F.M. Don's — Restaurant in Punta Gorda

For three years of snowbirding, we have heard wonderful things about this place. As we live 30 minutes away, we finally gave it a try tonight. I’m so angry that we have not tried this place earlier!

We were fortunate to have Denise as a waitress. She gave us excellent recommendations, and was a consummate waitress for us knowing the menu and wine list very well. From continually filling water glasses to her spot on service, she is excellent at her job. She explained the special for “off-season” in October, which is a specialized menu with soup or salad, an entrée, and a dessert for a mere $29 (Monday-Thursday). Though we had not come in for the special, we each ended up ordering off of this menu as the items we wanted to try were on this specialized menu. We could not be more happy with our selections! First of all, their wine list has something for everyone including a lovely selection of glasses, coupled with a fully rounded “by bottle only” selection. There is something for everyone and at many different price points. I am somewhat of a wine connoisseur, and appreciated their selections from California and abroad. I tried the potato leek soup, Husband had the salad. Both were flavorful and exactly what one would expect made with fresh ingredients. Next, our dinner selections. Husband tried the pork chop, I tried the bison meatloaf. (Don’t laugh – it was a chilly night!) These selections were definitely made in-house. Full of flavor and excellent vegetables aside the entrées, this was comfort food on steroids. To top off the night, we split one of the included desserts and chose to take one home. The Key lime pie was absolutely fresh, and intertwined the perfect amount of tartness and a graham cracker nutty crust. We literally had the perfect dinner tonight. My only disappointment is that it took us multiple years to try FM Don‘s. If you are in Southwest Florida, do yourself a favor and try this wonderful place. It is evident that it is somewhere locals come, and they also draw from surrounding communities due to their Incredible meals. And best of all, they take reservations! We will be back…. SOON....

We had dinner February 10, 2020, Monday evening. Food was still very good, service was a bit slow. Our server's voice was strained because she had to shout to be heard. It was painfully noisy in the entire restaurant and impossible to hold a conversation with our dinner guests. We couldn't wait to leave. What a relief to walk outside. Lesson learned, as we will not come back in the evening to eat. Accoustics are absolutely horrible.

Great place all the way around; food, service, location and for what they offer, the price is fair in quality and portion. Have been there four times now. Last night we had Lemon Chicken and Beef Short Ribs. Lemon Chicken was delicious. Beef was fork tender, tasty but a little bit too salty. Still very tasty with real mashed potatoes and fresh cooked green beans and carrots. Good bread. All wait staff have been excellent. Please keep up the good work; we love to see establishments do well and we'll be back many times. Thank you F.M. Don's!!!

That's three stars, above. It is about one year later from my previous review. Tonight 4-28-2019, we ordered two "to go" items; Roasted Lemon Chicken and Pappardelle and bread. The Pappardelle was quite good. The chicken, however, was disappointing. What I've had previously dining at FM Don's is a scrumptious, tender, juicy attached chicken leg, obviously roasted. What I had tonight was a skinned, boned, grilled very dry chicken breast. And we were given what seemed to be store bought rolls, like the "Hawaiian Rolls" in grocery stores, and not the wonderful, warm, crusty bread we usually get. We so hope that this is a "fill-in" chef on a Sunday night, cutting corners, and not a change in what used to be superb food. ...

Today my family and I wanted to have a great meal we are new to the area and we wanted to try something local, the server took extremely long for our drinks just right there I knew we were gonna have a problem....once she came she gave us an excuse about there was a long line at the bar for 2 draft beers...when she dropped off our drinks she took my daughters order first stating it wont take long after I had already told her we were all ready, she insisted to take hers only....then 10 minutes later she came back to take our order about 25 minutes later the manager arrived with my daughters mac and cheese (25 minutes for mac and cheese!!) The server passed by and let us know they finally had food runners and that there are 2 managers helping (I don't care don't give me excuses I just want my food), not one single manager came over to us, about an hour later my husband was very upset and we decided to leave still leaving $20 on the table for the drinks and mac and cheese...the manager on duty passed by us several times not one word was said to us and the server seemed to just blame it all on somebody else and how the manager should come speak to us ( but didnt) We are very upset and disappointed we are new local people and all we wanted to do was find a good near by steak restaurant, besides the fact that today was a very special day for us it was my family's first Daddy and Daughter dance, all we wanted to do was celebrate it...but instead we wasted our time and night here with no food and poor service if it wasn't for that note pad she wouldn't have...