'It looks terrific': Popular Cape Coral waterfront restaurant reopens with upgrades
The Boathouse Tiki Bar & Grill reopened July 10, much to the delight of Cape Coral residents and visitors alike.
“So many people care about the Boathouse,” said co-owner Zak Kearns of the Kearns Restaurant Group. “And we’ve made it an even more enjoyable experience.”
The open-air tiki bar and grill overlooking the Caloosahatchee River had been closed since Hurricane Ian tore through Southwest Florida on Sept. 28. It’s the first thing to reopen at the Cape Coral Yacht Club since that day.
“We had to redo everything on the property,” said Kearns of the restaurant, which originally opened in the old KC’s Riverstop space in 2014. “Flooding wiped it all out. We had to completely rebuild the tiki hut. It completely collapsed.”
The final result is what Kearns calls “a grown-up version of the Boathouse” pre-hurricane.
That tiki, for example, has been expanded. Before the rebuild, only part of the upper deck was covered.
“We are fully covered now,” Kearns said. “It’s a big upgrade. It’s completely new.”
New features, upgrades made to open-air restaurant
And the upgrades don’t stop there.
“There are cool new features,” Kearns said. “We reimagined the bar design. We built high tops off the railings. We put back a better seating area with built-in tables. It looks terrific.”
Seating capacity is just under 300 and there’s plenty of parking, according to Kearns.
“The parking is as it was before,” he said. “With all the amenities of the Yacht Club currently closed, parking will not be an issue.”
Boathouse burgers, 32-ounce drink buckets are back
Changes to the menu, meanwhile, were held to a minimum.
“We’ve done a few upgrades, a few additions,” Kearns said. “We didn’t want to change much. At the core, it’s the same Boathouse menu everyone has come to enjoy over the years.”
This includes the best-selling Boathouse burger — a signature half-pound grilled Angus burger with lettuce, tomato, onion and cheese.
“A lot of people come by for appetizers, to have some drinks,” Kearns said. “But the burger is the No. 1 seller. We sell thousands of those a week.”
The fried baskets — with grouper, shrimp, mahi-mahi, chicken tenders, scallops or a seafood combo — are also top sellers.
Starters, soups, salads, tacos and sandwiches — ranging from Cuban, pulled pork and chicken bacon wraps to lamb gyros and Philly quesadillas — are offered along with a kids menu and seafood-focused entrees.
“We didn’t want to relaunch a new menu,” Kearns said. “We stuck to what we’re good at and made it a little better.”
All the customer-favorite island drinks are back, including Mai Tais, sangria, margaritas, bloody Marys, the dark-rum base painkiller and the award-winning Liki Tiki with Bacardi Limon and pineapple, blue curacao, pineapple juice, sweet & sour and Sprite. All island drinks can be served in 32-ounce souvenir buckets.
“The buckets are a staple on our drink menu,” Kearns said. “Those are popular.”
A third Boathouse is on the way
Of all the Kearns Restaurant Group’s Lee County locations ― Ford’s Garage (Fort Myers, Cape Coral and Estero), Capone’s, Cabos Cantina, The Lodge, downtown Social House, Izzy’s, Firestone Grill and Boathouse (in Cape Coral and east Fort Myers) ― the Cape Boathouse is the busiest.
“It does over $12 million a year in sales,” Kearns said. “For its size, that’s tremendous.”
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The Fort Myers Boathouse is the second busiest for the group.
“And that one is three times the size,” Kearns said. “It has a pool and is like a resort.”
Fans of the Boathouse will be happy to hear another local location is in the works.
Kearns couldn’t say too much since it’s still being negotiated.
“I can say we are actively pursuing a third location,” he said. “It will be a retrofit. I hope to have answers in 90 days.”
Sunsets and staff are back
In the meantime, the Cape Boathouse is open every day from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. for breakfast, lunch and dinner and will feature live entertainment. For those arriving by boat, the fuel dock is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.
Returning customers will notice some familiar faces.
“What I take pride in is that we retained 65 to 70 percent of our staff,” Kearns said. “Some went to another restaurant of ours. A lot are coming back. Some have been there from day one. That to me is a really nice thing to see.”
And of course, the breathtaking sunsets will still be there.
“The biggest feature is our location,” Kearns said. “We have the best sunset view in the Cape hands down.
“And who doesn’t love a tiki bar on the water?”
Boathouse Tiki Bar & Grill, 5819 Driftwood Parkway, Cape Coral; (239) 945-2628; theboathouseusa.com; follow along on Facebook and Instagram
Robyn George is a food and dining writer for The Fort Myers News-Press. Send news to [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Boathouse restaurant at Cape Coral Yacht Club reopens: A first look
