One of my favorite spots to take out of town guests for a casual supper. The seafood is good and fresh, the atmosphere is friendly and the wait staff always tries hard. They're young and one suspects for some it's a first job, but they're enthusiastic. We had the bananas foster for dessert, and splitting it between the four of us gave each diner just enough sweetness to end a great meal, without megatons of fat and calories being shoveled onto our plates. I'm also a fan of their fish tacos at lunchtime. read more

Tommy our server was rude. He was upset with my staff because they wanted their orders. When I was leaving I told him to have a blessed day and his response was, " Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, " as he walked away. He took his frustration out on me. I hope our food is better than the service we received today. read more

Ordered grouper picatta, The cook used chicken, however, cooked it like grouper. Thus, i had two bites before I realized I was eating raw chicken. It took them so long to remake meal that the other 5 people had finished there dinner and we're waiting to leave. Will not be going back. read more

Do not eat the sushi with escolar in it. Actually, don't eat any escolar anywhere. It's banned in Italy and Japan for being toxic. I didn't realize this until about 12 hours after eating when I was glued to the toilet for 2 days. I know the Rainbow roll has escolar, and I am really surprised a place like this would serve awful, toxic look to their customers. Just Google search escolar and see what pops up, it's shocking and disgusting. read more

I've been to Ballyhoos many times with one of my best friends and it's usually at night. He goes there quite a lot, I don't go there that much. It's usually good service at night good food. Now I happen to stop in there for lunch the other day and I noticed that a lot of the same faces were there during the day as night. I was probably looked at two or three times before approached and asked if I needed anything, well I guess if I came in to a bar for lunch I would need a menu. It kind of seemed like the regulars proceeded others. The food was great the service I wasn't thrilled about. Female and male behind the bar seem preoccupied. read more

Pretty cool atmosphere. Our service was pretty slow for our check and refills. My coworker got a burger with grilled cheese for buns!! It was crazy!! Later we heard of someone from Gainesville Word of Mouth Facebookgroup say they found a cockroach in their nachos! GROSS read more

We are from Atlanta and decided to stop by and see the UF campus (we are UGA fans and wanted to check out the Gator campus - pretty campus). While in town we stopped by Ballyhoos. The food was very good. We had the firecracker shrimp and the guacamole. Our two kids had the sliders. We enjoyed it all! However the best experience at he restaurant was our waiter Dustin - he was friendly and gave great service. Our two boys loved him. I would highly recommend the restaurant and would definitely stop by again if in the area. read more

Poor, uninterested, unprofessional server. Never came back to check on us once the food was delivered. The she crab soup tasted like milk with very little imitation crab meat. Shrimp po boy was soggy. Really soggy. Waited 15 minutes for server to come back. She never showed.. After getting the Manager (maybe?) to track down our server, another 10 minutes went by. She finally came back. I told her about the soup and said I'd like it taken off the bill. There was no "I'm sorry about that or can I get you something else." She just picked it up and said "I'll get your check". Of course the soup was on the check, so she had to go back and fix it. 10 more minutes. She came back with the check, said not a word and left us with a non working pen to sign with. Thankfully I got a working pen from another table instead of waiting. This restaurant used to be a great place. Now the food and the service are abysmal. We are not going back. read more

Man my friends birthday celebration was here and everybody order was just about messed up. But our server was cool. They messed up one my friends Po Boy twice. I always wondered what this place was like but now I know. My lady was like we will come back another time but that ain't happening after this experience. read more

Ballyhoo Grill - They need a renovation. As I waited on my Washington Apple. - Seafood Near Me - Gainesville, Florida

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I came here for the first time last night and fell in love with the stuffed salmon dish and garlic mashed potatoes. It was so amazing, I had to come back today to see what else they had to offer. Even the Caesar salad was delicious (their dressings are homemade) read more

