cip's place

not a great experience. went last night because we lovedcip'slast year when we were on vacation here in sanibel; in fact, last year we were here three times in one week. our waiter looked like he could not wait to get away from us each time he was talking to us and the service was lousy...drinks took forever, asked if we wanted bread then did not get bread, part of my order was never entered into their system, the manager and waiter coming out and talking to us separately not knowing what the other one had told us. sheesh! not going back. they did comp us for the part of the meal that was not entered in the system at least.

gluten-free. i was so excited to find a restaurant serving a gluten-free menu on sanibel, but it just didn't live up to the reviews for us. it is absolutely beautiful....the surroundings are amazing, the wait staff was fantastic, the food was beautiful, but it was bland to me. ifcip'splace will season up their food a bit and increase the quality of the steaks they serve, they will have a winner! my husband and i sat at a window seat overlooking a beautifully landscaped tropical yard with torches lit. the hostess and our server were both amazingly kind. i really wish the food had been better. the best part of my meal was an appetizer...i believe it was bbq shrimp....i loved it. my cosmo was good, too. my husband and i just weren't crazy about our entrees!

nice experience..cip'sserved our group great food, in good time, and in a friendly manner. we plan to come back!

tonight was our second trip to cip's. we went last year shortly after they opened and were very impressed with both the food and the service. tonight we returned and were again treated to great food and impeccable service. we have had the snapper tacos, the grouper esperanza (blackened,) and chopped chicken salad. all tasted very fresh and delicious. tonight, our waiter was jeffrey. he was very busy, but remained attentive to us and our 3 year old. when he was busy, others were asking us if there was anything else we needed. overall,cip'sutilizes a great team effort to make you feel welcome and serve you a fantastic meal.

we brought our swedish cousins here at the end of january.cip'shas a beautiful deck to eat out on with gorgeous landscaping and lighting. it was a bit cool but they have heaters. the mango mahi with a mango salsa was "the best meal i've had in a long time" according to our cousins. the piazzata was delicious as well. our waiter was very good. highly recommend.

you must go tocip's- awesome. we have been coming to sanibel for 15 years andcip'sis just what the island needed, a refreshing reasonably prices fare with some character and outside dining. we are down for a month this year and have been twice and will be heading back several times. from the friendly knowledgeable staff to the presence of the owners being on site to an awesome menu. we had the steak au poivre and bbq ribs the first time it was some of the best food we have had. the steak rivals capital grille (at half the cost) and the ribs were so tender and tasted great. the second trip it was sandwiches and it was dinner for two under $25.00. they are open till at least 930 which on the island is a plus. catch a sunset and you can still get a quality dinner and you can go fancy or just simple either way it is well worth the trip. the setting is very nice and the outside dining it a treat. from long time visitors (second home) to the island i'm comfortable recommendingcip'sto you for any type of meal your interested in.

my husband and i were visiting sanibel island for our vacation. we are from pensacola and consider ourselves foodies. we were a little disappointed in the selection of some of the restaurants on the island and didn't realize some of the more popular places required a reservation to ensure you could eat.

we triedcip'son wednesday night of our vacation and tried several things on the menu. the lobster corn chowder was really good. a great balance between the lobster and corn, and the corn was fresh, off the cob corn. the consistency of the chowder was perfect. not too thick and not too rich.

my husband had the pizetta of the day and it was a greek inspired pizza with feta, fresh tomatoes, kalmatta olives, marinara and mozarella cheese. this was really great. the crust was crunchy and the marinara versus the salty feta cheese was a great contrast.

for dinner, since the marinara on the pizetta was so phenomenal, i had the spaghetti and meatballs. there were two meatballs that were fist-sized comprised of beef and lamb. yummo!

my husband had the grilled snapper tacos and they were very light and fresh. the quantity of food for the price was exceptional.

we sat on the patio and enjoyed the lush landscaping outside. even in the end of june, the night temperatures were just right to enjoy a dinner oncip'spatio.

we likedcip'sso much we came back two days later. the second visit we had the thai spring rolls and wow, what a fresh, healthy alternative to what we were expecting. these were julienned fresh veggies wrapped in a rice paper wrapper and not fried! topped with sesame seeds and served with a sweet chili sauce and rice noodles with a mint pesto on top. these were awesome.

the earlier visit, i smelled someone's ceasar salad as the waiter walked by and couldn't resist ordering it as my entree. we also had the crumplers platter. full of fried grouper, fresh, fresh, fresh shrimp and the most succulent and sweet scallops. i'm a huge seafood lover and can tell when seafood (especially shrimp) has been frozen. it was served with fries and coleslaw.

the ceasar was everything that i expected. salty, cheesy, creamy goodness.

we were out a bit later for our second visit and we sat on the patio once again, however towards the end of the dinner, we seemed to become the mosquitos late night snack.

the service, ambience and food atcip'sis wonderful. if you are visiting sanibel island, don't miss this gem!

