The food is great. The burgers are juicy. There are a lot of TVs, tuned to sports channels. This place can get fairly busy after work or on a game day. When the weather is nice, it's fun to sit outside at the bar and enjoy a drink during happy hour. And they are dog-friendly as well. read more

Been here many times, but last night was the last time. We got in around 9:00 and seated right away. The place was not busy at all. Waitress came and took our drink order. (2waters until we decided what we really wanted to drink) got them right away. Too our food order (a bowl of chili and a side salad is all we ordered) it's was late for us to eat (lord we must be getting old) soooo after 45 minutes of waiting and not seeing our waitress and watching others getting food . We looked at each other and said "time to go"! We get up from our booth and our waitress sees us and flags us down. We just looked at her and let her know "a side salad and a bowl of chili should not take 45 minutes" just because we had a bad experience last night isn't why we will not be going back again... it's because this has happened a few other times over the past year. Being locals, we love supporting our local restaurants. We have a date night every Wednesday. This restaurant is now off the list. We wish them well. read more

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. read more

First and most likely last time here. Even though the staff was nice, the food portions were not worth the price and quality just ok. My lunch companion ordered a steak and cheese sandwich. In my opinion, I get a better steak and cheese with more meat at subway. Practically no meat...usually my friend can't finish a whole sandwich, but was still hungry after he finished the meal. I had the brisket and pork sandwich. I have to say the brisket was tasty, but the overall sandwich was not pleasant and dry. Why American cheese, and not cheddar or something more suitable? Maybe we ordered the wrong things, as most around us had wings. read more

Fantastic service and hospitality! Really enjoyed the food and atmosphere! Thank you!

Good and relaxing place to hangout , and great deals of drinks , love their Tuesday bingo night

Been patient too long. Today was the last straw. Called in a to go order and it was never put in the system... No apologies, just it will take 10 to 15 minutes. Ciao. read more

Service ok. Food really mediocre at best. Especially for the price. Our mistake. Chain restaurants just don't deliver. Thrive on name recognition and maybe drinking patrons? Anyway. If you want decent food there are a lot of better places for comparable prices. read more

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. read more

I'm a frequent customer od this location. Typically not very crowded. But tonight it was busy. There was a wait however there were plenty of open tables. They refused to seat us and told us the manager would half to approve. After 10 minutes or so. The "manager" seated up but gave excuses as to why the service would be bad for us because he seated us. Makes no sense. You're planning to give us bad service? Then proceeded to argue with me when I asked him why. He told me I was a liar and basically told me I was stupid in his words. I asked who the GM was and what his name was. He refused to give either. Poor customer service. I left this restaurant and I will never return. Sad for a place I've eaten at regularly and have recommended. Never treat your customer as your enemy. Such a shame. read more

I have never experienced such horrible customer service at a restaurant as I did here. I arrived at the restaurant tonight to order some wings after shopping at the Sodo plaza. I sat down at the outdoor bar to place my order. I noticed the bar was not full and thought this might be a great night to give them a try. I previously went to the location by UCF while in college and they were great! I sat at the bar 15 minutes before I stopped a waitress and asked her for a menu and a Pepsi to go. She said she was out of cups and needed to go to the back. Upon returning she took my order for ten wings...She quickly placed the check in the glass I front of me and I paid and included her tip. Why I do no know. I am not thinking anything about the order until I realized I had been on my phone for over twenty minutes. I figured the waitress forgot about me since she was busy walking around aimlessly and/ or loading the dishwasher with cups. I stopped another waitress to ask someone to check if my food was ready. That waitress continued to service other customers until the original waitress returned. The waitress then went to the back and checked on the food and returned empty handed. She indicated the back was slammed ( I don't see how when more than half of the restaurant was empty) and she knew it had been more than 20 minutes since the order was placed. I said ok but started looking around to observe the standing around of many of the employees and kitchen personnel. So who is cooking?! After waiting 15 more minutes and having no food I asked for the manager because I told them forget the food and I wanted my money back so I could leave.The waitress went and found the manager and told him my request. He did not come over to apologize or make this right with me instead he went into the kitchen...After waiting 5 minutes I told the waitress I did not want the food just my money. She indicated she would tell him again. While she did this I noticed a new waiter bring out food for a couple that sat down after me and just recently ordered. Now this is when I became angry. After waiting 5 more minutes I notice the manager coming out with the food... And no money. He placed the food on the counter and began to explain but not offer any apologizes. I am not one for creating a scene so I asked him for the money and a corporate card. And to be candid John D., the manager, seemed like they did not give a damn! Here it is one hour later and I'm leaving with no food and mad as hell! So as your one black customer that was treated like I was invisible....I don't give a damn if I ever go back to this restaurant! Not sure if sure if it was my race that was the issue or the lack of management in this place but I wouldn't recommend the place to anyone! The owner or franchise needs to do a quality assurance check immediately! read more

