Bootleggers Waterfront Barbeque

This was a tough one to review. I thought that the food was really 3 stars but it is waterfront dining with great service which was a four. Since Unilocal didn’t let me give half stars I just have it a four.
I tried a lot of different things. First I got the st louis ribs. They were OK but a little drier than I like. The sauce I added was good that helped out. The pulled chicken was very good. The smoke level really shines through. The same goes for the brisket that I tried. Really good smoke flavor. The sausage had some good smoke and a little heat to it.
I got a bunch of sides. The smoke house Mac n cheese was probably the best side. It had nice chunks of meat it in. The mashed potatoes was the next best. I always like skins in my potatoes and this had that. The cornbread muffins were OK but nothing to write home about. A little dry. My least favorite side was the corn. It tastes like it came from a can.
Eating by the water makes up for a lot. I always like to look out and see that when I am eating and it didn’t hurt that the beer i was drinking was only $ 2. The server was very nice and on top of her game.

Terrible service. Manager wouldn’t have it when we had a discussion with him. Started using profanity and calling us a-​holes. Will never eat their again.

Oh my…
We have been there lots before as we only come to Ft. Myers 3 times a year as we still work out of town. It has always been a hit –food, beer, t.v., live band, dog friendly !
We went there Sunday, April 24, 2016. I have been around for awhile and never saw this.
The entire place was packed and 2 servers for the entire place– bar and restaurant ! They lost sooo much money because it was PACKED !
We left … this place will close soon… such a shame !!!

Ask for a table outside and was told no. We ate for 45 mins while there were 8 tables available. Terrible service. We are year round residents and visitors beach often, but will pass this place always!

Great happy hour menu! Our server was nice patient with us for being such a large group. Perfect location placed ever so nicely next to the marina we came into. Wings were definitely delicious

Great $ 5 Angus burger on their happy hour menu but be sure to tell them that you want lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle & mayo, or all you’ll receive is a dry burger on a bun! We did have good service once, but most visits not so great. I suspect management may be an issue. Staff doesn’t seem that happy… Have tried a number of items on their menu. Okay, but nothing to rave about.

They were short staffed, but what a GREAT job of making it a very good experience! Our waitress (also the bartender) Samantha was AWESOME! Always had a cold drink and food was good. We really loved the extra effort that everyone put in, being short staffed can be a disaster, but this crew excelled!

Terrible food. My boyfriend ordered ribs and they were cold. I ordered the pulled chicken skillet and the chicken was so salty I had to stop eating it. Service was decent but for a slow Tuesday night it could have been better. Probably would recommend this place just for drinks.

Last night we eat at Bootleggers on Fort Myers beach, we should have seen the signs of a poor experience when the parking lot was half full on a Saturday night at 7:00PM. It’s a perfect setting for a fun restaurant with a great two man band sitting over the harbor. That was the only thing that was good. Service at the bar and once we were seating was slow and unprofessional. It took an hour to get our food (the place was half empty) the food was cold and people were missing ordered items or got the wrong thing. The manager seemed unconcerned that there were problems. This is a very poorly run business and I wish I could give it a zero rating so no one else has to waste their time and money. There are so many other places to have fun and great food.

What is with all the negative reviews. This place was recommended by a waitress at another restaurant. Had the ribs they were great, the bourbon BBQ sauce was great. My wife had the pulled pork she loved it. We got there as other large groups arrived, so the waitress did not follow up multiple times but she took our order, got it right. Best BBQ I have had in the area.

Worst dining experience I think I’ve ever had. Waited 10 minutes for our server to greet us even though he passed our table about 5 times with not one word said. Then he brought us waters with no ice and sat them down, no straws and didn’t dare offer lemon. Then our food took about 25 min for 2 burgers that he didn’t ask how we would like cooked. The French fries were cold and tasted like cardboard, they literally were sticking to my throat. We had an empty glass of water we had to ask to be refilled after 15 minutes of it sitting there empty and countless employees, including our server, walking by not offering to refill it. Then after asking to refill it he brought them promptly back out and slammed them on the table as if it were such an inconvenience to him. All in all, I was absolutely astonished at what bad service and food we experienced here. Management must not care enough to train staff here as this seems to be the norm based on the other reviews. What a waste of time and money for a less then mediocre experience.

I know Florida isn’t well-​known for barbecue, but chains in the Northeast do it better. Service was abysmal. 20 minutes for the waitstaff to argue over who would take our table and show up to wait on us. It went downhill from there. We ended up getting our second round at the bar ourselves.

