We had a very nice time at Shula. Lisa was friendly, attentive, and caring. She made our graduation + birthday celebration extra special. Will be back! read more

Some names come with expectations built in. Shula is one of them. When you see that name on the door, you're not thinking "pretty good." You're thinking dialed in, no shortcuts, done right every time. This one didn't get there. The hotel lounge pulls from Shula's kitchen, so I kept it simple with French onion soup and chicken wings. The soup came out lukewarm with cheese that never quite melted. Flavor was decent, but it felt unfinished, like it got called to the plate a few minutes too early. The wings followed the same pattern. Mediocre across the board. Not hot in temperature, not hot in spice, just kind of there. Nothing was bad enough to send back, but nothing came close to what the name sets you up to expect. And that's really the issue. When the bar is that high, "fine" ends up feeling like a miss. Three stars. read more

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I have been to this hotel so many times and haven't eaten here. I sometimes eat at the hotels "no name restaurant". They share the same kitchen, and you can order from Shula's at that restaurant/bar too. The service was slow, they were out of a lot of different wines that the group was trying to order. The server was nice though. Our plates weren't removed once we were done as expected in fine dining. I had the seafood pasta dish. I forgot what it was called. Another person ordered it too. We both spoke in the morning of the stomachaches we experienced. Another person ordered the chicken Milanese, and it was reported to be dry. One person ordered the onion soup. He said it was too salty however he liked the ahi tuna poke appetizer. For the price and the experience of the food described... I likely will not eat here again when I'm back. The music was a bit too loud for conversation too. Don Shula used to have horses in my barn back in the day, but sadly... I would pass next time on dining here. read more

Shula's Steak House - Steakhouses Near Me - Gainesville, Florida

I highly recommend to avoid this restaurant. Service is horrible , food is over cooked and management has no idea how to make things right . Now it makes sense why it was so easy to get a reservation on graduation night . I remember the location in Miami being a much better experience. Shame that they have tarnished this restaurant in Gainesville. Needs an overhaul with their alcohol selection as well. Very limited . read more

Such a special occasion celebrating my graduation from Nursing School! Our server Rachel made the evening so special bringing us a champagne toast and also a special graduation desert. I really enjoyed the ambiance of the evening and the steak was one of the best steaks I've ever had- a perfect medium rare! I couldn't have asked for a better celebratory dinner and we really enjoyed ourselves! read more

Shula's Steak House - Steakhouses Near Me - Gainesville, Florida

The restaurant ambience was great but the food was not impressive compared with other restaurants in the same price range. The NY Strip stake that I ordered, the meet was too old and over cooked. I liked the side dishes. The salad and dessert were good but definitely not fresh enough. We don't go there anymore! It's just sad because the place has the potential to compete with the other $$$$ restaurants however clearly the management don't have the motivation to make it better and competitive. read more

I really enjoyed dinner here. I went twice while I was at the hotel. The service the first night by Jasmine was superb! I didn't have to ask for a thing. Solid 5/5 experience. On the second night the service was very good but perhaps a 4/5. I ordered the crab cakes and they were quite tasty with minimal filler. They are served with slaw and French fries. I had the truffle fries and ate a few. I really enjoyed them although they were a tad undercooked. The house salad is HUGE yet incredible. I found the prices to be reasonable given the place. The exterior is beautiful and blue and the interior of the restaurant is gorgeous. It gives a very classy feel. Great experience overall! read more

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Honestly, very disappointing. The charcuterie board meat was fatty and the food wasn't anything above average for the high prices. The service was great, although not fast for a quick meal. read more

