Gator's Dockside Ocala — Restaurant in Ocala

We visited Gator's Dockside Ocala in September 2023. They get crowded pretty quick. We went early to avoid crowding. First off I do not understand having the dockside name on this chain. This is the only Gator's that I've been too. But there is no dock anywhere within miles of this restaurant. It is surrounded by concrete and asphalt, nowhere near water. Second, the name kind of suggests seafood. Other than Gator bits or some fried shrimp, there is little on the menu that suggests water or dockside. Be that as it may, it's not a bad restaurant. It was mostly designed with wood. So it was comfortable to me. Although the wood chairs were pretty hard to sit on. It is a family restaurant that even has coin operated games/toy machines for your children to spend lots of money on. The wife wanted to come here thinking it had seafood. But with very limited options, she ordered a shrimp dish, that she said was alright, but she would order something else next time. I ordered 8 chicken wings and a Yuengling. The wings were very small, but weren't bad. But expensive since the actual amount of chicken I was served, was half the size of the wings at another restaurant we recently visited (that was actually dockside). The other restaurant also gave me more wings that were also twice the size, for similar money. My Yuengling came out as a buy one, get one free deal, that I didn't know about. But I guess it was a good thing, since the mugs looked to be about six to eight ounces each. So since one Yuengling was free. I guess one six to eight ounce draft Yuengling, was about six dollars. So either the one small beer was pretty expensive, or the two beers is just a ploy to make you buy two beers at a not so bad price. I find it to be shady. They have a lot of TV's. So if you want to watch football or such, this would be a good spot. Although it could get very expensive if you watched a game at Gator's. They even had one TV in the men's room. But the wife said that the women's room wasn't afforded this same luxury. I wonder why? So the food was okay, but seemed expensive for what we were served. The Yuengling beer was very good as expected, but ordering it seemed like a scam, that I didn't even know about when I ordered it. Maybe I didn't read the menu close enough, or it's not on the menu. (prices and such) The tables and booths were good looking, but the table seats were hard, but did the job. All in all Gator's was decent. We'll probably visit again. But I will pay closer attention to the menu and pricing next time. Plus we'll know a head of time that there really is no seafood to be found at this supposed dockside...

Pretty bad experience. Love the wings here, but ordered the tenders for the first time and was disappointed by how small and thin they are. They were also not as ordered. Still decent. Had to drop a few stars because my server checked on me only one time after I got the meal and never brought the wing sauce out that I asked for. Blamed the back of the house for that after finishing the tenders. Then brought sauce. Also another patron brought in a pet dog and sat right in the middle of the restaurant. A true service animal this was not. It stared at other guests and scratched itself like it had a bad case of fleas. Also with several flies around the food it just seemed a little dirty. The server also blamed somebody else about the sauce and said twice she told somebody else to bring sauce. The worst was the guy cleaning tables. Smelled like he hadn’t taken a shower or washed clothes in a while. This was more like a fast food vibe at a truck stop. Manager seemed not to care about anything and even though I was obviously having a bad experience didn’t ask why. Never did see the drink I ordered, either. Again after telling the server the drinks didn’t show up I was told it was somebody else’s fault. Overall this just got worse and worse when the servers started complaining about their manager while holding their confab in the middle of the restaurant. Then one server reached down to pet the poodle “service dog” because it was cute. Didn’t wash hands after that...

I’ve been here at least 10 times. Every time I’ve had a different server. Each time the servers give me the stank eye because I go alone. Little do they know, I worked in the biz (nightclubs and bars) for about 10 years, so I tip 30-50% because I understand the hustle. The last time I was there, this place was EMPTY, so there should be no reason that a cheeseburger and onion petals should take 20 min to come out. The burger was barely warm, and the onion petals were soggy and cold. My server was nowhere in sight the entire time. The only time I saw my server was when she took my order, and when she brought out my food. She never came back to see if I needed a refill (which I did), or to see if I liked my food. The entire staff seemed to be hanging out in the kitchen since they had barely anyone there. The bartender noticed I needed a refill and unexpectedly brought me one (thank you). My server was still MIA. Finally she came out to close my check. What a joke.

Unfortunately, this will be my last visit.

The food is mediocre, but priced okay. The service kind of sucks. The only server that was awesome when I visited once was Keishla. Everyone else seemed to be annoyed that I don’t drink alcohol and that I sit at a table by myself. The venue looks very dated, the lighting is way too bright, and the atmosphere is meh. This place needs an overhaul and some training on how to treat your customers.

The...