Linger Lodge Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Florida

We love to find and try new places. Caught a lead on this spot from an article about unusual places to eat in Florida due to the rustic interior furnishings and displays. Well it is a lodge, so who wouldn't expect a few taxidermy items, right? Well this place has no shortage of them, and nice ones at that.

Be prepared for a short journey to get to this location. It is far from the hustle and hassles of Bradenton/Sarasota traffic, thank goodness.

We arrived at the peak of lunch rush, but were seated immediately and our server was on the spot quickly. Great staff, very friendly.

This is a place you have to visit a lot to cover the menu, because everything on it sounds amazing.

I opted for the Gator Chowder and the Linger Lodge Etouffee' and she had the blackened grouper.

First, that Gator Chowder is a work of culinary art! Complex, flavorful, and made to perfection.

Let's spend a minute talking about their Etouffee'. Real (fresh) Mudbugs, Mussels, Shrimp, Andouille Sausage, huge chunks of chicken sit atop a red sauce lightly spiced broth with the traditional NOLA veggies (celery, onion, green pepper, tomatoes,and a couple pieces of okra were found swimming in the bowl. Of course, the was also a nice scoop of white rice in the middle. Absolutely the best best bowl of Etouffee' I have ever had. Personal preference only, I would have added a few dashes of Crystal hot sauce, as I like it spicy. That is certainly no slam on this dish. It was perfect right out of the kitchen.

Eating this Etouffee', I realized there was no way that any of this had been pre-prepared. This was a cook-to-order dish done perfectly. All the veggies still had texture and crunch. The seafood was tender of flavorful. No way those ingredients retain texture and crunch if it had been sitting in a steam table all day.

Her Blackened Grouper may not have been the gastronomic adventure like mine (which is the way it normally is in our house), but the fish was cooked perfectly and the sides were also spot on.

So, I think it is safe to say that we will be back, and probably more often than other places simply to try more of the menu; and to have more of that Gator...

I stumbled upon the linger lodge during one of my rabbit hole sessions on YouTube. I decided to make a reservation and grabbed the fam.

This place is in the cut. It sits right on the Braden river and offers a pretty cool view of it. It sits right on (or next to) the RV park by the same name.

Once we parked and stepped out of our vehicle we were greeted with the great smell of the smoker. As we approached the entrance we could see the smoke piping out of the building. It smelled great! You WILL leave the lodge smelling like the smoker. I personally love it.

We were greeted warmly and even though we were 15min early we were quickly seated.

The atmosphere is pretty interesting. There is taxidermy animals all over (I was seated by a bear and peacock). The decor is very Lodge-y and cozy/comfortable.

We ordered the sampler which offers fried green tomato, breaded gator bites and breaded frog legs. ALL were delicious. The frog legs are pretty meaty and the seasoned batter was tasty. The green tomato were nice sized and tasty. The Gator bites were very good.

We ordered the Blackened Grouper with wasabi mash and rice pilaf. The New York strip with spiced apple and au gratin and the Half a rack of ribs. Veggie Burger with homemade chips and hush puppies.

We all enjoyed our dishes. Some things that stood out were the wasabi mash. Its a wasabi sauce drizzled over the mash and it works! The Strip steak was a good size, 14oz! The ribs were a hit they fell of the bone and the portion was ample! The Veggie burger was ok but the Hush puppies and the chips stole the show on that dish!

After that I ordered the orange creamsicle cheesecake and it was pretty awesome.

We then decided to pay for the food and take a walk around the restaurant to see the other animals. We then went out to walk along the river and were promptly escorted to our vehicle by the mosquitos..

I will definitely be going back to try more of the items on the menu and enjoy some more.

A definite recommend! Go Linger...

Visited on 3/29/2023

It’s such a shame to what has happened to this place over the years..

Last time I was here, they had the BEST burgers and gator tail around.. Keep in mind, this is also back before the asphalt parking lot, back when they still had the Peacock cage out front..

So firstly, we tried to call and place a reservation and no one answered.. Shown up and the was sculled by the hostess on why we didn’t have a reservation.

We asked to be sat by the water and instead she placed us on the deck against the wall (as there were 5 tables along the railing that were available) (these tables were claimed to be Reserved, but stayed open throughout the duration of our visit.)

First, we sat down and we sat for roughly 30 mins without any type of acknowledgment. I had to get up and find someone and ask them for service.. once that happened, another 10 mins comes by and we finally get our drinks in.

Ordered the burger that was supposed to be brisket & rib meat, when it arrived.. It was cooked completely wrong from what I asked for.. They took it back and returned with a burned beef burger, not even what I had asked for. They completely swapped the whole burger with a cheaper burger, even though I was charged for the brisket & rib meat burger.

Burger was extremely lousy, I’ve had better burgers AND service from McDonalds.

Gator Bites were horribly cooked, they are frozen for sure.. Super gooey and chewy. The batter on them was overly greasy.

The only decent part of our meal was the frog legs. Everything else was absolutely horrible.

It’s such a shame to see what has come of this place, it was a child hood relic as I was coming up. Pulling in to see it overly commercialized was truly tragic.

I will not be returning, and will shy everyone else away from now on..

If you want EXCELLENT gator tail, go to Whiskey Joes. Not only is their food better in every way, But you’ll actually have service without having...