Shula's Steak House - Menu - Steakhouses Near Me - Gainesville, Florida

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I always enjoyed the steaks at Shula's in Fort Lauderdale before closed, so I was delighted to try this one at the Hilton in Gainesville. Just like the other Shula's, everything was top-notch in décor, food and service. The menu is much American in its food selections and extensive, But Shula's is known for steaks which both I and my beloved had and with which we were both very well pleased. The first order of business was to hit the bar. For me, it was a bourbon Manhattan and for my beloved a scotch on the rocks. The bar is really nice and there is some sort of local tradition with it. It seems that if the Gators aren't doing well, or something to that effect, it's called the No Name Bar. Hmmm? But name or no name it's a very good bar, as one might expect. For our meal, beloved and I share a Caesar and I went for the 7-ounce Filet done Pittsburgh rare and it was totally delicious. Overall, Shula's is a steakhouse as good as it gets. read more

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We decided to try something nice for one our last big nights for a bit, so we came to Shulas. I'm aware of the chain, but have never been to one. Walking in, it was beautiful, everything is clean, everyone dressed nice and very friendly. We sat down and we're promptly greeted by our waitress. Not being big wine drinkers, we opted for our go to old fashioned, which was fine. Bread service was nice, we enjoyed it. Now, let's talk appetizers, we had the crab cake, which was amazing! Perfect balance of good amount of crab and just enough filler. Remoulade sauce was good. Now the shrimp cocktail was.. "different". The presentation was nice, but it made it difficult to eat, they were curled up, but nicely cooked jumbo shrimp. If you've read any of my other reviews on shrimp cocktail, I'm very particular about my cocktail sauce. I'm so sorry Don, I just didn't care for it, it was more like a marinara sauce, very thick and was difficult to work with. We ordered our second round of cocktails, the same drink, but they came out in different glasses and tasted different, not bad, but consistency is key. Now onto entrees. I had the seared scallops, and my wife had the filet. Her filet was good, it wasn't cut very evenly, so half was cooked perfect, the other half, not so perfect, for that price, you expect better. It still tasted great and cut like butter. My scallops were seared very nice, the cauliflower purée and butter sauce were nice. We went with the pomme purée and creamed corn for our sides. The potatoes were a little cold, but, they were warm in the middle, still tasted good. Corn was great, actually went perfectly with my scallops. Overall, had a great time, everything was nice, only my personal little things. I would try again at some point for an expensive dinner experience read more

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We (a party of 13) made a 7:00 pm. reservation for Wednesday, Sept 6, 2023, to celebrate our son's 13th birthday. We arrived at 7:12 pm, placed our orders at 7:35 pm but still had not received our food by closing time at almost 9 pm. Meanwhile, everyone around us received their food, especially people at the bar (the Hilton Hotel's restaurant in the next room). Our server and our maitre'd attempted numerous times to get the manager (Ben), but he was conveniently not available to speak with us in person. When our son's track coach had to leave and then his sister and her family had to leave, he leaned over to me and whispered "Dad, everyone's leaving! Where's our food?". The fact that it was so late that our guests had to leave and we ended up taking our food home in to-go boxes, made an otherwise special evening into a less than pleasant experience. Our son was visibly saddened by the end of the evening, and as we were getting in the car, he said, "My 13th birthday party sucked." My family and I are quite dismayed that it would take over two hours to be served. Meanwhile, everyone else is getting their food. Apparently, Wednesday is not the night of the week to visit Shula's because they must only have one cook, and the manager is too afraid to talk to his disgruntled guests. The operation of Shula's Gainesville needs to be fixed. When bar orders are given priority over a reserved party of 13, with a tab of almost $600, that's a disgrace on many levels. This restaurant is in the University of Florida Hilton, and my wife and I are both alumni of the University of Florida. Therefore, we thought it would be a good choice for a formal outing. Sadly, we will not be back. We tried to give our son a 'grown-up' experience, and unfortunately, he saw the downside of growing up. As manager of our local planetarium, I am appalled that such shoddy operation of restaurant logistics is allowed to persist; costing Shula's hundreds of dollars and costing the server a generous gratuity. Management never came out to talk to us, and we stayed until 9:50 pm. Please fix this so other people don't have to go through what we did. Thank you. read more

