The food was genuinely really good, and the atmosphere was lovely. It was shockingly nice temperature wise, even in the outdoor seating area, due to all the fans and shade. Our server, Susan, was super lovely and very attentive. I can tell this place is a local favorite for a reason. All this praise to say, I won't return because of their use of AI menus. It's genuinely extremely disappointing, because I really did like everything else. If it weren't for their AI menus, this would be a 5 star review easily. I wouldn't have gone here to begin with if I had known they use AI. Extremely disappointing. ** EDIT - With the knowledge of pulling AI Menus, I am extremely happy to say that I can wholeheartedly recommend Dockside Waterfront Grill. Thank you. read more

Dockside Waterfront Grill - Seafood Alfredo and Chicken Tenders - Seafood Near Me - Venice, Florida

The food was great service was excellent and the Miami Vice cocktail was excellent . The Miami vice Frozen drink which was a pina colada and a strawberry daiquiri together hit the spot read more

The ambience is excellent. The location is good. The service was good. The food? We had calamari appetizer. The calamari was nicely fried. The sauce? Eh. No real taste. Caesar salad with chicken. The chicken was ok, the Caesar dressing was tasteless. Also had shrimp quesadilla. Too much tasteless cheese. No spice at all. So, the quality of the food this evening was low. Also the Yelp waitlist or whatever was confusing and not much value. Will we return? Probably not. read more

A cute laid back restaurant that sits on the water. We were greeted immediately upon entering and then seated quickly. They seem to have steady business. We then proceeded and ordered our food. Our waitress was kind and answered any questions that we had. The menu is large and they do carry a lot of seafood items, but there are plenty of options if you don't want seafood, like salads, burgers, etc. My meal was fantastic and we got to sit by the water, which was awesome. It's a very cute place if you are looking for that island vibe. read more

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Food was excellent, service was amazing. I will definitely recommend them and return! Indoor and outdoor seating. read more

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First time here and it was great. Great service and the food was excellent. Loved the tables by the window with the water view. The grouper Reuben deserves a better bread option than sliced toast. I think this could be even better even though the piece of fish was excellent. read more

Dockside Waterfront Grill - Grouper Reuben - Seafood Near Me - Venice, Florida

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Nice friendly service - great location next to the water/marina - no one around to seat us when arrived , another couple came and eventually someone showed up (5pm not overly busy ) - food and prices were good and the staff was friendly . Calamari was bland and lacked flavor but everything else was good . read more

Dockside Waterfront Grill - Wife had the blackened mahi tacos (not shown) and liked them - Seafood Near Me - Venice, Florida

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Ambiance - ahmazing. Water views. Clean. A beautiful breeze coming off the water. Service. Ahmazing. From the hostess to our waiter. Just felt so welcomed - along with our pup! Food. Wonderful. Oysters Rockefeller huge, well cooked & delicious. Chicken quesadilla huge & stuffed with meat & cheese. Shrimp tacos, fresh & delicious. Wish we went back on our second night in Venice. Definitely will be back the next time we're here!!! Keep up the great work!!! read more

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Went for lunch and was very pleased. The shrimp ceviche was amazing and would go back just for that. The service was great and place was huge with lots of seats. read more

Dockside Waterfront Grill - Seafood Near Me - Venice, Florida

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Not bad to have a 10 minute wait when you can sit by a beautiful harbor with yachts and pretty boats! We went for lunch on a beautiful Sunday and chose here because they have good GF options and a kids' menu. Fantastic server who helped deliver all necessary info and great food. She brought extra shark gummies for three little girls when she served my shark rum drink! The fish taco options were great! Blackened grouper bite appetizer with two spicy dippers was yummy. Kids' hot dogs were ginormous! The dockside fresh air breezes in through the tiki. Those sitting at the bar have the nice harbor view. A great casual and fun place in such a scenic spot! read more

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The location was nice wirh seating g right on the marina. Had great service & food & drinks were tasty. read more

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Tiffany was our awesome server today and I repeated my order from last year which was the Fish and Chips and swapped out the fries for their homemade chips and "ranch sauce" and it was just as amazing as last year! Terri order up the Blackened Chicken Alfredo this year and it was fantastic! The Fish was a very generous portion and flaky with just enough of a crunchy coating to make it perfect. Oh yeah..can't forget the Chowder Soup that was loaded with clam and potatoes...very good! The Blackened Chicken Alfredo had enough seasoning to give it a kick without being too much and the pasta and sauce were perfectly executed. While it reminds me of an old school Florida FishHouse I'd have to say that it's an upscale fish house yet retains a reasonable price level. I hope that we get a chance for a three-peat with Dockside Waterfront Grill it's definitely one of our favorite places. read more

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Food was excellent. Service was excellent. Ambiance was marred by the smell of sewer gas coming up from the ground vents into the outdoor dining area. They had live music, and the performer was good. Enjoyed the meal, but the smell changed what would have been a great experience into one that was simply okay. read more

Dockside Waterfront Grill - Blackened scallops broccoli and asparagus. - Seafood Near Me - Venice, Florida

Lovely, good food, wonderful water views, fun atmosphere, great location. Full bar, very friendly waitstaff.

