Gator’s Dockside

I frequent Gators on multiple occasions and always seem to have a terrible dining experience. Which makes me question my own sanity. The food seems to take forever. I come here after long days in the office just trying to unwind, have some drinks, grab a quick bite and head home. It takes 16 minutes for a side salad and 25 minutes for wingers and taters. Please, explain to me how that’s even possible? Well maybe it’s because the servers all stand around and talk to each other while the bartenders run around trying to play middle man and maintain somewhat of a decent clientele. I guess the plus side is that the drinks are cold and generally don’t have to wait on them. If it wasn’t for the bartenders, I’d never come here. I’ve still yet to ever see or meet a manager in here. It appears they’re too busy with the 10 customers in the restaurant and sit back in their office. Maybe they should be out more and make a presence felt on the customers and the rest of the staff. Maybe show that you care? It’s quite shameful and pitiful here. Especially considering how close to downtown we are and the multitude of other places I can go. I recommend never coming here if you’re in a hurry.

Service is ⁵⁰⁄₅₀. I have had equally had excellent service and had to walk out service. If service was at least ⁶⁰⁄₄₀ I would have given 4 stars.
Wing night is a hit and you can not beat the quality of the all you can eat wings.
Parking on the street can be difficult. But there are 2 parking garages in the shopping center, the easiest one to park in is Target’s.
For a sports bar this is excellent, there is an indoor/​outdoor bar, TV’s cover the walls, and beer prices are great.

I really love the location! Gators is known for their wings so when I got into town late on a Friday I figured coming here was a good idea. Close to downtown but much easier and free parking.
If you can’t find parking on the streets next to the restaurant you can go into the garage connected to Target.
The place has lots of outdoor seating and all the windows open to the inside. It was a cold night out so I didn’t mind the open air concept but was glad to be somewhat inside and way from the wind. Not sure how well this works on a Florida summer day.
Staff was really friendly. My BF & I must have been told to have a nice Valentines Day weekend 5 times. (we went the Friday before Valentine’s Day which was a Sunday)
We were starving so we started with the nachos appetizer. Weakest nacho plate I have ever seen! Maybe because Graffiti does an amazing and lavish plate and I love that place but the plate was small, the didn’t layer the ingredients and there wasn’t much meat.
We both ordered wings. They were good. I got boneless teriyaki which had a lot of sauce and good amount of meat not just all breeding. My Bf did the Siracha hot wings, he enjoyed them and the flavor. I feel like Siracha makes everything amazing!
Fries don’t come with the wings so we split a basket. They were supposed to be seasoned but they were pretty much plain fries with like 5 fries with a dash of seasoning.
Nothing special but good for a quick meal if you are in the area.

Great location close to downtown Orlando just 5 minutes south. Parking very easy in garage next door. Truly one if the nicest Gator Docksides I’ve ever seen and loved the outside bar ledge option. Plenty of tv’s — clean restrooms — friendly staff. Maddie was our server and was triple sat — when he sat down at the bar hightops — not her fault but she recovered quickly and was extremely attentive throughout our dining experience. Ruben was great — bread fresh — Hamburger bacon Cheddar was great — Nachos were OK = missing salsa on top and the chili meat had little to no flavor. Fast refills and overall very satisfied. Will return

This is a solid, decent sports bar. I’ve been here several times, and there are a few highlights:
— Convenient location in the SoDo area
— Ample outdoor seating amid a relaxing setting
— Plenty of tv screens for those who sit indoors or at the outside bar
— A large menu with lots of variety
There are some areas that could use a little improvement. The servers, while very friendly, are a bit forgetful… and have forgotten to ring up drinks /​food every time I’ve come here. The food is fine, but I’ve yet to try something I love. Of course, I’m probably just ordering the wrong things.
Overall, the location and chill atmosphere keep me coming back. This is a very relaxing spot to enjoy a few drinks with friends while watching a game or two.

After a long flight I decided some wings would be good and as this place is on my doorstep why not. The place was virtually empty, no host it manager just a server. I ordered my usual 10 breaded traditional all drums. Waited 20 minutes she brought out a mix of drums and flats. I refused the order. Told it would be 10 more minutes. She came back with 8 drums and 2 flats WTF not what I ordered. Got the hell out of there and went to Taco Bell. I shall be telling all of my neighbors about the great food and service at Friendly Confines down the street where I have never had an issue.

So I went to a doctors appointment next door at ormc… and decided to go to Jason’s deli located here at sodo, but while parking saw gators and had never seen it here before, so I decided to try it out. I’ve been to gators in hunters creek and dr. phillips but only on Mondays for their wings. I sit at the patio bar located basically in the parking lot. There was only 6 ppl at the bar but it took about 5 min to get greeted by a dirty blonde older bartender with a tramp stamp. When she finally says hi, I order a California club burger, water, Pepsi And shot of grand manier without hesitation… she asks for my I. d and gives me my soda and water, I literally hold my I. d out for about 10 min till the regular sitting next to me says, hey he has his I. d…she checks it and pours a basic shot. I finally receive my burger and it’s only been 17 min… I asked for a medium burger & its medium well… there was no lettuce tomato or honey mustard like it said on the menu. It tasted like any other burger that’s not fast food. overall the service is s#!t …the regulars make me feel like I’m somewhere in the country not downtown Orlando… I don’t recommend this place unless your only drinking and not Hispanic… or maybe even Monday’s. Go to five guys located in front, better burgers and fries. Personally I should have just gone to Jason’s deli.

Food not good quality. Sad to say even below average bar quality food. Atmosphere nice staff nice & good drinks

Average food and the worst service I’ve ever had. I suppose this is a cheap place to go grab a couple drinks. But don’t waste your time eating here it takes forever and the food is average at best.

