Popular waterfront Fort Myers Beach restaurant 'wiped out' by Hurricane Ian set to reopen

Yucatan shrimp and island mojitos are coming back to Fort Myers Beach.

Exactly 10 months and three days after Hurricane Ian devastated Southwest Florida, Doc Ford’s Rum Bar & Grille will reopen with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 11 a.m. Monday, July 31.

“It’s icing on the cake for us,” said Joe Harrity, whose family owns Doc Ford’s Rum Bars with the Marinello family. “Being in Estero Bay on Matanzas Pass, we were at the epicenter. This restaurant had the most damage for us. It’s taken the longest to get back.”

Doc Ford’s on Sanibel reopened Feb. 17, while another of the families’ restaurants, Dixie Fish Co., followed suit on Feb. 23. Doc Ford’s on Captiva is closed for good.

Complete remodel for the Fort Myers Beach location

The lower level of the Fort Myers Beach Doc Ford’s, originally opened in April 2009 under Matanzas Pass Bridge, was washed away by 18 feet of storm surge.

“Downstairs was completely wiped out,” said Harrity. “The deck was lifted up and completely destroyed. The lower level was completely gutted. There was two or three feet of water in the upstairs dining room and that’s pretty high up.”

Looking at it all today, you would never know, which is great news for the waterfront restaurant named best “Everyday Eats” in the country for Tripadvisor’s 2021 Travelers’ Choice “Best of the Best” awards.

“There’s a new lower deck and both bars downstairs are new,” Harrity said. “We have a brand new tiki hut for live music. It’s the same outdoor seating but with a new look.”

Upstairs has gotten a makeover too.

“All new paint, roof, floor, ceiling,” said Harrity. “People are going to be pleasantly surprised. The building needed a lot of work inside. We took the time to do it. We didn’t just put it back together. We really enhanced it.”

Now open: Captiva restaurant holds grand reopening after being severely damaged by Hurricane Ian

Caribbean flavored menu returns

One thing that hasn’t changed is the menu. All the customer favorites are back, including that signature Yucatan shrimp ― steamed jumbo peel and eats coated in butter, garlic, red chilies, cilantro and lime.

“They’re the most popular for sure,” said Harrity, who also singled out the deep water mahi-mahi and other shrimp dishes on the Caribbean-flavored, seafood-heavy menu.

“The full menu is good to go,” he said. “We are back full time, 11 to 10, seven days a week.”

Guest have plenty of seating options, including at the two new bars or tables by the docks downstairs, on the upper porch, or in the open-air breezeway or dining room upstairs.

Most of the staff will be on hand to greet customers.

“About 75 percent of our staff is coming back,” Harrity said. “A lot of kitchen staff stuck around and helped with the rebuild. Hats off to them.”

Live music will be back beginning Monday too.

“It’s just really exciting,” Harrity said. “We are so happy to be one of the new places back open. Hopefully more will come back soon too.”

Doc Ford’s Rum Bar & Grille, 708 Fisherman’s Wharf, Fort Myers Beach; open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily; (239) 765-9660; other locations include one at 2500 Island Inn Road, Sanibel and two in St. Pete; docfords.com or follow on Facebook and Instagram

Robyn George is a food and dining writer for The Fort Myers News-Press. Send news to rhgeorge@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Doc Ford's on Fort Myers Beach to reopen 10 months after Ian