A friend of mine asked me the other day what my favorite restaurant in Naples was. My response, was, "gosh, do I have to pick just one". I eat out all the time, too much in fact and enjoy the variety of places to eat so I sectioned out what my favorite places were for food types. If you're in town, you must try to stop.
* Tropical Reef, located across the street from Pelican Bay is an excellent place for seafood. I love their sesame encrusted tuna but everything I've eaten there has been out of this world. The outside of the building is a crazy kiwi green color and you may think that the food will not be so great but it is fabulous! The chef is from Texas and is truly a legend.
* Andre's Streak House for steak. We the porterhouse for two when we go and it's awesome! You will not find better creamed spinach ANYWHERE. Again, the outside of this building is old and not very attractive making you think you're going to experience a less than average meal....it is very good. The inside I'm pretty sure has never seen fresh coat of paint so if your an ambiance kinda person, wear a blind fold because the meal is worth it.
* Trulucks for crab claws, steaks and really anything they have on their menu. They're located in Old Naples not too far from Aqualane Shores and Port Royal. The service is phenominal, the menue is outstanding and they have live music, a guy who sings and plays the piano in the bar. It's a great place and during season, near impossible to get into so make sure you make reservations WELL IN ADVANCE or you'll be dining at 5 or 10. Jerry, my husband says they serve the best carrot cake in the world there....he's tried ALOT of carrot cake so I believe him.
* Tommy Bahama's for ribs and the most delicious chocolate brownie EVER. They have live music too and there's really a fun tropical island atmosphere there. They only rsvp 10% of their restaurant so you can get a seat there most of the time but be prepared to wait.
* The Turtle Club they have AWESOME food there too...the best crab cake EVER. They're located on Vanderbilt Beach and it's a great place to catch one of our famous sunsets! OUTSTANDING! Again, this dining room is small so rsvp's are important.
* Darumma for sushi. Located across the street from Bay Colony I think it's the best in town. Their fried roll is served warm with a tangy almost fizzy dipping sauce that is so GOOD!
* The Dock restaurant serves rock shrimp nachos. It's hard to believe their nachos because they have kind of a sweet and spicy chinese sauce on them but they are really good. They're located on Naples Bay right next to Aqualane Shores in Old Naples.
The only thing missing really is super great Mexican Food. Labamba on the north-west corner of Pine Ridge and Airport is the best but it's certainly not fine dining. I guess Mexican food rarely is....but you can get a decent margarita and a very good giant quesadilla there.
There are more Italian food places than you can shake a stick at down here. I'm not that big of a fan but if you must, Il Bellagio seems to get pretty good reviews.
I'm sure there's more, but it's late. I'll do some thinking and come up with part two perhaps tomorrow.