Cips Place Restaurant — Restaurant in Sanibel

The short: If you are reading this... Just set your gps and go. You won't be disappointed. Everything is amazing.

The long: I called ahead to ask if there was "a wait" because it was a holiday weekend. The hostess asked me how far away I was and i told her 6.8 miles at the marriott and we are 2 adults and a baby. She put me on hold for a minute to take a look around and when she came back she said "I have a table, i will save you inside, see you when you get here." In my home town 6.8 miles is about 10 minutes but in sleepy Sanibel it was closer to 20 minutes. The parking lot was packed and I got a little nervous. We parked and start walking. The front of the restaurant has a beautiful entrance and of course i had to take a few photos for my review. We are greeted by the hostess, an older woman and as i looked around, the place was full. I gave her my name and she said "right this way!". The table was on the opposite side of the bar which was perfect because it gave us plenty of space to feel save in this "covid19" era. We were greeted by the server and after her recommendation we decided to try the coconut grouper appetizer. Let me pause for a minute and tell you, they were amazing. I have spent a lot of time eating coconut grouper in the Florida keys and this was up there with the best of them. We also tried a few of the drinks from their specialty drink menu. One was a mango and something (I'm tired, maybe i remember tomorrow) fruit martini that was literally perfect. It wasnt overpowering with vodka and it wasnt too sweet from juice. It was the perfect blend for a pair of travelers looking to relax. The top shelf margarita was also just as amazing. Normally at most restaurants they advertise grand marnier but you never actually taste it. This also was the perfect blend of tequila, sweet and sour and grand marnier. My wife decided she didnt want to eat too heavy because we are going to the beach tomorrow. I stayed quiet and said ok. She ordered the fish tacos and I ordered the shrimp cipriani pasta. Now, for the record. I never order pasta but there was something about the description that was calling my name. I dont know what it was but something about... pancetta, roasted garlic, sundried tomato pesto and artichoke hearts. finished with cream was calling my name....

One bite was all it took and i was in love....

This was probably the best pasta dish, i have had in my last 15 years. Now, thru college i worked at many high end restaurants to pay for school and many had some very rich pastas but the blend of flavors blew my mind. The pancetta wasn't thin slices that disappear in the sauce, they were similar to small lego blocks that were hearty bites with the pasta and shrimp. I could talk about this dish for quite some time but i know you will stop reading so i will continue. The fish tacos were two large soft tacos which looked like around 7 ozs of mahi in total (i didnt ask, just an observation) and my wife was very happy and so was i.

As we enjoyed our meal i asked for another drink, one from their specialty menu and while i don't remember the name, it was made with some sort of cake flavored vodka. Let me tell you... it may be a little too sweet for most people but i had no cravings for dessert afterwards so it did it's job. Hahaha. I will try to replicate this drink at my daughter's next birthday party it was so good.

I could write more but this was a very enjoyable evening and as much as i hate to visit the same restaurant twice in one quick visit. I feel i must come back for more of that pasta and different drinks from their specialty menu. Come check it out. It will be...

Please see update below.

