Giving 2 stars because the service was good... It's been probably 10 years since I last went to Gators, which wasn't this location but I remember it being pretty good. I can't say the same for the food experience today. The mozzarella sticks tasted very plain and the marinara tasted like it was from one of those microwave frozen marinaras. It was just disgusting. I ordered the wings which the flavor was nice, but was semi-disappointed because I got 6 drums and 2 flats. Flats are better, but I just would assume I'd get at least 4 and 4. The fries were okay, not really very hot though. My wife got the chicken Philly with onion petals. She said the chicken Philly was okay and would probably get it again, but the onion petals were terrible. She said while they had a nice seasoning on the outside, more than half of them were still raw and crunchy (not from the batter), and luke warm to cold. The hostess was very friendly and loved our baby. The server, Benji, was great. He checked on us and refilled us without asking. He was friendly, but he'd make more at a place with higher quality food. read more

Gator's Dockside - Highland City - Salad Near Me - Lakeland, Florida

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Started off with the fried pickles and ranch--very addictive and a great way to begin the meal. I had the BLT sandwich. Overall, it was good, but I wasn't a fan of the gator sauce. I switched to mayonnaise, which made it much better for me. The fried pickles on the sandwich were a little unusual, but not bad. I had tater tots on the side, and they were solid. My wife ordered the mini burgers with fries--both were pretty good. For dessert, we tried the apple tart (dumpling) with vanilla ice cream and caramel. It was a nice finish to the meal and enjoyable overall. Brianna was our waitress and did an excellent job. She checked on us regularly and provided very good service throughout. read more

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We've dined here several times. Service has always been great. My partner always enjoys the wings and my favorite is the cheesesteak. We love how convenient it is and not in the middle of all the hustle of Lakeland. read more

Chicken wings boneless, fried bone in, and roasted bone in were all great. Fries were plentiful.

Convenient location with standard fare. It was a business lunch and the customer opted for Gator's. Service was good food was fare. Typical sports bar feel. Loud and lots of tv's read more

Ehhhhhhhhh this place gets a bad rap.... But if you get a great server it's a hidden gem! Hella cheap you call it happy hour FTW! Try the scooteryaki sauce you WONT be disappointed.... If you don't see it... ASK! read more

We go here a lot! Came New Year's Day, around 6:30, and very busy, I understand but they sat us and no one came to us for over 10 minutes! We got up and left! Very disappointed! read more

This is a great option for large groups wanting bar food with a more family friendly vibe. I went during lunchtime with my coworkers. I ordered the onion blossom as an appetizer and really enjoyed it. The sauce had a nice spicy kick to it. Then I ordered a classic Philly cheesesteak with french fries. Unfortunately I was so hungry after the wait that I ate my food without posting a pic. However it was very good and I enjoyed the free option to add onion, green peppers, and mushrooms. The only downside was the wait. We were on a Time restraint and had to rush the server for our checks in order to get back to work on time. However a visit is worth it if you are not in a rush. read more

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Food is good ambience is fair I wish the pool table worked the bathrooms are ok the service is excellent.

Typical bar food. Wings were cooked well. Food all came out at the same time. Really expensive for what you get. Service was great.

came in to see our favorite server Matty (tattoos) and was advised by one of the servers she was terminated by the gm for not charging ranch on someones check (on accident). she was the best server we've had there. disappointed in management read more

Just to be fair, 2.8 stars is a little deceiving. When this place is on, the food is actually pretty decent, better than beefs at times. I've had a few lousy meals(usually the fries) Service is always pretty good. They do kids eat free night on Tuesday which is pretty cool. We bring the kids and it's a good time. Speaking of fries, if they offered Cajun fries or curly/seasoned, instead of crinkle cut, I wouldn't be mad... read more

