Cape Coral's oldest restaurants have found the recipe for success
Blink and you could easily miss something.
“There was nothing out there when we opened Bubba’s in 1998,” Jay Johnson said of the roadhouse and saloon’s current Cape location near the German American Club. “Within five miles, there were maybe 10 restaurants at best. Now you can’t even count them.”
Just last year, Walk-On’s, Bacio’s Pizzeria, Yonutz, Cape Brazilian Grill, Pei Wei, Sunset Chicken, Tropical Smoothie, Wow Steakhouse, Huey Magoos, two Papa Johns, Eagle Specialty Coffee, Taqueria Casamigos, Foxtail Coffee Co. and Stella Marie’s opened along or just off of Pine Island Road.
Another 20-plus debuted throughout the city, with notable additions including Slipaway, Indian Breeze, Oise-Ushi, Seed & Bean, Oak & Stone, Escondido Lounge, Hacienda Jalisco, Clase Azul, and Florida Boy Burger.
But that’s not all. Expect Aqua and Big Nick’s at The Cove at 47th, Omelet House and Bimini Basin Seafood & Cocktail to Bimini Square and Tacos & Tequila and Chicken Salad Chick up toward Pine Island Road sometime this year.
As Johnson pointed out, however, it hasn’t always been like this …
The early years
Cape Coral's dining history began 60 years ago with the Surfside Restaurant.
Cape Coral welcomed its first restaurant in 1959, two years after brothers Leonard and Jack Rosen began working on their Waterfront Wonderland. Surfside, at 1502 Cape Coral Parkway, was more than just a place to eat. The 1950s chic, coral and white restaurant also served as the young city’s social and commercial centers. It even became a hurricane shelter during Donna in 1960. Along with the neighboring Nautilus Hotel, it was sold in 1971, demolished in 1992, and later became the site of Perkins.
The food scene slowly developed over the decades.
“There weren’t many restaurants at all back then,” Diane Thompson, who works at the Cape Coral Museum of History and has been a Cape resident since 1981, said of the early 1980s. “There was only one place for pizza. There wasn’t much to choose from.”
Jimbob's opened on a Cape Coral side street in the mid 1970s. The site is now home to Paddy Wagon Irish Pub.
Some of the early restaurants included Jimbob’s Pub (on Southeast 16th Place where Paddy Wagon Irish Pub is now), Jimbo’s Restaurant (on Del Prado Boulevard where Monarca’s is), Capri’s Italian (now Ford’s Garage) and Cande’s Steak House (now the car wash next door), The Clock (where Indian Breeze is), Mr. C’s (now the Elks), Del Prado Steakhouse (now Mexico Lindo) and Chicago Pizza (the original location was on Miramar Street where Wow Wing House is).
For 35 years, The Orient was open on Del Prado Boulevard before closing in 2024, and Thirsty’s was a mainstay on Vincennes since the early 1980s.
Thirsty's Restaurant was a Cape Coral staple for decades.
“The food — it was seafood — was tremendous,” Thompson said of the latter. “And they made a ranch dressing that was amazing. The same cook and the same servers were there the whole time (until its Hurricane Ian-helped closure in 2022). I miss it.”
Leone’s and Rib City (on Leonard Street) — which opened in 1978 and 1990, respectively — closed in 2025. Al Whelan opened New England Moorings a couple of streets off Del Prado in 1987. Health issues forced its closure in October, but signs out front and a recorded voice message indicate a return is in the works.
Here comes the dining boom
Sage on 47th took over Mugs N' Jugs old South Cape location on 47th Terrace.
And then there were long-closed Mugs N’ Jugs and Hired Hand Saloon on 47th Terrace.
“My parents used to take me here after (Little League) baseball tournaments,” Ralph Centalonza said about Mugs N’ Jugs, which is now the location of his restaurant, Sage on 47th. “There were darts, pinball, an arcade. There was a beach volleyball court (on the roof next door at what is now Dixie Roadhouse). On day two or three after I opened, (Mugs N’ Jugs owner) Jim Heckler came in, stood in the doorway and just nodded.”
Centalonza opened his first Cape Coral restaurant, Rumrunners, in Cape Harbour with partners Todd Johnson and Jeff Gately back in 2003.