Horrible service. My family first ate at this restaurant a year ago and the service and food were fantastic. There was no doubt that when we came to Florida for another visit that we were going to eat here again. The food was great however the waitress had no interest in serving us and was dismissive. I have no doubt she knows who I am as I write this. Our daughter eats gluten free. When she asked this waitress about a gluten free menu she told us that there isn't one but they could work with her with whatever she wanted to order. She then asked if she could have some gluten free bread delivered to the table and the waitress told us that they don't have gluten free bread. This was a surprise as last year they brought her gluten free bread. When my daughter later asked if there were any gluten free desserts, the waitress looked at her with this look of "why are you asking me this?", she smirked at her and as she was walking away she shook her head and laughed at her and said, "no we don't have that." I considered her response to not just being unprofessional but actually mean. She never even checked to see if our water glasses need to be refilled. That is "Waitressing 101." We also ate out on the patio and it was cold. The heater wasn't working well and there was difficulty in getting it lit but eventually the heater worked. A short time later the heater went out. It was warm enough at the time so we didn't say anything but as it started to get cold again we advised the waitress of the heater and she looked at the heater and dismissively said, "okay" and walked away. About 10-15 minutes later, as it was getting colder, it became obvious that this waitress wasn't going to bring someone back to restart the heater so we asked another waitress who was cleaning up her table after serving a large number of people if she could bring someone back to restart the heater. Within a few minutes someone came back to do this. Overall this waitress was dismissive, rude and carried herself with the attitude of someone who is being greatly inconvenienced. Our bill was approximately $200.00. I completely understand someone having a bad night but I am confident that this was not the case with this waitress. I am strongly recommending to the manager and/or owner of this restaurant to take some action with this particular employee. As previously mentioned, the food is great and the restaurant itself is beautiful. If this was my business I certainly would not want someone on my payroll conducting themselves in such an unprofessional, disrespectful manner to my customers. We will be returning to Florida again next year but aren't sure if we will be eating at this restaurant. We found plenty of others restaurants that we enjoy eating at that produce not only great food but also great service.

After posting this review and only giving it one star, I spoke with Matt at the restaurant who was concerned and very responsive to our experience. I am updating my rating based upon the fact that both times we visited this restaurant, the food was outstanding, the restaurant is beautiful and also, more importantly, Matt's proactive response. This is enough to convince me that this restaurant is well run and strives to provide their customers with a good experience. We will be back and continue to recommend this restaurant to anyone that we know who will be...

DO NOT ATTEMPT TO EAT HERE WITHOUT MAKING A RESERVATION FIRST. WALK-INS ARE NOT PRIORITIZED OR WELCOMED. I have never experienced such poor service from a restaurant on Sanibel as I did tonight dining at Cips Place. We arrived as a group of 4 at 5:55 pm to a restaurant with roughly 1/3 of its tables empty, only to be told that we could not sit down anywhere but the bar to observe their 6:30 and 7:00 reservations. A couple arriving behind us received the same message. I counted at least 12 open tables and asked the hostess once again if they were going to leave all tables open in hopes that 100% of their reservations show up. I was spoken down to repeatedly by the hostess and decided we would try the bar instead.

We found 4 seats at the bar together, but the bartender compounded our poor experience by ignoring us for several minutes. She seemed almost surprised that we asked for food and drink menus. She then appeared annoyed that we were engaging her to serve us, which was strike 2 for this dining experience. After watching two more tables get up to leave and be cleared of dishes, I checked in with the hostess again to see if our luck had changed. I informed her that our service at the bar was underwhelming to which she ignored and proceeded to repeat her earlier speech about reservations. I head back to my seat frustrated.

Throughout the next hour we watched most of the tables be sat, with the exception of two booths and two tables outside. When we had finished our meal at 7:10 I asked to speak to the manager to give feedback on our experience with their reservation policy. When the manager came over to speak with us he was immediately defensive, leading to strike 3. Upon hearing our experience the manager did not apologize, did not ask what he could do to make things better, but instead defended the reservation policy and said that those tables must not have shown up.He then asked me how I would feel if I had made a reservation and had to wait. Never have I seen a restaurant leave SEVERAL tables open in hopes of an unconfirmed reservation showing up. We told him that we were residents of the island and would not be returning to give them our business. It wasn't until AFTER I brought up writing a review did he ask what he could do. We said we didn't know and that seemed to be ok with him. He politely thanked us for our feedback and let us leave without resolve. The irony of all of this is that had they sat us immediately when we arrived, we would have finished eating before several of the reservations even showed up.

I will repeat again that I do not recommend anyone going to this restaurant without a reservation. Do not expect to walk in and be seated, and do not expect great service at the bar if you are not seated at a...