Join the wait list... or really wait. It's open sir, little actual "dockside" view. The Cobb salad was nice, the blackened shrimp were cold with blackening season, quite disappointing. Conversely, my friends blackened shrimp was swimming in overly hot blackening seasoning. Drinks were good, service was attentive. It's slightly better than bar food, food. If you have to wait more than 10 minutes.. go somewhere else. read more

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We went up to Venice for the afternoon and thought this would be somewhere delicious to have dinner. It's tucked back off one of the bridges. They have abundance of parking. We ordered the Crab Mango Stack as an appetizer; it was well presented with fresh Mango. My wife and I both thought it was okay, for how nice it looked and the ingredients we thought it would have more flavor. We both had the Reuben sandwich, one with fried Grouper and one with the fish of the day, which was Red Snapper, which I had blackened. We both had the famous "chips" as a side. The one we got with the fried Grouper we substituted the bread for wheat instead of rye. The wait staff was, generally, friendly and helpful. Our waiter was very friendly and attentive. The restaurant has a large bar, patio dining along with "inside" and tiki dinning. All seemed nice, we sat in the covered area, but it was considered outside. So... now onto the main course review - the famous "chips" were unseasoned, several of them burned, and mostly just blah chips. The Reuben's had nice size pieces of fish. Neither sandwich seemed to be missing the Thousand Island dressing seemed. Overall, they were not very flavorful including the blackened seasoning. The prices are mid-to-high for the quality/taste of the food. read more

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My wife and I stopped for lunch after visiting craft show in Venice. I had the lobster roll combo while my wife had the fish and chips. My lobster bisque was tasty and the lobster roll very good. My wife's seafood chowder was great and she enjoyed the generous portion of fish and chips! The waiter was very efficient and attentive. We ate inside and the waterfront view was excellent. Would highly recommend this restaurant. read more

Dockside Waterfront Grill - Lobster roll - Seafood Near Me - Venice, Florida

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Food. Service. Water views. Many items to choose from with seasonal menu as well. What more could you want? read more

Food was not as expected. Very poor quality. Service was ok, until we had to send a plate back for being overcooked, then we were basically ignored. Prices definitely did not reflect food quality. $40 for overcooked scallops, $32 for dried out, overcooked Grouper. Management indifferent and nonexistent. Never again. read more

Excellent service; big place right on the water, and best grouper in the area. I came twice over the long weekend for a blackened grouper sandwich with the sweet chile sauce instead of tartar, which was excellent and the best cornbread crusted top salad out there. Love my trips to grandma's house with at least one mandatory trip to Dockside every visit. read more

Dockside Waterfront Grill - Loved the sweet chile sauce for my grouper and sandwich and best corn salad ever - Seafood Near Me - Venice, Florida

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We've eaten here twice and this visit. First time there were four of us we start out with drinks and the iced tea is excellent. Hubby's beer was nice and cold. Hubby and I started with a cup of their seafood chowder and it is incredible! He had blackened shrimp with their homemade potato chips and loved it. I had grilled shrimp with fries and corn salsa and it was very tasty. Friend had grouper with roasted red potatoes and broccoli. He enjoyed it. His wife had fish tacos and said they were great. It was a very pleasant evening and if you're not outside, they broadcast the sunset via a camera. We went today for lunch and were seated fairly quickly. We decided not to wait for a table on the patio, but ate inside. We started with a bowl of seafood chowder each, and then shared the fish of the day: red drum fish with a side of corn salsa, and their homemade chips. The waitress did an excellent job of describing the fish - - Flaky, mild flavor and tender. We really enjoyed it and that was enough food for us. read more

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Susan was our waitress today for lunch. She has been here with Dockside for ten years. Lovely personality and very knowledgeable about their excellent menu. Today I got my usual The Mango Crab stack. Hubbie got a fried grouper sandwich. Food is so good. We love this restaurant! Excellent service and food. Not to mention the view of the water and boats is so beautiful. Highly recommend! read more

