Restaurant Review – Cielo’s on Sanibel
If you don’t mind driving for about an hour from Alva to Sanibel Island, we’ve got the place to dine for you! Cielo’s is the very definition of a “Fine Dining” restaurant! Cielo’s dining room is on the second floor and received very little damage from Hurricane Ian. Scott is playing the piano in the dining room. I asked for some Beatles songs and got them! Good job Scott! The dining room is beautiful. The waitstaff is very friendly and professional! Linen table cloths, lots of silverware, food runners who know exactly where to put the plates of food with none of them asking “who gets the steak”! And speaking of the food, It was our best meal yet in the past two years of living in the Ft Myers area! I did have one problem, but I’ll talk about that when I describe my entree.
Coming over the causeway I got that slow poke in front of me again! We came here a couple of weeks ago to try out Doc Ford’s and had a slow driver in front of us then. So again, we were going just 12 to 15 miles an hour. It made for a lot of frustration that could have turned into road rage as people would pass the guy up over double yellow lines with horns honking and traffic coming the other way! Anyway, we made safe and sound and had a fabulous time at Cielo’s.
We started out ordering a couple of drinks. I later had their version of a Pina Colada and Adele had a glass of wine. The drinks were good! They do have a specialty drink menu and a good looking wine list.
We went there because of the dine out in Florida promotion where you get a 3 course meal for $49. I went with the Calamari, Demkota Ribeye and Creme Brulee. My wife went with the Fried Manchego, Grilled Shrimp and Scallops and the Chocolate Almond Truffle Cake. I also asked for a Caesar Salad after my appetizer course for an extra up charge.
My Calamari was fantastic! I didn’t really read the description on the menu, so I was expecting the usual Calamari with cocktail sauce. But this was definitely up a notch! The Sweet Chili Aioli was delicious and the chopped Cashews added a nice textural element. I mixed the greens underneath the calamari with the Mango Coulis for a nice flavor combination. Adele’s fried Manchego Cheese with the Fig Chutney was also delicious. We took most of that home and it still tasted great even reheated in the micro!
My Caesar Salad was next but I forgot to take a picture. It was made with the small hearts of romaine, tossed with dressing and cheese with two white anchovies on top and 4 same sized croutons in one corner of the plate. I’ve served thousands of Caesar Salads in our restaurants and always chopped the romaine to bite sized pieces and mixed everything together. I don’t really like have to cut up my salad, but its a small task, so I complied. I went to one place in Sedona and they had a “deconstructed” Caesar Salad. Nothing was tossed together. All the ingredients were separated in tdifferent sections of the plate with a smear of dressing in the middle. By the time I “constructed” my salad, half of it was on the table! 🙂
Next up were the entrees. Adele’s Shrimp and Scallops with Risotto was absolutely perfect. I especially liked the risotto. Nice and creamy and perfectly done. My steak was medium rare with a nice flavorful char on the outside. My “seasonal” vegetables included asparagus which is seasonal in the springtime, but I guess it could be springtime somewhere in the southern hemisphere! I was a little disappointed in my mashed potatoes. They were a bit dry, not creamy and/or buttery. We couldn’t finish it all, but what we took home was tasty the next day! So we got two meals out of it!
Our desserts were really, really, really good! That was the best Creme Brulee I’ve had in a long time. Great flavor and a nice consistency. So many times the consistency is soupy or quite firm. The caramelized sugar on top must have been a quarter inch thick! Adele’s Chocolate Almond Truffle Cake was total chocolate decadence! Great ways to finish the meal! As you can see, we told them it was our birthdays (which it is, a couple weeks away), So you get a candle and a happy birthday plate written in chocolate. The staff did not come over a sing a snappy version of Happy Birthday! This is fine dining after all! 🙂
As we left, we tipped Scott the piano player for the Beatles songs. Very nice experience overall. If you want to check out there website, click here! They are closed on Sunday and Monday. It would be so nice if they were open on Sunday. That would be a nice Sunday drive, although it wasn’t bad going there on a Saturday night for a 5pm reservation. Traffic was non-existent! But it is the off season, so beware. If you’re looking for a fine dine dining experience, I highly recommend Cielo’s on Sanibel.
