The Island Seafood Restaurant promises "The Best Mayan Riviera and Caribbean
style Seafood in Cape Coral."
I'll happily extend that promise to cover all of Southwest Florida, and put it head to
head with any Latin-Caribbean cuisines.
Opened in late April,
the restaurant sports al fresco dining, a full bar, and is very family
friendly.
Freddie Garcia and Jacqueline Vasquez are the owners. Chef
Garcia painted the Caribbean underwater murals ( makes
me want to SCUBA dive!), crafted the tropical bar, and did all the other
decoration.
He's so creative in various culinary and decorative arts. This is
their second restaurant.
We started with appetizers. The quality of the food kept us
ordering more and more.
Server Emilee is tops in her thoughtful suggestions warmth,
and her personality made for a wonderful
evening.
Fresh fish ceviche ($12) is a large flavorful appetizer with
perfectly citrus-marinated fish, fresh
corn, sweet peppers, diced tomato, onion, mixed garden greens and lime juice.
This is a great deal for the fine quality and portion size. Highly recommended.
Guacamole at $8 is enough for two-it's clearly prepared to
order, served in a molcajete.
Chef Freddie adds his delicious twists to a
creamy traditional dish, including bits of sliced boiled egg with spices to chunks
of Haas avocado and diced tomato.
The fresh mixed seafood cocktail appetizer ($12) is a meal
in itself, attractively served in a large glass bowl with chips.
Inside is an
oceanic cornucopia with cooked Gulf shrimp, delicate octopus, oysters, scallops,
fish, diced tomato and lime juice. Highly recommended.
Salsa and chips are $1, how can one go wrong? The salsa is under-spiced,
so one can add as much heat as desired from several hot sauces already on the
table. The chips are ok, they are perhaps the only thing not freshly made on
site. Very few places freshly bake/fry corn
tortilla chips anymore.
The tropical pineapple ($16) was the pinnacle of our evening!
Chef Freddie
combines pineapple, tropical fruit, multicolored sweet
peppers, ham and grilled chicken (or seafood) with an aromatic Mayan-Creole
sauce.
The generous portion is served
in a half-pineapple, baked with a topping of mozzarella cheese, and
served with crisp Cuban bread. Highly
recommended.
Vegetarian molcajete ($12) is served hot and stayed hot for
perhaps 15 minutes with the heat retained by the thick volcanic molcajete.
The
mix of tomatoes, broccoli, potatoes,
carrots and Mayan-Creole sauce, topped with mozzarella cheese is a vegan
delight.
Save room for the signature dessert ($6) - banana cheesecake
wrapped in tortillas and fried, served with vanilla ice cream and drizzled with
luscious caramel. It's enough for three people to share.
Latin night is a must attend if one likes Latin American music with a
Latin DJ and dancing. It's only offered Saturday nights from 10 pm -2 am.
1339 Cape Coral Parkway East,
Cape Coral, 541-0722
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