Alligator Soul Restaurant — Restaurant in Savannah

2025 updated birthday review: We went again for my birthday this year. We each had the night's specials as our entrée.

*I had the medium-rare venison. The collard greens were delicious, the same as the year prior. The potatoes were my favorite thing on my plate. The venison... my friends loved it, and one of them said it was her favorite. For me, it was extremely spicy that evening (which was not disclosed in the description given). It was perfectly cooked, and I believe the flavor would have been phenomenal, but the overwhelming spice made it extremely difficult to eat for me. I ended up taking it home for my husband. Like I said, though, my friend loved it and wished she would have ordered it.

*Pumpkin Swordfish: Hands down my favorite dish of the evening. It was perfectly cooked and seasoned. Exceptional flavor. The gumbo rice was delicious, as was the asparagus. What's odd is the server told us the swordfish had the Cajun spice on it, the same as the butter for the bread, but it was not spicy at all. Whereas the vension was extremely spicy. I ended up eating about 1/4 of his swordfish, and it made up for the venison.

*Deviled Crab with Lobster Bisque: Very delicious. Substantial amounts of crab and lobster. Truly delicious.

*Peanut Butter Pie: Very rich, very delicious, took half home as the portion was very large. Enjoyed it just as much the next day!

*Bananas Foster Cheesecake: Just as good as last year. I really enjoyed the caramelized bananas and pecans.

Overall, it was still a fantastic evening and dinner. We'll probably go again next year for my birthday. I enjoy dining here, and the service is always exceptional.

2024 birthday review below:

Phenomenal. Absolutely Phenomenal. I finally made it here for my birthday after years of anticipation.

First impressions: beautiful, elegant, and private. Set underground with brick walls and chandeliers. Our server was Charlie, and he made the experience terrific.

Drinks: Old Fashioned 5☆ Alligator Lager 5☆ Sangria 5☆ Espresso 5☆

We started with Alligator Fritters. They were delicious, served with a wonderful puree and mini sweet peppers.

We also had fresh, warm bread with herb butter. It was terrific in between dishes.

The chef served us each a compliment sample of crispy Mahi Mahi skin on top of corn puree. Perfect pairing.

I eat dessert first, before my entree. I want to enjoy my dessert before I'm full from the entree. So... Banana Cheesecake. 100% yes. All the yes. The cheesecake was wonderful and full of flavor. The bananas were slightly caramelized and reminded me of creme brulee. Fantastic.

Entree courses: we all had the specials.

Antelope with collard greens cooked with ham. Crispy fingerling potatoes. Garnished with perfectly cooked carrots. 5☆ all the way. The Antelope was so lean and tender, cooked to medium rare. I'm not a medium rare person, but I went with the chefs recommendation of medium rare. I am so happy that I did because medium would have killed it. The fingerling potatoes were so crispy on the outside and fluffy inside. Heavenly.

I paired the Antelope with a Cab Sav recommended by our server, Charlie. Perfect pairing, very light oak.

Blackened Red Fish, on top of a bed of gumbo, rice, and hoppin' John's (black eyed peas). My friend loved it. He said a 3/10 on the spicy scale, most of the "heat" was the blackening on the fish. He also voted 5☆ on his dish.

Second dessert: the chef's special. I can't quite remember the name, but it was a multi-layer cake with lemon and raspberry. It was beautifully presented. While it didn't live up to the cheesecake, my husband loved the cake and ate every last bite.

Finished the evening with a shot of espresso, presented with a sugar cube.

At the end of the meal, they gave me an adorable set of pralines for my birthday.

I can't wait to go back. We are already planning our next night out. Absolutely...

We found this just before leaving Savannah a couple of years ago and were just blown away. The only thing we found odd was they pair such an amazing ribeye with French fries. They are really good fries, though so it didn't matter. There were no tables and we didn't have a reservation that time, but elected to dine at the bar and we were delighted with absolutely everything. We vowed to return for the full dining experience, expecting a more romantic feel with the service and atmosphere. Finally, we were able to get a weekend reservation on my birthday Sunday night.

As we were greeted by our server, she asked if we are celebrating anything. We affirmed that our anniversary was the day before and it was my birthday.

After we ordered, we got our drinks and before anything else was delivered to our table, she brought two little "gift" boxes and placed them on the table and said here's your gifts for your anniversary and one for your birthday. Then she placed our knives and rushed off.

