Gecko’s Grill & Pub — Restaurant in Florida

Our server was what's a neck he was a very nice young man, even if a little on an unexperienced side. let's cut to the chase. found it a little odd that when we walked in the door there was lots of tables available however was told it was going to be a 20 to 30 minute wait she was fairly accurate on her time don't know if it's a staff shortage or what but more than a quarter not quite half the restaurant was empty that should have been the first warning this wasn't going to go well. I got the French onion soup and well it tasted like Campbell's and my husband got the chili it tasted like Hormel with a bunch of chili powder dumped in it. I got the smoked brisket macaroni and cheese the brisket it was a very good portion however, the brisket it was cut so thin it only had one side and tasted like they poured Liquid Smoke on it there was absolutely no smoke ring. it was obvious that it was something that probably got from Cisco that came in a bag, but they just reheated after they thawed out. the fried onions that they put on top should have warned you with spicy. the barbecue sauce, however, tasted just like sugar. the noodles were cooked very nice, and I'm not sure that the cheese sauce really has Gouda in it. It just tasted like a sharp cheddar cheese sauce. my husband ordered the grouper sandwich. I don't know, maybe because we lived in Florida, I expected something way better than an obvious Frozen pre-seasoned Patty that came out somewhat Square. It was very mushy and lacked flavor for 22.00. i would have thought we would get something way better. they're supposed to be a sports bar, but they have no beer list and just a few TVs hung up on the perimeter of the room dining room was large however bar area was a very small in my experience sports bars have a big bar and a little dining area I think they just got this one backwards. We had to go off of the server's memory, and maybe he wasn't a Beer Drinker but did not really know the beer list just started quoting domestic crap in a bottle husband went off of a list he saw on their website ordered one of the beers and they didn't even have it however we assumed it was the bartender recommended a different beer and he brought out a sample and it was very good. based on previous Google reviews, we drove just over an hour, especially with I-75 traffic lol to get there won't make that mistake a...

I would like to respond to Rebecca Pankowski's review. I am not an employee of Gecko's, but my wife and I are longtime customers, and we have known the manager of this location from when he was a bartender there, so a very long time. We go to this particular Gecko's frequently, and we have seen the manager (and other employees) in many difficult situations. We have never seen the manager be rude and inconsiderate to any customer - in fact, we have been impressed at how he has handled many rude, irate, and sometimes drunk patrons. There were some crucial facts left out of Rebecca's review, not the least of which was the fact that Manatee County at the time was still under a mask mandate. Rebecca and her husband arrived without masks on. The manager explained that they must have masks on to enter the restaurant. They refused, and the manager told them that he could not let them enter. It doesn't matter whether a person disagrees with the mask mandate; it was a county mandate, and the manager was doing his job. To leave a negative review omitting the fact that this was over their refusal to wear a mask, and then shame the manager for doing his job, is just wrong, mean, and completely unwarranted. Rebecca is correct that businesses are suffering, but they are trying to keep afloat while also having to follow a myriad of directives and mandates that change frequently and having to deal with irate customers like Rebecca and her husband, who refuse to follow the directives. All Rebecca and her husband had to do was put their masks on until they were seated at...

This should be negative stars. We came into the restaurant at 9pm, a group of 6, 1 hour before closing. As soon as we entered the restaurant they said they were closing at 10pm. We had to search the restaurant for our own utensils because they never provided them once we got our appetizers. I ordered my meal with a side of mashed potatoes, but they came back and said they didn’t have any more and offered soggy chips as an alternative. However, my friend got served mashed potatoes with their meal! What type of service is that when you tell one person you don’t have mashed potatoes, but serve them to someone else at the same table!?

My other friend had asked for onion rings after our order had been placed so her dish came out with fries since that is what she originally ordered. The waitress came out with the onion rings and said we can take back your fries or charge you extra for the onion rings. My friend was fine with the extra charge, but oddly the kitchen manager came out and asked us for the fries back!! They literally took the fries off of her plate and brought them back to the kitchen instead of just charging her for an order of onion rings. We also asked for hot sauce to be brought to the table and they brought empty bottles.

The wait staff was blaming everyone except for apologizing- one was saying the other waitress only had been there for a short time so doesn’t know what she is doing and the other one was saying they were quitting and that the management...