Aqua Seafood, Steaks & Raw Bar, a fine-dining concept founded 15 years ago in Naples, opened in Cape Coral, bringing the city something no other restaurant offers: a rooftop bar and seating.
Naples restaurateur Gordon Stojkoski spent decades opening and selling restaurants in Ohio before establishing the first Aqua in 2011 off Fifth Avenue South in downtown Naples.
On March 17, Gordon and son Christian Stojkoski quietly opened the fourth Aqua in Southwest Florida at 4720 SE Ninth Place, at the southern corner of Cape Coral Parkway. The restaurant opened without marketing, a ribbon cutting or fanfare.
But, Stojkoski said, it opened to immediate crowds.
Aqua Seafood, Steaks & Raw Bar is located at 4720 SE Ninth Place in Cape Coral. The restaurant anchors a growing dining corridor at The Cove at 47th.
David Dorsey
The new Aqua is part of a restaurant row that also includes Big Nick’s BBQ, Seed & Bean Market and Oak & Stone, all located at the base of The Cove at 47th, an apartment complex between Cape Coral Parkway and 47th Terrace.
“If I knew then what I know now, I definitely would have come to Cape Coral sooner,” Gordon Stojkoski said.
The rooftop skybar opened March 28 after the restaurant received its elevator certificate.
“It’s been a long journey,” said Christian Stojkoski, Gordon’s son and general manager of the Cape Coral Aqua. “It’s been a little over two years. We spent a lot of money in here. Everything turned out beautifully, and we’re very excited to be here.”
The Stojkoskis spent about $3 million to build out the restaurant and signed a 30-year lease. It has a combined indoor and outdoor seating capacity of 554, including a wraparound indoor-outdoor bar with 25 barstools on each side and five large-screen TVs above it. The Stojkoskis could have added a loft overlooking the interior of the restaurant but decided against it.
Gordon Stojkoski, founder of Aqua Seafood, Steaks & Raw Bar, stands inside the new Cape Coral restaurant. The concept was first launched in Naples in 2011.
David Dorsey
“We didn’t want to jam people in here like sardines,” Gordon Stojkoski said. Instead, the space features a 26-foot ceiling and an open layout.
Happy hour runs from 3 to 6 p.m. daily throughout the restaurant.
The menu includes seafood entrees, such as pan-roasted salmon and sesame-seared tuna ($38), pan-braised grouper ($44), almond-crusted snapper ($45) and miso-glazed Chilean sea bass ($48).
Steak options include a 6-ounce filet mignon ($42), 10-ounce filet ($68), 14-ounce New York strip ($50), 20-ounce bone-in ribeye ($60) and a 14-ounce Wagyu New York strip ($80). The menu also features salads, pasta, risotto, chicken or flounder piccata, ossobuco and roasted half chicken.
The rooftop bar at Aqua Seafood, Steaks & Raw Bar in Cape Coral offers open-air seating and views of the surrounding area. The skybar opened March 28.
David Dorsey
The space includes three $50,000 Italian-made glass chandeliers above the bar and a private dining room.
Aqua opened its Bonita Springs location in 2022, followed by a North Naples restaurant at 2348 Immokalee Road in November 2024.
“People at the bar have that camaraderie,” Gordon Stojkoski said. “I think the magic happens at the bar. It’s the ‘Cheers’-like atmosphere. We’re more of a fun, entertainment destination. We are very excited, very happy to be here.”