Island Cafe

We always eat here at least once in our vacation. The fish basket is great. Nice laid back relaxed place to eat. Nothing fancy but good food.

EVEN THEIR CLOCK WAS SLOW
Yes, it was about 6 minutes slow. Really. We had breakfast there twice in 2 days just because it was the most convenient place otherwise we would not have gone back the second day. On the second day we waited 10 minutes for any server attention. We ordered 2 hot teas & my wife wanted to look at the menu for the rest of the order. It took 10 minutes to get the hot teas. Ten minutes later we had to flag down another wait staff (the original one had disappeared) to order 2 orange juices and a toasted bagel for my wife. I am not a breakfast eater. In 10 more minutes my wife had her bagel but we were promised our juices. It took a total of 40 minutes and 3 wait staff from sitting down to get our orange juices. I did notice that 3 locals had come in at the same time we did. They had their drinks, big meals, ate, paid & left well before we got our juices. The place was just not that busy. Do locals get better service than tourists? The café seems badly organized. They do not seem to assign tables to specific wait staff and I did notice that 2 of the staff worked like they were zombies. Plod, shuffle, plod. They disappear for extended periods. A couple of staff did hustle but they were really handicapped by the other wait staff. Our first visit the day before was not much better. We had hoped service would be better the second day. It was worse. Next time we are in Everglades City we will put up with inconvenience & go somewhere else. Oh yeah, they also screwed up our bill in our favor the second day but I had them correct it.

The food was just ok. I got the fish tacos and the whole taco was warm. The lettuce, tomato and cheese was even warm and left the whole taco feeling limp. A little pricey for what I got. The appearance of the dining area is dated and the service was just ok. Interesting variety of food though.

Food was about as average as they come. Service was pretty much the same. The place feels kind of run down and unclean, and I eat at small diners regularly. Prices were insane. I’m guessing it’s because of the location but still silly. $ 7 for 5 regular sized hush puppies. $ 15 for a hamburger with fries. Won’t be returning.

There was a fly tucked in under my french toast. The waitress never came by to ask about our meal or refill our coffee. When I showed the cashier my plate with the fly swimming in syrup she looked at it and said oh, sorry. Then charged us for the meal as I’m trying not to be sick all over the cash register.

An okay café/​diner fairly reasonable prices considering they are in a town in the middle of no where. Their location may influence their menu negatively. They use the deep fryer extensively. I got the fish tacos and they were good but the fish was fried (probably frozen). The french fries are similar to what I have seen at other restaurants around the country (same supplier, Sysco GFS?). They were good though, better than the fast food places. The wait staff is young (high school). They did their job well and were nice. I think a little more skill in the kitchen could deliver food of similar prices but better. They need to stop relying on the fryer so much.

The happy ending here is Gator Burgers, but they came later.
If there was a real life Restaurant At The End of The Universe it would be Havana Café on Chokoloskee Island, but since that was closed till October and it was August, we went to the Restaurant Just Before the End of the Universe, the Island Café in Everglades City next door. Since we were near the end of the universe — my T-​Mobile signal had gone silent many light years back — no surprise there. I actually chose this restaurant because they had free Wi-​Fi and I needed to check in to my world for some reason. We had ordered drinks while I was signing on to the Wi-​Fi. As I read the Unilocal reviews, one caught my attention; a guest named Chris B had complained that someone had spit their mucous into his drink just a few weeks before. He had photos to prove it, sort of, if it wasn’t glue or algae or some other uncharitable substance. I turned instantly pale and thought, Might this be one of those mythical rural Florida Hitchcock eateries? The busboy suddenly reminded me of the Banjo Boy from «Deliverance» and the waitress was looking at us as she was pouring our drinks. I’d ordered a Mello Yello and watched closely as she poured it. The thought even crossed my mind that the problem with Mom and Pops is that, sometimes, Mom and Pop were siblings…
But then things changed. The Gator Burgers caught my eye, and my Mello Yello was fine. Three of the four folks in our party ordered the Gator Burger and one ordered the Fried Fish Platter. They have a Chipotle Aioli which I ordered as an accompaniment to the Gator. The result of the Gator Burger doused in Chipotle Aioli was pure victory. The mellow flavor of the gator was made perfect with the presence of the smoked jalapeño garlic mayo. They these city slickers’ confidence. We even bought ice cream from the other side of the store and high-​fived the gator by the front door as we walked out. The four stars are for the Gator Burger. The Fried Fish Platter was just OK and the first ten minutes of service could have been faster.
A point I’d like to make about the guest who posted photos of mucous in his drink is that restaurants need to respond to reviews like that holding back no reserve. Obviously, you would reach out to the customer when he was there and made the complaint. FInd out what it was in his drink, respond with a reasonable explanation and, by all means, do whatever you have to do to make amends. If the guest is too obstinate and refuses to be calmed by anything you do, present your side of the story on Unilocal.But never ignore Unilocal or the power of the printed word. Unilocal is the most reliable method I’ve ever known to choose a restaurant. And had I been able to look Island Café up on Unilocal using my data, I probably would have passed on it. But I’m glad i didn’t.

