Gator's Dockside DeLand — Restaurant in DeLand

If I could 0 stars I would . Me and my boyfriend who are new to the area decided to try this place for nice dinner date when we’re were seated I noticed that the booth we were sat at was sticky and the window looked like multiple people had literally thrown up on them they were so dirty I could only imagine they were not cleaned for years. Seriously and I noticed water stains and mold on ceiling and vents very gross. My boyfriend ordered the cheese burger and I got the chicken tenders. Our waitress was absolutely amazing and so sweet. As my boyfriend took one bite of his burger I said it looked undercooked he said it’s probably fine and took maybe 2 more bites before he stoped and said it was indeed very raw. We gave it back to the waitress and he ordered somthing else my chicken tenders also were very dry and tough the only good thing were the fries. As we were waiting for my boyfriend‘s other dish to come out, he needed to go to the bathroom to throw up because he was feeling very sick from the burger he had just ate. I waited for maybe around 20 minutes for my waitress to come back so I could inform her on what was happening. I asked for a manager and it took maybe around almost 30 minutes for the manager to come to our table, I asked her if this had ever happened before, and she told me no that she had never seen it before my boyfriend was only getting more sick by the minute And she happily paid for our meal so we could leave after we left, we ended up having to go to the ER because my boyfriend was so sick spent maybe two hours at the ER and got prescribed two different medication’s and he also had symptoms of salmonella the next day. I called back and asked for the manager and asked what happened to the cook that cooked his burger she told me that he was fired, but I really don’t know if I believe that since nothing else is seemingly up kept in this restaurant. We decided to look up their health inspection since all health inspections are for the public to see turns out this place had 17 violations just a couple months ago and was shut down in 2022 due to it being so disgusting inside and also because of the horrendous things going on in the kitchen. I would never suggest anybody to ever come to this restaurant ever. It is so gross and unprofessional and hearing that it got shut down because of it just a couple years ago just ties the knot I honestly believe that this place needs to be shut down permanently again, nobody should have to go through what we went through. It was absolutely horrible. I cannot express how angry I am with the people here I honestly felt so bad for our waitress because she was the sweetest ever and she didn’t need to deal with this. Whoever owns this place needs to be ashamed of themselves. Also, after I got home and read some more of the reviews of this restaurant Noticed that raw food is a common occurrence here so the fact That the manager had lied to me and told me that this had never happened before Made it seem like she was just trying to get us out Faster she had definitely seen this before and had no reason to lie to me about it Absolutely insane...

We stopped and ate at this Gator’s while on the way home and were disappointed to say the least with the place. It definitely needs some work. We had only been there one previous time and hadn’t been back due to bad food and service. I’m sorry to say that tonight wasn’t any better

For starters, the restaurant was dirty. What I mean by that is even the tables that had been cleared still appeared to be dirty - they had not been wiped down. Throughout our visit, there were a lot of tables with dirty dishes, trash, etc. on them, which doesn’t do much to promote the restaurant. What was odd is that the place wasn’t busy. There weren’t a lot of people there, which leads me to believe they must have a staffing issue. Having said that, for the people who were eating, the place seemed understaffed. The place seemed old and run down, like it hadn’t been updated since the 80s. The menus were dirty and outdated and even the table signs needed to be cleaned.

Upon being seated, we asked the hostess if they had any drink specials. She said that she didn’t know. Anyone seating or serving should know these things. When the waitress finally showed up, we learned that there were not any drink specials, which for a Saturday night, I thought was odd considering the fact that NCAA football was on. We did find one special…a pitcher of domestic beer and 10 wings for $28. I asked the waitress which beers were included with that and she said that she didn’t know. Domestic beers are fairly universal in this line of business but again, it’s something a server should know. For the record, $28 for 10 wings and pitcher of domestic beer is highway robbery. But we were there and chose to order. Upon receiving the pitcher of Miller Lite, it tasted both sour and watered down. True that Miller a lite isn’t exactly the highest quality brew to begin with, but it still tasted watered down and sour.

Apparently, this Gator’s charges to grill wings, something that the others do not. We ordered all flats as that’s what my wife prefers. We also ordered an additional 10 wings on top of what came with the pitcher of Miller Lite. So combined, we were uncharged $8 for all flats on two orders of wings and having all 20 grilled. That’s insane. $16.99 for 10 wings is crazy to begin with but $2 for grilled and another $2 for flags meant paying $20.99 for 10 wings. When we received the food, it was charred as if it had been broiled, not grilled. There wasn’t much flavor and whatever flavor was there , had been burned onto them.

When the waitress brought us our check, I asked if the restaurant was a franchise, to which she said yes and that it was only loosely connected to the other Gator’s in Central Florida. Considering the menu price differences (I compared it to the one in Lake Mary), differences in dishes offered, items they upcharge for, the the overall decor of the restaurant and lack of cleanliness, it was easy to see that this place apparently adheres to its own standards or lack there of. Sorry but this place needs a...

Terrible service, dirty.

I visited Gators Dockside Deland Friday, January 4th around 9:30 pm following a date night at the movies with my girlfriend.

We walk in, stand at the front waiting for the hostess to finish her conversation with someone. She doesn't even greet us at all, so my girlfriend and I start walking in. That's when the hostess asks, "Two"? I say, " yes. A booth please". Hostess walks off. That's when my girlfriend comments to me, " I guess we're supposed to follow her?" Hostess leads u s to a booth, tosses the menu's down and walks off never saying a word or looking at us. RUDE. The first thing we notice is the table is not clean.

We looked through the menu together and decided what we wanted. Ten minutes had gone by at this point. No sever ever came to the table. I walk outside to get my girlfriend her sweater from the car because she was cold. I came back and my girlfriend said she stopped a server from another section to get our drink order. She said that server said to her, " I guess I'll be your server". Another ten minutes go by. Nobody ever came back with the drinks OR to take our order. MIND YOU, THIS PLACE WAS HALF EMPTY FOR A FRIDAY NIGHT. It's not like they were busy or anything.

5 more minuted went by when we made the decision to leave and go somewhere more appreciative of taking our money and serving us. I even had a coupon I could have used at Gators but decided it wasn't worth the trouble anymore.

This place used to be good, but has since slid way downhill since our last visit.

I even sent an e-mail to the corporate office about my issue a week ago today. NEVER GOT A RESPONSE BACK. I guess they don't care about their customers either. Oh well. There's plenty of other restaurants to dine...