Sea Star Cafe and Bar

When every other restaurant had an hour wait, we came here as it was in our hotel! Even though they were short-​staffed, the waitress was very accommodating and nice! I had the shrimp scampi and my dad had the ribs, and they were both great! Ignore the bad reviews and stop here one night of your stay!

A beautiful little bar on sanibel island to bad the food is terrible and the bartender is not friendly at all! Can’t believe they can’t get a nice friendly clean bartender. I ordered a mojoto she cashed someone out and proceeded to pull the mint out without washing her hands. Needless to say I didn’t drink it! The place is extremely dirty! Sanibel you should be ashamed!

I give them a four out of five stars. The food was good and the wait staff personable and friendly. I had the grouper and crab bisque both good.

Saturday night at 6pm, 5 people at the bar. A group of us ordered food and drinks, in the time we were there and eaten we were never once asked if food was ok or if we needed another drink. The bar tender (young guy with tattoos) ignored us the whole time so we left. Food was great by the way but we spent the rest of our night drinking at another hotel.

What a terrible waste of a nice space. It was empty, so all we did was order 2 drinks. They didn’t even get that right. They were awful. Someone take this place over and make it an awesome restaurant for the Island!

We came in here at 8pm on a Saturday and were the only people in the place. Drinks were fine but nothing special. We won’t be back.
³²⁶⁄₃₆₅

Food was good. Had Mahi Mahi and Grouper. Both were overseasoned a bit, and the Mahi Mahi was overcooked. Still good! Tasty and fresh. Key lime pie was lovely.
Downside: place is insanely overpriced. With a 10% discount we were still over $ 60 for two people sitting with fake flowers in a tiki bar kinda atmosphere.

We went for breakfast for the first time. The kids pancakes? Terrible! How do you mess up pancakes? French toast and their breakfast burrito were rather good. But their service and attitude is absolutely horrible. We will not return and we have a home right down the street.

Friendly waitstaff and good food. We had the shrimp po-​boy sandwich, the fish and chips appetizer, wings, and homemade peach crisp :)

My wife and I are staying at the resort and decided to have dinner on the property. The ambiance is great, dining room is spacious and beautiful. I was disappointed by the lack of seafood on the menu and selection of import beers was lacking as well. The prices seemed a little bit steep but that is likely due to the location. The steak sandwich was excellent and I would recommend it to anyone although it seemed a little small for the price. Fries were great and portion was large. Wife had the plain burger and liked the middle because it was a little over cooked. Server was very friendly. It will do but id recommend going off property to try something else.

Breakfast. We stayed at sunset beach inn and received a $ 75 dining credit on check in for Sea Star. We went for breakfast. We presented card for credit and waitress went to check w manager. She said it shouldn’t be a problem so we ordered. We noticed they have no kids meal choices and minimal selection for breakfast. We got breakfast burritos and French toast. We did have a long wait (35 mins). People who came in after us got their food before us and ate and left before we got our food. I suppose this is bc we had the credit. Food was good. Service sucked. Won’t return

We had a great dinner at the sea star café. Started with a crab bisque follow by NY strip steak. My husband had the chicken masala substituted pasta for mash potato. It was delicious!!! And cheese cake for desert. Great service!!!

We were staying at the Sanibel Inn (June 2013) and wanted a small lunch without having to go far. Located near the Sanibel Inn office, the Sea Star was a obvious choice. We were eating light and simply had the crab bisque. It was excellent. The café appeared to have recently built and it looked elegent with a high open ceiling. our waitress was very nice and she provided us with fast, friendly service. Next time here, we will try the dinner menu.

Abysmal customer service. They got 2 out of 4 of our orders wrong. The waitress was a snooty Québécois french woman who acted like it was our fault for messing up the order. The food was pretty bad and was quite expensive. Avoid this place like the plague.

Terrible! This place was empty and dirty. It is a sad thing to see a restaurant fail. The food was CLEARLY frozen and from a big box truck company. And then the cherry on the cake. A bun underneath one of the sandwiches we ordered had a bite in it, teeth marks and all!

This is a typical resort restaurant and bar. The service was outstanding and the food was ok, but nothing truly special– just good casual seafood. I will say the seafood chowder was outstanding, though. We went twice; once for lunch and again for breakfast and both times our servers were wonderful and very accommodating. Tracy even took 20% off our breakfast meal because she accidentally forgot to take the mushrooms off the Man’s order. The only bit of advice I would offer, though, would be that mimosas don’t come with ice; just champagne and orange juice, y’all. The little bar tender for the waterfront bar (who was late for his shift and clearly hung over) should have known better than to tell our lunch server to put ice in such a drink.

We had dinner in this café during the first night of our stay in otherwise pleasant Sanibel Inn. The food was terrible — small chunk of tasteless fish accompanied with a mountain of corn and pineapple, badly cooked. The interior looked cheap and I’ve seen better service in my life.
And then came the $ 100 bill (before tips) — and this was only for a moderate dinner for two. You rarely exceed $ 60 for two in the best places on Sanibel.
My verdict: avoid.

We are weekenders to Sanibel and are here often. I heard someone in Jerry’s (the supermarket) raving about what a great meal she had at this little off the beaten path place called «The Sea Star Café». It is in the place where Ellington’s used to be before they moved to Periwinkle. My husband and I went with our two children (7,4). The restaurant was beautiful with stained glass and lots of windows. Although more of an adult restaurant, they welcomed our boys and had a price friendly kids menu ($ 5 for chicken fingers). My husband had the steak sliders and giant beer battered onions rings and I had a shrimp pasta dish with garlic and basil. Mine was excellent but the sliders were just to die for. I begged for what was in the sauce but they hold it a secret. They were tender chunks of steak in a rich sauce on a soft roll (and they gave your THREE of them). Wow — just yummy. I think we are going back tomorrow!