Since you’re supposed to be fishing in Everglades City and not fine dining, we enjoyed the hamburgers (6.99) and the cheeseburgers (7.99). Service was great and the place was real busy. Nice folks, good meal, now back to the boat!

Das lokal ist einfach, das Essen gut, günstig und der Fisch ist Vorort gefangen. Nach dem wir tagelang nur in Fastfoodketten gegessen hatten, es gibt fast nichts anderes mehr, waren wir froh in einem normalen Lokal gelandet zu sein. Nichts besonderes aber dort geht halt mal der Einheimische hin.

Fish Reuben amazing. All food was fresh and pretty affordable. Staff was very friendly, and ice cream place (in same building) was good (and cheap :)

BIOHAZARD!!! Found a glob of spit in my drink! Called Fla Health Dept and Police.
May be shut down. I’m a retired Marine… maybe they hate Marines???

Food was ok very salty. Prices were 13 to 15 per meal. Very family friendly. I had the gator and shrimp and probably would not order it again.

Cute local café. Not too many food options on Everglade City so we decided to try our luck here. We were not disappointed. Typical fried foods on the menu. We did see gator and frog legs but where not feeling adventurous. We played it safe and got a burger and chicken tenders. The food was good except the coleslaw. It was in a little jar and looked really watery so we stayed away. The service left a lot to be desired but it’s to be expected when you have a teenager in a local café as your server. Island Café isn’t a high end fancy restaurant but they are still a good spot for a quick bite.

There aren’t a lot of food choices out here in Everglades City. My son went on a fishing trip here last spring and has been here for breakfast. We came here for lunch after an airboat ride. The menu includes lots of fried options and sandwiches. My son had the gator bites and enjoyed them but was disappointed that there wasn’t a mustard dipping sauce. I had the chicken strips and fries. The chicken strips were nice and crunchy on the outside. The fries were seasoned which I personally don’t care for. My husband had the fish and chips and says it was lightly fried not battered but we’re very good and fresh. My daughter had the meatball sub and the meatballs were huge. She says they were okay. The service was a bit slower than I would have liked but they were busy when they seated us. Our waitress was pleasant and gave my husband and I iced teas to go with no extra charge. In all a pleasant experience.

Everglades City is a pretty place and the Island Café is a great place to have a filling breakfast or quick lunch. Food is good, service is good, place is clean, including the restrooms.

Simple, low key café run by locals. The fish is freshly caught local grouper. It came on the sandwiches, ruebens and fish sticks. Fries come with everything. Ice cream is by Edy’s. Pretty quick service and kids menu raging from 4.99 to 9.99. Drinks not included.
Excellent blackened fish sandwich was not fried. The fish reuban was delicious with homemade coleslaw. Fish sticks came with hush puppies. Fried Twinkle was $ 4.99.

Stopped in on our way to fish. Food was good Chili dogs! Waitress was very pleasant but the girl at the cash register was pretty rude and not very happy. To bad its a decent place on the island for a meal. If you are heading fishing good place for box lunches

Good food and horrible service.
If you don’t know how to treat a client you should work with something else.
They missed silverware, napkins, salt, drinks, and they took a while to bring me the check.
Very nice gator bites.
Like I said, good food and bad service.

They have a good breakfast selection. The ice cream in the back is very good… The service is good. The setting is a challenge if you have more than four. All in all, I was happy with the food and service.

I guess this is good if you want a quick lunch after a run in the Everglades.
+ on the location
— on the service; poor attitude from the woman that was attending to us
— roughly 15 min wait on food: not bad
+ decently tasting fish wrap and fish tacos, but could offer more options on sides instead of just fries.
Would not recommend and would not return.

Island Café, though it only has sit down table dinning is more like a diner serving low budget easy on the wallet diner food than it is a café. It has full liquor service, but it doesn’t have a bar and the drinks don’t really amount to much. I had a Margarita which was simply done with basic sweet and sour, tequila but topped off with lemon rendering it more of a lemonade tasting concoction than anything else.
They have a simple menu of pizza, wraps, sandwiches, salads and burgers along with various items expected in Everglades City such as Conch Fritters, Frog Legs, Gator Nuggets, Hush Puppies, Fried Pickles, basket dishes of oysters, clams, crab, a Gator Burger and one item which hit me as totally unexpected, being the «Fried Twinkie.» Though I didn’t try the Fried Twinkie I was assured it was the best Fried Twinkie in town, albeit the only Fried Twinkie known to be served in town.
On the good side, it’s clean, neat and has a very nice Everglades City décor, if there is such thing, about it with a big stuffed alligator greeting you as you enter along with some alligator skins adorning the walls. The service is rather amateurish but exceptionally friendly and well meaning.
Food wise there are better choices (Two Stars), but for their take out box lunches or for a place to take kids it’s not bad since it does have a special 12 and under kid’s menu; hence an overall «it’s OK» Three Stars.