Decoy — Restaurant in Gainesville

One of Gainesville’s best eatery additions and a breath of fresh air!

I’ve been in Gainesville for over 25 years. The space is large and inviting., clean and well-appointed. The bar is amply sized and well attended with four bartenders on a busy night (a rare find on both points). The cocktail menu has unique concoctions to suit every mood or taste. Beer and wine menu with lots of great choices and local brews.

Seating/temperature are comfortable and staff are spectacular—always friendly, always moving. The mood is black casual bustling and it’s never hard to find someone to help you.

Lighting in the booths and bar are great but the high tops could be better as the low contrast menus make it hard to see. Lamps at those tables would be extremely helpful. Menus (just plain paper) are starting to see a little wear but hopefully those will be upgraded soon. I do wish there was something to absorb the sound because especially when seated on the high tops in a relatively full restaurant, it can be quite challenging to engage in a lively conversation even without the band playing. I did measure the decibels and it consistently hit 89-92 which is pretty high. The rafters and walls are fairly bare so something there I think would help.

Menu is a mix of easy and upscale bar and modern American so there’s something for everyone. Everything we’ve tried in the several visits we’ve made has been delicious and we’ve never left unhappy or dissatisfied. Fish and meats were always expertly cooked (not always easy with a filet or fried chicken)—a few more lighter (poultry/seafood) warm entree items and maybe shrimp somewhere would be great. Salad selections are delicious with the option to add chicken, salmon or beef—so that’s an option but sometimes you just want something warm for supper. Maybe salmon or shrimp for the salmon bowl?Vegetables were fresh and plates arrived fairly timely. When we first visited in December that wasn’t always the case but it’s very much improved. All entrees were wonderfully plated.

Dessertwise, best thing is the hot iron skilletchocolate chip cookie with ice cream and which only comes out on special occasions unfortunately. The chocolate cake was dense and dry and the ganache frosting was the same. Maybe a large shareable iron skillet cookie instead?

And there are tons of games to play too—duckpin bowling, mini golf. A treat for all!

A great place for a couple’s date or a family get-together or an after work outing. When you go, it does feel like Happy Hour!

Overall, a fantastic place where you can tell they put a lot of thought into their customer experience and really work hard to make it an excellent one!...

I called on Saturday for a reservation of 6. I asked if I would be able to bring a cake in to celebrate a birthday, I was told I could. We get there on Saturday at 4:45 and the hostess checked us in and told us we could sit and wait for a bit. She seen we had a cake and walked over to us and asked if we would want her to keep it cold until we were ready for it. I said yes, that would be great! We had never been there before and was asking questions about eating and playing games. The hostess said it was her first day on her own and she was unsure but suggested that we dine in the dining area and then play games. We asked our waiter, who was very pleasant and he said he was new as well and wanted to get the manager to answer questions. The manager was very quick and kinda confusing on his answers. The menu was marginal, at best. We eat and the teenagers go to the gaming area to play duck bowling. We were ready to leave and asked for the check. A guy came and said, I bet they didn’t tell you but there is a $25 dollar fee for us holding your cake in the refrigerator and for serving it. No one mentioned this when I called and the hostess didn’t mention it when she asked to hold it for us. We brought our own plates and napkins for the cake. The only thing we asked was for a knife to cut it. We cut it and used our own plates and napkins. He said he was embarrassed to tell us and said he needs to speak to management because this happens all of the time. We had to pay $25 to put a cake in the refrigerator and to use their knife! To me, that’s a little much after we spent $200 on appetizers and dinner. $60 plus tip on bowling and then the cake fee. The place was dead. We were the only people in the dining area other than another couple who come in later and there was one family of 4 playing bowling when we got to the back on a Sunday evening. The restrooms are gender neutral. Not a fan of this and it’s and very uncomfortable. I would not allow my teenager to go use the restroom without me going in. I’m not sure we...

The atmosphere is great. The food is good. Our server was phenomenal but this place is so poorly managed/structured! There were other frustrated guests there as well and expressed how mismanaged it was. The availability of games and their reservation this day/no reservation that day only complicates the experience! The kid working the game desk had a hard time prioritizing his customers and giving information. The back and forth between the game stand and the restaurant side is nothing short of frustrating. The icing on the cake for us not to return, after multiple visits I should say, was when I questioned how and why we were told to go see if we could get into the games, then come back for a table, if when we came back we were told there were no tables!!! The manager told me to “calm down” when I shared my confusion. As walk-ins we were told they were booked by reservation. Then were told they don’t take reservations on Friday and Saturdays to allow space for walk-ins. When I reiterated that made no sense because we were walk-ins being told we needed reservations, I was told it’s been a busy 30 minutes. We had only been there 10 and really, should have been there a mere 3 minutes but spent the other 7 waiting in the gaming line behind several very annoyed customers. Disappointing because this place has great potential. Its beautiful inside, they have fun drinks and good food. We love the idea of the games for our kids, but we for sure won’t go back unless we hear a lot...