Gators Cafe & Saloon

Service is horrible
Food was mediocre
Seating was blah, sat by the restrooms
Will NOT return
*heed the warnings

Not to bad. An amazing view of the bay and dolphins to watch. The crab cake was a huge disappointment. It’s like tuna fish with crab flavoring. The fish and shrimp were outstanding though. Definitely a place to go back to.

We ate here the first night of our trip and it was delicious! We had the peel and eat shrimp and they were huge! The waitress suggested the Cuban sandwich so I decided to try it and I really enjoyed it. I’ve never had one before to compare it to but it was very good. The view is nice and our waitress was really helpful. She even showed my daughter how to play pool, which she thought was pretty cool. I would definitely recommend this place.

So dirty I decided to not even order any food. I’m absolutely disgusted. The menus are so dirty I’ve never seen anything like it! The bartender was sweating into the drinks. If the bar and menus are this dirty I can’t even imagine what the kitchen looks like! No food for me!

Great views, band was good, has not had a decorating upgrade since the 70s. Service was very slow, food was very greasy, drinks were very weak. Food prices are medium and drink prices expensive. Obviously a tourist trap. Stay away!

Get the nachos best we’ve had in Florida, the Ruben was also fantastic. You can dock your boat here. The restaurant is huge with tons of water front seating. Our service was super slow but our wait person was pleasant. This will be one of our destination places. Not a chain type restaurant. Highly recommend.

Drinks weren’t great. My calamari came with fried broccoli and squash probably as fillers. Nothing special. Boyfriend found plastic on his burger with the Mac and cheese. Service was slow, food and drink took forever and they weren’t busy at all. Never coming back. Manager did comp the plastic wrap burger.

Great view and spot but obviously struggling. Went years ago and loved it returned the other night and our food was less than mediocre. I work in the service industry and have been a waitress for 6 years and hate to complain. My moms fish was super fishy and the batter wasn’t even cooked all the way. My brother and me both had average food but nothing great. The server and manager were super understanding and nice tho. The women’s bathroom had no lock and no toilet paper holder, just a giant roll of toilet paper on the back of the toilet. We had to take turns with strangers watching the door so we wouldn’t be walked in on. The manager told us he was hired in to get it back to the way it used to be. Sad such an awesome view and location is being run down.

It was a nice stop on a beautiful day. I’m not going to post much on this place as I have plans to return next weekend. But I had the Grouper tacos, the fish was cold so I was not impressed. A couple of my friends had the cheeseburger and love it. So I’ll update this again after next weekend.

Not what it used to be.
I’ve been to Gators probably a half a dozen times. I have always enjoyed it. But something was different on this visit.
Let’s start with the positives.
We were out for a sunset cruise, and were looking for a restaurant with «boat parking». Gators was the obvious choice. This is one of the really cool parts of the restaurant: they have plenty of docks and boat parking available.
The other positive is the view. The strong currents under the bridge area are a favorite playground for Dolphins.
Now, the real reason you go to a restaurant… The food and service. It’s just a MEH!
Two of use ordered the chicken breast sandwich, but we ask for the jerk seasoning (which is only on the menu for a beef item). The waitress thought this would be a real problem for the kitchen.
The rest of the entrees on our table were edible. Nothing special, nothing that provoked any kind of praise for the food. Back to the chicken sandwich: to our surprise it came out and the waitress announced here’s your jerked chicken. I guess they tried, but there was really no flavor and either chicken sandwich even with the jerk seasoning.
Service was a not good. With only a few other tables occupied, the servers were never in site.
The real question is will I return? And the answer is «probably». but unfortunately NOT for the food.

My Place to Relax. The Food is Good, and the Staff is Friendly. I love being here on 4^th of July!

I wasn’t overwhelmingly impressed with this restaurant. There was plenty of parking which is nice but I believe «the largest waterfront restaurant» is potentially working against this establishment. There were so many different levels and dining rooms that when we sat ourselves it took entirely too long to be noticed. We were seated near an outside bar and the bartender was MIA for quite a while. Our server/​bartender was nice but not over the top. We started off with of course gator bites. They were nice and tender and pretty flavorful. My husband and I shared a burger but they brought us the wrong one. I mentioned it to the server but told him it was ok we would just stick with the one he brought us. It was cooked medium piled high with baked Mac n cheese. Kinda of odd but it worked. He did remove the burger from our check which I did appreciate. Overall it was a decent late lunch but nothing really stood out to me. The boat docks could use some work, they need more slips. It does look like they are possibly repairing then currently which will be nice.

Service was great but food boring. Why would you serve dry yellow rice with fish tacos other than a cheap side?
. My waiter kindly brought broccoli slaw on the house. Very nice gesture but the broccoli slaw wasn’t too great.
4 stars for service but 2 for food. Hubby got shrimp quesadilla. Was so-​so. Great location. Suggest you get a more creative chef!

