Doc’s Seafood and Steaks — Restaurant in Orange Beach

We came during a time that wasn't busy (330 in the afternoon). Figured it would be an easy in and out.

Just overall disappointed. The outside appearance of the restaurant makes it seem like it's a nice, fairly upscale place to dine. As soon as you get inside the doors, though, you see the quality start to decline. From the cheap paper menus to the table top assortment of condiments and cafe style tables. Hmm. Okay. Our bad. We misunderstood what the restaurant was. After all, it had decent ratings on here..... and I'm always on the hunt for those hidden gem type places.

This one - quite possibly the worst food we have ever had.

The waitress wasn't the best. Just not very friendly and sparse in her attention. Didn't follow up with us to ask how the food was. She refilled his drink by putting a pitcher of soda down on the table and leaving us alone. (Which is fine-- but come back to check on us at some point).

We had an appetizer of hush puppies. They were cold. Flavor was decent..... but cold hushpuppies. Not even room temperature. Cold.

Their grilled shrimp was okay. I just expected more for the price I paid for the dish on the pick 2 combination. They were small. A typical small-medium size shrimp you'd pull out of a frozen bag, and that's exactly what it tasted like.

The grilled crab cakes (admittedly- a new dish for me to try). Were not my cup of tea. Not flavored well and extra spicy. Again- maybe this is normal. I do love crab. I just couldn't stomach it and after getting nauseated on one or two bites of it, I was over that one.

Not surprisingly the hush puppies on my platter were cold as well when our food arrived. The coleslaw.... if someone can explain this one. Were soggy, and dry at the same time. It was clearly old cabbage and didn't contain as much sauce / mayonnaise when you're making the dish that it needed to. So it had a dry taste to it, but no crunch because the cabbage was old. 2 bites of this and it was pushed to the side.

Has anyone seen our waitress..... ? where was our waitress to mention all this too ....? I am not usually a complainer when it comes to food. If it comes out wrong I generally just eat it. Rarely do I mention issues to the wait staff. And in the one case that I do want to-- no one is to be found.

There were 2 other tables in the entire resturaunt, they weren't busy so the lack of attention has us baffled.

His hamburger- cheap thin meat; and his words "McDonald's would have been better. The worst food he's ever had"

Our waitress didn't come back to leave a ticket for us to pay (maybe this is the normal here and you're just expected to pay up front without a ticket). (?)

Maybe we had our expectations too high, 10/10 would NOT recommend and will never go back.

Reader beware if you're choosing this...

Something’s fishy 🐟… and it’s not the seafood.

While on vacation, an airplane flew over the beach bragging that Doc’s had “the best fried shrimp in the civilized world.” Bold statement. Turns out the only thing civilized about this meal was how politely I paid the bill before crying into my hush puppies.

We ordered the “baker’s dozen” shrimp 🍤 and were served… 6 shrimp and 6 hush puppies. Not sure what math they’re using, but unless we’ve entered a new shrimp-based dimension, that is NOT a dozen. The waitress fixed it, but still only 12 showed up. A dozen is not the same as a baker’s dozen, Doc. This is basic Sesame Street stuff.

The baked potatoes tasted like they were dug up in biblical times, the coleslaw was as dry as the Sahara, and the hush puppies were so small they could’ve been marketed as croutons. The gumbo? Let’s just say it was not gum-blessed.

To be fair, the hamburger steak was delicious—though adding mushrooms and onions cost $5.99 extra. For that price, I expected the onions to be hand-carried across the ocean by Poseidon himself.

The atmosphere outside is nice with games to play, but the inside is not as cozy. We were seated practically in the kitchen, right by the back door. Employees came and went while dropping dishes and shucking oysters, and we sat at basic seating with cheap tables and chairs that felt more like a school cafeteria than a seafood restaurant. If I wanted a backstage pass, I would’ve signed up for “Kitchen Nightmares.👨‍🍳👩‍🍳

And don’t even get me started on the margarita 🍹… served with an orange 🍊. A lime? Acceptable. A lemon? Cute twist. But an orange? 😅 I guess they were just keeping it in the citrus family. Could’ve been worse, I suppose—they could’ve slapped a grapefruit on it.

Employees? Super friendly. Service? Fast. Prices? Outrageous for food that tastes like a 5-year-old’s first attempt at a cooking show. And if you want cocktail sauce, you get the DIY experience. Cute concept… if I hadn’t just paid restaurant prices for the privilege of becoming my own sous chef. 👨‍🍳👩‍🍳They need to offer the option to make yourself or to be served to you. Since Im making my own food do I get paid?👀 💰 I'm guessing that's a no because they offer to cook your own seafood that you caught that day but after catching it, and cleaning it they will throw in some hot grease for you and charge you $21.75 for said hot grease.

Final verdict: 2/10. Would love a refund. The staff deserves a raise, but the food? Straight...

If you enjoyed the Doc's Seafood Shack on Canal Road, but were turned off by how dirty and crowded it was, then you might like this location better. Same quality food and service, but in a much cleaner and nicer facility.

This is your typical Alabama "fry everything and fry it again" kind of place. Fried fish and shrimp (and fried chicken!) are the specialties and they're about like everyone else. Decent sized shrimp (unless you get them grilled, then they are mysteriously small) and generic whitefish of unknown origins. Sides are ho-hum, decent enough fries and green beans, but nothing to tell your friends about. Just a middle-of-the-road experience all around. Even the sweet tea is just "ho hum", although they kindly bring a pitcher to the table for your to refill drinks yourself.

The biggest detraction from this place is the cost. Oh my goodness is it ever expensive. I'm not kidding when I say you can get nearly twice as much food for nearly half as much at Fish River in Gulf Shores. When you're seeing prices in the $25-30 range for a plate of fried whitefish and shrimp, you know that these are "tourist prices".

One nice thing about the location, aside from the fact it isn't an insect-riddled hole in the ground like the Canal Road location, is that they inherited the previous restaurants' snazzy electronic order system. Servers take orders on little tablets and the food is brought to the table direct (and fast!) thanks to beacons in the tables that tell them where the food goes. That's pretty cool, but I can deal with a server using a pen and paper if it'll save me 50% for the same quality...