Awesome food! Horrible service! Not even a busy night and our server came to my table 3 times and the 3^rd time I had to request from another server to have her bring a check and box.

The manager did contact me thru email. He said that he would look into the issue and assured me that this would not have happened had a manager been aware of the situation.
I will visit Gator’s again.

Service was amazing Fernanda was so great! When we arrived however, we weren’t greeted or even acknowledged. We stood for a good 4 to 5 minutes watching at least 7 to 8 servers and hostesses figure out t. v situations. It wasnt till I spoke up and demanded to be sat that we were acknowledged. A simple Hello we will be right with you would have been nice. Again, Fernanda was amazing, but the host staff and servers hanging out in front was unprofessional and annoying especially when the guest doesn’t get noticed. Thanks.

It’s close to home and they show the UFC fights. Decent wings but that’s about it. Wilted lettuce and limited menu. Food is meh

Service was horrendous. I went there with my roommate. We live across the street at lofts at Sodo. So I was extra excited to go check it out and become a regular especially since I live across the street. Once we ordered our food the waiter nickel and dime us for sauce instead of doing his job and recommending the obvious. Afterwards he just up and left and leave any hints. So we were waiting for him to get back to wrap up and head out but he didn’t inform anyone that he had left. So we were left without service for 30minutes and no one knew we needed help. It was a pathetic attempt of customer service.

LOVE the location here! Really pretty scenery in the SoDo complex that you can enjoy at a table inside or outside. I have been here twice now and both times had great experiences making me more excited for the next visit!
We had Dustin as our server the first time who was probably one of the coolest servers I’ve ever experienced. He was very outgoing and had our table very entertained! Our table of four agreed we would come here just to see Dustin! On this visit we had all just left the gym so we kept it healthy. I was very surprised by the healthier options Gators has to choose from. I was even more surprised by how yummy my plain chicken dish with broccoli was! My friends all really enjoyed their dishes also! (Especially the pork chops with sweet potato fries)
Our second visit we came here to try the burgers and wings. We started off with wingers tossed in a sweet chili seasoning (recommended by our server Maddie) and got burgers and sweet potato fries as our entrees. We both LOVED the wingers and we’re very happy the breading was very light with just the right amount of crunchiness. The burgers were AHHHMAZZING!!! Very good size, juicy with a great grill flavor. Sweet potato fries here are different then you find most places and they are sooo good! Just wish you got a little more :) Maddie was a great server and took exceptionally good care of us also!
We are sooo happy this location is open! Can’t wait for football season here!

Came here on a busy Saturday night and found a seat at the bar. The whole restaurant was very busy and I was pleasantly surprised to be greeted immediately by the bartenders and immediately served a drink. Eventually a few of my friends showed up and we ordered some food as well. The wings were delicious and came out fast and hot. The bar staff kept our drinks coming and no one at the bar seemed to have to wait long for anything.
There are a ton of TVs here which make this Gators for than ideal for sports fans. As someone who prefers to sit at the bar over tables, I love that part of their bar seating is outside. They also have tables outside for those who prefer that sort of thing. I’m ready for football season to start so I can spend my Sunday Fundays here!

Why oh why does Orlando South have so many sports bars? Are there any adults here that would support a nice bistro with good wines? I think the answer to that is yes. It would be so nice to not to have to travel to College Park or Winter Park for that.
I start with that because I knew Gators would be a sports bar/​wings place but I had always heard that there wings were EXCELLENT. I can honestly say that the wings were absolutely not excellent and they had nothing over the wings at Friendly Confines or even East Coast (which I really don’t like). So why do we need this? The menu was underwhelming and the atmosphere is the same as the other places that are within ONE MILE of this place.

We live nearby so I was excited to check the place out. I had been to the one in Gainesville so I knew what to expect. Really nice atmosphere in SODO but we did encounter a few problems. We ordered nachos (half) at the same time as our entrees. I guess they thought that meant we wanted everything at the same time. Thirty minutes later, the nachos came out with the food. Not ideal. The half order for $ 7.99 looked quite small, though we did order it to be made vegetarian so that may have contributed. Take a bite. It’s cold. The cheese isn’t nice and melted. It’s basically formed into one giant melted cheese orb. I got the wingers with honey mustard. Did not love that sauce at all. The manager came over and apologized, took the nachos off the bill and got me wingers w/​o sauce. They did their best to rectify the situation, and we appreciated that. Our server was also fantastic. And they did get 2 kids orders out right away. But the food was just meh — I prefer the Ale House zingers (and honey mustard). The fries also were unseasoned, and the cole slaw is not creamy (my preference). Will I be back? Probably, it’s a great place to watch games. Just won’t be ordering the wingers.

Finally a Gators on this side of town. They are located in the Super Target plaza in the old twist fusion spot.
It’s very open and Loud as you would expect from a sports bar! The food was good. I had the mac n cheese burger, I ordered it medium and it was cooked perfect. The bacon mac n cheese was a nice touch. my husband had the Hawaiian teriyaki pork chops. They were tender and tasty. The only complaint was as he got to the last couple bites, it was a little under cooked, we let the server know. She told manager, who came to table and apologized and offered to buy it. We refused since he ate 90% of it. Told him to leave on the bill, he did. The service was great. Her name was Jiku I think, she was prompt and really catered to our 5 year old which made the meal even better because he was happy! Great job we will be back!

Been open just 4 days now and the entire staff need a lot of work I literally had my chair bumped by waiters two dozen times and when I complained none of the managers came by the table to say a word. One pointed at me while talking to each server not a very pleasant experience while you’re eating, and the other one followed me out of the restaurant when my group was done eating. Very strange interaction.
I hope they turn it around I’ve never been treated like this before at the other locations.