Another Cape Coral restaurant closes its doors

CAPE CORAL, Fla. – Kyle Baird is getting his restaurant ready… to close.

After 13 months on Cape Coral Parkway, business at Water City Grill has folded, following in the footsteps of nearby Brew Babies, a recently closed garden bistro formerly located on Lafayette Street.

That business is reopening under a new name and ownership, but Baird said the area proved too difficult to keep Water City Grill afloat.

“It’s tough, you know? We as a family made the decision to close the doors,” he said. “We didn’t get enough to put guests in the seats and we figured to step out with our heads high.”

But is business in South Cape struggling? The opening of Big Blue Brewing and Mona Lisa Pizza along 47th Terrace seem to suggest a flourishing landscape for trendy spots.

And smaller independent restaurants, like Nevermind, have a great opportunity to succeed, said Jean-Claude Roge, the owner of Blanc Restaurant in Fort Myers. He only has 32 seats to fill in comparison to the nearly 200 spots at Water City Grill.

“In a big place, you start to be slow all the morale starts to go down and that’s a chain reaction. In a small place, to be full is pretty easy,” Roge said.

While his business did not make it, Baird of Water City Grill said he has faith in the restaurant industry.

“The restaurant market itself is just getting better, it’s getting stronger,” he said.