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Last night, I went to Ballyhoo Grill on West University and was not impressed. The service was actually great, but the food was definitely sub-par. Maybe I'm snooty, maybe I'm used to catching my own grouper, or just maybe this place really isn't that amazing. To start, we ordered the Firecracker Shrimp. I honestly probably should have read the description on the menu. I envisioned large, succulent shrimp tossed in cracked black pepper with a hint of chile powder. Nope. Instead, the shrimp were deep fried and then tossed in a spicy Thai sauce. The breading was far too thick and completely masked the taste of the actual shrimp, while the mayo based sauce left me feeling bloated and heavy. My Blackened Grouper w/ Zucchini and Squash was bland, bland, bland. I don't know about you, but when I order something blackened I expect it to have a nice kick. I ended up adding black pepper to the entire dish to make it have some type of flavor. The quality of the fish wasn't bad, however, I would have preferred the thrill of catching it myself. Out of the two entrees, the Shrimp & Scallion Skewers w/ Garlic Mashed Potatoes contained more flavor. The scallions were moist, buttery and delectable. The texture was the perfect consistency and not rubbery or slimey at all. The one thing we ordered that I could not stop eating? The garlic mashed potatoes! With flecks of potato skin and a hint of garlic, this robust dish almost made me lick my date's plate clean. (Okay, so I ended up ordering my own side of mashed potatoes, you caught me.) Despite being quite full when I left the restaurant, I don't think I will be returning anytime soon. read more

Tried to go back after 10 years since the last chance I gave them. Sat for 15 minutes without even a hello or water. They were not busy, three waiters looked us dead in the face, some of them standing talking to each other and all decided not to come over. PS it's my birthday. read more

I went there for oysters so don't judge the place on just that but this is NOT the place to get them ! Unless you like your oysters washed clean of any and all saltwater they came out of. It turns them into tasteless shot. They took them off the bill with no problem. If you are looking for great oysters by all means go elsewhere ! read more

I wasn't impressed. It was Ok, but I'd rather go to Northwest Grille. I don't think the fish was particularly fresh or necessarily even the species of fish they claimed it was. I don't mind paying for something special, but I do object to a large bill when all they have is a lot of average. We did get a good laugh from the waitress. She seemed to think bananas foster was something they invented. When we commented on the process, she was like "I thought you guys said you'd never been here before." lolz But at least the bananas foster was good. read more

Disappointing - nothing seemed particularly fresh. Also, my fiance ordered a Chilean sea bass special and what he got definitely wasn't Chilean sea bass. When he brought that to the attention of the waitress, she denied it and said it must have been cut differently than we were used to. Um, no. Chilean sea bass has a very distinctive texture, and that wasn't it. The bananas foster was the high point of the meal. I won't be back. read more

The words I'd use to describe my food at Ballyhoo are "just ok." It wasn't bad, but it wasn't amazing either. I ordered the shrimp and scallop po' boy. The sandwich was decent but there are definitely better places to get po' boys in Gainesville for the same price. Our server was nice and did her job well, but it did seem like they could have been understaffed on the night we went since the service was slow. I went for my friend's birthday dinner, where she received a free lobster. It's cool that they give out lobster for people's birthdays, but when my friend let me taste it, I was very underwhelmed. I think Ballyhoo is an alright place to go if you're in the area and want something in the seafood genre, buy there is definitely better in town. read more

Dont waste your time or your money. We went for lunch and not only did they fail to bring our appetizer and we had to ask about it 4 times before we said, remove it from the bill,but everything tasted awful. We are from the area and my hunny and I had our first date here many moons ago. I'm sad to say what used to be delicious food and great service is now frozen, overcooked underseasoned and inattentive staff. The only good thing was the beer and even then we had to wait 10 mins to get it. Mind you the restaurant was not busy. I'm just disappointed that this place has gone so downhill. And no it's not bc of covid.. it's been crappy for a few years. read more

Stopped here after moving our daughter into UF. Wasn't expecting too much but we were pleasantly surprised for a late lunch. We had a quesadilla, grouper sandwich, and Philly cheesesteak. All were very good. Local draft beer was good too. Not much to look at from the outside or inside, but overall very good experience. Definitely a more casual setting. read more

