Lighthouse Waterfront Restaurant

This was our first visit, it came recommended by some friends who love it? I was not impressed with the call ahead seating, we arrived early, and still was given the worst seat in the house in the back against a wall! The waiter was very slow and not very attentive. We both had the Prime rib, medium. I’ve had better prime rib in Twin Lakes Wisconsin! The salad and sides were fine and desserts were good. It was raining but the view from a better table might be enjoyable I doubt we would return.

I ate brunch at Lighthouse today. It was awful. The eggs Benedict was hard boiled w sparse sauce and burnt muffins. Potatoes, cheese sauce broke looked regurgitated. Fruit was not offered as an alternative to potatoes. No garnish on plate. Service was ok, everything came so quick we did not have time to have our bloody Mary’s. It was not a leasure brunch, AND the dining room was empty.
The flatware needs replacing with something other than diner style cheap and badly worn. As is the look of the entire dining room. THIS RESTAURANT NEEDS RENOVATION.

The lighthouse waterfront restaurant was excellent all around food, atmosphere and service. The crab cakes were all crab not stuffing, everything cooked to perfection. Reviews through me off but glad I tried it for myself. Now have another place to add to my list to good restaurants in fort Myers!

We just went there for dinner. We were seated outside. Wonderful view of wAter and dock.
Warm bread with butter was good.
Salads nothing special but ok
The two of us had the fish specials.
My date had the sea bass. He thought fish was a little mushy. Give the entrée a ²⁄₃
I had the shrimp and scallops. I would give mine a 4
His was $ 31. Mine $ 32
We had crème brûlée. Good but small serving for $ 8
Service was a bit slow but we were in no hurry and she was attentive
We enjoyed it. I do agree they need a light in each table.
Would I recommend. Yes. Give it a try.

We were pleasantly surprised with the restaurant, with previous mixed reviews. The bar area was hopping and very lively. We sat outside on the patio at sunset, which had a very lovely view of the boat dock. They were very busy but the staff worked together to help each other out and were all very pleasant. Our food was Really good; from the bread, to the calamari to the salads to the fish special. We had a great meal and were pleased at the wine selection too. We didn’t save room for dessert, but the ones we saw pass by looked worthy of saving room for next time.

This place was recommended by the concierge at the Marriott, and we decided to try it even though reviews on Unilocal were kind of mixed, but we are glad we did. Service was very good, and food was excellent. We tried the Chilean Sea bass and the Scallops entrée, and both dishes were very well prepared. Even the veggies that came with the entrées were perfectly cooked and seasoned. Also, and added bonus was the live music they had going on in the bar area. We stopped in the bar after dinner, and it was great. The singer played the keyboard, and the whole bar had a nice piano bar atmosphere. This is an excellent place to try if you are in the area.

Great food and service. Sit out on the deck. Thanks Sean on your first night serving.

I have lived here for 30+ year in the winters and this was my first visit to this restaurant. It is about 1 ½ miles from home.
Had the escargot-​very good.
Caesar-​very good
Snapper with crab-​eh. Snapper was over cooked and the crab was so overly seasoned that I couldn’t recognize its mild flavor.
I will come back, with a flashlight. The lighting outside was so terrible that neither young nor old could read the menu. No thought given here and every table I saw, was having issues. A SIMPLE votive or other illuminated centerpiece would solve the problem. I hope they consider it.

I have made this my go to place in Ft myers. the happy hour is great, $ 2.50/wine. The food is excellent, especially the steak/​pasta dish.

We went here for lunch during slow season (July) and there was barely anyone there. It’s close to the departure spot for Adventures in Paradise boat tours, so my husband and I decided to have lunch here. We had Lobster Bisque — suuuper delicious! Definitely a 5 star bisque!

Do yourself a favor and go to this restaurant! Everything about it demands superlatives. Service, food & view. I read a lot of the reviews on Unilocal and found a lot of negatives. I am soooo happy that I checked it out for myself. I truly believe that these negative reviewers confused this place w/​another restaurant with the same name. We will return often. Thanks Brandi for fabulous service

I want to be fair and not mean.
In its hey-​day, Im sure this was a very nice place to go. The staff is courteous and are some very nice people. The view out towards the water and during sun-​sets is nice (but hot with the sun glaring in and the AC less than full blast).
The ads and the web site suggest a more than casual (business casual plus dress location); there were shorts and tank tops in the outer bar area — and me in slacks and a button down.
We were on vacation and wanted to have a nice time out. The meal was ok; the selection was moderate and the price generally fair. But its time to re-​model, re-​menu and update the place.
Not a bad selection of draft beers (craft) and a full bar. If you like strong drinks — you will get them. But a gin & tonic in a water glass didn’t look right.
I ordered a dozen blue point oysters — small and very plain presentation. She got a salad that was normal. My steak was so-​so. I ribeye medium-​rare and got it medium. That’s ok. But there wasn’t anything special about the taste or the meat quality. She got Mahi, decent potion, but nothing to rave at.
Would we go back: Sorry we won’t

It’s decent. Pretty good food but not amazing. Not big tvs but has a few. If you’re close its worth a try. Seafood is good. Don’t eat the pork.

Food is always good. I prefer a little more flavor in my food but all in a the food is good. We go a couple times a month. Would recommend.