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This is the place for DOGS. They are on the beach and the breeze flows through the restaurant and the staff are so awesome. We went a little after the lunch rush, two large dogs and the four of us. The ambience was just like being in Aruba. So we started with the raw oysters, I think they were from the gulf because they were huge!! Decently priced. My husband and I shared a salad and we had the blackened fish tacos. My son had the fish entree, and my other son had a burger. Everything ws fantastic. The bathroom was clean, the service was great and we had enough room between the tables to lay our two 100 pound dogs on the ground comfortably without bothering the table next to us. Love this place. read more

In town visiting family and we went here for dinner. I have to say, the food was a hit and miss but the misses definitely outweighed the hits. The service was also subpar. We got the calamari and I had a taste of the clam chowder, both delicious. However I ordered the crab cakes and seared tuna fish , both were verrrry... disappointing. Especially the crab cakes, which tasted more like a paste than a cake. The asparagus side we had with it was also a let down, chewy rather than crunchy. In fact, my entire family was disappointed with the vegetables at this place. I spent the entire night just munching on some coleslaw which wasn't bad. What made the night especially frustrating though wasn't even the food. It was the service, our waitress came to our table immediately when we sat down but we hadn't had a chance to peruse the menu so I asked for a few minutes. She disappeared and never came back, it took forever for us to even order drinks. That became a theme, she was a ghost the entire night except for times we spotted her chatting in the corner, which is fine but on multiple occasions we needed refills and my sister needed water. Overall, frustrating to get service. I added a star because the ambiance with the sunset and the live music was great. Also wanted to mention: we went here last year and came back because the food was amazing back then. Ordered the exact same crab cakes off the menu, they were just terrible this time. My entire family tried them, we all agreed. read more

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Great, on the water spot with a Sunset special! The service and options change and steer always tasty! Fill your lungs with that invigorating set air as the chill sets in. Kids(even furry ones) are welcome... read more

I didn't plan on being in Venice that Friday, but once I read the Yelp reviews for Dockside Waterfront Grill, I definitely planned on dining there. Oh, Yelp universe, you never disappoint. It's right there on the Tamiami Trail (U.S. 41). It's north of the historic downtown, west side of the road, near a small bridge. Look for the big tiki roof, the boats and the bright aqua building (nothing's ever sounded more Florida than that and I love it) I was there at lunchtime on a Friday, which made me nervous at first. But this is a big place... with lots of seating under the huge tiki roof, semi-inside-adjacent to the large bar and in the covered patio area. The latter two locations have views of the gorgeous marina. And despite being just off a busy road, you'd never know it. It's very chill and relaxing on the marina side--and I couldn't get the "Gilligan's Island" theme song out of my head. I could have easily done a three hour tour here, but I had to get back to Tampa. So I appreciated that the food came out quickly. My server was excited about their daily specials, but I had spied the grouper sandwich on the menu and in some Yelp photos-and my heart/stomach was sold. It was $25 for a blackened grouper sandwich and fries-which is more than I'd usually spend on a regular Friday lunch-but the setting was so nice and the quality so high-it was worth every penny. The grouper was cooked to perfection, excellent texture, the spices had just the right amount of heat-and the fries were tasty and right there on the crispy outside/soft inside scale. I devoured every crumb, from the cute metal tray. It more than made up for the disappointing margarita (just my take. Everyone has their own 'rita preferences). My server was very efficient. Parking was a breeze (either in the private lot or in the overflow area, under that aforementioned bridge) and I had zero wait to be seated. I will definitely come back, any/every time I'm in Venice. If I got shipwrecked here, it would be just fine. read more

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Normally very busy but usually good service. A bit pricey, but nowadays you expect it. Great Grouper Reuben and in-house chips with ranch dip. Water is calming, but the view is limited. Mostly boats in the marina. People can be loud, but one of our favorite places to eat. read more

If I can order one last meal before I leave this earth, it might just come from Dockside. This place has it all. Ambiance. Terrific service. Refreshing drinks. Tasty food. And Yelp waitlisting. You'll want to use that wait list option. Trust me. This place invites a crowd no matter the season. Once seated (wait list was right around an hour on a Thursday) we were promptly greeted by Tristian (sp?), a diligent server who offered some great, and honest, recommendations. We chose to be seated in the main dining room, although you can also eat at the bar or the tiki. The menu is seafood heavy, with many ways to have your seafood prepared. Apparently the grouper and lobster are the top dishes, available in many forms. We started with the crab and mango appetizer and oyster Rockefeller. For our main dishes we enjoyed the Lobster Lover, Two lobster Rolls, scallop Linguini with vegetables added, and grilled grouper. Everything was as advertised, tasted fresh, was presented well and came out fast, but only after we enjoyed our appetizers. Management was also present. Checking on the occasional table (but not ours this evening.) The young ladies working the hostess stand were not exactly nice, happy or friendly but they are young kids, so whatever. It wouldn't change my opinion about this place. If your find yourself in Venice and want a solid meal, this is your spot. read more