After that, the rest of the meal seemed very rushed pace, as we hadn't even finished our appetizer when they delivered our meal, so we had to set the big plates aside to enjoy the rest of our alligator trio. That was the only remarkable food of the meal by the end of the night. I was so sadly disappointed with the smoked duck. It was so dry and the bed of whatever that was underneath was very forgettable. I found the middle slice of duck tolerable, but the ends I couldn't even put my knife through so the kitchen had to know as they sliced and plated. By the time she (and later the manager) offered to make another, we were ready to go home.

The air vent was pointed down directly at our table and the chairs were not made for long meal dining and comfort. The dining area is very loud from conversation all around you, which is expected in an underground, but made it nearly impossible to understand our server most of the time. Perhaps that was mostly due to the covid mask, so it's hard to fault her or the establishment on that point because we do value her safety and appreciate them for accommodating the public. Unexpectedly disrupting our evening-- two different times-- small children escaped and led parents chasing from a nearby table through all of our tables and chairs. I was just sadly disappointed with our "romantic dinner" and ready to get out of there.

However, we have an annual tradition of re recreating one of our favorite first dinner date photos and the chocolate cake here was similar enough to the one we find every year on our anniversary celebration, so that was worth staying a few moments longer.

Oh, and the little boxes from the beginning of the night...we ate those little mini pecan tarts the next day. Perfect when you crave two bites of pecan pie, but honestly not impressive compared to any other place we have been that sends you home with a boxed treat after dinner.

I think the best way to see what we expected of this place would be to see my reviews and photos of places like The Garlic in New Smyrna,Fl and Voodoo Bayou in Palm Beach Gardens, Fl to mention only two from recent memory. Other memorable recommendations include: Danny's or Angels in the Park with Chef Rosario in Hot Springs, Ar. Bordino's, Fayetteville, Ar. Connors in Huntsville, Al. Kaldera in Pella, Iowa

Alligator Soul will sadly be dropped from my favorites list after this...

I decided after a long day to try to find a restaurant that had greater than 30 minutes to close. My plan was to arrive with an hour but I got a little lost and between that and identifying parking and the little walk I got there at 9pm. Instead of the 845 I had in mind. Their closing time was posted online for 945, also I'm glad to say that when I departed, there were still a fair bit still dining ( i try my best always to not overstay past closing).

I arrived hopeful and curious with a party including a little one. On entry I noticed two tables in my direct view unused. Usually when I enter a restaurant of any type, I am greeted. Somehow this was lacking here, I was looked at when I entered and nothing was said, I got a raised eye brow at best and the facial gesture to prompt me to request what I wanted. I was taken aback by this 🤔, I actually cannot recall this happening in any recent years in my visit to any eating establishment, whether it be huddle house or Belfords which I had a pleasant time at just two days before. And here I removed a star for service. I asked for a table and was appreciative that one was available and provided, with a little high chair for the smallest member of my group of 3.

The restaurant is located down a short flight of stairs that are easy on eyes that see new construction many places. Inside it was intimately lit with the voices of patriots quite alive, perhaps from their voices bouncing off stone. It was a Thursday night and the place was fairly filled. A buzz of voices did make hearing our server difficult a large bit of the time, with some slight raising of our own voices, but it is to be expected and I do appreciate people enjoying a good time around me. I add this because if you are new to this area and believe this is likely to be a very quiet setting where voices don't carry and you expect to talk in hushed tones due to the low noise level inside, it may be unlikely, likely depending on capacity and time of day, the crowd wasn't a rowdy bunch at all.

The server was attentive and spent extra time to convey information about the menu, and answered my questions fully.

The scallops and shrimp with grits was good. The scallops had a great sear and the shrimp was delicious and well seasoned. The grits was interesting, some places make grits seasoned in such a way that you go home and dream about it, you may wonder was it the shrimp or grits that had you hooked the most. The grits here is like a well behaved bridesmaid, beautifully presented, and to be appreciated but in no way able to upstage the main event of the shrimp and scallops.

The wild boar pot pie was an ode to a favorite. What appeared to be pulled boar in the chosen sauce and vegetables ( vegetables that can only be discerned from the written description) atop mash potatoes with a puffed pastry on top. The pastry aside, the meal reminded me of the basics of the brutish boar atop the rough shaped potatoes. I made a comment about the meal to my server aside, however in essence the meal is likely as it was intended, somewhat a classic- for to what extent would you dress up a boar?

I tasted quality throughout my meal, and that was likely the greatest joy. I started only ordering certain meats privately some time ago, and I tasted the quality of the boar and appreciated that my potatoes weren't made to the point that they...