cip's place

cip's place (pronounced “sip”) is located in the forever green shopping center on sanibel island. my wife and i were staying at the sanibel beach resort for the weekend and were driving around looking for a place for dinner when we came across cip’s. the restaurant is named for long-time islander jimmy cipriani, the former owner of the property, and the bar is modeled after one of sanibel’s original ferries, the islander. the restaurant is a casual, comfortable place to relax, in a higher class atmosphere while still reminding you of theislandlife. the restaurant has many scrapbooks of the island's history that customers are welcome to look through while you sip on a cocktail or wait for food. a mural painted by two local artists called the sanibel and captiva’s wall ofislandfaces depicts many of sanibel and captiva's most well-known and instrumental people in molding the islands into what they are today. the portrait includesislandlocals like porter goss, j.n. “ding” darling, the bailey brothers, and the late jimmy cipriani.

what a lovely surprise! had a delightful lunch here -- crab cakes: asian salmon salad; but you will enjoy the chicken salad or even a burger or any of the other items nicely presented in a relaxing setting. if there's a cool breeze, you'll want one of the outside tables. ladies that lunch will be very happy here. prices are fairly reasonable and food quite good. a welcome change from the usual friedislandfare.

creative and not the usualislandnorm.... ditto to mark maitland below...

you must go to cip's - awesome. we have been coming to sanibel for 15 years and cip's is just what theislandneeded, 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 theislandis 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 theislandi'm comfortable recommending cip's to you for any type of meal your interested in.

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

we tried cip's on 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 on cip's patio.

we liked cip's so 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 at cip's is wonderful. if you are visiting sanibel island, don't miss this gem!

cip's is perfect. cip's place 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's makes 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 about cip's by a foody. cip's is a new retaurant. they have the setting and the skill set necessary to become the absolute best restaurant on theislandby 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