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Yummy Lobster Bisque and Calamari!! Very friendly staff! Priced fairly! We have been there twice this week! read more

Dockside Waterfront Grill - Seafood Near Me - Venice, Florida

Went here with the in-laws and was so delighted with the food and service! They were able to bring their pup in as we sat outside in the tiki / bar area where it is well covered and they even have up netting on the "walls" to prevent bugs and wind. We had, Tiki Chicken, Fish Tacos and the Chicken quesadilla which all were super delish! Can't wait to add this to the rotation! read more

The food is decent. The service is good. The ambiance is great. Right in the water. The grouper bites were good.

Outstanding meal of shrimp & scallops. The corn salad side dish was excellent. The red-skin potatoes were just OK. Shrimp Bisque & Caesar Salad were also good, though the salad was a little watery. We had some good cocktails while we waited and my Sauvignon Blanc (New Zealand, of course) was excellent. Beautiful view of the marina and the setting sun. The only drawback to this place is the VERY long wait times. You can put your name on a list, but they don't take reservations. But it was worth it. read more

Dockside Waterfront Grill - Shrimp and Scallop dinner with corn salad and red-skin potatoes. - Seafood Near Me - Venice, Florida

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I love that Dockside has the waitlist option because we'll join during the post beach - getting ready for dinner - time and by the time we make it to dockside we are close to 10th in line. Place is always busy but they are a well oiled machine with plenty of friendly staff. Highly recommend the fire coal marg (very spicy but you can request less so!) and ahi tuna nachos. read more

Dockside Waterfront Grill - Fire coal marg with tajin rim! - Seafood Near Me - Venice, Florida

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The server was super friendly and polite but she disappeared after our food was served! Disappeared! I order Oyster Rockafeller. Very, very disappointed! There were very hard pieces of shell? Rocks? Something in them! I have never experienced this before! Server never checked back, I only ate 3 of my oysters and she ask no questions about our food read more

That with wast short on a Saturday 5:00. They put us out with a water view. The server was spot on great with recommendations. She was very attentand helpful. The menu was full of choices if you like seafood. Food came out in a respectful time. Everyone loved their food. Highly recommend this establishment. read more

Food fresh , excellent preparation. Relaxing atmosphere, good service , friendly staff read more

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I'm not sure how I feel about this place. I like the fact that it was in a harbor but it's not easy to access if you're unfamiliar with the area. It was nice to be able to add ourselves to a waitlist. Upon arrival we were able to get real time updates on our position in line. We waited at the bar which was ok. Plenty of fun cocktails on the menu. However, they're expensive and the pour was mid at best. Our server was great. She was fun to talk with a plenty of energy. I had the blackened grouper and it was good. No different than any other restaurants. The sunset view of the sunset was pretty. The patio is a great place to sit since it's bright from the sunlight. The tiki area is darker and reminded me of sitting in a cave. Overall, in a land of so many seafood restaurants, Im glad I tried Dockside to say I've been here. read more

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We visited again on March 29th. This visit was awesome. So many dining experiences have been less than perfect lately. We were greeted warmly. Had a delicious cocktail at the bar and then seated with a water view. I love seeing the pelicans. Matt was our server and he was excellent! He answered all of our questions and made us feel special. We had the grouper bites the tuna nachos and the lobster lollipops to start. Everything was perfection. Cocktails were also very good. We took lobster ravioli and lobster rolls home and they were also delicious. Thank you Matt for making it a wonderful afternoon read more

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We really had a nice visit here at Dockside. We enjoyed the wine list and variety of fish options. Everything was served promptly and with a smile. The entrees were delicious. There were 4 of us who each had something different. I don't think you can go wrong. read more

We frequent Dockside and usually enjoy it. I hope today wasn't a sign that things are declining but it felt that way. Check in via yelp was a disaster - we waited 40 minutes when they said the wait would be 20. When I inquired at the hostess stand they told me I hadn't checked in upon arrival even though I did it at their kiosk! Then our server took 10 minutes to even ask for our drink order. Food took forever. One meal (cheeseburger) was cold like it was ready first and then waited on the side for other entrees to be ready. I hope today wasn't an off day and not a sign of things to come. read more