Shula's Steak House - Steakhouses Near Me - Gainesville, Florida

This place could easily receive more stars because there is so much potential! THE GOOD: This is by far the most aesthetically pleasing restaurant in Gainesville. Simply gorgeous! And pristine. The ambiance is unmatched. THE NOT SO GOOD: Service was snail slow. We had to wait several minutes to even be welcomed by the host. At on point later in our meal, a perspective customer had to walk over to our table and ask us where the host was. Not good. The wait between ordering, receiving food, and even the check was completely unacceptable. We didn't receive water refills, waited over 20 minutes for the dessert, and decided to leave without it. Now, to give them the benefit of a doubt, perhaps they are short-staffed because of the pandemic. Also, despite being under-staffed, both the host and the one server were extremely kind. Food: The calamari fries were strange. I hear it's one of their most popular dishes but it was bland, rubbery, and underwhelming to me. The salad was mediocre and the beef tenderloin was just okay. They even forgot to give salad dressing and we had to wait 10 minutes for it. The miso ginger on the salmon and the potatoes were pretty decent, although not standouts. My Manhattan was perfect, though. Liquor forward and smooth. read more

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First rate wine and cocktails. Huge shrimp cocktail and excellent lobster bisque served hot. We split a perfectly prepared, baked potato, wild mushrooms sides, and each had a large fillet mignon cooked perfectly. Dessert was 7 layer chocolate cake. Service was exceptional, mix of personal and professional. If you are really fortunate, perhaps Amber will wait on you also. Happily memorable experience. Think celebration. read more

We were staying at the Hilton for the weekend for the Gatornationals and thought this would be a great choice of where to eat since it was where we were staying. Well, this was truly a BIG disappointment. Reservations were made ahead of time, but upon our arrival, we saw reservations were not necessary - not many tables taken at all. Even though that was the case, the service was painfully slow. On top of that, the food was over salted and undercooked. 2 of the meals had to be returned to the kitchen.....which meant we had to wait even longer to eat. We literally were there over an hour and a half before we all had our meals. On another note, I highly suggest you train your wait staff to not chime in on conversations that your patrons are having at the table - not cool and very unprofessional. OH....I did remember a stellar item that was ordered and enjoyed....the shrimp cocktail appetizer. Thank God we had that in our bellies while we waited for the rest of our food to arrive. A real shame. The place is aesthetically pleasing and has so much promise. Perhaps if you get a new chef and new wait staff, you might have something. I can honestly say that I have never walked out of a restaurant after ordering my meal. This was an ALMOST moment. We had plenty of leftovers to take back because we were hoping to salvage some of the food that was served to us. read more

We made a dinner reservation for 6 PM on a Tuesday evening to dine for our first time at Shula's in Gainesville. We arrived on time and were promptly seated. Server was friendly, however, very distracted, the dining room was not that busy, perhaps he had to help serve food in the bar area, too, not sure about that because it took 45 minutes for our salad to be served?? We ordered the Shula salad, crabcakes, NY strip steak and mashed potatoes. All the food was tasty and well prepared. My only critique is there was a heavy use of scallions on the salad and the mashed potatoes as a garnish, which did flavor the food quite a bit. The garnish of rosemary on my husband's steak actually added a nice flavor for it however. All in all it was a nice experience. The ambience was fine & the prices were as expected. I would recommend trying it if you are looking for a nice evening out in Gainesville. read more

We made reservations for 5 pm and were the first ones to arrive and be seated. Every table was set perfectly for seating, clean and elegant. I ordered the single crab cake, which is served with slaw, probably the best I have ever had. The wedge salad served with bacon jam, tomato jam and a generous portion of blue cheese chunks, this was absolutely delicious. The lobster bisque was a generous portion with plenty of lobster meat. My husband had a baked potato, Ceaser salad and Brussel sprouts. The portions were generous enough for sharing and the sprouts were perfectly cooked with sautéed onions and bacon. Service was excellent and a great experience. read more

