Dolly's Produce Patch & Eatery, Bonita Springs, Florida

Dolly’s Produce Patch & Eatery is located at 9930 Bonita Beach Road Southeast. This homestyle diner is at the corner of Bonita Beach Road and Michigan Street. Diners can eat in or get a carry-out order. There is plenty of seating inside and the outside tables have umbrellas and are under the eaves. The produce patch is in an outbuilding around back.

This driveway makes Dolly’s easily accessible. Diners heading west on Bonita Beach Road toward Dolly’s turn into the driveway just before Michigan Street, stop right in front, drop off passengers, and then go park; or, head right on out the exit on Michigan Street. Eastbound Bonita Beach drivers pull into Michigan Street from the eastbound lane.

There is no parking here, as this driveway runs both ways. Accessible parking is to the right side of this image. The produce patch around back was discontinued in 2020 due to Covid price uncertainty. Yes, the front of Dolly’s is a jumble of potted plants and a riot of color; but it all adds to the cozy, homey atmosphere here in Old Bonita Springs.

Dining outside for lunch on Wednesday, December 6, 2023, was a real treat. The sign on the window asks that anyone who wishes to dine outside just step on in to alert a server, but the proprietor of the establishment offered greetings upon arrival in addition to a lovely outside table well out of the tropical sun.

Outdoor eating is fun at Dolly’s because the tables are set back quite aways from busy Bonita Beach Road. Many new developments have been proposed in Bonita Springs, which may make “Beach Road,” as it is often called, even busier. For now, other fun places to visit on Beach Road include Flamingo Island Flea Market and Golf Safari.

This very nice house side salad at Dolly’s went for $5.25. The tables and chairs on the patio were very comfortable, and many other diners decided to eat outside today. Servers and table-bussers paid just as much attention to the alfresco guests as the ones indoors. Each of the wait staff was bedecked with some sort of Christmas garland.

The Caesar side salad also went for $5.25 on the menu, and that fresh parmesan cheese was a sight to behold. Both the Caesar salad and the house salad can be ordered from the Salads menu at $8.50 each. These side salads were substantial enough in themselves to be a meal, especially if combined with a bowl of Dolly’s homemade soup.

Dolly’s has a selection of hamburgers starting at $9.95 plus an all-beef hotdog, either plain or with toppings. According to the menu, the fresh-ground and hand-patted burgers come with cheese, without cheese, with bacon, make it a double, and even as a patty melt. Hotdog ($7.25) toppings include sauerkraut, chili, or cheese for an extra $0.75.

This chicken salad sandwich, with chips and a pickle, was fresh and tasty. The sandwich was $9.25 and can be made as a wrap. Some of Dolly’s sandwiches can be paired as a half-sandwich and a cup of the soup-of-the-day for $9.25. The food came quickly for everyone outside and beverage glasses were regularly refilled.

The dessert menu really is what makes Dolly’s Produce Patch & Eatery the distinctive destination that it is. Some may say that it’s the produce patch around the back or the mix-and-match tableware, but it is the extensive variety of desserts that add delight to every meal. There are cakes, whole or sliced pies, and cookies; plus scones, cinnamon buns, and muffins.

The sweets selection at Dolly’s changes, but there’s always a good variety of baked-from-scratch desserts to choose from. Double-chocolate slices of cake at $6.25 each are available today, and this selection is delicious. Rum cake, lemon merengue, and carrot cake slices are also set out in the dining room as today’s choices.

Sitting down in this part of the dining room feels like sitting down in Dolly’s own kitchen. The coffee pots are continually refreshed. Decorative treasures abound in this diner, such as the two cowboy hats on top of the cabinets. The hatbands say “Minnesota,” as Dolly herself is a Minnesota native, moving to southwest Florida in 1953 at 18 years old.

Just inside the doorway, diners will find newspapers to read, treasures to look at, and trophies and mementos from Dolly’s long life. Darlene Scott, better known as Dolly in Bonita Springs, passed away in May 2023 at the age of 87. She had helped found the Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Naples and was a great-grandmother.