Super poor service and less than average bar food - consistently. And beyond beer drinks are miserable too.

went here for Thursday night football. our waiter was pretty attentive and fulfilled all our orders in a reasonable amount of time. the wings we ordered were luscious and tasty. the fries were average. I have no complaints. just a solid place for sports watching and chillin with the homies. read more

I deliver for a certain pick up service. I get the pick up request and I'm 12 minutes away ok great food will be ready, wrong I'm told rudely by a staff member another 5 minutes. Ok I wait order comes out incomplete staff realizes a mistake and say " oh shit" give me one second knowing that is an impossible promise to keep. She comes back with nothing not even an eta. I asked why did I get a request to pick up with plenty of time to only have to wait, you are waiting my time. The response is this happens to everyone and you can leave if you want to be rude. Ok awesome I want to speak with a manager. I watch the guy waddle over. I explain the issue only to get aggressive responses and not moving forward with the issue at hand. Still no food. This punk is argueing with me in front of everyone for no reason he tells me " bro don't get snippy with me" like a threat of some kind like he was going to do something about me aggressively. I simply say peace and cancel the order because some people might have mopped the floor with you jerk of a manager thanks for your inadequate service find a new job BRO. Never will I tell anyone to go to this dump. read more

I live 5 minutes away from the Baldwin park location but I make the drive to this location every Tuesday to see my favorite bartender (Nancy) if you're ever in the area make sure you go while she's working ! She makes the experience awesome every time , she's very personable and not to mention gets my food and drinks out fast every time :) and I will continue to frequent every Tuesday as long as she's there ! read more

Love coming here. All around a great place to hang out and have a drink. I live in SoDo so it's very convenient. Go on Tuesday after 9pm when they have buy one get one drinks. Sit at the bar for excellent service. Nancy is the bartender on Tuesday and she's fantastic. read more

We've been here twice now in the last two weeks....both times on Saturday for lunch. This is a great addition to the SODO area. Both times the servers were friendly and checked back with us a couple of times to see if we needed anything else. The first time I had the grilled chicken breast dinner and the other person had a reuban. Everything was very good. Today we got the fish and chips and the fried shrimp dinner and shared. Excellent... Perfectly cooked. The portions were generous. It was nice the breading was not overwhelming. The fries were crispy....hate soggy fries and the coleslaw was good. Along with a pitcher of beer this was a great lunch. We will be back and will bring friends and family. read more

Another great day at Gators Sodo. We had the unusual experience of visiting it twice in the same weekend. This time we were cared for by Tonya. She was awesome. Seems like the entire staff there is in such a great mood. (We remember when Baldwin Park was that way.) read more

Was very pleased with this restaurant. I had a business meeting with a co-worker. The food was as always good. The service was exceptional on this visit! Ebony was a very friendly and professional server! She was on point the whole visit from the time we sat until we left! She is an example to others in great guest service! read more

Gators Dockside has such a friendly atmosphere. The employees work together to create a great service. The food here is delicious and to die for! Especially on Monday nights with all you can eat chicken. Overall, a family friendly restaurant and highly recommended! read more