This is a sad story indeed. Great location with awesome marina and water views. Clearly just cutting corners at every turn. Food quality is Sysco food service at best… Heck, close your eyes and you will swear your eating salad from a bulk container found at Costco. The service is OK, but just OK… Did I mention the hostess staff that is more worried about their next text? I have went here for the last eight years and have seen a steady decline… I would not bother. to many other quality choices in the FMB area.

On a recent vacation to the Fort Myers area we had drinks and ate dinner at the Lighthouse Waterfront Restaurant on Sunday (³⁄₀₁).
We started with a cocktail at the bar. We were looking forward to having a martini at the bar before dinner.
We ordered two martinis … one a classic no frills vodka martini, the second a flavored martini with sugar on the rim. We were impressed that the martinis were poured into chilled glasses.
Unfortunately the bartender mixed up the orders and poured the classic vodka martini into the sugar rimmed glass and the other flavored martini drink, that should have been poured into the sugar rimmed glass, was poured into a plain glass (no sugar).
The GOOD part … bartender admitted his error. The BAD part … after wiping away some of the sugar on the rim of the incorrect vodka martini, he poured the contents of each drink back into shakers and got new un-​chilled glasses to salvage the drinks.
It’s okay if a bartender make s a mistake, but I suggest admitting the error and making new drinks. Period. That’s the right thing to do. Attempting to salvage the drinks (the cost of alcohol) is an amateur move … the classic vodka martini now had some sugar flavor, both drinks were watered down after mixing with ice a second time and both drinks were placed in un-​chilled glasses. I should have complained, but we were on vacation and wanted to stay positive.
Even though there was a screw-​up with the martinis, we did leave a nice tip for the bartender… again, we were on vacation and wanted to stay positive. However, I should have pulled the tip when the bartender announced that the bill was $ 17.76. I stated 1776, «great year» seeing that it was an historic year. But the bartender stated «Oh, were you around then?» Bit of a smart a** remark. Just an FYI, we were younger than the average patrons that evening. Customer service does not include backhanded, poor taste comments.
We sat down and had average — good food, but had to ask for knife /​fork /​napkin after the server brought the food. FYI, we saw another table’s patrons actually get up to get their silverware and napkins from another table.
Last thought … we found it a bit odd that the menu was made up of many more non-​seafood entrees than seafood items; especially odd for a restaurant named the Lighthouse Waterfront Restaurant on the water, near yachts???
Recap … average — good food, weak service and not-​so-​pleasant experience at the bar. Will we return to LWR during another vacation? … not sure since there are better. more customer focused restaurants in the area, all things considered.

This place is huge and packed – the only reason it only has less than 50 Unilocal reviews is because the customer base does not know how to turn on a computer. The Crown Vics with the MI/​MN/​WI plates sent a warning. The place is a huge sloppy mess – i would expect the kitchen would represent this as well – food was not bad, although expensive – service was non-​existent. Not sure why this place does so much business. We were a group of 10 and did have a nice time, which is why i gave it 2 rather than one stars – but i do not recommend going here.

Ate here 2 out of 2 nights in town with wife. Primarily because they had decent selection of fish and cooked it to our liking, being we are gluten free. The steamed vege options were an added bonus… we don’t get too creative with sauces, etc. thumbs up to the scallops, salmon, and prime rib.
The place is casual, but with nice views and a warm atmosphere. Had a live piano player on saturday night which was cool. People are fairly nice, but nothing over the top. They got the job done.
We did like the 30 options of wine you can buy «by the glass», but on the otherhand we saw 30 bottles of wine corked behind the bar… and wondered how fresh all the bottles can be on a nightly basis? I am no wine conisseur however and drank my Mark West pinot noir.
Flourless chocolate cake was a nice finish. Outside seating was nice with the heat lamps, a little chilly the nights we were there though.

Great setting and a pretty view. Service and food were kind of meh. I had the Monte Cristo, which was the sandwich special of the day. I love a Monte Cristo! I did not love this one. The bread had been over drenched and was soggy and lacked any flavor at all. What I ended up doing was eating just the ham and the cheese. There really wasn’t that much cheese. I chose the prize as my side item and I really just wasn’t overly impressed with them.
My boss ordered the grilled chicken Caesar salad and I wish I had ordered grilled chicken instead because that chicken looks absolutely delicious he said he enjoyed the salad and ate the entire thing.
On arrival to the restaurant there was no one at the hostess stand, and someone standing ahead of us wanting to make a Thanksgiving day reservation. Once she had been helped we were still waiting and finally a server came around and asked us if they could seat us. We just got outside and while the setting in the view were very nice again the service is really lacking. It took a long time to get the salad and sandwich. Restaurant had steady business but was by no means crowded and there seem to be adequate staff on hand. Not really sure what the problem was.

We were actually heading to Captiva but when we drove by this place, we were attracted to the old Florida architecture of the building. We pulled in and were taken to our outside prime location table. Nice hostess and nice waitstaff.
5 — stars atmosphere and all that.
5– stars, service and knowledge of the menu etc.
Food:
Mine-​3 stars
My date-​4 stars
I had the special, $ 29 three tail breaded fish with some shredded vege stuff on cornbread with a very nice and very cold salad.
My date had a tomato onion and mozzarella appetizer salad plus a fish cake.
My food was good, not great, as the flavor was on the bland side. Corn bread and fish breading is bland. My date gave me a slice of her tomato and onion which amped up my salad 100%!
We will absolutely return and suggest you go here too. Just be aware of menu items where there are too many similar items.
The bar is awesome and the sunset viewing is outstanding. You’ll love this place.