Dockers Fish House & Lounge

Great views and outdoor seating. Average food.
The Good: Dockers is located overlooking the marina and has outstanding outdoor seating and views. They have a nice outdoor bar. My guess is that this is hopping at night. Guests enjoy having their pictures taken in front of the large simulated shark on the deck.
The Bad: We went with some friends who had been here several times and they were disappointed with the food. The lake perch was overdone and not very impressive. The rest of the food was OK but nothing special. I personally would have liked a few craft beers on the menu to chose from. All I saw were the usual big brand suspects; various budweiser, millers and coronas. Also, our waitress (Audry1) disappeared after serving the meal, did not return to fill water/​tea and we had to track her down to pay the bill.
Come for the outdoor seating and view; but don’t have high expectations for the food.

We went there on a Friday afternoon at about 3:30pm to get a drink and a late lunch. Went to the outside deck and was told to sit where we wanted. Waited 20 minutes and couldn’t get waited on. Two larger groups sat down after us and were given menues immediately, must be the wait staff saw a bigger tip in the larger group. We ended up leaving nd passed a wait person standing at the cash register texting.

The drinks generally cater to the young and uninformed with cheap beer and trendy sweet cocktails. We attempted to escape those with gin and tonics, but they were weak. Most wines were mass market, but our Sauvignon Blancs were good. On the other hand, the lobster rolls were really good, including the homemade chips. My daughter’s butter noodles were great and her corn on the cob side was appreciated. But none of these reasons are why you go here. You go here cause it’s fun to get here by boat and because the people watching is awesome.

Went with my family and the service was pretty slow. However the food was good. The amount of lobster in the lobster roll was substantial. Over all we had a good time and the restaurant is right on the water so the view helped.

After a long beach day, we wanted some seafood, good service, and atmosphere. Dockers came through on all counts.
We were seated quickly on a busy Saturday night. The service was attentive, cheerful, and responsive.
Most important, the food was delicious. The Lobster Fondue appetizer was the highlight. Crab Cake was full of real crab chunks, paired with two delicious sauces. Even the «Crabby Patty» sandwich was chock full of crab in between a delicious jalapeño cheddar bun. The fish tacos were the only «blah» part of the meal — not bad but nothing to rave about.
Highly recommend this place for families and fun!

If you find yourself in Muskegon, this is a little gem you must check out. It is off the beaten path but the location for it is breath-​taking. Right on the canal from the Muskegon Lake to Lake Michigan, this place makes you feel like you are sipping on drinks in Key West. The outside décor is humorous while giving a tropical, relax and drink all day kind of vibe.
I had a larger group with me and this place was super accommodating. Not many places with outdoor seating can I say the same thing for. It was as easy as pushing some tables together and enjoying ourselves.
Their drinks are creative and delicious as well as their food. I have nothing negative to say about Dockers. I plan to go every time I make it out to Muskegon and that is saying a lot since I typically like to try new places!

Went to Dockers after a 2 year hiatus. Just the same. Inexperienced young kids working for the summer doing the best they can without any bit of supervision. The signature dish in any lakeside restaurant, perch dinner, was obviously precooked & left on a sheet pan under a heat lamp until someone ordered it… plopped on a plate & served… with actually crisp, really good freshly made French fries. The location is just perfect. The food & service is mediocre & just not worth the price.

The service was horrible. We got to the restaurant at 2:40pm and ordered some appetizers and entrees. The appetizers came out after 15 mins. When we questioned our entrée order 40 mins later and started to complain the waiter told us «time out» turned around rudely and went into the kitchen only to return saying the order was put in, but we didn’t get our entrees until 4:12pm. They also claim to cater to gluten free but the staff doesn’t know the menu and ingredients very well. So please use caution if you are gluten free. And the food wasn’t worth the wait.

Great location right on the water, very friendly staff, but pretty awful food.
Way overcooked hamburger for my daughter (who is picky anyways and her vote doesn’t really count) and the basket of perch that was recommended was one of the most bland meals I’ve ever had. The chips and dip that accompanied it was okay but didn’t make up for the lack of taste across the board.
Very basic wine and beer options but it appeared they had some fun cocktails (but those are not my thing, so I didn’t try one).
I hope that their other meals are more flavorful but for «one of their most popular dishes» according to the server, I was extremely disappointed in my meal. Would not go back.

Great food, fun atmosphere! It is tricky to find the restaurant, but it’s worth the search. Plenty of outside dining, and watching the boats was fun. We had a large party, our server did a great job. We had the lobster nachos as an appetizer, then my husband and I had the perch special, and my daughter had the lobster fondue, which was enough for 2 more meals for her. They also have drink specials, which was nice, and some tasty mixed drink selections. I come to Muskegon for a week once a year with my family, and we all agree this will be on our schedule for dinner during our stay.

