Gator’s Dockside

The place is nice and clean, there is free wifi and the staff is friendly and courteous. If there is a particular game or a news channel you want to watch they try to accommodate you.
Well managed, I feel welcome as a guest.

My first time at Gator’s Dockside, any Gator’s Dockside and what a disaster. Our server seemed new, she couldn’t remember our orders or made mistakes with our orders and kept having to come back to our table for clarification on what we asked for, or to tell us they didn’t have it. Fine.
Then 2 people in our party of 7 get their food. That’s it. Several minutes went by and we complained to our server that no one else got their food. A manager came by to tell us 2 other things were ready and did we want them to bring them out. Umm, yeah?! They bring out the other 2 items. A few more minutes pass and they bring out the last 3 items and they are incorrect. No lettuce and tomato on my sandwich and a dinner came with fries instead of vegetables. The vegetables came when he was almost finished eating. On the upside, my blackened mahi-​mahi was delicious, however, I paid a $ 1.99 upcharge for macaroni and cheese as a side but I barely had any on my plate, so I wouldn’t do that again. My husband said his steakhouse burger was mediocre.
Now for the worst part. The whole restaurant was full of smoke. Not cigarette smoke, just smoke. We noticed it when we ordered so we asked our server. She explained that the ventilation hood in the kitchen wasn’t working and they were trying to fix it while waiting for a repair guy to come out. In an effort to get some of the smoke out of the building, the doors were opened but our eyes were getting irritated, especially every person at our table that was wearing contact lenses.
Management knew we were upset so they discounted our checks and gave us two desserts. But wait, there’s more! The desserts and checks took several minutes to come out, we were so ready to just walk out at that point. At least when they were brought out, the manager apologized for our experience.
I don’t know if I’ll go back again. Perhaps if it’s just my husband and I and the restaurant isn’t full of smoke I’ll have a better experience.

One of the better gators I’ve been to especially when compared to the train wreck west colonial location. Always attentive when food is made wrong or tastes bad. Servers are usually friendly and attentive and smile. 3 star rating is strictly for the tall bird like hostess with the dark hair. She consistently makes people wait while she screws around with no attempt to even hide it and clearly isn’t enthusiastic about her job. Twice in a row now this girl, after making us wait in an empty restaurant while she texted, has subsequently forgotten to even tell our server that we were there causing a longer wait.

Can’t go wrong with the hot garlic. Fried pickles are good, too.
Service can be hit or miss… Always friendly but can be slow. I’ve had the wrong wing sauce delivered to me more than once, but always corrected and always friendly. They have plenty of TVs with a lot of options for sports including college & pro women’s sports.
If you plan to go more than once it’s well worth it to join the rewards program. Pretty sure we’ve not paid full price for anything since we signed up.

Nice place for drinks and salads. Can be loud if you go during a busy time. Also has outside tables when weather permits.

It makes me sad to give this place only two stars because I have had a couple of at least four star experiences here. My husband and I have been here many times because of the good burgers and good size wings with creative sauces. We take our young adult grandsons here because of the usually generous size chicken wings and their chunky blue cheese dressing.
So after a busy week we decided to indulge ourselves early on Christmas Eve. Our waitress was very pleasant and efficient and was not trying to hustle us out so they could get home.
The problem was the small size of the wings and runny, definitely not chunky dressing.
The disappointment was that when asked how things were, we told her that we were not happy with the wings compared to what we were used to. She replied that she was sorry and left our bill and that was it. This review would be 4 stars if at that point she would have offered us a few extra wings, gotten a manager to speak with us or explained what the issue was. The restaurant was well over half empty, although we did see alot if large take out orders.
We will go back, but would hope for better quality food and a little more attention to customer service. We understand an off night in the kitchen, but not a, «Oh well «attitude. We probably could have been more demanding, but not our style.
Hopefully it will be better next time

It’s So So. The wings are average at best the beer is good but it’s hard to mess up beer I guess. They go skimpy on some of the food. Like the basket of fries are more like a handful of fries. And knowing that I got 2 basket of fries and it looked like they took half of the fries in my 1^st basket to make up the 2^nd one… Guess they get paid by the fries here…

Gator’s Dockside is a bar, pool hall, restaurant and a big screen bonanza all rolled in to one place.
They have a large area with high tables and stools made for playing pool and darts but also have several big screens for all the sports. So you never miss any of the action unless you are looking around at the women. They have another area with regular tables and seats for sit down, but also a quiet area for the family and children to the side. They have TV’s but it is quieter.
You can have birthday parties here, in the quiet area, plus they have family days, school spirit events and all you can eat wings or kids eat free nights. Events vary so check their website for more information.
Food is standard and their chicken wings are what they are famous for, but you can get a variety of other sandwiches, appetizers and drinks.
Our favorite thing to do is to order a variety of wings, beer and get a pool table or a dart board then just hang out and talk while watching our favorite teams on the big screens.
Great for family or friend get-​together situations where no one wants to cook and you need a place big enough for a dozen or more people.
Prices are reasonable. Service is usually quick and efficient.
Don’t drink and drive!