Samantha is the best waitress this place has. We are regulars and she's the only one we will accept as our waitress. Every other time we get someone else it's horrible. She is prompt, gets drinks and food out fast, is nice and professional, and always goes above and beyond for us! She is the only reason we continue to come to this location, because no one else does their job there. It's like a high school clique, most of the wait staff stands around and talks instead of doing their job, but she's the only consistently amazing waitress we have had there. read more

Trying to watch Dolphins game here. We are in Florida . Have asked for the sound to be put on as did the bartender apparently other games are more important. Needless to say won't be coming back here for football again. Manager told me he would put it on. Great sports bar. read more

Awful experience - been to many gators and was excited to try this one seeing the atmosphere but will not go back to this one., It took 15 min for a waitress to even come to table, over 1/2 hour wait for appetizer it finally gets put on table and our meals show up 10 seconds later. All in all spent over 2 hours there and watched others go through same frustration and worse part is place was only 1/2 full. No one seemed to care - I don't see this place lasting unless they change the management and staff!! read more

I can honestly say every gators I have been too, this is the best one so far. Everyone is so friendly here. From the host, waitress, food runners and even the manager! They work as a team. The manager always helps his staff not only when it's busy but when it's slow as well. I tell all my friends and family about it! Great place to enjoy :) read more

While the food was great and just as ordered, I really want to commend Gators on the great service I experienced here the other night. It was a busy Saturday with several large parties and we had no problem waiting 5 minutes for a table but the host kept us updated when our table was being cleared off. When he sat us he let us know that the kitchen was running slow due to a few large parties but they'd do everything they could to get us our food timely. Though it's not exactly what you want to hear when you're really hungry, I really appreciated the communication because I'd rather have that expectation than sitting there hangry. We had not even been sitting there a minute when another server came up and asked if our server had seen us yet. We said no but that we had just sat but she took our drink orders anyway so we wouldn't have to wait. Our server was there very soon after and since I knew the kitchen was backed up I ordered an appetizer immediately so we could have something to nibble on a little sooner. Everyone was very friendly but what really impressed me was that probably about three employees other than our server came by multiple times to make sure our drinks were re-filled, our food was good, our table was cleared etc. I also saw our server do this with multiple other tables as well as attending to us. The team treated the whole restaurant as their own section and in a slammed restaurant helped each other out to make sure the guests were taken care of, regardless of who was getting tipped. As someone with a hospitality background I know that quality can be hard to find in a server, no less an entire team. Kudos to the team and the management for selecting people who value service so highly. read more

Make sure to ask for Daisy! I have had some bad experiences here with slow service etc, but Daisy is very friendly and provides excellent service! read more

Stacia provides excellent customer service. She always makes us feel welcome, remembers the names of our entire family...and remembers our usual orders. We continue to ask for her by name every time we go. read more

We loved going to the Gator's Dockside SoDo location. Great atmosphere and staff. Crystal was our favorite bartender! Unfortunately, we had to move to Lake Nona but can't wait for the new place to open up there. read more

nancy and jessica are incredible angels placed delicately on this earth to deliver delicious chicken tenders to the patrons of gators dockside. they made us feel right at home as we asked for ranch or blue cheese, they really helped us narrow our choices down. we came in 20 minutes before close and they were SO welcoming and cool af. FOOD = 11/10. SERVICE by jessica and nancy = 500/10. i swear i didn't even know them before tonight but my life has been changed for the better because of them and scooteryaki sauce. I LOVE THEM. someone give these hard working women a damn raise. gators is a great place with even greater employees. 8 stars. read more

Been here several times, never been blown away but it's still a nice place to sit. This experience was a little different. I found three dead flies in my water. If it would've been one I would've just ignored it and realized that could happen at any restaurant, but three in one glass seemed a little excessive. I asked one of the waiters to send my waiter over so I could get a new one and he instantly sent the manager. I told the manager there were three bugs in my water and all he said was "there are bugs?!" Then took the glass and walked away. They never apologized or said anything about it. If it was me I would have at least comped our appetizer, but they didn't even apologize. Really disappointed because there aren't a lot of good restaurants in this area and usually I love the other locations of Gators, but I won't be going to this location again. Hopefully they get this issue corrected. read more