Disclaimer: I’ve been going to Dockers since the 90’s and you can’t beat the location and views. I’m probably a bit bias to the nostalgia that was the original Dockers as I felt they did things right. Granted, the previous owner/​operator was bit of a Wildman, but he employed a great chef and his mother actually made most of the deserts homemade from scratch. Gone are the days when the calamari was fresh and there were amazing sandwiches like an open face prime rib sandwich and an amazing fried fish sandwich.
In my view, Dockers now struggles to find it’s identity as an upscale and modern restaurant, or a seaside New England-​esque fish house. I have not tried everything on the menu, but what I have had always seems to disappoint. My latest disappointment came in the form of $ 16.00 fish taco’s referred to as «street taco’s» on this years menu. I’ve had fish taco’s from many different places, (probably the best in Costa Rica), and in theory these should have been better. The whole «taco in a taco» idea reminds me of a Taco Bell offering. The «crispy» corn tortilla was anything but, and there was way too much of the «fillers» that took away from the small portion of overcooked and dry Mahi. The fish should be the star of any fish taco’s. You shouldn’t have to add a corn tortilla to keep the flour one from getting soggy because you plan on adding so much filler to cover the fish. This «cost savings» or «profit first» idea is apparent in the a lot of things here.
I also think they need better management around event planning. My wife and I were married in early October 2012 and Dockers was at the top of our list for locations. However, after the late arrival of the woman in charge along with her clear lack of preparation or interest in working with us, we decided to go to the Lakehouse instead. (see my review on Unilocal). This came up again recently with the scheduling of a work event here. A colleague shared a similar story when trying to put together an event of 60 – 80 people. Again, the focus seemed to be more around «profit» than customer service.
I’ll continue to go back because of the location, but Dockers isn’t the first name that comes to mind when I’m thinking about great food. For me, it’s location, drinks, and appetizers.

The table and chairs were dirty when we arrived… it was not busy, but we cleaned our own table and chairs. Our waiter was very chill… so chill that virtually everything was an afterthought. And it was not busy. Decent drink specials… but not enough to disguise the fact that nothing on the menu is worth what is charged. Nachos are covered with corn, children’s items are covered with fries, no gluten-​free menu, everything is prepared as if you are willing to spend lots of money for a mediocre view. Won’t be back.

I went to Dockers this past Sunday with a few friends after hearing about how great their Blood Mary’s are. Let’s just say you won’t be disappointed, and well worth the drive from Grand Rapids!
The location is a little hard to find as you have to drive into a condo association to find the restaurant, but they have ample parking and are located on the marina. They offer outdoor, covered outdoor and indoor seating so everyone will find a place that pleases them. We arrived at noon and were one of the first people there and had great service throughout the day. Live music starts at 3pm on Sunday, if you want to sit outside make sure you are not next to the speaker its really loud once they start playing!
Now the food and drinks! Like I said the Bloody Mary’s are awesome! They are well flavored and come with a corona on the side, as well as the lobster claw in the drink. If you don’t like lobster or don’t want to mess with breaking it apart you can request shrimp instead. I ordered the perch it didn’t have a lot of flavor but was good tasting. My friend ordered the fish tacos they were delicious. I would order those on my next visit and skip the perch.
I would say overall we had a great time and can’t wait to go back.

Love the location and the view… they often have good entertainment. But lately, something is lacking. Service is extremely slow the last 2 times we’ve been there. And they seem to have plenty of servers, but they don’t seem well trained. When asked for drinks, they came ½ hour later. And our food seemed like smaller portions than we had previously experienced. Four days later, I found they had double charged my credit card! What’s up Dockers! We used to be such good friends…

Wife had the while fish. No flavor. I had a hamburger. They swore up and down it was a ½lb but no way. They are 1/​3s that they are calling ½.
Also, VERY NOISY.

Good Food, nice service and a great location on the bay.

The location is right on the water, with plenty of seating outside on the balcony.
We started with sweet Maine lobster fondue, it was very good, with great lobster flavor and kettle chips with onion dip, the chips were crispy and cooked to perfection.
I had to try the lobster roll, it did not disappoint, it was full of big pieces of lobster.
The clam chowder was full of clams with great flavor.
The salmon was big and priced right, it was cooked perfectly.
Other has fish tacos, crab cakes and perch and everybody was quite happy with there meal.
We had a big party and the service was top notch.
Good drinks, the berry lemonade was very good and I think at $ 130 a bottle, Caymus was priced fair.
I will be back next time I’m in Muskegon, hopefully with my boat.

Very bad service will look at other places before going back. Food is ok nothing special

The atmosphere:
If you can find this place (a GPS is very helpful!), I have dined here twice and had a great experience both times. I ate inside and out on the deck. Both were pleasant and the atmosphere is very laid back and comfortable. It is the kind of place you would go after spending time on the water, golfing, or whatever fun you might do and wanting to chill and feel like you are part of the party without the party! Hard to explain! Can get pricey but if you absorb the atmosphere of the place, it feels like you are on vacation!
The food:
The clam chowder soup is wonderful. The steak was tender and juicy and the lobster roll was very good (though I prefer my food hot and this is by design is a cold sandwich).
The wait staff:
You know, it seems that the owner hires people that are good looking whether male or female. I don’t think I saw any staff that were not fit and trim and radiated beauty and that was a bit strange. I remember thinking about what the hiring process must be like and how they might avoid discrimination issues. Both wait staff we had were competent and attentive and I felt like we were well take care of.
Summary: Highly recommended, give it a try and I think you will agree.

Seriously the best time I’ve had in Muskegon, MI. Atmosphere on a crowded holiday weekend was FUN instead of busy. AND IT WAS BUSY! Live music, cold beer, good food.
We had the «hot rocks» appetizer (Kitsch, but surprisingly delicious). Popcorn shrimp tossed in buffalo sauce, sitting on top of creamy coleslaw with sweet peppers and drizzled with bleu cheese dressing.
We had the perch slider, don’t skip this unless you’re getting a full-​blown perch sandwich. Yum Yum.
Servers were attentive and fast, we were STUNNED due to how busy they were.
We dined on the porch, felt the prices were extremely fair.