over the reviews being so…read morehigh--it's just not great after two tries. Everything is unbearably slow, despite the fact the on both trips our server was a super hero. Both times alone on the floor single handedly waiting and bussing every table, inside and out. The entire ordeal is a long process. Getting a menu and drink from a cooler and picking a table. Long wait to order, long wait for food, long wait for the check, long wait in line to pay. The food was just okay--commercial wholesale frozen seafood. Drinks were limited to leftovers in the cooler second time. It's a novelty place on 41 in the middle of nowhere and the cool factor is high for that. It's worth a stop. But though I want to like this place so bad, I can't recommend it for the dining experience. On a side note, whoever's work is featured in the men's room is an incredibly talented photographer.

I had dinner here on a Friday night a couple of weeks ago while in town. Everglades City is a very…read moresmall town and nighttime dining options are few. Island Cafe had several cars parked in front so I thought that was a good sign. This is a table service restaurant and I ordered the fried scallop dinner with a loaded baked potato and salad for $25. Then entree arrived about 15 minutes later. The salad had a little cheese on top of the greens with ranch dressing on the side. It was a good salad. The seafood came with several fried scallops and a couple of hush puppies along with a small ear of corn and the baked potato. What was missing was the cheese and bacon for the potato. The waitress disappeared so I wasn't able to get the missing bacon and cheese and had to make do with some butter for the tater. This was disappointing. The scallops were decent in taste but I couldn't get anymore cocktail sauce because of the missing waitress. This meal was substandard and I felt underwhelmed by the entire experience. The food was ok in taste but it didn't stand out to me and the table service was non existent. Perhaps Island Cafe is better than this but giving a 3 score is generous in my opinion.

Cute spot for lunch if you are in the area. Our server was friendly and everything came out…read morequickly. I enjoyed the decor lol

This restaurant was great! I'd recommend the shrimp and tostones dish. The tostones came out crispy…read moreand paired really well with their enchilado sauce. It was amazing. Also our waiter was Andres, he was funny and helpful. I'd definitely come back next time I visit :)

We were recently on vacation in Naples and drove down to Everglades City to check it out since it…read morehas been years since I was there. We also had planned to go back with a group later this year. First, even though we asked to be seated indoors, they insisted we sit outside. There were only two others at the restaurant. The inside was empty but the owner later explained they were cleaning it. I thought the prices were high and they offered no lunch specials. But, going on prior Yelp reviews, I was led to believe the food was above par. Sadly, the food was OK but not great, and not worth the price. To top it off, they automatically add a 20% tip. I know restaurants do that with large parties but certainly inappropriate for a party of two. Service was good but I don't like to be forced to pay an automatic 20% tip. Tipping is done based on how good your service is -- so I would get stuck paying 20% even if service was awful? What I found to be off putting were the responses from the owners to reviewers; particularly, on Google. They accuse everyone who posts a bad review of posting a fake review and/or they got extremely defensive. Wow! How about a little humility and attempts to fix things. Sure wish I had seen the Google reviews prior to making my trip to Everglades City. I chose this place due to the great Yelp reviews I read. I should have checked all of the reviews because the bad ones were way more accurate.

What an amazing spot!! I was shocked that I haven't been to this place before. The service was top…read morenotch, their pastries are delicious and the location is great! It's a very nice spot, great for family breakfast or brunch, I just can't believe I haven't been here before. I recommend this 1000%!

Cute local place in Marco island. I got the lunch that came with two empanadas, a cookie, chips and…read morea drink and I highly recommend. Soo delicious and great customer service ! Highly recommend