Dorado's — Restaurant in Surfside Beach

Visited the other day late around 8:45p. Seated ourselves and waited about 10-15 minutes before our server approached the table. She took our drink orders and then preceded to forget who had ordered what drinks. 2 sweet teas and one half n half. We were informed that the kitchen would be closing soon, to which we replied, "we are ready to order now!" We asked for 2 orders of stuffed crabs, ceviche, the Derado grilled shrimp, Mac n cheese, the fried oyster and shrimp, and Oyster Rockefeller. While waiting, our drinks run dry, and I have to wave our waitress down because she hasn't checked on the table. Takes my glass for a refill and brings it back full but with no ice. I say ma'am can I have some ice, but she isn't paying any attention having been perturbed by the request. A few minutes later, I again wave her down and repeat my ice request. Now mind you, some time has gone by, and it's after nine, and the kitchen is officially closed. She comes to the table and says there are no oysters for the Rockefeller. I say "ok can we get another order of stuffed crab then?" She said " I don't know the kitchen is closed!" OK!, but you still haven't brought us any food yet, which means they are still cooking was my thought process. But fast forward a few more minutes passed the lack of service and our food starts to arrive. NO EXTRA CRABS! The civiche was watered down lime juice and all tomatoes. My grilled shrimp was overcooked and chewy, plus the bed of elotes that it came on was just canned corn with seasoning sprinkled on top. The Mac n cheese was box craft macaroni and we were left highly disappointed. My friend said the fried oysters and shrimp were alright but nothing special and the stuffed crabs were good but everything else including our service was trash! Bad food to go along with poor service does not make for a good combo. If I do decide to give Dorrados another shot I will just get the burger. There were a few more low points I could go into detail to on the service but I will let what I've written speak for my experience. Having said that I won't say don't go here, but I would just caution you to adjust your expectations and you judge for yourself....you might have a better server and cook on a...

6/28/2025: We stopped in for a bite after hanging out at the beach. We needed a spot where my dog was welcome. The downstairs area is dog-friendly. The first level of the establishment is right on the water. It is very very casual. One guy showed up in swim trunks, a cowboy hat, no shirt, and no shoes. The area is open, so there is no AC in that part of the bar. They have large fans to cool the area, but I was still hot. They have large round picnic tables, high bistro type tables, and a bar seating area. The bistro tables have very uncomfortable chairs. They are those small metal stackable chairs. Some have backs and others have no backs. Even the tiniest butts would not find those seats comfortable. I stood for the majority of the time. Dollar bills are stapled to the wall and ceiling from previous customers each with a saying, a name, and/or the date. They have one unisex restroom downstairs. There was a line each time I needed to go. The crowd seemed to be locals and people who work there and recently got off their shift. I think that is pretty common in these type beach bars. The energy was happy and everyone was nice. They play great music. During our stay, I heard Elvis (twice!

The atmosphere is nice the restaurant is clean and the view is really pretty; however, our experience was subpar. The chips and French fries were the best part of the meal. The waitress (who might have been new, so I won't be critical of her) didn't know they had a Tuesday night special (I didn't know either until I looked at their Facebook page, after we ordered). She also didn't know what Texas beers they had on bottle, or tap. She was kind though and did provide a bar menu, she also brought more chips and refilled our drinks. Over all she did a good job! The staff was polite over all. The issue was the food. We (husband, friend, and myself) shared chips and salsa, the salsa is VERY sweet, almost like marinara with a few jalepenos thrown in. It wasn't the worst thing in the world, but it definitely wasn't great either. Our salads weren't anything fancy, big chunks of iceberg, with a few shreds of cabbage and carrot, basically straight from the processed salad mixes with tomato and cucumber thrown on top. Our food took a long time despite the restaurant being relatively empty. My husband and our friend ordered steaks both medium. When they received them the steaks were over cooked, the char was so bad all you could taste was burnt and bitter. The meat also hadn't been Seasoned prior to cooking. Our friends baked potato was hot and she said it was fine, however I noticed the potato was green around the skin. My spouse just had fries with his steak. Definitely not a $30.00 plate. My fish was warm when I received it, but the batter had lost its crisp which made for a soggy fillet. The fried shrimp had been fried so long the meat was rubbery and in some places even crunchy. The tarter sauce had a nice dill flavor, as a random positive. Over all I wouldn't recommend this place for food. If you want a beer/mixed drink and a nice view this...