September 4, 2021

The Gathering Place in Fort Myers: A Local Favorite for Breakfast and Lunch

The Gathering Place is a restaurant in Fort Myers offering breakfast, lunch, and most importantly, homemade desserts! It’s the quintessential hidden gem and we’re eager to go back again (and again, and again).

Cuisine: American (breakfast, lunch, coffee, desserts)

Great for: workday lunch, weekend breakfast, quick bite

We recently joined a Facebook Group for local foodies and we’ve seen so many great recommendations. We have a long list, but one name kept popping up: The Gathering Place. We’d never heard of it before this group, but after reading reviews and seeing what other group members were saying, we decided to give it a try.

First, the location of The Gathering Place is very unassuming. The restaurant is located in the Beacon Executive Suites in Fort Myers, which we never knew existed. We thought we were surely in the wrong place when we got there, and if it hadn’t been for the signs, we would’ve never found it.

The restaurant itself sits well inside the executive center (although I’m pretty sure we just took the long way around). The minute you step inside, though, you realize that you’ve walked into a true hidden gem – one that you need to tell everyone about.

The inside of the restaurant is rather spacious, with one side dedicated to a dining area and the other with a bar. The first thing that caught my eye was the desserts. Because of Facebook stalking, I knew that the desserts are baked fresh every morning at 5 am.

The service was incredibly friendly and we had our orders taken within just a few minutes. The food also came out swiftly, perfect for a midday work lunch.

Here’s what we ordered:

5 cheese macaroni & cheese – the description said it had Ritz crumbles, so this was a must for us. The macaroni and cheese was so creamy and delicious, and probably some of the best restaurant macaroni and cheese we’ve had.
Cuban sandwich – we are big Cuban sandwich lovers and this one did NOT disappoint. The sandwich was pressed and assembled beautifully and it tasted just as good.
Basic grilled cheese – we usually prefer our homemade grilled cheeses, but this one hit the spot. It was cooked to perfection and will be perfect for a cold winter day.
Chocolate espresso crumb cake – when I said that The Gathering Place has homemade desserts, I mean it. This cake was absolutely incredible and HUGE. If you’re going for dessert, I highly recommend planning to share.