“It was quiet even then,” he said. “Cape Harbour was where we fished when I was younger. It was a swamp. There wasn’t much true waterfront dining around here. The amount and level of competition were sparse. Rumrunners became a dining destination.”
Rumrunners opened in Cape Harbour in 2003.
He didn’t stop there. A couple of years later, the trio opened The Joint (now Fathoms) and Run Agrounds (now French Press).
“After that, places like Nevermind (in 2012), Nice Guys (2013), Lobster Lady (2012) and Merrick’s restaurant (Fish Tale Grill in 2013) really took Cape by storm,” Centalonza said.
He added Coak Soakers to the boom in 2014.
“It was the Twisted Conch for years,” he said. “And Dairy Queen before that (circa 1962). The drive-thru window was still in the kitchen. It had a flat roof and an A-frame above it. It was DQ all right. We added on the interior dining room.”
Ralph Centalonza opened Cork Soakers Deck & Wine Bar in Cape Coral in 2014. The building previously housed Twisted Conch and Dairy Queen.
Restaurants continued to fill the city, including Ford’s Garage (2013), Pinchers (2013), Slate’s (2013, now Hacienda Jalisco), Overtime (2015 in Dublin Ale House and Brigand’s old location), 10 Twenty Five (2016), Fins (2017), Point 57 (2017), Gather (2017) to name a few.
Another strong burst came in the last few years with Next Door, Stones Throw, Prime 239, Tito’s Cantina, ODA, Indian Breeze, Palace Pub, Florida Boy Burger Co., Front Porch Social, High Tide Social, Clase Azul, Slipaway, Escondido Lounge and more opening.
But with so many shiny, new and social-media savvy restaurants, it’s easy to overlook the tried-and-true older restaurants that have quietly, joyously been around for decades. Places like Papa Joe’s and Iguana Mia, which recently celebrated 35 years on Cape Coral Parkway, and BackStreets on SE 47th Terrace that hosted a 30th anniversary bash. Maria’s, Mangia Bene, Parkway Subs, Monkey Bar are still going too.
Let's wrap up this culinary walk down memory lane with five of the oldest restaurants in Cape Coral. Each has found the recipe for success since opening in the 1980s. We'll begin with the oldest …
Siam Hut
Toon Bangthamai and his mother Noi Bangthamai own Siam Hut, the oldest restaurant in Cape Coral.
Toon Bangthamai was just 2 years old when his parents opened this Thai restaurant in a nondescript strip mall along Del Prado Boulevard in 1984. Fast forward 42 years, and Toon is still there, working the dining room during lunch and is the head chef on the dinner shift.
“Mom is still here too,” he said, adding that his dad died 10 years ago. “She comes in every day to do a little prepping. She goes home right around dinner time.”
Toon began working there when he was 12, starting with washing dishes and working his way to head chef over the years.
Siam Hut really hasn't changed much since opening in Cape Coral in 1984.
The early years weren’t easy.
“We had a lot of explaining to do,” he said. “People didn’t know what Thai food was.”
But once they learned, they kept coming back.
Like the decor, the menu hasn’t changed much in all these years.
Siam Hut's cozy and intimate dining room is more or less the same as when the restaurant first opened in 1984.
“Chicken pad Thai is the No. 1 seller,” Toon said. “We sell a lot of pad Thai. The curries are a pretty good seller, too. It’s all the same recipes we’ve always had. Mom is still here, so the recipes are still here.”
He admits these last few years after Hurricane Ian have been hard.
“Food cost and labor costs are higher,” he said, “but our prices can only go up so much. But we will still keep going.”
Opening for lunch has helped. And so have all the regulars that have built up over the decades.
“Now we are getting second and third generations,” Toon said.
Siam Hut has been a fixture along Del Prado Boulevard in Cape Coral since 1984.
Although there is way more competition than there was years ago, “customers tell me we have better prices and better tasting food.”
“We don’t cut corners,” he said. “It’s the same quality we always had. The same chef has been here for the last 41 years. We’re the same mom & pop we’ve always been.”
And that’s a very good thing.
The Café
The Cafe opened in Coralwood Shopping Center in the mid-1980s.
Mike Kolliniatis was 2 when his parents, Chris and Sandra, opened this breakfast and lunch joint in Coralwood Shopping Center in the mid-80s. When he was 7, he began bussing tables, and just like that, he’s still there 40 years later.
