Shipp’s Dockside Grill — Restaurant in Orange Beach

The food was delicious, but there was a catch. We heard that this was related to finn and fork / shipps harbor and we've liked both of those. If that's true the seafood, steak, and sides certainly lived up. We tried the upper deck and had several entrees and everyone without fail liked their meal. I had the filet mignon and so did my son. He thinks it's the best he has ever had, I'd say it was a definite top 5 contender. My wife had the mahi-mahi and it was solid, plus with the sauce it was pretty darn great. We also had a version of shrimp Alfredo which was again dynamite. All around, from fried pimento cheese, to tuna sashimi to grouper pontchartrain to the gumbo and even kids cheeseburger nothing on any plate fielded a complaint. Also worth mentioning, is the Gouda mashed potatoes, which were very yummy. I just really really wish the service was half as good. We showed up just before our reservation and the greeting was typical but I guess because our table wasn't ready both ladies working the hostess stand, just disappeared for about 8 minutes. It's not like we didn't expect to wait to be honest it was odd. We could see them at the end of a hallway just chatting away and taking peeks back at us. It left other folks with an equally odd experience when nobody was there to greet them for about 5 minutes. That's a long time for someone to come into a restaurant and wait to be greeted. We got sat and our waiter was a little like a duck out of water, not chit chat whatsoever which is fine except after dinner he started to open up a little as we are getting up to leave and he was very sociable. Would have been a better experience if he maybe wasn't so nervous. The only thing I could figure. Drink refills were slow as he only refilled 1 drink at a time by taking it and walking to the bar to refill them come back and grab the next one. Actually, this gave us something to talk and laugh about so in the end it was maybe a little enjoyable but again odd. I think the biggest service turn-off was as we were getting into our main courses, several staff members came out into the dining area and had a lengthy conversation, again odd and not what you expect. This probably all sounds like somebody who is pretentious but maybe you had to be there. Anyway, the food was easily the star and ultimately that's what you go for anyway, just they are so close to being maybe the best restaurant experience in the area and that would be...

Food allergies beware!!!

I ate here last night with my boyfriends family for his birthday and told my server I had a peanut and tree nut allergy when I ordered bc the menu does not list any details about the sides you get with your entree or the salad you get before. She assured me there was no nuts at all and that she would let the kitchen know. When our food came I took a bite of green bean and immediately spit it out bc I noticed there was almond looking things with it. Not sure if it was sliced almonds or garlic I asked our server “are these almonds bc I am allergic to nuts” and she confidently replied “no we do not use almonds” I was still unsure and had my boyfriend and his mom try them they said they definitely were almonds. So I had to go inside find our waitress who was then coming out of the kitchen to tell me not to eat them. This was extremely dangerous and I am lucky to not be severely allergic but if you have severe food allergies I would not eat here the situation could have been so so much worse. The staff is clearly not educated about food allergies and that is a huge safety risk for so many people. I was lucky to not have actually swallowed the food and had allergy medicine on me to take immediately and prevent a reaction but this is not the case for everyone with food allergies. They did get me a new meal which I did not feel safe eating and did not offer to comp our bill even just for my meal. Even after I tried to explain the severity of the situation they did not seem to grasp it and I would NOT recommend ever eating here with a...

This Shipp is Sinking!

Made a reservation 10 days prior but had to wait an extra 25 minutes when I got there for the table to be ready

Wasn’t told when I made the reservation that they only take reservations for the upper deck - not lower deck - and that the two decks have totally different menus. That was a huge problem because I was looking at the lower deck menu when deciding to go there. I hadn’t budgeted for the items on the upper deck menu, nor were they the right type of food for my high school cross country team that I was bringing there. When I got there with my high school cross country team, none of them wanted anything on the menu except the appetizers.

It was upsetting that they wouldn’t let us order off the lower deck menu especially given how large our party was, how long we had to wait for our table, and the fact that I told them we’d leave if we couldn’t order off the lower deck menu. Of course all of this could’ve been avoided if the person who I talked to when I made my reservation had been a better communicator. Also, the waitresses were very dismissive. The So we left before ordering anything. From start to finish, this was a very poor experience. On top of that, I saw a lot of the food coming out of the kitchen. While it looked ok, it certainly wasn’t worth $40 a plate which is what the prices are on the menu. Combine that with a subpar atmosphere, long wait, and terrible service… and you better believe I’m going to tell everyone I know to not go to Shipp’s...