14 Best Restaurants in The Lower Gulf Coast, Florida

Here it's all about enjoying one of the most indulgent, pampered meals you'll ever eat—and it's best not to show up in flip-flops, jeans, or shorts (you probably won't be turned away for dressing casually, but you will feel uncomfortable). Formally trained waitstaff attend to your every need in this temple of traditional Italian cuisine. A dramatic wine tower hovers over the main room; the plush private booths surrounding it are the best tables (call early to snag one). The taste circus begins with an amuse-bouche. Pick between antipasti, crispy flatbreads, and wholesome soups before moving on to homemade pastas and grilled meats. Absolutely try the butternut squash ravioli, an inventive version with citrus-tomato butter and truffled almonds. The evening ends with a complimentary nightcap. There is also a great prix-fixe menu.

Just across the street from the beach, this wonderfully historic restaurant is casual, comfortable, and considered by many to offer the best fine-dining experience on Captiva Island. Entrées include seafood dishes like the blackened snapper with watermelon cucumber salad, and land dishes like pomegranate-glazed lamb chops. Tempting appetizers, creative salads, and tantalizing desserts round out the menu. The restaurant has its own baker to create its sweet and savory breads and cakes. No need to dress up; island casual is welcome. Make time to enjoy the fantastic sunsets at the beach.

The setting at this intimate but lively restaurant is refined but rustic, with wood repurposed from a dilapidated Florida barn and 1940s-era bricks reclaimed from a Chicago firehouse. The Sicilian-born chef (and part-owner) eschews an ornate menu and instead offers simple, finely produced Italian dishes. The signature fennel sausage is made using a family recipe, and the kitchen cures its own pancetta, makes its own mozzarella and ricotta cheeses, and extrudes its own pasta. Seasonal dishes like rabbit and wild boar shine; the tortelloni with braised short ribs pleases nightly.

The city's hottest upscale restaurant draws a crowd of connoisseurs to a modern, coral-stone dining room that spills out onto the sidewalk. The menu changes nightly, and the Venetian-born chef puts a New World spin on traditional Italian favorites, which are seasoned with different types of sea salt from around the globe. The finest quality meats and seafood, much of it sourced from local farmers and fisherman, are used in all the dishes.

The signature restaurant of the trendy Luminary Hotel & Co. truly shines, offering fine dining in an inviting, sophisticated atmosphere. The menu is brimming with modern takes on seafood favorites, including flavorful deconstructed stone crab. Outdoor seating is available.

Don't be fooled by the cheesy glowing sign visible from the highway—most locals swear this is the place for fresh seafood, which is why you need a reservation even in the heat of summer. The setting is whimsical (portholes, antique bronze diving gear, colorful fish sculptures), and the dishes are eclectic, often featuring Asian-inspired preparations. The signature miso-broiled sea bass with citrus-ginger butter strikes the right balance between sweet and savory; the ginger-steamed halibut with soy-lime dressing and the herb-grilled tuna with warm goat cheese and seared diver scallops are also winners.

The mood cast in the well-appointed dining room and the romantic Gulf-view patio that spills onto the sand makes a meal here the perfect Florida dining experience. There's only one small problem—lighting is so low at dinner that you can't read the menu, even with its built-in flashlight, which is too bad, because it means you also miss the effect of the beautifully presented dishes. An impressive prix-fixe option includes a starter, entrée, and dessert.  Schedule your dinner outdoors to catch gorgeous views of the sunset.

Luxurious yet simultaneously resort-wear casual, this restaurant draws everyone from young businesspeople to local retirees. Sushi and such Pacific Rim inspirations as shrimp spring rolls rub elbows with beef carpaccio and watermelon salad with goat cheese and pecans; grilled seafood and fine cuts of meat like dry-aged rib-eyes or strip steaks come with your choice of nine sides that include "wild" sherry-laced mushrooms for four-cheese mac. For dessert, sip a Special K Express martini, made with a full shot of espresso. Dine alfresco or inside with a view of the kitchen. There's a second location in Bonita Springs.

This restaurant brings Provençal joie de vivre and flavor to Naples with dishes that are sometimes made using exotic ingredients but are always prepared to perfection. The narrow dining room, with yellow-striped awnings and windows inset with mirrors and flower boxes, suggests a French sidewalk café.

The name means "salt and pepper," an indication that this palatial restaurant with terrace seating overlooking the beach adheres to the basics of Southern Italian cuisine. Everything—including the pasta, sausage, and ice cream—is made on-site, and the simple, artfully presented dishes explode with home-cooked, long-simmered flavor. With the exception of a handful of pizzas, lunch is more eclectic than Italian.

Nestled in a hidden expanse of twisted mangrove trees and flowing canals is one of the area's best restaurants for casual fine dining. Restored wooden rowboats and modern chandeliers hang from the ceiling of the main dining room, which is packed almost every night in season. The food is a serious celebration of the sea with Southern accents, like their signature coastal pan roast with fresh Gulf fish. The adjacent Claw Bar at Tierney's Tavern shares the same kitchen but focuses on chilled shellfish and other Southern delights with nightly live music and a more casual vibe.  Saturday lunches are surprisingly quiet and a perfect time to snag one of the coveted tables closest to the windows.

A favorite of business and government bigwigs, the Veranda serves imaginative Continental fare with a trace of a Southern accent for dinner. The restaurant is a combination of two turn-of-the-20th-century homes, with sconces and antique oil paintings on the pale-yellow walls and a two-sided central brick fireplace. Notable menu items are tournedos with smoky sour-mash-whiskey sauce, rack of lamb with rosemary-Merlot sauce, herb-crusted honey-grilled salmon, and a grilled seafood sampler with prosciutto cream fettuccine, all served with homemade honey-drizzled bread and corn muffins with pepper jelly. Ask for an outdoor courtyard table when weather permits.

Here Naples takes a youthful curve—island music sounds on the umbrella-shaded courtyard at this, the prototype for the national chain inspired by the Tommy Bahama clothing label and furniture line. Indoors and out, everybody's munching sandwiches, salads, and grilled seafood and meat dishes made with a tropical flair.

You'll feel as if you're dining in a home at this intimate bistro, which serves creative American-Italian-Asian fusion cuisine, and that's exactly how the owners want it to be—inviting, warm, and welcoming. The menu is full of home-cooked classics, but you'll also find chef specials that change with the season or an inspired whim. Customer service is always top-notch.