Meh. Went there based on the ESPN slug that eats in the towns of each of the Saturday night games. He loved it. He apparently has a very weak palate and poor choice in food. The service was fair, but not great. It was crowded, but still had empty tables. The food was mediocre and very typical of college town food. My wife had the grouper sandwich, which was poorly trimmed and the fatty tissue between the meat & skin was underdone and felt like underdone beef fat, but with no taste. Fortunately, it was only at the end of the sandwich that she experience it. I had the gumbo, which was run of the mill, and then the playing it safe shrimp quesadilla. The shrimp were small canned shrimp, ridiculous. The kids had the flatbread pizza, which was very tasty, by far the best thing we had, and the requisite chicken fingers, which were fine. Wasn't expensive but wasn't cheap. It's a fun place and would probably be great for slamming back some beers and eating the, presumably, safe apps, while watching football. For dinner, ehh. read more

Eight of us friends from OTOW (On Top of The World) in Ocala, FL went to Ballyhoo for dinner on 2-20-17 after a play at The Curtis M. Philips Center. I ordered an old fashion which was un-drinkable...yikes! I changed it to a Manhattan which was good and made right. All of our food was quite good except Vicki's soup was cold and needed to be re-heated. Our meals came out a few at a time which meant we weren't eating together. The service through out the entire evening was very slow...especially the bar service. read more

Came for dinner with a party of 4. Promptly seated after entering. Given the option of dining inside or outside. Since it was hot we opted for indoors. After waitress took our order, we waited about 20 mins till food arrived. However all dishes arrived except mine. I told my party to begin without me so it was a bit awkward. Waitress then informed me my dishes were being made and would be a few more mins. After 5 mins a manager came out to say it would be up shortly as my table mates were almost half done. Shortly thereafter both dishes arrived. I ordered the Sumomono, which was described as a cucumber salad. It had a good variety of pieces of raw fish & cooked sweet Japanese shrimp, though it didn't have that much cucumber in it. However, I thoroughly enjoyed it along with the "Sashimi (9 Pc. No rice)" entree. I think they felt bad for making me wait because my 9 piece was now a 12 piece. Absolutely fresh & delicious served with red and green seaweed. Aside from the delay in bring out my dishes, I loved it. read more

Ballyhoo Grill - Seafood Near Me - Gainesville, Florida

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Ballyhoo is easily the University of Florida's de facto rathskellar. Okay, so this one is above ground and adjacent to a strip mall, but Florida is essentially a fetid swamp where everything was built in the last 50 years: the high water table makes real cellars impossible to build and most commercial real estate is surrounded by an ocean of asphalt. The ambiance resembles a TGIF, but with a Florida theme: the wooden hull racing shell and tennis rackets are replaced by an aluminum row boat and football memorabilia. Like any good rathskellar, Ballyhoo is dimly lit, reeks of cheap beer ($2.50 for the house draft, albeit served in a "falsie" 14 oz glass), and has thin layer of grease on almost every surface. Perfect for wings and burgers when games are away. Entrees are obscenely large - easily enough food to feed two (or three sorority girls with eating disorders). Appetizers and desserts are more modestly sized, but are nonetheless ample meals by themselves. The food itself is flavorful, if not greasy, sweet and salty. But that's what you came here for, right? Let's not kid ourselves - this is bar food, and it's about as good as it comes anywhere. The staff, who are mostly students, are friendly and bright, and give great service. Health and hygiene, however, leave something to be desired. As noted above, there's a persistent layer of grease everywhere, which is entirely forgivable given its rathskellar nature, but remains incorrigibly dirty. A steak salad came with wadded up paper towel in it, the brown kind used for drying your hands in a restroom. We picked out the bits of towel and sent it back, only for its replacement to arrive with a deep fried shrimp tail in it. Chances are good that after a few pints we might not have noticed the paper towel and suspect most patrons visit Ballyhoo for exactly this type of experience: to drink a lot of beer and undiscriminatingly eat something to soak it all up. Ballyhoo meets that need brilliantly. read more

