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Bayfront Bistro captures OpenTable awards

By Staff | Mar 30, 2011

PHOTO COURTESY OF WWW.BAYFRONTBISTRO.COM Bayfront picked up five top 10 online awards by OpenTable Diner’s Choice at www.opentable.com.

Bayfront Bistro, the onsite restaurant at Snook Bight Marina & Yacht Club behind Publix Supermarket on Fort Myers Beach, recently picked up numerous awards by placing among the top 10 in five categories in the prestigious OpenTable Diner’s Choice study.

The waterfront restaurant on the Back Bay was ranked second in Best Ambience in Southwest Florida, third in Best Overall Restaurant in Fort Myers, fourth in Best Food/American Cuisine in Southwest Florida, fourth in Best Scenic View in Southwest Florida and ninth in Most Romantic in Southwest Florida. Many of the awards were based on the www.opentable.com Naples and Fort Myers region.

“We have received a lot of awards since we opened. They are all important, but the OpenTable awards are a result of only the diners that have experienced the restaurant and have been asked independently to grade the restaurant,” said resident owner Joe Yerkes. “It is a very secure system of review that OpenTable operates under where they write back to a diner based on their reservation to reply back about their experience. That kind of a review is much more important and valuable because of the credibility level.

“We really think the Open Table awards are important. We are obviously thrilled to get so many of them.

The OpenTable awards follow an impressive year in 2010 for Bayfront Bistro when it captured the Wine Enthusiast Magazine’s award of excellence and later the National Restaurant Association’s 2010 Neighbor Award and the Award of Excellence by The Wine Spectator Magazine, a world-wide renown publication. It has been chosen as Estero Island’s “Best Romantic Dining,” “Best Wine List” and “Best Dining” at past Greater Fort Myers Beach Area Chamber of Commerce awards ceremonies.

This year, its success continued when it captured the fine dining category at the Best of Beach Awards (sponsored by Beach Observer/Bulletin) in February.

“We are very proud of these awards, as we are of the wine list and our unique policy of pricing all of our wines at a level far below all of our competitors. You don’t need a bank loan to enjoy a great Cabernet here,” said Yerkes when the 2010 awards came out.

Bayfront Bistro at 4761 Estero Blvd. is open everyday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Yerkes said the restaurant was his vision before it opened in January of 2009.

“When we bought this property, I stood on an old stilt house and looked down on that bay. I had a vision of this restaurant. It’s become exactly what my vision was, and that has been a personal dream of mine to produce a great fine-dining restaurant on the water. It’s really a personal experience for me to see it so successful,” he said.

The OpenTable awards solidify Bayfront Bistro as a leading restaurant in the area.

One can view its extensive menu at www.bayfrontbistro.com/menu or view the wine menu at www.bayfrontbistro.com/wines.

Winners and rankings for these awards are based on votes from more than 27,500 OpenTable diners, according to OpenTable, Inc.’s Tiffany Fox. The winners are selected at the above site by booking a reservation online and filling out a Dining Feedback Form where you can rate your experience at a particular restaurant. The Diner’s Choice list is for qualified restaurants that need a “seated” reservation, is unbiased due to a large volume of responses that do not skew the ratings and fresh because the lists are updated regularly on recent feedback.

Bayfront Bistro was second only to The Grill at the Ritz-Carlton in Naples in Best Ambience. It followed Sweet Melissa’s Café and The Sandy Butler in Best Fort Myers Restaurants; Naples’ restaurants Café Lurcat, Bistro 821 and Shula’s Steak House in Best American Cuisine; and BALEENnaples and MiraMare (both of Naples) and Laishley Crab House in Punta Gordam for Best Scenic View Restaurants.