We were in town visiting and were taken here since another restaurant was closed for New Year's Eve. The reviews were not great so I was wary. We were pleasantly surprised with the prompt seating for our party of 10 (6 adults and 4 kids). Shortly after being seated the server came to get our drink order and we wanted to order our food at the same time which threw him off a bit since his paper wasn't long enough for that. He got our drinks and had to go get more paper for our orders. We ordered the gator tail appetizer because we were in Florida and why not? It was slightly spicy after a few pieces (the batter). My husband liked the mustard stuff that came with it; my 2 year old and I liked it plain. I ordered salmon. My husband said I was crazy since it was a sports bar and they are more known for wings. (I always get my food dry without any sauces on it so it was on the drier side, I don't like sauce much and I don't like sauce masking the taste of the actual food.). My husband ordered the Cajun pasta and it was really just chicken Alfredo. It didn't taste Cajun or spicy at all. My girls got macaroni and cheese and mandarin oranges. They split everything for them which was awesome so they already had their own plates and nothing to fight over. Overall the server was polite and they were prompt. The salmon was ok, I wouldn't order it again. The Alfredo was fine as Alfredo but not "Cajun" as advertised. The girls ate their food and liked it. The food all was fine. I really liked the gator (we ate it before I remembered to take a picture) and the service was good so I would go again which is why I gave them 4 stars. read more

Gator's Dockside - Highland City - a plate of food with broccoli and chicken - Salad Near Me - Lakeland, Florida

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The wings are delicious and we have always loved coming here for the grilled teriyaki chicken wings . The beers were ice cold each time and are delicious. I had a slight problem with my mahi-mahi tacos , they were too fishy and mahi-mahi is not a fishy fish so I sent them back. Their appearance was no very impressive either . The manager was great and he came over to apologize for the bad dish. Overall 8 stars for this visit. Our waitress was excellent and attentive. Will be going back but will skip the tacos . read more

We have been several times now and do not see what the bad reviews are all about. We have ordered their combo platter twice and both time it was delicious. The combo comes with (3) chicken tenders (your chose of sauce to toss them in), (3) southwest egg rolls and (3) mozzarella sticks, each time we had 1 of each leftover...very filling. Today we had the LG house salad and boneless chicken wings. The wings are chunks of chicken breast, lightly coated, if at all, with flower/corn starch and were juicy and tender. The house salad as what was to be expected and did not disappoint. We went at lunch time and were in and out within a reasonable time. We typically sit at the bar for quicker service and the Bar tender is awesome, so we tend to only sit at the bar!! read more

Service was very good. The food is delicious. The cocktails are potent! I plan on returning often.

All my sister ate was the spinach dip. She's had the worst food poisoning. She was peeing out her butt!!! My brother in law got the gator bites. They were oily and all batter. We were only here for a baseball tournament. The best food we had was at Charm City. Save your money unless you need to drop a quick 5 lbs. read more

Used to love this place. Been a couple years since I've been here. The waitress was very good as was the fried mushrooms. That it. This place is not good. So I ordered a Philly sandwich that comes with fries that were so overcooked , I thought they accidentally gave me sweet potato fries, until I found out they don't even serve sweet potato fries. But to make matters worse, the manager is the one that delivered my food. That shows me 2 things. The kitchen doesn't care about quality if they send that out to a customer, and worst of all the manager could care less what they serve. That's sad when you are in charge and you serve customers good that you wouldn't eat. Ridiculous. read more

Nothing but disappointment. I obviously didn't check reviews before coming here as my husband said they were pretty good. Our waitress seemed less than happy to be working. I asked about the size of salads since they have a small and large salad listed in the menu and was told "the best I can tell you is there is a small salad plate and a large salad plate". That really narrowed it down... I took my chances with the small since it was $10. It took what felt like forever to get our food and we were only checked on right before the food came out. My daughter needed a refill of her lemonade and she brought us out sprite. Would have been fine but we didn't see her again to ask for the correct drink a second time. The food runner was more help to us than the waitress had been the entire time we were there. HE ended up correcting the drink, and a few other things we needed. My salad tasted like they hadn't even washed the lettuce but since they took so long with our food, I dealt with it. My husband ordered a Cuban and said it was sub par. We won't be back here. It's pretty expensive for crappy service and nothing special about the food. read more