If I could give a half star, that is what it would have. The entertainment was good. We waited over two hours for our food. Ribs were tough, turkey legs were not cooked well, mashed potatoes tasted like boxed and were cold. There are so many great places to go I will take this one off my list!

Went there last night because we had a discount coupon. We weren’t expecting much after reading the other Unilocal reviews, but we were pleasantly surprised. Both the bbq sampler and the crunchy grouper were delicious, the service was good, plus there was a live band. The wait for our orders was reasonable and the server kept checking with us throughout our meal. We’ll definitely return in the near future.

Gemütliches großes Haus, man kommt dich bissl vor wie in einem hofbräuhaus, musste lange auf das essen warten (Sampler platte bestellt), essen war dann nur lauwarm als es an den Tisch kam und die Spare ribs waren echt schlecht, wie wir die aus deutschen lokalen gewöhnt waren von der Werbung des Hauses hatten wir was anderes erwartet, nicht zu vergleichen mit denen bei Texas Tony in naples z. B, werden dieses Lokal nicht mehr aufsuchen

This was a huge disappointment the place was practically empty and we waited over 30 min for food that was not very good.
We will not be back.

Horrible food and slow service. My husband ordered prime rib, it was served Cold and not good color.
I had the grouper sandwich which was very fishy, doubt if it was grouper.
Needless to say we won’t be back and we live in the island. What a waste of money!
We spoke with the manager who was no help at all, poor business.

Spent the evening with friends watching our waiter argue with me about what I ordered when he brought our food. I showed him on the menu that I had said exactly what the title of the item was and he continued to argue with me stating the menu had changed and that in the future I should say it a different way from what was listed. What? After continual arguing with him I found the manager who made excuses for him as they had been busy that day and her staff was frazzled. Not what I wanted to hear. She comped our appetizer and still made excuses for him along with an apology. The apology would have been sufficient as the excuses for his rude behavior were not acceptable. Also, husband had the mac and cheese with pork — had 4 small pieces of meat in it. Won’t be bakc.

Some how this place managed to mess up french fries, they were super bland tasting and bla. I was not happy with any of the food at all, everything just missed the mark. I will add that the corn bread was good, dry but good.

As soon as we stepped through the front door we had great service. Our waiter was very knowledgeable about the menu and quite helpful. The view of the bay was a bonus. The mark of a good BBQ place for me is if I start «sweating» during the meal. I definitely needed to towel off!

Unser erster Besuch in Fort Myers und eine Empfehlung vom Hotel führten uns hier hin. Erster Ei Druck sehr gut, freundliche Kellner, Livemusik und ein wunderbarer Ausblick zum Hafen. Phantastisch. Eine große Auswahl an BBQ Spezialitäten tat ihr übriges um unsere Erwartungen anzuheizen.
Wir entschieden uns dann für die gemischte Grillplatte und wurden nicht enttäuscht. Beim nächsten Mal gibt’s aber nur die Ribs, die waren am Besten

Nachdem wir heute in Fort Myres angekommen sind und von der Reise ziemlich hungrig waren, haben wir uns im Hotel nach einem Restaurant erkundigt. Dieses wurde uns empfohlen. Und es ist wirklich spitze! Super nette Bedienung und auch sehr kompetent und zuvorkommend! Das Essen ist auch richtig lecker! Wir hatten «Sample» bestehend aus SparRibs, Pulled Pork, Beef Brisket und Hühnchen. Dazu gibt es 2 Siders :) Alles geschmacklich super! Das Beste waren allerdings die SparRibs! Lecker! Und By-​The-​Way, Live-​Musik gib es auch noch dazu! Das Restaurant ist also sehr empfehlenswert!

Stopped here after hearing a commercial for it on the way to the beach. When you’re on vacation, anything goes, so making plans is as easy as listening to the radio. After a full day at the beach, we stopped at this marina-​side restaurant with a lovely view of the sunset and extremely friendly service. We had a couple of appetizers — the chicken wings and fish bites — both were excellent. I had the half chicken, which is a legit half of a chicken. The bourbon bbq sauce is OUT OF THIS WORLD. We asked to buy some and unfortunately, they are not selling it yet, though they are looking into it. My boyfriend had the BBQ salmon which was delicious and flaky, lightly glazed with bbq sauce and bourbon.
We stayed for quite a while. Did not feel rushed out, which was very nice.