De Soto's Seafood Kitchen — Restaurant in Gulf Shores

My recent visit to DeSotos Seafood Kitchen left me deeply disappointed and dissatisfied. Despite a few positive aspects, the overall experience was marred by significant issues that cannot be overlooked. From the excessively long wait to the subpar food, I regret to say that my visit fell far below expectations. Upon arrival, I informed the hostess that I had checked in online, hoping to expedite the seating process. However, what followed was a series of miscommunications and unfulfilled promises. Initially, I was informed that the wait would be approximately 30 minutes. Unfortunately, after 45 minutes had passed, I approached the hostess again to inquire about the delay. To my dismay, she nonchalantly repeated the 30-minute estimate, completely disregarding the fact that I had already been waiting for over an hour. The young hostess was enjoying flirting with a young male more.

As if the prolonged wait wasn't aggravating enough, the ensuing interaction with another staff member only compounded my disappointment. When I expressed my frustration, another hostess or maybe the owner, approached me in a confrontational manner, attempting to argue that the establishment was busy and our wait was justified. While I empathize with the challenges faced by a busy restaurant, it is unacceptable to mislead customers by quoting an unrealistic wait time. I politely reminded her of her previous statement, highlighting the contradiction between the promised 30 minutes and the actual two-hour wait. I later found out through another customer that the owner had approached the hostess and asked her if she had told me that the wait would be 30 minutes— to which the hostess denied ever saying 30 minutes. The lack of accountability and the confrontational attitude displayed during this encounter further soured the experience.

Once finally seated, the only positive aspect of the evening emerged in the form of our waitress. She exhibited attentiveness, professionalism, and a genuinely positive attitude, which were commendable given the circumstances. Her presence was the sole reason we decided to remain at the restaurant, hoping that the service would compensate for the earlier disappointments.

Unfortunately, the respite provided by the waitress couldn't overshadow the culinary letdown we experienced. The food arrived at our table cold and some items were warm but certainly not hot, and the quality of the fish was subpar. Such blatant negligence in maintaining food temperature and the lack of attention to detail regarding the food service detracted from the overall dining experience. It was evident that the kitchen failed to meet the basic standards of quality and freshness, which greatly diminished our enjoyment of the meal. We had shrimp Alfredo which despite being cold had a good flavor, oysters which were overpriced but tasted like oysters, catfish which was mushy and tasted like raw fish, the gator bites were a joke, they looked like crumbs on a plate and not worth what they cost. The fish was sent back to the kitchen and the cook apologized and the item was removed from our bill.

In conclusion, my visit to DeSotos was a regrettable experience that I can’t overlook. The combination of an excessively long wait, a confrontational hostess (owner?) and subpar food left a lasting negative impression. The only saving grace was the exceptional service provided by our waitress Madison. In addition, the restaurant had an unpleasant odor reminiscent of stale seawater, likely due to the fish tanks on display. The bathrooms were horrible, smelling of raw sewage with overflowing trash cans. So in light of the overall experience, I cannot recommend this establishment to others. I hope that the management takes this feedback constructively and attempts to rectify the issues to ensure a more satisfactory dining experience for future patrons. This once decent establishment needs a reality check and should value its customers rather than taking them for granted and expecting patronage to continue simply...

Haven't been to Gulf Shores in 4 years, this summer we returned and was looking forward to Lunch at Desoto. In the past this was our daily lunch place while on vacation. How ever the service and quality has declined tremendously.

First the good. Despite being crowded the wait to get a table was only a few minutes. The free iced tea is also nice.

Now the bad. The server seemed to be annoyed by my requestes. I added an order of alligator bites when the serve was passing by and she seemed like it was an issue asking for something to be added to my order. She brought out the drinks and rolls (the rolls have always been a highlight).

A few minutes later they brought the alligator bites. The "remulaude" fasted like Pace salsa out of a jar, nothing like any remulaude I've had in the past. The gator bites was some crumbs on a plate, barely enough to get a taste between the four of us, way over priced.

Then we received our food. Our drinks were empty and she said she would bring us refills. I asked for more rolls and the server seemed offended by my request but said she would bring more.

My wife's Riviera salad had cold grilled chicken on it and no egg(the menu lists egg on the salad). For 16.99 you would think a salad would be great, however a grilled salad from a fast food restaurant would have been better, and cheaper.

Those refills eventually came, after we were finished with our meal. Not sure what happened to the rolls, never saw them nor were they mentioned.

When she finally brought the check there was 3%admin fre added. I questioned the charge and they said it was for using a card. This is not mentioned on the menu nor is it posted. They told me the menus were printed before the charge was added to the pricing.

Good bye Desoto's you are no longer the same restaurant. I asked if there was new owners but it is the same owners. Not sure what happened...

We did not find De Soto's until the last night before we left or we would have gone every night. We had a seafood platter that had a variety of different delicious items. We were excited that they had grouper for a $3 upcharge and had it broiled. It was the best grouper we've ever had and was broiled in butter. It was so good that the first bite literally sent a chill down my back. My wife and I shared it and ate it in smaller bites to make it last the entire meal! The oysters were fried and were fresh and perfectly cooked so that they were creamy and delicious. We had fried shrimp that were also excellent. If you've had shrimp fresh off the shrimp boat, you know that you can taste the freshness because there is a special taste that disappears not long after they're caught. If you've not had it, then order the shrimp so you'll learn what fresh shrimp tastes like. We also had the sweet potato casserole that tasted like dessert -very good. A surprise that I've never seen before is that they have excellent rolls (baked like small loaves of bread), two kinds a white roll and a dark, almost black roll. The dark roll was called a Bavarian roll and it was excellent. We overcame our embarrassment and asked for more of the dark rolls because the flavor and softness and texture was so delicious. The night we were there on a Thursday night, the other guests seemed to mainly be locals as we had heard that it was the favorite seafood restaurant of the locals. Of course, tourists like us make it harder for the locals to get into their favorite restaurant and for that I apologize as that has also happened to us here in our hometown. But don't feel guilty. We need to make sure there is lots of business for De Soto's so they are will be there when we get...