I feel I now can write a proper review after 4 visits. Beware of the Oysters... They do not Shuck them correctly. Yummy shell bits crunching around in your mouth!! Had two sushi rolls and they were very bland and unmemorable especially for the price. My fiance has had better luck with their fish sandwhiches and service at lunch time. I can't give a good review myself, this is just not a good place. But then again it's Gainesville, and the choices are so limited this place is par with the rest. We went last Thursday and on a THURSDAY, it was empty but yet we sat for over 10 minutes on the patio with a live band playing to have no one visit us. This was after we were seated by the waitress so they knew we were there. We ended up leaving a going to GD in the same parking lot where it was a complete 180 and packed! And they grill their wings!!! read more

So far it's an eh. Salads took way too long to come out and then the waitress asked if we wanted her to go ahead and put our food order in. Ah, yeah. Seriously? Still waiting for our food after 15 additional minutes. But they did put the FSU game on for us so that's good! So the food came out and it was good. I had the Coach Roll, hubby had the stuffed tilapia. He says it was really tasty. So I'm upping my rating to 4 because it was good food. It's not the service you'll get at Square One over on 34th, but they are pretty busy on this Friday night. read more

Normally I'm very excited to visit this local favorite but i was very disapointed in this visit. Our visit was over 2 hours and tue food ticket time was around an hour. I ordered the buffalo chicken sandwich which was the only saving point of my visit. The sandwich was very tastey and was a large portion. The menu has a lot of variety but if you are looking to stay out of the higher price seafood section I recommend checking out the sandwich portion of the menu. The last part of my visit invloved having my Michelob Ultra come out in the Sams Adams Pilsner which just felt weird. Not sure if I will return. read more

I'm not a huge seafood fan but let me tell you ballyhoo has some great steaks and my favorite sandwich in town is there prime rib sandwich with horseradish sauce. Your mouth will thank you. read more

Ballyhoo is one of my favorite places in Gainesville, I've been here at least 20-30 times and will go back next time I'm in town. My favorites dishes are the crab bisque and the pulled pork nacho appetizer, which is large enough to feed a small army. The salads never disappoint as well! I like the sports bar atmosphere inside and the tropical feel outside. There is a stage outside for local performers that spices up the experience. The service staff is always friendly. My only complaint is that one time I went and ordered the lobster as part of the birthday deal and it was awful; it was undercooked, cold, and tasted like pure saltwater, but how much can you complain about a free lobster?! All in all a great place! read more

Ballyhoo Grill - Seafood Near Me - Gainesville, Florida

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Another example of how I should listen to Yelp reviewers. I was in Gainesville for a training and was looking for a local restaurant. I read the reviews but got tempted by the she-crab soup and stuffed tilapia on the menu so away I went. The service was great and the restaurant was cute with a great patio and live music and good happy hour. That is the the best I can say. The she-crab soup was tasteless. The stuffed tilapia tasted like sewer water was used. The mushrooms weren't cooked, the sauce was described as picatta, but was definitely not. The fish was terrible. I can usually eat anything, but could not eat this. The waiter was great and offered to get me something else, but I didn't want to try anything after this. He did the right thing and took it off my bill. Lesson learned ... Listen to Yelp reviewers read more

The service here is unbelievably rude. I would not step foot into this place if you are expecting to meet any decent human beings inside. I have NEVER had such a negative encounter with a restaurant staff. If you're looking for some good seafood, head on over to Harry's downtown instead. Much better service and food. I won't be surprised if this place goes out of business soon. read more