Bartender Steph is amazing. Works her a$$ off and still has time to smile and make you feel like a friend! Whenever I'm in Gainesville I'll go to the bar for Steph to make he a PERFECT buttery nipple! I have to say that all the staff is (are?) friendly. A great place to pass the evening! read more

Shula's Steak House - Buttery nipples at the bar - Steakhouses Near Me - Gainesville, Florida

What an experience! My boyfriend took me here Valentine's Day and it was truly one of the best dinners I've ever had. When we got to the check-in, all the ladies were given roses and we were led to our beautifully decorated table. There was a special Valentine's Day menu but we just stuck to the original menu. We both got "mini" bottles of Champagne as our drink instead of wine. As an app, I got the French onion soup - amazing. James got the lobster bisque and he said it was the best lobster bisque he has ever had. For the entree, we both got the 6oz filet mignon, mushrooms and the truffle Mac and cheese! DELICIOUS. Everything was perfectly cooked and we were able to take the leftovers sides and bread. The filet mignon came with a sauce which was also YUM. So yeah, this place is quite amazing. The service was also stellar! No complaints for my perfect Valentine's Day dinner! read more

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I was here for some drinks with coworkers and for the breakfast buffet in the morning. The dining area is small and cozy. I would say the drinks were quite good. My coworkers did not like their food - steak was a bit fatty and bland. Overall about average of an experience. read more

Shula's Steak House - Molten chocolate cake - Steakhouses Near Me - Gainesville, Florida

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We had a work dinner here one night and we very much enjoyed what we ordered. It's definitely on the more expensive side, lucky for me it was paid for my work, so that made me enjoy it even more. The dining area is really sleek and clean looking and definitely looked upscale. The staff were really attentive and allowed us to gab and take our time with ordering. I ordered the filet trio and boy were those good steaks. Incredibly flavorful and juicy. I can't remember other dishes that everyone else had but we all left really pleased and full. It's not surprising why the prices are a little more expensive. They really do provide a wonderful service. read more

Just finished dinner at Shula's. As the first time, it was fantastic. We had the pleasure of having Jasmine for our server. What a doll she is!!!! Service was excellent. Food was very good. I had the sea scallops and my husband had the salmon. Highly recommend. Beautiful birthday dinner! Thank you Shula's and Jasmine! read more

so good! fresh seafood...cooked to perfection. really nice environment and friendly staff! read more

Shula's Steak House - Seared Scallops- - Steakhouses Near Me - Gainesville, Florida

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Party of 10, we had good service. The waitress was knowledgeable of the menu and had good suggestions. I had the shrimp and grits, which was good. Noone had a meal they would say was more than good. read more

Fresh food! Clean atmosphere. No watered down drinks! Service with a smile 6 Oz Filet Mignon by read more

Shula's Steak House - It's the Long Island iced tea for me!! - Steakhouses Near Me - Gainesville, Florida

Long time Gainesville resident, first time here, not impressed. Shrimp not clean properly. No decaf coffee. Managers walked by six times never stopped to ask about our meal. Service so so. Food was good and hot! First and last visit. Just my opinion. read more

I didn't get a chance to try this place until my bf brought me here for our valentine's dinner last week. Being as it's located inside the Hilton, I came with higher expectations but was also weary of it being a chain. We had a reservation ahead of time so we were seated quickly to our tables. The menu for Valentine's was a fixed four course menu: Course 1: Crab or Parmesan Endive dish Course 2: Spinach Halibut with Crab topping Course 3 (Main): Ribeye with House sauces Course 4 (Dessert): Coffee Ice Cream and Cake or Lemon Sherbet with Reduced Strawberry reserves Out of everything, the ribeye really stood out! It was full in flavors, sauce pairings were perfectly balanced, not too smothered with oil, and perfectly cooked to a medium! The coffee ice cream dessert was also impressionable in that the cake that came with it was a good balance of savory and sweetness. Overall, I would take off a star for the high prices, but seeing as it is set as a higher quality restaurant I will give 5/5 for the food and service. I hope to come back and try ordering off the menu to see if their food quality is consistent. read more

