Coleman's Dock Of The Bay — Restaurant in Town of Alexandria

We showed up around 2pm on 7/2/25. The staff was odd. Asked for my ID AFTER my drink order. I showed her my ID but the interaction was off. The place was busy for the time and the staff was rushing around so I was told by the wife to order mojitos while she used the ladies room. So I order my wife two mojitos so she doesn’t have to wait for her first refill and I try to get myself a beer (I like to try her cocktails to review them). Our waitress responded to my order with “we are gonna need to see some IDs here”. Mind you: My wife was in the bathroom but the hostess sat us as a family of 4 and we walked right by our server. I guess she was implying I was ordering a drink for my kids!?!? Cmon Darlene. Maybe a 3 drink order is uncommon for you, but read the room. We were on vacation, with our 11 & 16 year old kids spending 200$ + at your restaurant, it’s not hard to be kind & courteous and help get what I would like without question. I asked for a beer list, she asked “if I wanted to hear what they had on tap?” No, no I don’t Darlene. I just want an ice cold beer plz. Preferably one out of a bottle, It’s 85 degrees, I’m sitting in the sun, and I’m getting no where with Darlene. Not even sure if I’m allowed to order a beer still, back comes Darlene for my 3rd attempt for a beer and she finally had our Mojitos in tow… by this time my wife is back so I’m thinking maybe this is my chance to order MY drink. Here’s my chance to get my “excessive” first beer… so I ask her “Do you have Heineken?” Nope. How about corona with a lime? She says “Now the corona we have!” Eureka!!

The mojitos were good, bartender knew their way around the drink menu. Offered my wife a special blueberry drink at the end of service and she enjoyed that. I had 3 beers. 2 coronas and an accidental lite corona that I tried to drink but could only drink 1/2 of. Lite beer is gross to me.

The food is hit or miss. Bang-Bang Shrimp was our highlight. Pretzel bites are greasy. The turkey club was a large portion. The salmon was covered in teriyaki sauce n ate OK. The bbq quesadilla came out with so much cheese the grease from it made it soggy and the meat was old. The fries were very gross. Mac and cheese was obviously a microwaved old batch, also a rough bite. The chips that came with the turkey sandwich were burnt.

The seating was nice. It’s great fun to watch the boats come in and out and try to park. We had lots of drama to watch with one boat crashing into a dock and thinking a car was in the water only to realize it was a corvette floaty. Darlene did come around and gave me the light beer for free. Overall I’m trying somewhere new next time. This was our go to. It’s ok to have to move on. Lots of other spots to try. Just 2 stars. Down from a...

This review is negative and it may not sound fair and balanced...But, that wasn't the only thing gone.. service was...Our middle-aged, likely experienced server, "D" (as we will call her) wasn't a good representation of the expectations of this business... and it wasn't just one time during service, it progressed worse as the service continued. We received the proverbial "how was everything" question, so I took advantage of that and replied that the 2 orders of appetizers were not served at a proper temperature (crab & lobster cakes) and that the qty (2 small pcs approx 2" in dia.) for the cost ($21) was unexpected. If we were sharing, it wasn't nearly a decent amount, and the quantity wasn't in the description for us to be aware of that. She merely walked away and said "OK". Never saw a manager...She also was asked a question earlier about the menu and snidely replied, "you knew what you ordered". We asked for the bill to be split, it was merely 3 bills, but since there were 5 adults and 2 kids, we were a party of 7 and they don't split the bill, apparently, when it's 6 or more.. which wasn't posted. The to-go order was a salad, hot dog and lobster bisque, was taking forever, a member of our party had to go chase down the whereabouts of it and moments later it came out, but we were advised at this time, that there was no containers to hold the lobster bisque, so we had no time to order a substitute.

She was asked to bring a to-go box, 3 times... Later, at the end of service, she was posed that request again to split the bill, and begrudgingly split the bill and was rude when she tossed them on the table at each party and walked away with no comments, such as, "I'll be back shortly to collect your bills" or such. I am a very good and reliable tipper, even for less than stellar service, but today, I didn't accept a rude attitude, when we were very easy to deal with, as we never got upset, just made requests and also were thankful when a drink was refilled or a finished plate removed. Someone was having a bad day, but we all agreed, this server, " D" needed to go home and recharge. She didn't have the ability to recognize our decision to eat at this location was part of her income and the success of that business. Unfortunately, it's likely the great experience wasn't good enough to cover the bad experience may well cost her and the business allot more because of this review and with all the other changes to the menu, we may not return.......

All started good, but ended quite disappointed - enough to leave this review after giving it some thought.

Drinks and an appetizer poutine were good, as was the atmosphere on the water outside. Pulled pork BBQ with the mustard sauce, haddock, salmon, and mac & cheese (side, not entree) were good. Mahi mahi was decent, but nothing special. Hence opting for 3 stars instead of less.

But the brisket... definitely tender, but quite dry and only had flavor around the edges. It was supposed to come with a creamy horseradish sauce, but didn't. We realized this and asked for some. Got 3 (3 brisket meals). One was mayonnaise. The creamy horseradish sauce improved the brisket some. The mayo did not and tasted awful. I ended up taking the brisket home to mix with some Dinosaur sauce we have.

Also, and our biggest peeve... one of the brisket meals was 1/3rd fat. The other two only had small sections of fat and were mostly meat. The waitress came and asked if everything was fine - we mentioned it - and she didn't care - just left. We expected her to return with "something," but no. It didn't matter. The same brisket meal had only one scoop of mashed potatoes. A second that ordered the same had two. WTH? That ended up not mattering a lot, because the potatoes weren't very tasty - quite bland. The same brisket meal with the fat only had a coleslaw container 2/3rds filled. One other was packed full and the third was half full. How does that happen in a pricey restaurant? And then all three given to the same table? The coleslaw was tasty though.

As a warning, the cornbread contains jalapenos. This is NOT our preference, so we didn't like it at all and would have appreciated an option not to have it. However, if it's your flavor, enjoy.

For the very high prices, we had hoped for good food throughout and definitely expected good service. Considering we're in the area annually (at least) and members of our party that night plan on coming to the area more often, it's the restaurant's loss...