I was part of a very large group (20+ folks). The staff was accommodating, friendly, and very accurate with the orders. Seafood was fresh and delicious. Great atmosphere. Lots of parking. I got the sushi (I know I know, it's not a sushi place) but the tuna was excellent and tasted very fresh. Everyone in the party was pleased with the quality of their orders. I had my 1 year old and 3 year old with also. They had stools, coloring books, and accommodated their orders first. It's easy to get overwhelmed at a restaurant like this as a parent and they took pity on my wife and I. Would definitely go back. read more

Holy canoli!!!what a wonderful dinner. We shared the filet mudican as an app. Cooked to perfection. I had the cedar plank scallops which were perfectly cooked. Hubs had the seafood pescatore-- not a drop left. Did I mention the Cuban sangria? Wowza. Service was spot on. Will come back next time we are in town. read more

Terrible experience!! After no Shushi, then no Salmon, then no Grouper, then getting served less than warm food!! Worst food experience at a "Steak & Seafood" place. Had to order a hamburger that came out terrible!!! Never going back!! No manger either apparently!!!! read more

Awesome place to go after the game. Great variety. Must try the Bananas Foster! Great experience and dessert! read more

Ballyhoo Grill - Seafood Near Me - Gainesville, Florida

Stopped in for some oysters. They were fresh and delicious. Cocktails were great. Service was amazing. Enjoyed some live music on a Sunday afternoon. Will definitely come back. read more

AmaZing service from start to finish. Smiling faces and the team works together perfect. We stopped here while visiting from Jupiter FL. The place makes you feel like you are very near the water. The appetizer was the Rockefeller oysters and we had alligator bites and the Captain roll. We absolutely loved this place. The flaming banana dessert rocks!!! You must go to this place if you are in Gainesville. read more

Our server, Courtney from Wisconsin is sweet, polite, and fun. She was also swift and attentative while also tending the bar. Great server! I ordered the breaded Buffalo Wings and my husband ordered the Pulled Pork sandwich with fries. My wings were very over dressed with sauce and the sauce itself is so hot you can't really taste any flavor. I only ate two of them. About 3 hours later I was throwing up hard for several hours and bursted a few blood vessels in my face because of it. It turns out the wings gave me food poisoning. read more

Wish I could say better things about Ballyhoo since it's a local Gainesville joint. It's just that their food is never consistent (something will be good one time and horrible the next time you order it) and service is inconsistent...either it's you have to wait forever or get a good server. I also got a piece of shrimp in with my onion straws today-- what if I was allergic to shrimp--not good for them. It's worth checking out, but probably not returning without a good coupon. read more

The two stars are for the drinks and the service; both were excellent! The food was so disappointing. Everything was drastically over seasoned, and I happen to be a lover of salt. Had the blackened mahi tacos, completely inedible. The steak tips were cooked beautifully, but again drastically over seasoned. Fries were awesome! If I were just going for drinks and live music, it would be all five stars. Maybe I'll just stick with sushi next time! read more

Besides the fact that my friends and I were able to immediately get a table on a Friday evening, and our server was really nice, this place has few redeeming qualities. Don't order the blackened chicken flatbread unless you want a stale piece of cracker topped with melted Kraft cheese, bland chicken, and some sort of unappetizing sauce. I was the only one of my three friends to not get a side of mac-n-cheese, and I was starting to feel left out until it arrived. Bowtie pasta smothered with (surprise!) more Kraft cheese. Maybe it tasted good, but it didn't look very appetizing. Also, one of the dishes had a weird mold-colored piece of pasta, and another one had a piece of hair in it. Our server was nice enough to take that one back and bring my friend a new serving, but still....so gross. People must come here for the atmosphere because by the time we left the place was packed. I heard no complaints from my friends about the rest of their meals , so I haven't completely written this place off. But I'm definitely not in any hurry to go back. read more

The shrimp rockafella was pretty good as an appetizer. The oysters were very nice looking but full of sand ( needed to be cleaned properly). The conus entree we without flavor other than olives and the marinara was bland. The grouper entree was ok but loaded with butter (this was a $30 dish which was market price). Total meal cost was $106. I feel as though the price and the the food quality do not match. Service was pretty good. read more