“This is all he’s ever known,” Mike’s wife, Kelsey, said. “He was always his dad’s right-hand man.”
When he’s not cooking on the line, Mike can be found doing dishes or whatever else needs to be done.
“He’s here six or seven days a week,” said Kelsey, who met Mike when she was a server at the restaurant 15 years ago.
Chris Kolliniatis, left, opened The Cafe with his wife Sandra in the mid-1980. Their son Mike, right, now runs the place.
Coralwood was an indoor mall when The Café first opened. Three years later, Kelsey explained, the mall was torn down and turned into an outdoor mall.
“It was weird,” she said. “Everything was teal and coral, and there were spikes on top like it was some sort of palace."
Chris and Sandra went with that theme for the restaurant’s interior. It was all peach and turquoise inside until 2001, when it was remodeled into an Italian style with “a lot of wine photos.”
“The past summer, we decided to paint over the faux-brick wallpaper and make it feel like a dining room,” Kelsey said.
The Cafe has been serving breakfast and lunch favorites in Cape Coral for 40 years.
And while the look has changed, the menu has not.
“That’s the last thing we want to do,” Kelsey said. “If someone has been coming here for 40 years, we want them to have what they always had. Some people come in every day. We’ve added things, but haven’t taken anything off.”
They’re coming for the American comfort food and Greek specialties.
Omelets are a best seller, as is the Del Prado breakfast — two buttermilk pancakes and two eggs with ham, bacon or sausage. Breakfast is served all day.
Omelets are a big seller at The Cafe in Coralwood Shopping Center in Cape Coral.
For lunch, “the Reuben, club sandwich and Greek salads are very popular.”
“We’ve been adding more Greek stuff,” Kelsey said. “We have homemade moussaka. That’s really good. We have a gyro, chicken kebabs, spinach pie, a gyro plate.”
And if you find a favorite item, don’t worry. Like The Café, it isn’t going anywhere.
Annie’s
Steven "Bubba" Demuro serves breakfast to one of the customers at Annie's.
When New Jersey native Steve “Bubba” Demuro used to visit his cousin, he came to this longtime breakfast staple a handful of times.
And when it went up for sale in 2018, cousin Ron, a Cape resident, let Bubba know.
“Everything fell into place,” Bubba said. “I knew it had a built-in clientele and a strong following. And the population was growing. There was a lot of potential here.”
Because of that, he didn’t make a lot of huge changes.
Annie's has been a South Cape staple since 1987.
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” he said.
There were some cosmetic changes, including removing the carpet, painting and adding a counter.
“I took out the step up,” Bubba said, referring to the raised area on one side of the dining room. “Before Annie’s, it used to be an arcade. There was an outlet every three feet.”
And because it wasn’t broken, he kept the same breakfast menu.
“We’re known for our big, really big pancakes,” he said. “We sell a lot of those.”
Photos of some of Annie's longtime customers line a wall in the South Cape restaurant.
What he changed, though, was lunch.
“I brought in a lot of lunch specialties,” he said. “Fresh-made burgers, custom hot dogs, fresh-cut fries, cheesesteaks.”
Those burgers are extremely popular, as is his Reuben.
“I make the corned beef here,” Bubba said. “With the scraps, I make corned beef hash for breakfast. We go through a lot of it.”
While the menu is cut-and-dry, he says, the daily specials are what keep things exciting.
Take Thursday for example.
Steven "Bubba" Demuro, pictured, and his cousin Ron Demuro, bought Annie's in Cape Coral in 2018.
“I make a whole Thanksgiving dinner,” he said. “That sells out.”
Anne Herbert, who grew up in New Jersey, opened the iconic breakfast spot on SE 47th Street in 1987. She died in January 2018 at the age of 78.
Since taking over eight years ago, Bubba has gotten to know the locals pretty well.
“I recognize more than half the customers who come in here,” he said. “I’ve seen babies growing up. It’s been great.”
Ralph’s Place
When Nicole Harvey and Bob Burns bought this longtime dive bar in 2013, Big John’s Plaza was different than it is now.
“When we first took over Ralph’s, at least half of the plaza was empty,” Harvey said. “For food, it was pretty much Ralph’s and Sicily Trattoria. Now the storefronts are totally full.”
