Tap 42 Craft Kitchen & Bar - Fort Myers — Restaurant in Cape Coral

I have lived a couple of miles away from The Bell Tower Shops off and on for over 25 years. I still have a pink polyester DKNY button-up short-sleeve shirt I bought from the long-defunct Jacobson's about 24 years ago, so when I wear it on occasion, I am a walking Bell Tower Archive.

It has been sad to see the so many changes at this mall over the years. Jacobson's is gone. Saks 5th is gone. Bed, Bath, and Beyond, far from being an original tenant, is gone. Only maybe 3 or 4 stores have survived the last 25 years - Grimaldi's being one of those.

Thank God that Nordstrom's has stepped in where Bed, Bath, and Beyond used to be. Dave and Buster's and The Fresh Market, alone, are not enough to anchor this mall.

The effacing of the mall has also been disappointing. Old World elegance has been replaced by semi-industrial-chic which you can find anywhere.

Bell Tower Shops no longer has roots. It desperately needs them. It is too transitory. If it vanishes, then all 4 corners of the busiest intersection of Southwest Florida, Highway 41 and Cypress Lake - Daniels, will become completely dominated by the usual big box retailers and supporting chains you see anywhere with virtually no local businesses. The NorthEast corner of this intersection is the only one left with really anything in the way of local or independent businesses.

Tap 42, you are not helping this situation by not having any sort of menus posted or available or any sort of dedicated Host or Hostess station or anybody available to greet or assist new walk-in customers. I was there a little while ago, reasonably dressed, and curious about your new establishment, only to be met with zero reciprocity or greeting or any infrastructure for such as I stood at the entrance for 20-30 seconds or walked around a couple of minutes. No menus at the bar or anything. The Bell Tower Shops needs clients who know what they are doing. ...

Update:

The manager Matt had reached out to me after my first review and invited me back in on the house so I could hopefully get a better experience. I went in with the same friend I went in with the first time and we both exceptionally pleased with our lunch today.

As I said in my previous review that hopefully it was growing pains and I believe it was. I have opened three different restaurants in my younger days and I know a lot can go wrong when you have a bunch of new employees and trying to work things out. Our food was delicious in the service was great. It is a very beautiful restaurant. Such nice atmosphere!

Older review: I would not go there again unless they're going through growing pains from just opening. What a gorgeous place and great atmosphere. Both myself and my friend got the chicken Caesar wrap. There was absolutely no chicken in it whatsoever. I am not exaggerating. I asked for healthier option than fries for a side and the waitress said the only vegetable they had were the brussel sprouts that had brown sugar or something else I forget exactly what it was but she said it's not healthy option. She suggested I got a side salad. How stupid of me since I was getting a chicken Caesar salad for my sandwich but I love salad and said okay. I would have been okay with it if there was any chicken in my sandwich but there was not. On top of that, the sandwich was drowned in dressing. I know a lot of people like that but myself know my friend did it all. We were very disappointed. I will say her sweet potato fries were delicious. That is the only thing good I could say about the food. The picture they have on the menu of the chicken Caesar wrap you can obviously see chicken. I unwrapped mine and couldn't even find a piece after a few bites. What a shame because it's just a really great atmosphere but would not go back. Also, their menu needs more options it's very limited...

I want to start by saying that I had really high hopes for dinner tonight. We had a large party reservation for a week for a going away party. Our group consisted of 14 nurses who are nothing but patient and kind when it comes to those working in the service industry. Service was one of the worst I have ever experienced in Fort Myers. Our reservation was for 7:30, and I didn’t receive a drink for 45 minutes after ordering. When it came to ordering food, it took over an hour to get that. When food did start to come out, the person running it said that she was going to try to find our server which then took another 15 minutes. I was not met any urgency by any of the wait staff or any explanation as to what was going on. By the time the rest of the parties food came out, everyone else was finished. After having only 1 drink, and getting the food 2 hours into our reservation I quickly asked for a box and my check (which came almost immediately). It felt as though we weren’t even wanted there. As someone who works serving others, I RARELY write a bad review on places. I was hesitant to even write one because I give so much grace to those working in food service. I personally just want management to know that, I didn’t feel heard by my server. I don’t know if she was slammed with 15 other tables or whether the kitchen was just backed up. Honestly if our server would have said something along those lines, I probably would not even be writing this. The atmosphere and the food was actually very good, as well as the drink I had, but everything else just made it a pretty terrible celebration dinner. Like I said, I really wanted to give this place a great rating, but as someone who has lived in Fort Myers, and is moving out of state, I can’t...