Sweet Melissa's Cafe - SANIBEL

I hate to judge this James Beard recognized café as a 1 star. We went with another couple who love their fish stew, a clientele favorite. We sung at 5:30 and feel that both my wife and the oysters were boiled and over spicy. My wife had the Oktopus little plate appetizer. It tasted a bit like lobster, but it had a sauce that was like a strong BBQ sauce that exaggerated the octopus. My oysters were a little emptied, boiled. The mol sauce was exaggerated and avoided. The vermeerte tip was heavily dusted with a very salty wort, I had to scrape it off or just salt. My cubed vegetables were also undercooked and without taste. My wife's stew was also understated, with raw garlic and other vegetables. I'm sorry, Melissa, probably won't be back.

Dinner, service ambience fabulous. Hannah was efficient and very nice. Really enjoyed the Oktopus Appetizer. It was tender and delicious. The Scallop Entree was perfect with Risotto. Split the key lime bread pudding. It was really delicious.

Warm, friendly atmosphere, courteous service, well made drinks, fresh creative food. My husband had the duck; very good! I had to try the award-winning fish stew and was not disappointed. Packed full of melt in your mouth seafood. I love that they offer a petite part that was a perfect size for me.

Highs: Atomposhere, Live Guitar Lows: Expensive, Limited Menu, Quirky Taste Combinations, Poorly Executed. The sum of the parts do not equal the whole. If this was a sports analogy you could say they scored alot of points but poor execution and too many mistakes cost them the win. Maybe one star is somewhat unfair but when you spend over $180 on a dinner out you would like to come away feeling good about it. So many good reviews and we were lured into this place by the online menu which had some interesting appetizers and entrees. We went to celebrate our anniversary hoping for something memorable, which it was but not in a good way, we got there to find the menu was different, which I know happens but what was offered was not anything stellar to choose from with only 5 entrees and some bizarre sounding sting-ray wing special. Not a chicken dish to be found. Trying to find a variation of flavors not to be redundant between the appy and entree, I went with the mussels and frites the wife had the grilled octopus one of her faves, the mussels were good, French fries with them tho? I can pass on that! wife loved the octopus very tender, BUT they served with with Korean BBQ sauce too over-powering, when less is more, simple, fresh lemon, EVOO and cilantro would have been better. Plus the brussle sprouts were charred looking outside but basically raw inside. Bread and dipping oil (which was good) did not get to the table until we were almost thru our appetizers course. Then came wine debacle #1: saw on the wine list a very interesting Cuvee, ordered a bottle, the blend on the bottle was not what as described on the wine list, different by far, opted for something else. Entrees came, Mrs. Ordered the smoked tenderloin because there wasn't much to choose from, asked it be cooked MEDIUM, the steak arrived and after two slices it was found raw inside, sent it back, returned a few minutes later still on the rarer side (see photo) sent back again, got it to a point it was edible. [This was also noted in another one star review] My Duck Breast was cooked nicely but the rest of the dish was a disaster, just an ugly plate of food, the so-called sweet potato gnocchi were four prune sized gummy, pan blackened wads with a play- dough consistency, and the braised red cabbage gave a twisted suarukraut flavor to the dish, just a mis-paired combo, a nice chorizo and poached apple corn bread stuffing and a grilled Portobello slice would have worked better. As in another one star review this place tries do a mash-up of flavors, attempting to be eclectic and tries to do too much and can't pull it off. When you only have FIVE entrees on the menu they should be the most amazing dishes ever presented. Last but not least got the key lime bread pudding, I thought it was very good, freshly warm, however the lime taste is just a hint almost undetectable. Wine debacle #2 happened when we asked for the Standing Stone Vineyard (Finger Lakes NY) Reisling Ice Dessert Wine

Delicious! A super nice place to have a romantic dinner. The outdoor seating ambiance is really nice, and live music really adds to the charm of this gourmet restaurant. The grilled octopus appetizer and the watermelon salad were perfect starters. The duck and red fish entrees were both cooked perfectly. The key lime bread pudding is a nice way to end a delicious meal.