Gecko’s Grill & Pub — Restaurant in Florida

There's always a challenge of trying new places when there are so many "been to's" in the area that we love to visit.

That challenge is even more ...challenging, when we decide to try a new "grill & pub" or sports bar themed location. We have all been to so many other places that are all the same thing with just different names. The food is the same, the bar is the same, the entire atmosphere is the same. Well, finally we find on e that is just different enough to make us want to come back.

Greeted promptly upon arrival at seated immediately. Server, Brian, was on the spot for the drink order.

Atmosphere is typical, yes, but a little more relaxed. Wasn't as noisy as other places. Plenty of TV's to keep up with the day's sporting events.

The menu is extensive and pleasantly varied from other sports bars. Gecko's has a competition in progress with their "Chef" staff. An Iron Chef competition, as they are promoting it. I assume this location's Chef is in line to win as the Iron Chef Vickie menu has some awesome treats listed.

I opted to try her Drunken Grouper Tacos (serving of 3). Beer battered grouper filets (yes, filets, not bits, chunks or scraps) in a Jack Daniel's Glaze with cabbage and Pico all in a flour tortilla. Simply amazing. Perfectly cooked, big portion, and great balance of flavors. Served with a bowl of black beans over rice topped again with Pico.

She had the BBQ Brisket Mac Bow. Wow, what a massive portion! Brisket was thinly sliced and cooked perfectly. Nice balance of flavors and not overdone with the cheese and onion straws.

In a world of human service, it was funny to watch a robot server in action. Yes, I said robot. Looks like they are experimenting with a robot that delivers the food to the table. Unfortunately, the robot delivered the food to the wrong table. Ah yes, no matter how much we become dependent on technology, there is still nothing better than good old fashioned human interaction. My suggestion, chuck the robot and keep it human (even though it's incredibly difficult to find good hires these days).

Great job and we...

We’ve been eating at Geckos for years. Lately we have ordered their wings for takeout as part of our Sunday evening football routine. So we are regulars, not tourists in town for a single meal. They have good salads and bar food with a flare.

The Clark Road location offers a drive up service. Pull up to the curb, they bring your order out. It normally works very well.

Yesterday I placed an order. They told me 35 minutes, so I drove and waited at the curb alongside other patrons. No one came out to deliver the orders. I waited patiently, figuring that they were busy and that someone would be out soon. Eventually, Other patrons started getting out of their car to go in and get their food. I was hesitant to do that since they normally bring out the food and I wish sure they were just running behind.

But then I got the hint and went inside to get my order. Sure enough, it was sitting on a bench just getting cold. I asked the staff what was going on, were they no longer bringing food out? She said they were busy and that her manager told her stop bringing it out. This makes no sense, since walking it outside the door literally takes 10 seconds. Anyway, I complained that the food had been sitting there getting cold and that my 35 minute order was placed nearly an hour ago. Instead of apologizing, she started, arguing with me, telling me that it had not been an hour. Clearly, I know what time my order was placed.

I completely understand that restaurants get busy. Patrons should be patient. At the same time, my order was no less important than the patrons in the restaurant. Would they have simply set their orders aside on a bench getting cold because they were too busy to bring it to the table? More than that, the staff decision to argue with me with a bad choice. Not once did she or anyone else apologize or even thank me for the order.

My wings were cold and overcooked. Miller’s Ale House might be a good...

I’m only giving 1 Star because the only thing good about our first and last visit to this place was our waitress. The food and drinks are far overpriced for the quality. I wish we had gone to Perkins like we’d planned but wanted to try something new. My husbands food was cold- not like it had cooled down while waiting on the rest of the meals- cold like fresh out of the fridge. He sent it back to be remade and it came back cold again. So we thought maybe we overlooked what he had ordered and it was supposed to be a cold sub-wrap but that was not the case. By now the rest of us had finished our meals so he went without. My 2 year olds macaroni and cheese had a hair in it and it was not any of ours- so I ended up sharing my meal with her- by this time I didn’t even bother mentioning it to our server I just left it there. When we got the check I noticed we were charged for the child’s drink and the menu clearly states the child’s meal includes a soft drink- we were told we were charged because we ordered tea, not a “soft drink”. So we paid 8.64 for hairy kraft macaroni and cheese bowl and a child’s tea. When the manager came to apologize we kindly accepted and just requested my husbands meal be removed from the check. While he and our waitress were at the computer getting our check ready we saw and overheard the manager tell our waitress “good luck with that tip”. Our waitress continued to be kind and respectful even after his snarky remark. When she returned with or debit card I handed her $20 cash and told her to inform her manager that she is not responsible for his sorry kitchen staff and that we heard his little remark- I told her “good luck with her $20 tip”. She giggled and we left. I typically try to leave good reviews when I do as we travel cross country with our business and meet so many hard working people. This place, this location, is...