Gator's Dockside Baldwin Park — Restaurant in Orlando

What kind of rating would you give? I gave one in the middle. You read this, put yourself in my shoes and you give your own rating. I love that they have a covered outdoor area and are dog friendly. Our server was very friendly and accommodating. She was bussing her own tables when we arrived. I had the dog and was waiting outside for the wife to go inside and show up with the hostess for our table. I didn't know that she was our server at the time bussing her table. She saw me and asked me if I wanted a table and I explained to her that I was waiting. She finished her table and went back inside. The dog and I stood outside for at least five to ten minutes waiting for the wife to come out with the hostess. It was afternoon past the lunch rush and it wasn't very busy so I was wondering what was going on. Finally, our server that was bussing her own tables brings out the wife, menus, silverware, plates and took our drink order. Please note that there were several other employees inside the restaurant the entire time. All went well with the order taking process. I ordered wings, buffalo garlic hot and fries. I didn't think that was a difficult order to produce. When the food arrived, the wings looked liked lemon pepper instead of garlic hot. There was no hot sauce visible on the wings. I asked our server for some hot sauce. She quickly said yes and brought some to me. I poured the hot sauce on the wings and ate my fries first. They were hot and delicious. The wings however were cold and chewy. I went ahead and ate several of them because I was very hungry and they were a little warm in the middle but the last one that I ate was ice cold and I couldn't eat the rest. I put the plate on the corner of the table in hopes that our server would see it and make a follow up visit. She did and when I told her of the cold wings she said that she would bring some fresh ones. Fresh ones, no. She bought the same ones and they were soooo hot that they burned my mouth. Either cold or blistering hot. Great quality control there. How much are they charging for wings these days? Again, I didn't think that my order would be a difficult one. Look, I am no idiot. I have worked in food service and in restaurants since 1982. One of thise restaurants was an authentic buffalo wing restaurant. My guess is that the wings were put on the plate first then sat and waited for the rest of the order before brought to the table. When you do that, the wings get cold while sitting there. That is not a good way to prepare an order.

You have two choices.

Choice #1. You can time it correctly and do it right the first time and have happy customers. Or Choice # 2. Time it badly and serve cold food to be returned, do the work twice and have unhappy customers. It is your...

Visiting from out of town on vacation. I searched for restaurants specifically ones we did not have up in the midwest where we live. This one came up and had items that sounded great to try out! The drive was nice and the area was easy to get around and view very beautiful. Thought maybe it was not busy because it was a weekday so I imagine they may be more busy at night and weekends. The service was decent. The main waitress was Rileigh and she was very polite. There was another one that also drifted by. By decent she took the order, everything was received, refills were received, everything that should be done....however not the wow service. I had two daughters that were prior waitress plus I was prior too so I know this is probably how I would be as well sometimes but to get the extra higher tip you have to be extra bubbly, what I call the waitress voice that you pretend you are happy lol. But as I mention the service was decent good. The lower score is due to the food. The smothered cheesy chicken.....you would expect to be smothered cheese that is like melted and running off, however it was a paste instead. Daughter did not end up liking it unfortunately as wanting the mouth watering melted cheese. The Gators Nachos looks like it just drizzled some of the sauce barely there. Jalapenos were like a small pile. We had tons of chips with not enough cheese/etc to go with the chips. I don't recall the waitress telling my husband sauteed onions on his burger was additional fee so fyi if you get that. The fish and chips for decent. To be honest we just went to Harry Potter and Universal and had their fish and chips which actually had more fish than this plate. The wingers special were basically chicken fingers that were dipped. If you look at the picture you can see where it was not even dipped all the way. So for nachos, 3 drinks, asiago bagel, build your own burger, fish chips, wingers special and smothered cheezy chicken ...came to $84.43 before the tip. For the price, if the food was spot on with those changes than it would be well worth a...

Not impressed and knew we should have went somewhere else when we walked in.

We are visiting Orlando after leaving from Baldwin Park 13'ish years ago. We where there when Baldwin park was still developing.

We remember Gators and looked forward to eating there. Getting to the door, a note said they were short staffed, no big deal everywhere is short and we understand. Once walking in the Hostess just didn't want to be there. Both were busy taking notes, updating seating charts and what ever else to simply look up for 2 seconds to say welcome give us just a min. No big deal they are trying to handle their business. Then they both just walked away. One returned and mumbled to us how many were in our party, 2 adults and 4 kiddos. She then just walked away, we went sure to follow or wait, mainly because she was not communicating. She then started pulling two tables together and wiping them down, great! As she struggled pulling the tables the other hostess just watches her as she leaned on the counter and stared into space.

So the waitress finally came and she was not familiar with the menu at all. No big deal, we just want Saturday game day food. She had no sense of urgency or anticipation of needs like empty drinks, checking on other items needed, even up selling drinks.

The food finally came and it was bad, fried chicken tenders were hard as a rock, over cooked and tough. The fish was over cooked and possibly in old grease.

When I noticed the waitress she simply said sorry, either disinterested or not knowing what to offer.

I was so ready to just leave, I could have invested the time to speak to the Manager have the items removed or check adjusted, it just wasn't worth it to me, I just wanted to go.

Baldwin Park has become over populated and the retail has not kept up with the demand, again understanding everyone is having the staffing issues, unfortunately.

We won't be going back to Gators at all, very...