We've been here before but I think, after a couple failed attempts, we shall not return. First, the staff are all really friendly and they're good at their jobs. We had zero problems with the folks here. I gave them an extra star just for the people. Our issues have always been with the food. On our last visit, we had the following; Kid: kids pizza and fries Husband: Gator Cuban with fries Me: Turkey Muffaletta with mandarin oranges Kid was not impressed with the pizza at all. That sauce is a chunky pasta sauce and it did not go over well and Kid said the cheese tasted "weird." It went uneaten. Note that when you order off the kid menu, it states that a dessert snack is included, followed by choices for a sundae or float. Those are both extra! They are not the dessert snack that comes with. Instead, it's a rice krispy treat. Husband's gator Cuban was ok. The "gator" refers to the gator sauce on the sandwich. With the sandwich and fries, he was underwhelmed. My turkey Muffaletta was blah. It's mostly turkey topped with spinach dip on a pita. I like all of those things but it is SO full of spinach dip; SO full that it was just too much. My mandarin oranges were standard mandarin oranges so they were just fine. We tried to give them another chance, but we spent roughly $50 for a lunch that none of us loved, with SO much uneaten food left over. That's a shame. read more

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Gumbo was a disappointment. No heat, both temperature and spice. Philly Cheesesteak is 5 stars. Grilled Chicken avocado wrap is 5 stars. Chicken wings are good. Ambiance is great. They had the Lighting game on, but had music on in the background. read more

Gators is a great place to go after 8PM while everywhere else is closed. I finally found something on the menu that will probably be my go to order. The monte cristo was delicious. It was essentially ham, turkey, cheese, battered with powder sugar+jelly dip. The fries were just alright but the sandwich was the star. I wouldn't order the onion blossoms again. They were so greasy in flavor. I think the mozzarella sticks or fried pickles are WAY better. I noticed some of the restaurant needed to be cleaned. There was a disgusting booth near us that had food all over the floor. There was also trash on the ground noticeable on the tile floors. With it being pretty slow I was surprised the staff wasn't taking the time to sweep it up. Our waitress was nice and was overall on top of things. Initially she forgot our onion blossoms. However we were very impressed when she remembered and brought them out. With it being so late we were just going to take the fries and not mention it. This wasn't completely her fault as we had changed our side order at the last second. However I appreciate her owning up to forgetting and bringing the onions out once she remembered. I appreciate the music isn't too loud and the atmosphere is pretty chill. The sandwhich I ordered is extremely rich and wouldn't be a good thing to eat in one sitting. However overall the food tasted fresh and was pretty good! read more

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Got take out... bad. Room temp everything. Consistencies were off, wings overdone. A real shame. Gave them another shot...... Haven't even picked up yet, but talking to the dumb girl on the phone revealed they have no idea what food allergies are and that they "guess" as to whether or not your food will be safe. She was rude, lazy, and dismissive. I am beyond disappointed. If you read my reviews you will see that I usually have very positive reviews. I don't use Yelp to "grind an axe" , not am I a negative person... however this place needs to get it together or close the doors. read more

Gator's Dockside - Highland City - Salad Near Me - Lakeland, Florida

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I recently visited this restaurant with my wife. We hadn't been here in over two years. I remembered why we didn't return. We were seated in a booth as soon as we arrived. About fifteen minutes later we were acknowledged and a waitress finally took our drink order. After walking past us several times before that. We ordered an appetizer and 2 entree's. Another waitress sat the appetizer down and walked away. She seemed to be in a bad mood. Our food was served about 10 minutes afterwards. The fries weren't hot and both entrees were warm to the touch. We had a similar issue a couple years back, which is why we didn't return. After giving it one more shot, I'm definitely not returning to this establishment. Our waitress was nice but didn't check on us very often. It was not busy at all so I don't understand what the issue was. I can definitely get better service elsewhere that would appreciate my business. read more

On our visit we decided to stop to try their gator bites. To our dismay they were out of gator! Very strange as it is the namesake. So we opted on some other seafood sandwich platter which was served hot and fairly quickly. We sat at the bar and had some libations with our meals that were both very good. All in all it's not a bad place to dine we just wished they had gator. We will probably stop again if we are out that way and in need of some grub. I hope they aren't out of gator this time. read more

Decent place and food. Reminds me of an Ale House, Buffalo Wild Wings... Our server was nice but this is too far from us. We headed this way since we were hungry after the shooting range. We do have one closer to home so will go again. The sweet chili Thai sauce with the wings were my favorite! The gator cuban wasn't a complete cuban sandwich but I can taste a bit of the resemblance and with the garlic sauce made it good! I liked their onion rings more than the fries. Would have to go on a Monday for dinner when it's unlimited wings for one price between 6 and 11pm when I crave wings again! read more