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Not much to say about this place so it's gonna be quick. Overpriced. Slow service. Bland food. Calamari was like mozzarella sticks. Weird Grouper balls were good. Steaks were ok, but nothing special for 50+ a piece. Creamed spinach -watery/bland $12 Au gratin - salty and mushy at the same time. $15 Mushrooms - fine, but essentially a pack of white mushrooms sliced that you can get for $1.86 at Walmart, they sauté them and now they're magically $12 I will say the bread was phenomenal. Great sourdough...but still I'd go to Marks or Embers over here... whoopsies. read more

A total waste of time. Waited 10 minutes for a hostess to cone to the front stand only to tell us they had no tables even though we had a reservation. Hostess went to get the manager who never came only to tell us he keeps getting stopped by tables and couldn't make it to the hostess stand. I was hesitant on going here based on word of mouth now I have my confirmation. I am thankful they saved me money. read more

I wish I could give this place 0 stars! I got a half chicken for $25 dollars of which the waitress indicated it came with a side of mash potatoes. The chicken never came with the mash but came alone and when I asked about the mash the staff that bought the dish said that they changed their menu and did not off mash with the half chicken. The half chicken was $25 dollar with no side lol. The chicken also did not have flavor and I felt was under cooked. They ended up giving me the mash but man what a rip off!! Would not be eating here again when I visit. read more

Shula's Steak House - Steakhouses Near Me - Gainesville, Florida

Wonderful food and good service. It's just a little pricey. But what isn't these days?

It is so surprising to my husband and I that we never hear any locals talk about Shula's. May be that it's in a hotel and out of sight out of mind? We really enjoyed our experience, although a little bit of an unconventional order for us. We couldn't bring ourselves to spend $50 on a filet. So we decided to do a tasting! We started with soups. We could agree on which one, so we ordered both! The lobster bisque was not awesome. The chunks of lobster were nice, but the flavor was lacking. The French onion, however, we delicious! We then had the burrata salad. I was blown away. Such a simple salad with SO MUCH FLAVOR! I immediately got on Pinterest to find out how to duplicate it Our "main course" were the beef tips, Brussel sprouts and garlicky kale. Brussel sprouts were so yum! Caramelized onion for sweetness and bacon for the salty were the perfect combination! The garlicky kale was super yum too, although a bit greasy. I would definitely order it again! Our biggest let down we're the beef tips. We recognize that it's difficult to get the correct temperature when ordering these. We ordered medium rare. They were served medium well. Although tender, seemed burned. A bummer. All in all, I really enjoyed my meal. It was a very nice place, our waiter was attentive and nice. read more

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Being from Miami, we have been to many Shulas. This was absolutely the worst steakhouse experience I've had in a very long time. We were shocked to learn that the steaks were choice rather than prime. My mother in laws scallop dish was the worst, as it came out tasting like ammonium. She could not eat it and had to send it back. The drinks were ok and the waitress has no idea how to pour a glass of wine as she emptied the entire bottle into our glasses on one go. Definitely not a classy pour. Our waitress did her best but was definitely lacking training. Oh-- and to top it all off our first table was wobbly so we moved to a different table, and that table was dirty with crumbs and old onion all over the seats. Overall very unimpressed. Don Shula himself would have rolled over in his grave. read more

Alyssa made our Anniversary celebration VERY special! The food, the drinks, the atmosphere was PERFECT and a night to be remembered. Thank you to her and the management for greeting us and having a toast to our 48 years. It was truly SPECIAL and memorable. read more