Two Meatballs, Stones Throw, Greek Spot, Sweet Spot, BARunch and South Cape Diner are all there with them now.
Ralph’s has changed, too.
“It was a run-down, smoky bar,” she said. “Very divey. We are still working on it. Every year we do another project.”
Nicole Harvey, pictured, and Bob Burns bought Ralph's Place in Big John's Plaza in South Cape in 2013.
Like getting rid of the smoky smell, replacing beer posters and the red and black tiled floor, extending and redoing the bar, putting in taps, adding lighting and painting the freshened-up walls.
One wall of the sports-themed bar and restaurant is dark blue, while the other is red.
“He’s from Massachusetts, and I’m from New York,” Harvey said. “We’re still known as a dive bar. But we’re a dive bar with upscale food.”
Most everything is made in-house these days, except for the fries and onion rings.
“Everything else is made by us,” Harvey said. “We cook all our meats. The prime rib is seasoned and cooked by us. That’s the special on Saturdays, and it’ll sell out. The soups are all homemade. We will do mozzarella sticks, but we do them ourselves. Not much isn’t cooked from this kitchen.”
Ralph’s is known for that prime rib, its Reubens, volcano rolls, ahi tuna, barbecue and more.
Ralph's Place in Cape Coral has come a long way from its dive bar days.
“I love our tenderloin tips and the Rachel (turkey, Swiss, coleslaw, Thousand Island dressing on grilled rye). The volcano rolls too.”
There’s also live music, a wildly popular bingo night on Tuesdays, happy hour, daily specials and more.
Ralph Rosenkranz opened Ralph’s in the late 1980s.
"I have paperwork dating all the way back to 1987," Harvey said. “Ralph sold it to Bruce (Krouse), who sold it to his sister-in-law and her husband,” Harvey said. “I bought it from them. Ralph would stop in every year, and now his grandkids come in. We have a big clientele.”
And they love this dive bar with upscale food.
Ariani
Ariani, which opened off Del Prado Boulevard in 1989, is one of Cape Coral's oldest restaurants
Even before the doors opened on a recent off-season Friday, a crowd gathered at Dario and Alice Zuljanis’ longtime fine-dining Italian gem on Del Prado Boulevard.
“Last year was our best year in 35 years,” Dario said. “It’s because of the crew and my wife.”
And what about Dario himself?
“I have very little to do with it,” he joked. “My middle name is modesty.”
Any dollop of modesty goes out the window when you ask about his menu.
After 36 years, Dario Zuljani is still greeting guests at his Ariani Ristorante Italiano in Cape Coral.
“I’m very proud of it,” he said. “I consider myself a scholar in Northern Italian cuisine.”
His grouper dishes are “the best around,” and he can “work miracles with veal.” The Tuscan sausage contadina is “absolutely remarkable,” the lambuco is “legendary,” and the chicken alla Ariani is “going in the Smithsonian one day.”
He even offers “the most beautiful after-dinner drink in the world.”
“It’s like a miracle,” he said. “We have the best food, service and value in Southwest Florida.”
Judging by the line outside his restaurant and the steadily filling tables, he’s not exaggerating.
The dining room at Ariani in Cape Coral is full of old-world charm.
The Zuljanis first opened Dario’s in Coral Point Shopping Center in 1982. They moved across the street and renamed the restaurant Ariani in 1989.
And Dario’s la-la-las have been reverberating throughout ever since.
Although he retired 10 years ago, he’s still there most nights, adjusting the lights, music and TV (“I know I’m too particular”) and greeting guests with handshakes, hugs and sheer joy.
“They’re my guests, not customers,” Dario said. “And no one works for me. Alice is the boss. It’s our honor to have them work for us.”
While Dario is gleefully retired(ish), Alice can still be found working out front.
“I’m not ready to retire,” she said. “I don’t want to cook three meals a day at home.”
“I think about selling all the time,” Dario said. “I’ve been trying to convince my wife.”
In the meantime, Dario will still be there, making his presence felt.
“We celebrate life here,” he said. “Birthdays, anniversaries, graduations. We get a piece of cake, a candle and sing like the Tabernacle Choir six or seven times a night. We make joyful noise. La-la-la.”
La-la-la indeed.
