Doc Ford’s wins Best Seafood and Best Family Dining awards

Doc Ford’s Rum Bar & Grille Sanibel restaurant was voted Best Seafood and Best Family Dining during the 2025 Best of The Islands award contest. Winners were determined by a public vote in the readers’ choice awards and announced Sept. 10.

 “These awards are very meaningful to us because they’re voted on by residents and visitors of the island – our customers,” said Katy Forret, general manager of the Sanibel Doc Ford’s Rum Bar & Grille. “We are honored that, with all the fine establishments on Sanibel and Captiva, they chose Doc Ford’s. We strive to offer the best dining experience with inspired cuisine and legendary hospitality.”

Presented annually by the Captiva Sanibel Island Reporter, the Islander and Current’s Best of the Islands, the awards celebrate the top local businesses, organizations, people and attractions that make Sanibel and Captiva islands so special. Readers nominate businesses and determine the winners based on top vote-getters.

Doc Ford’s Sanibel location consistently ranks among the island’s top restaurants on TripAdvisor.

The award-winning restaurant offers food with a unique balance of flavors inspired by the Caribbean Rim. Beloved for its sauces, spices and signature Yucatán shrimp served daily, Doc Ford’s is highly regarded by locals and visitors alike as a spectacular seafood restaurant. The restaurant is a perennial Tripadvisor Travelers’ Choice winner. The St. Petersburg Pier location was named the country’s No. 1 restaurant for Best of the Best Restaurants for Everyday Eats in 2023.

Renowned for its guest experience, Doc Ford’s Rum Bar & Grille is open daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Doc Ford’s Rum Bar & Grille on Sanibel and parent company HM Restaurant Group, a Gulfshore Business 2025 best place to work, support a number of nonprofit organizations on the island, including the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation, Sanibel Sea School, Sanibel-Captiva Kiwanis Club, BIG ARTS Sanibel Island, the Children’s Education Center of the Islands and groups committed to conservation, community, education and the environment. The “Ding” Darling Doc Ford’s Tarpon Tournament has donated over $1.57 million for conservation and water-quality research at Sanibel’s J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge since its inception in 2012. The 14th annual tournament is May 15, 2026.

With additional locations on Fort Myers Beach, Jungle Terrace in St. Petersburg and the St. Petersburg Pier, the restaurants have raised over $133,000 for the Golisano Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida in Fort Myers and John Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg through $1 donations from the sale of select cocktails.