Sitting here for an hour now. Barely any service at all. One hour still haven't ordered food. Horrible service. Closing my drink tab and going to find another place to eat. IT was SATURDAY after UF game. read more

Delicious Food. One of the most tender meats I have had in a very long time. We arrived earlier than our reservation and they accommodated us right away. We ordered whipped potatoes, filet mignon, potato au gratin and asparagus. Every single dish was perfectly seasoned. The staff was very attentive. I'm so glad they reopened their doors because last time I went to Gainesville they were closed due to the pandemic. I was very pleased. read more

Nice atmosphere! Got to Gainesville for my son's PhD graduation weekend and were going to blow it out with an experience at an expensive restaurant. We got seated and obviously fell through the cracks. A half hour later we inquired about a server? The waitress finally showed up and sincerely apologized for their screwup. We ordered some appetizers and it took 45 minutes for them to arrive. The food was not worth what I paid for. The steak was over cooked and my sea bass was sea rosemary! They did give us a free dessert for their horrible service but I will never spend $300 again for subpar food and service. Oh, we never got any bread!!!!! Holy cow what a ripoff! Better service and food at logans roadhouse!!! read more

Yes the interior is pleasant and the food is generally good. However, if I had to choose between Marks Prime and here, I would go with MP. The food is a bit more pricey here and the quality a little lower than Mark's. They also served my Old Fashion on ice cubes which is super unproper. But it was worth going to to check it out. read more

People recommend this place all the time on forums for Gainesville seafood restaurants, but I do not understand the hype. I had the Calamari Fries and Lobster Bisque for starters. The Lobster Bisque tasted a little odd and the Calamari has tasted better at cheaper restaurants, but my Gemelli with Pan-Seared Chicken was decent. My significant other had the Shula's Burger and he thought it was great. My low rating would be for the high prices for food that isn't "great" or "phenomenal." I also had a bad stomach ache before I could finish my meal. I enjoyed the experience of coming here, and the Lobster Bisque was taken off the check, but I do not think this would be an option for me in the future. read more

Shula's Steak House - Shula's Burger - Steakhouses Near Me - Gainesville, Florida

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This is the place to go if you're looking for a $17 mediocre burger. Yes, I know it's fine dining (supposedly) but shouldn't the food also be fine....or is it just the pricing? The service was also mediocre. The only thing that was fine about it was the location because I was staying at the hotel next door and wanted somewhere walkable. Ubering elsewhere would have been a better idea. Live and learn. read more

I honestly wasn't sure what to expect from this restaurant. We went here to celebrate my father in laws birthday (good birthday special online when you join their club). When we arrived, we were seated promptly, since we were the only people in the restaurant, however it was rather early. Our waitress was attentive and personable. My mother in law thought the music was too loud, so they quickly turned it down for her which was nice. We ordered a bottle of Meomi Pinot Noir (my favorite) and my sister in law order a raspberry martini. Drinks came quickly, but her raspberry martini had blackberries in it. When she asked why, they said they didn't carry raspberries since they spoiled too quickly. We were confused why they would have a raspberry martini on the menu if they didn't carry raspberries, but it tasted fine otherwise. We got our appetizers, French onion soups and lobster bisque. My lobster bisque was delicious, but didn't have any pieces of actual lobster in it. The French onion was also good. We all ordered steaks with various sides. Every single side we ordered was delicious! The twice baked potato, potatoes au gratin, mac and cheese, and balsamic asparagus. Everyone's steak was also delicious and flavorful. My filet was slightly more medium well, even though I ordered medium, but it tasted so good I didn't want to send it back. We didn't get dessert, but they did have a great looking selection. Overall this is a special occasion restaurant because of its pricing. Based on my experience, it is on par with Embers and Marks, if not slightly better since it's newer with a much more modern atmosphere. I wasn't blown away at any point, hence the four stars, but we will be back -- for our next special occasion. read more