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When service is on their game, and TVs are not too loud, this is a great place to eat. Love their summer breeze salad and champagne vinaigrette but everything I have had here is decent. It is also a great Friday night after work type beers & friends joint with outside seating for nice days. In the 4 years since my last review they have become more consistent in service and cook-to-table times. I am disappointed to see a recent vegetarian blast Gators with "dill pickles his only option". I eat mostly vegetarian and their five salads, super nachos, tater tots, spinach dip, fried mushrooms, onion petals, poppers, hot vegetables, fries, cole slaw, dirty rice or mac & cheese and their desserts are all great vegetarian options. (Rating a place low for not carrying a certain item YOU were in the mood for is pretty unfair. Just sayin'....) read more

Gator's Dockside - Highland City - half seabreeze salad - Salad Near Me - Lakeland, Florida

Always had great service and good hot food pretty fast even when busy. Clean even when busy. The shrimp is better than Red Lobster!! read more

Got some delicious gator tail here and some boneless wings! First time trying gator tail it was very delicious! read more

Gator's Dockside - Highland City - Salad Near Me - Lakeland, Florida

Great meal but server seemed put out we wanted outdoor seating during COVID. Will always give a business two shots but if they do t overcome the poor service they wo t get 3 strikes from us. read more

So disappointed. Everything was out of whack from service to food taste. We won't return.

Josh was the best server I have ever had and this was on a night that the kitchen was taking over an hour and a half for 1 order of wings. He even attended to us frequently during our wait. He said he was fairly new and he did an incredible job! read more

Staff is always friendly, and the food is good. For me, Gator's has the best wings and ribs in Lakeland. Our grandsons love coming here for the arcades and pool table. read more

I would have given five stars were it not for my wife's hamburger. The positives: Appetizer: Gator Bites excellent Drinks: Long Islands and Margaritas excellent Fish platter: excellent Dessert: the excellent Waitress: excellent Ambience: Good Pool table a little small. Hamburger: Despite previous reviews on the poor quality of the hamburgers my wife tempted fate. She asked for a medium and a received burnt dry leather . We will go again just no hamburgers read more

Food wasn't bad , but wasn't worth the price . Service was ok . My kids had the fried gator bites . My beautiful wife had the mahi-mahi . While I had the grouper fingers . The food just wasn't amazing , little on the bland side read more

With a wide selection of your typical bar and grill food, great service, and a fun atmosphere, Gator's won't let you down. The restaurant is LITTERED with huge plasma TVs, all displaying a wide range of HD sporting events ranging from NASCAR to UFC to the X Games. In the back, there's a couple pool tables (which now are far enough away from the dining area to give the players some elbow room) and a touch screen jukebox boasting a wide selection of music. The staff was very courteous, and even went out of their way to fetch our table a sample of sauce. The food got to our table quickly and was exactly as ordered. In the five experiences I've had with Gator's, none of them have been less than satisfactory. Even the one time I had the full dining experience -- that is, watching a big UFC fight in a full house -- it was a great night out. read more

Gator's Dockside - Highland City - Fried Kalamari - Salad Near Me - Lakeland, Florida

This is one of my favorite places in South Lakeland, by far the best wings (even though) they are the smallest) Good Food Great Service Good prices My problem with this location is that the noise, both loud music and filthy language and way too much. My advise is sit close to the front windows!!! Management needs to address this!!!! read more

By far the worst service I EVER received. I don't know if it was because we were black but it definitely felt like it. When we walked in everyone was staring at us like we didn't belong and after the waitress took our drink order she never returned. The sad part was that they only had about 3 tables with customer and several waitresses but I guess they were to busy to take our order. We decided to leave because we clearly didn't belong. I will not return to this location. read more

Always a great place to grab a good meal when visiting relatives in the area. Decent service and good food. Always the same. Reliable. Locals joint, but staff is friendly. Gator tail is delish! Wide range from salads, burgers, entrees, and they gave a nice dessert for my sister's birthday. read more

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The food was terrible. Everything came out lukewarm. I ordered Salmon and it was under cooked. All of the sides were wrong. We tried the happy hour margaritas they tasted like just sweet and sour mix. The only good thing about it was our waitress was very nice. I do not recommend this place. read more