This Season, Downtown Naples Restaurants Are Stretching the Clock

Pazzo! Cucina Italiana is marking its 31st anniversary on Fifth Avenue South with something it has never offered: lunch. After a temporary closure for roof and kitchen work, it came back Tuesday, October 27, with plans to add a midday service for the first time in its history.

One address on Fifth Avenue changed names this fall, but the bigger change downtown is the clock. The established restaurants coming back this fall are open at hours they didn't keep before. A 31-year-old Fifth Avenue name is planning its first lunch. A corner that used to be Vergina now stays open until 2 AM every night. One restaurant will serve its first Thanksgiving, and a weekend sports pub opens at 11 in the morning. For anyone who already has a mental map of when downtown is open, that map is out of date.

A First Lunch After 31 Years

Pazzo!'s reopening is the clearest example. The Fifth Avenue South announcement describes an updated Italian menu that keeps longtime favorites, timed to the restaurant's 31st anniversary, along with the planned lunch service. By October 27, the Naples Daily News listed Pazzo! among the downtown spots that had reopened after interior refreshes and menu changes.

The restaurant hasn't published a start date or hours for lunch yet, so call ahead before planning a midday meal there. Once lunch starts, Pazzo! becomes a midday option for the first time.

The Vergina Corner Now Runs Past Midnight

Vergina, one of downtown's longest-running restaurants, has become Medi, a Mediterranean restaurant and entertainment venue that debuted October 26. Its address is 700 Fifth Avenue South. The Fifth Avenue South listing says the concept takes its cue from St. Tropez. Vergina's own reservations page sends bookings from October 26 onward to Medi.

The hours are the bigger change. Medi's site shows the restaurant as open and lists service Monday through Sunday from 11:30 AM to 2:00 AM, with Mediterranean cuisine and cocktails. Vergina's bar was known for live entertainment every night. At Medi, a single kitchen now covers lunch, dinner and the hours after midnight on one of the avenue's most familiar corners.

Two of the longest-running names on Fifth Avenue South have come back this fall with longer days. Pazzo! is adding the middle of the day, and Medi runs from late morning to 2 AM.

Third Street South Refreshed in Place

Third Street South had a quieter version of the same reset. Sea Salt, at 1186 Third Street South, reopened this fall with new furnishings, an artistic centerpiece and what the Naples Daily News described as an evolved culinary concept with a new menu.

The same Naples Daily News roundup that covered Pazzo! described the fall the same way. With snowbird season arriving, restaurants are "refreshing, revamping, and reopening." Those three verbs explain why downtown looks familiar this fall. Fifth Avenue and Third Street restaurants mostly renovated where they already were, and the changes show up inside, on the menu and in the hours.

The Weekend Daytime Option at Naples Beach Club

The genuinely new room in town follows the same pattern. On October 15, Naples Beach Club, A Four Seasons Resort, opened The Wager, a sports gastropub in the resort's Market Square. The resort says it is designed for guests, residents and the local community alike.

The pub has a few details you won't find anywhere else in Naples:

• A four-lane regulation bowling alley, which the resort calls a first for the Four Seasons brand, plus a games area with pool, foosball, ping-pong, pinball and arcade games.
• A covered terrace overlooking the resort's putting course and, beyond it, The Gardens, a Tom Fazio-designed golf course set to open in early 2027.
• Florida drafts from 3 Daughters Brewing, Funky Buddha, Green Bench, Motorworks Brewing, Scotty's Bierworks, LaBelle Brewing, Kaleidoscope and Riptide Brewing.
• Rotating weekly specials: pork sausage with mash on Fridays, shepherd's pie on Saturdays and a traditional Sunday roast with Yorkshire pudding and gravy.
• A children's menu that includes a mini burger, fish and chips and mac and cheese bites.

The standard menu includes Beer-Battered Fish & Chips with mushy peas, a Lobster Roll with Tabasco aioli and Old Bay chips, and a Warm Skillet Cookie for dessert. Among the signature cocktails, the Dew Sweeper blends Jameson, Guinness, Kahlúa and cold brew. A wood-paneled private dining room seats up to 40, comes with its own outdoor terrace, and gives guests free use of the games area and putting course. Bowling costs extra.

The Wager's schedule is what makes it fit the theme. It's open Thursday and Friday from 4:00 PM to 11:00 PM, and Saturday and Sunday from 11:00 AM to 11:00 PM. Like Medi, it fills hours that downtown dining has mostly left to the beach, here weekend late mornings and afternoons, with bowling, a putting course and a Sunday roast.

The Holiday Calendar Moves Too

The longer hours carry into the holidays. Le Colonial, the French-Vietnamese restaurant at 457 Fifth Avenue South, will open on Thanksgiving for the first time. According to the Fifth Avenue South announcement, it will serve a three-course French-Vietnamese menu built around a signature tea-cured roasted duck. Thanksgiving this year falls on Thursday, November 26. Le Colonial has also introduced new private dining and catering menus for holiday parties and corporate gatherings.

Before then, the Naples Woman's Club is bringing back Gifted! Pop-Up Holiday Shopping for a Cause on November 13 and 14 at its historic clubhouse downtown, just off Fifth Avenue. The two-day shopping and social event benefits student scholarships.

One Downtown Day, Rebuilt by the Hour

Taken together, the reopenings and openings add up to a fuller Saturday. Here's how one looks as of this week, using only the hours each place has published:

1. 11:00 AM: The Wager opens at Naples Beach Club.
2. 11:30 AM: Medi opens at 700 Fifth Avenue South.
3. Midday, once it starts: Pazzo!'s first-ever lunch service, with no date or hours posted yet.
4. Dinner: Pazzo!'s updated menu, Sea Salt's new menu on Third Street South, or Le Colonial at 457 Fifth Avenue South.
5. 11:00 PM: The Wager closes.
6. 2:00 AM: Medi closes.

On a Thursday or Friday, The Wager opens at 4:00 PM instead, and Sundays add its roast.

If you're hosting family this season, or want help understanding how downtown's restaurant calendar plays into where and when you spend your time in Naples, the team at Maria Oddy is glad to talk it through. Schedule a consultation whenever it suits you.