not for people dining alone. i wanted to try out this new restaurant before the arrival of large family groups, so i went to lunch alone. the hostess was no where to be found, and when she showed up, it was to play with the dog of a guest a few tables down from the entrance. she only looked up after giving her attention to a man in an ace hardware store shirt who passed me, came back, and asked if i'd been helped. he finally got the hostess' attention by calling her name, and literally waving his arms to flag her down. no apology from her for keeping me waiting or even a light comment about being charmed by the dog.

i was finally seated, but ignored for quite some time, long past the point when simply enjoying the ambiance was enough. during this time, a table of four beside me was attended by two wait staff and another woman, perhaps the owner/manager, who looked over at me, but didn't speak or make any effort to get my wait person. when the waitress did come by, she was somewhat apologetic, and took my order. once served, i might as well have been invisible as i watched the manager visit other tables to chat with the guests. i finally flagged down my waitress, long after i had run out of anything to drink, and requested a refill and a check, fearing that i might not have the chance again. when i left, i was apparently still invisible as neither the hostess nor manager i passed bothered to look up from planning the evening's seating to say, "come back and see us" or any other appropriate comment.

i would be appalled at being treated this way in any restaurant. i am amazed that this would be the behavior of people just going into business. the food may be outstanding as another reviewer suggested, but no food is good enough to tolerate being ignored.

my family and i have been staying on sanibel for almost 20 years. we've seen restaurants come and go, some good, others not. i cannot remember being treated so poorly in any of them. in fact, i've been making a point to register how i've been treated, whether alone or with others, and to this day,cip'splace holds the record for the worst.

so, if you're eating alone, find some other places; there are many options.cip'splace should be ignored, just as they ignore single diners.

cip's is perfect.cip'splace is the perfect restaurant to capture the goodness that is so special about old sanibel. first, fabulous and spacious seating on an open air porch. second, outstanding, from-scratch food, made by a real live trained chef, who is also co-owner with his wife --and it shows. and third, the only place on sanibel where they want you to linger, happily eating great food more than they want to flip the table.

cips is bright and peaceful, with tables widely spaced along a huge l-shaped porch, all of which opens to the gardens. (i did not eat inside, but then again, i think they had moved the tables to the porch because almost no one was eating inside.)

the food was fabulous, ok; 95% was fabulous, 5% so-so. among my other judge's quirks, i judge restaurants by cole slaw, because any place that makes cole slaw sparkle with freshness is really on top of the game--and cips had the absolute best cole slaw i have ever eaten. and true to form, everything else had that same home-made-by-a-chef-who-really-knows-how-to-cook taste.

jane's fish tacos were loaded with that morning's snapper and a home-made smokey ancho pepper salsa that they should bottle and sell. i had a grouper blt. grouper was sauteed, not deep fried, and the avodado mayo had a great bite. dessert was carrot cake, with both cream cheese frosting and real vanilla whipped cream. the carrot cake was ok, but lacked sparke, spice, nuts, and maybe even pineapple--but then again, maybe it was just a different carrot cake recipe.

dinner started with two salads: the rebel roquette and spinach salad. the beets were clearly roasted and the nuts clearly toasted on site, the dressings made from scratch, the beu cheese well selected. not one bite remained on our plates. the rolls were also scratch from a local baker--that warm molasses roll that grandma used to make. my entre ponce de leon zarzuela was recommened by the owner chef. florida seafood in a wonderful warm roasted pepper broth. four stars. jane had crab cakes, which were only so-so, but then again, crab cakes are seldom great. dessert was key lime pie, only because every place on sanibel has to have a key lime pie--fortunately,cip'smakes a great scratch key lime pie wiht a thin graham cracker and butter and cinamon crust--but then again it is just key lime pie.

cip's has only been open for a couple of months. service is good, but will get stressed on nights when they are busy. only one table showed some impatience for service, all of the others were delighted to just sit and enjoy old sanibel.

unlike every other sanibel restaurant, we were able to eat in peace, quiet, and at our own pace. this is the only sanibel restaurant where i have wanted to sit leidurely for another glass of ice tea at noon and wine at dinner. and i dearly wish i was sitting on their porch right now.

interesting thoughts aboutcip'sby a foody.cip'sis a new retaurant. they have the setting and the skill set necessary to become the absolute best restaurant on the island by doing more simple but great dishes (think fish tacos that get four stars) and a spanish fish stew (also four stars). or, they can go the bbq pork and crb cake route, nothing special, just done well in a really special atmosphere. i hope they go for upscale food in the best atmosphere on the island.

bona fides: i have time-shared on sanibel for 20 years and eaten in almost every sanibel restaurant at one time or another. second, we ate twice at cips, once for lunch and once for dinner. third, we talked with the staff both on and off site, and we talked with the husband-wife team of chef __ and front-of -the-house allison. and fourth, we sent at least three other groups there during our visit and heard only great comments.

drbobleeson