Dolly’s Produce Patch & Eatery has been a Bonita Springs fixture for 27 years, when Dolly herself opened the doors with her son Randy Alander in 1996. The property was previously owned by Dolly’s in-laws since 1950, who had come from Minnesota to retire. They added to the property when they bought it and then ran it as a motel.

Dolly and her sister bought the property from her in-laws and also operated the motel. Some years later, they were done with the motel business. They wanted to erect an outdoor produce stand, but that had been disallowed by the local powers-that-be. Not to give up on the idea, Dolly and her son later built an indoor produce stand where she sold her pies, and thus Dolly’s Produce Patch & Eatery was born.

Dolly’s cookies are four for $5. The varieties on display for the first week of December 2023 include: butter pecan toffee, oatmeal with raisins and walnuts, apple caramel oatmeal, peanut butter, peanut butter cup, ginger, white chocolate macadamia nut, lemon blueberry, and the old standby, chocolate chip.

With cookies in hand, a knowledgable server at Dolly’s mentioned that Bonita Springs has a wonderful park in its downtown. She said to head east on Bonita Beach Road, turn left to head north on Old 41 Road, and then make a left turn onto Childers Street. There is plenty of parking as there are two large lots and one small one.

The address for Bonita Springs’ Riverside Park is 10450 Reynolds Street, and there is also a small parking lot at this intersection. There are actually two parks here. The larger park is Riverside Park and the smaller park is called Depot Park, which has its own amenities and is located across a set of railroad tracks.

The bronze sculpture shown here is called “Setting the Pace.” The sculpture has been here since January 2007, and is 17 feet (5.18 m) tall, 8 1/2 feet (2.6 m) wide, and 3 feet (0.91 m) deep. This piece was created by Jane DeDecker of Colorado, and there are two more of her works here in town. “Lords of the Forest” sits near Liles Hotel and “The Secret Bench of Knowledge” rests at Bonita Springs’ Community Hall.

This Christmas-themed arch looks out onto the intersection of Old 41 Road and Reynolds Street. The entire park is decorated for the holidays, and the Christmas tree lighting ceremony was held the night before this image was taken. There is the giant Christmas tree, of course, plus lights and Santa Claus himself.

Bonita Springs’ well-decorated Christmas tree sits near the bandshell, which itself is decorated for the holidays. Besides Christmas cheer, Riverside Park has a lot of amenities. These amenities include ample parking, sidewalks, electrical outlets, bike paths, restrooms, tables under shelter, sunny spots, and proximity to many fun eateries. Pets are welcome here.

Santa’s pack-upon-his-back is loaded up for Christmas 2023. Santa is surrounded by real, lighted Christmas trees that smell wonderful in the subtropical climate of Bonita Springs. Most assuredly the tree lighting was well attended as Bonita Springs has nearly 55,000 residents as of 2021. This figure is up from 43,914 as of the 2010 Census.

Riverside Park is named for the Imperial River. Shown here is the railroad bridge, from which the Seminole Gulf Railway operates. This railway inspired the name of Depot Park, which is across the railroad tracks from Riverside Park. The Imperial River is only 9.3 miles long (15 km), and the railway runs the 80 miles (128.75 km) between Arcadia and North Naples. There is also a footpath going over the water to the west.

This is the Old 41 Road bridge across the Imperial River. This river, though very short, is part of the Great Calusa Blueway navigable water trail system. The headwaters of the Imperial River are located east of Interstate 75, right outside the city limits. This river meanders through Riverside Park until it reaches Fish Trap Bay near Little Hickory Island.

When the park office in the Liles Hotel Historic Plaza is open, park-goers can rent kayaks and put into the river. The office has been closed since the autumn of 2021 for renovations, unfortunately. Another drawback to this park is that there are several groups of adults congregating here and at Depot Park and milling about during working hours.

At 4:25 pm, the sun is going down and it’s time to head back. This 1940’s era water tank was relocated from a home at the corner of Bonita Beach Road and Old 41 Road and placed here in 2005. Artists cabins are behind the tank; some are occupied. Looking forward to the completed renovations at the Liles Hotel to further explore Riverside and Depot parks.