Do We Beach House

South Beach Grille is back on Fort Myers Beach. The longtime Santini Marina Plaza favorite — a multiple Best of the Beach award winner since opening in 2004 — reopened to the public this week for the first time since Hurricane Ian flooded the plaza in 2022.

Owner Dennis Phillips admitted he wasn’t sure the restaurant would ever return; it took watching the beach rebuild to convince him. Now it’s back in a bigger spot — he moved the restaurant to the other side of the plaza, into a dining room that seats 20 more guests than before.

And fans can breathe easy about the menu: “Just about nothing” has changed, Phillips says. The seafood chowder is still on it, still made by head chef Cory Morin, who returned along with many of the restaurant’s longtime staff. The bar filled up within hours of Monday’s opening, and the daily 3–6 p.m. happy hour is back in rotation.

Every reopening like this adds one more reason to spend time on the island — for visitors and locals alike. It’s another sign that Fort Myers Beach keeps coming back stronger.

Source: Fort Myers Beach Observer — “South Beach Grille reopens on Fort Myers Beach” (Aug. 26, 2026).