Most of us here in Fort Myers, Naples, and in general, Southwest Florida, are all from somewhere else. I moved here from Ohio 18 years ago and I guess I consider myself to be ‘from here’. So, don’t think you need to be “FloGrown” to be a local. I do think you need to fully experience everything in town before you be considered local, however. So we took to Reddit to see what other Fort Myers resident think of the criteria needed to be a local.
According to Ok_Acanthocephala914 one thing you need to experience in this town to be a local is a hurricane. Well, with Hurricane Ian hitting last year, a lot of people can now check that box. I was at a St. John Neumann football game when Hurricane Katrina passed over Florida. Was without power after Wilma for 2 weeks +. Irma destroyed my roof. I can check that box several times.
Another Redditor, Apexblackout7, thinks you need to be here 20 years before you’re really a local. That’s a nice round number. But since going out to eat is such an integral part of Southwest Florida let’s take a different route. So I asked Reddit.
What’s One Restaurant Every Fort Myers Resident Needs To Try To Call Themselves a Local?
Sadly, last year’s hurricane wrecked some of our favorites. COVID took some, too. Remember Island Cow? That was amazing. And then there’s others that only long time residents remember. Neon_1984 reminded us of Downtown Fort Myer’s French Connection that closed back in 2016. Others are coming back. Bubble Room’s restaurant is closed but has plans to reopen early next year.
But there’s still a lot of great places out there. So if you’re a permanent resident of Lee County, these are the restaurants that you have to try at least once. I’ve been to some of these so often I’ve lost count. Here’s the 11 that Reddit considers a must.
