Restaurant Review – Doc Ford’s Sanibel Island

We drove to Sanibel on Sunday while the toll waiver was still in effect. This is the first time we’ve been to Sanibel Island since Hurricane Ian. Wow! Quite the devastation! So sad to see so many businesses gone and the deforestation. Anyway, we thought we’d go there and support some of the businesses there. The $6 toll to use the causeway was eliminated for 6 Sundays to help promote the island’s businesses that are open and operating. We never really wanted to go there to gawk, so if they’re looking to bring people in I thought we’d go check it out and give them a little support.

OK, so we decided to go to Doc Ford’s to eat lunch. We have never been to a Doc Ford’s so this was our first time and we thought it was pretty good overall. Before I get into details, let’s talk about that causeway. When are they going to get that done? I know portions were destroyed by Ian and that we got it reopened pretty quickly and that it was a feat of engineering, but its been a year. I’d say focus on the road and work on the little island beaches along it afterwards. Just a side note, when we drove into the island there was a slow guy going 5 miles an hour about 10 cars ahead. we almost came to a full stop a couple of times. There was nobody in front of him! The traffic going out was flying by. When we left the island, that same guy must have got in front of us again because we were going 5 miles an hour out while the traffic going in was flying by! Anyway,lets talk about the food.

We ordered a couple of drinks to start. Pina colada and a Margarita. Tasty! They have a big drink menu.

I ordered a Calamari with cocktail sauce. Lots of Calamari and the cocktail sauce tasted and looked like it had a little BBQ sauce in it. Different. We ate it all, so not that different!

Our entrees were interesting. I couldn’t decide between the Paella or the Shrimp and Grits. The waitress said the Shrimp and Grits was a newer addition and the people were liking it so I went with that and my wife went with the Crab Cake appetizer. Nice presentation on both dishes. I’ve made some grits in my time, but I have never seen grits that you could scoop and mound up in the middle of the plate. Mine were always creamy and would cover the whole plate and then you put the shrimp on top. So I would like more of a creamy style grits as opposed to this drier style that mounds up nicely. My vegetables were outstanding! Zucchini carrots and green beans. Nice! The shrimp were almost overcooked. I could have used a little more sauce. I ate everything except for a tiny bit of the grits, so I liked it. Would I order it again? No, I’d tried the Paella! My wife’s crab cakes were delicious. However, the sauce was a little strange. It almost tasted like caramel sauce. It was supposed to be a lime butter sauce, but something made it brown and I don’t know what it was. The waitress offered to take it back, but my wife just put the crab cakes on a different plate and finished them off. Her jicama slaw was a little on the sweet side.

We were stuffed, but we saw table get the carrot cake. I love carrot cake, especially the cream cheese frosting and this one did not disappoint! Sorry, but we took a bite before I remembered the pic. Couldn’t eat much, so we took the rest home and I finished it off a couple hours later. That was a lot of frosting!

So, all in all, Doc Ford’s is good. I won’t mind going back for more. The place was clean, including the washrooms. The staff was nice. Smiles all around! And lots of interesting things to try on the menu.

On our way out of Sanibel we made a point to stop at the shop She Sells Sea Shells by the Sea Shore to buy some stuff. We did buy some sea shells and a hat and this t-shirt. I didn’t realize it at the time I bought it, but the t-shirt changes colors when the sun hits it! Check it out.

So if you have the time to drive down to Sanibel Island, give the local businesses some support and let’s get that island happening again! We’re thinking of going to Cielo’s during Restaurant Week for an upscale date night! Restaurant “Week” is from Sept 7-27 where a number of restaurants are offering specially priced multi course lunches and dinners. Its been advertised in the Florida Weekly newspaper. See you out there!