Best wings in all of Central Florida, bar none.

Had the fried shrimp dinner and was absolutely delighted with this meal. The shrimp were nice size and perfectly batter fried. There were 18 shrimp on the plate, a generous portion of fries and a side of delicious cole slaw all for 13 bucks. The service was excellent. My server was Sasha and she was efficient, friendly and helpful. I’m going back again for this experience.

Food was slow to come out.
Prices hmmm, I could have gotten kids wings for 3.29 cheaper than adults and got the same amount of food
6 wings 6.29 plus add 1.99 for fries/​drink
Kids 6 wings, fries and drink 4.99

Two of us went to gators for dinner at 7:30 pm Sat night. There was a wait so we decided to sit at bar. When we sat down it was clear that a few people had a few too many drinks. Only obvious because of the over the top repeatedly loud foul words. I’m no prude and just tried to not pay them any attention. The guy became louder and using the worse lauguage you ever heard repeatedly and the bartenders did nothing. He is loudly describing his examination of a female in full detail, the bartenders did nothing. The group all laughed and made the announcement they were all in the medical field. the bartenders still did nothing. Kids were directly behind them. I was at the end, a distance away and heard them clearly. The man next to my husband asked them to stop that he was trying to eat and it only provoke them more. Still bartenders did nothing. I couldn’t finish my dinner and when the bartender asked why I told her and she then goes straight to the group. I don’t know what she said but when I went to leave the woman in the group verbally attacked me and when I yelled back she said for me do «do something about it». Bartenders, management… did nothing. It was much worse than I have put in words but my point is the restaurant did absolutely nothing. I asked for the manager, at this point I was close to tears. After 5 MINUTES he comes and of course is apologizing. I just wanted him to know since he obviously never walked by the bar or he would have positively heard. Who knows, maybe he did hear. I will NEVER go back. The staff and management had well over an hour to stop this over the top, foul, horrible loud talk disrespecting every female part and clearly the hate of women.

I have been to Gators before. I have to say i usually have a good time… but my last experience was bad. I ordered the bottomless boneless chicken and I could tell that it was not fresh. The chicken was a little bland and cold. I was very disappointed.
On a lighter note, the service was actually good. She was very attentive and helpful.

Great food. They have a lot of new staff members but still great service. They have the best burgers and wings.

If you are looking for a family friendly sports bar with good food, this is it. I felt comfortable taking my kids here. This place has great customer service and the food was great. When we came in they asked if we wanted to watch a specific game which was nice for my husband. I usually get take out but I enjoyed dining in very much as well.

Great Trivia!

Love the wings! We usually just get take out because it’s usually a packed full house.

Went on a Tuesday and when we got there saw it was kids night and they eat free. There were a million kids there but we were seated quickly and the food came out quick. I think if i was just there for some wings with friends i would of been super annoyed, but since i was there with my daughter she was happy seeing all the kids there. There was a clown doing face painting and balloon animals. No one was really tipping her so i got a balloon and gave her a tip. She was really good with the kids and very patient. There was also someone doing bingo and we all played that and it was fun. I got the cobb salad which i loved. It was huge and their ranch is so good. I’m a ranch snob (if there is such a thing) and it got my seal of approval. My husband got the scooter wings and they were very yummy, tangy and sweet. Overall it was a good experience. Everyone was friendly and working hard and the food was good and quick what more could you want from a place.

I came out to Gator’s on Monday night for some food and drinks with co-​workers. It was definitely all about the football for this place. They had $ 5.99 Bud Lt pitchers and $ 12.99 for the giant pitcher dispenser.
My husband and I split an order of Gator Taters. These are by far my favorite thing on the menu. Definitely bar food, but it so creamy, crispy and mouth watering. It’s potatoes with Ranch dressing on the bottom topped with Cheese and bacon with green onions.
For my entrée I got the Terriyaki shrimp skewers with rice and steamed veggies. The shrimp were super small but here was a ton of them. They were not plump, juicy and sweet like you would want. They were tiny and a little rubbery and had a very pungent fish smell and taste. The rice was your typical out of the box Zatarans/​Uncle Ben’s mix, but on the dry side. The veggies were under seasoned.
I was glad I got full on the Gator Taters, because I did not want to eat much of my entrée.
The waitress was very friendly and attentive, but very busy with all of the football fans.

This wing joint has a good three pepper wing sauce, but make sure that you order it wet if you don’t like your wings served dry.
The beer list here is absolute rubbish, but the restaurant as a whole is a step up from Froggers in Apopka and the only decent place around to get wings.