Lousy on pretty much every level except the view. Food was not delicious and took forever to show up (It was not busy). Service was poor and I’m pretty sure there was 1 waitress per 2 tables. This is the definition of a tourist trap. Free parking is the only attractive feature. Don’t go here.

Man. This place could have so much potential if it wasn’t for the abysmal service and blah food. It gets one star total: for the view.
Absolutely beautiful view of the pass and you can arrive by boat, which is neat, but skip this place unless you’re desperate. On a Saturday night, it’s a ghost town and the reason is the service and food suck.
I had a salad with blackened grouper and it tasted like the grouper has been sitting in the fridge for a couple of hours. The French fries were good though but that’s about it.
We had to ask our server for napkins and silverware after our food came out, we ran out of drinks and then our plates, menus and empty cups were never cleared off our tiny table. The server seemed sweet and the hostess was nice but eating at McDonalds would have been a better choice. I really wanted to love it :(

We had a fantastic experience here.
We came by boat, on a whim. We didn’t expect much but a view and a drink. The food was surprisingly good. My wife had a grilled chicken Caesar salad. She’s a bit of a snob, but was impressed by the quality of the house-​made Caesar dressing. It was a tad too sweet for her tastes, but good nonetheless. My youngest daughter and I shared the chicken tender platter. The fries were cut potatoes — they were a bit worn out, but they were still good, and I’ll bet they’re outstanding if you catch a fresh batch. The chicken tenders were wonderful, among the best we’ve had. The cole slaw was a bit tasteless, but fresh. The platter was huge — my daughter and I shared it and left a few fries.
The drinks were good, and reasonably priced. The beer was barely above freezing — I got an ice cream headache when I sank the first one fast. There wasn’t music when we were there, but we spent the night tied up to the dock, and heard some good music on the deck at sundown.
The real gem is the view — the restaurant is long and thin, mostly a narrow deck, and everyone has a great view of John’s Pass, the John’s Pass bascule bridge, the many boats coming and going, the many fishermen fishing from the banks, docks, and boats, and the John’s Pass Boardwalk across the water. Great theater.
Our lone complaint was that the service was a bit slow, but it was extremely friendly, and we were happy to wait for our check with that view.

…Service… poor
…Food… poor
…View… awesome!
It’s a love hate relationship with Gators, the location and view is awesome but the food and service are lacking. It’s definitely a great bar place but if you want food, head somewhere else. We stopped here after spending the day at the sand bar to eat dinner and watch the Lightning… Somehow two tables of 6 people all ended up on one bill we never saw our server for an hour + at one point. Every time they brought something out of the kitchen they stopped to ask if it was for us… like no take some notes on where the food is supposed to be taken???
After we got our food, we never saw a server again we had to go get drinks from the bar but no one every brought us our bill from the table. When we went to leave we had to go to the bar and ask for the bill, to which we found out everything had been placed on one… what a nightmare.

Fun place to meet, chow down and blow off some steam. Not the place for a romantic evening to watch the sunset (although that’s a future option from thier dockside tables). Tonight was a night to cheer and scream at the screens showing tonight’s Lightning game, and argue every whistle blown by the ref.
I had the Big Fish Sandwich, which was a very large portion of fresh fish on a nice bun (not those lame ones served at other places), with fresh lettuce, tomato and onions, and tartar sauce on the side. I had a side of fries that were perfect: the right portion, size, crunch and taste. My wife had a burger that she loved, plus our nacho appetizer was very good. Our server, Sara M, was super. She raced the very busy circuit continually tonight, kept our table stocked as needed, and kept her friendly smile at all times. Very nice job by all!

Normally I love coming here (mainly for the view) but this past experience will have me staying far away. First the service was horrible, the waitress had to come back 3 maybe 4 times to verify our order. At one point she just walked away as I was about to order a drink.
The breaded shrimp was ok but the breading itself was blah. The rice bowl was decent but after a large roach landed on our table I was done. Sure roaches are everywhere but we told the waitress after we had to hunt her down and she ran away. Then we told the bartender/​manager who said ok and continued to ignore us. We had to practically beg for the check. Other patrons started to apologize to us. We could not get out fast enough! I even called back the next day to report it to someone else. I received an apology and was told I would be taken better care of next time. I’m not convinced there will be a next time.
I left hungry, thirsty and annoyed.

It is rare that I make it to Gators, but I’m always glad that I do. Being a Gator fan, I love all of the memoribilia throughout the restaurant. Awesome Gator stuff aside, this is a BEAUTIFUL spot on John’s Pass. The scenery is like a Florida postcard and this is a great place to have afternoon drinks and food.
As for the food, I usually get the wings because I really like them! They have a great amount of sauce and the hot buffalo has some good kick to it. The nachos are also to die for. They are on a huge plate and are covered with chili, cheese, olives, tomatoes, and lettuce.
If you are a Gator fan you HAVE to stop into Gators for a football game sometime. It is a really fun atmosphere for it and people get straight up rowdy!