Cancel

    Open app

    Search

    Shady Gators

    3.1 (136 reviews)
    ModerateBars
    Open 11:00 am - 12:00 AM (Next day)

    Shady Gators Photos

    SHADY GATORS ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    DJ
    Live music
    Very loud
    Casual

    You might also consider

    Recommended Reviews - Shady Gators

    Your trust is our priority, so businesses can't pay to alter or remove their reviews. Learn more about reviews.
    Yelp app icon
    Browse more easily on the app
    Review Feed Illustration

    Reviews With Photos

    Brisket Nachos and Lake Water
    Ashley T.

    Fun atmosphere! Came for a group dinner and the food surpassed our expectations. I ordered the brisket nachos -they were HUGE and delicious. I shared them with our table of 8 and still only ate half. Others ordered pizza, gator wrap, pasta, jambalaya.... All good! Lake water and spicy margs were good too!

    Group at bar
    Taylor R.

    Place been here for ages n a lot of stages n dj spots n bars inside. View of lake anyway u look. Service was chill but security on point!

    Pizza
    David M.

    Shady Gators is know for their party atmosphere and pizza. They have all of your favorite bar menu items. Every night during the summer lake days they will have some sort of live entertainment or even going on. There is also another venue called lazy gators that is a more adult venue. With a pool, swim up bar, and many cabanas for you to lounge. The food is decent and service is good. One of the many fun places at the Ozark to grab a drink and enjoy lake summers.

    Taylor T.

    I really want to give this "old standby" at Lake of the Ozarks a 3 star review however, my last experience here a week or so ago was pretty bad. First of all, positives, the drinks are fairly cheap and pretty strong. Maybe the food is only edible if you're drunk? I've had fun at the pool and pool bar before. It has a beautiful view of the lake but, it gets crowded very quickly. However, this was a Thursday night for dinner, and the vilbes were pretty dead, not really lively at all. And the food just wasn't good at all, we decided to all three split the most expensive thing on the menu, a combination seafood boil pieces at $66. After it came out and was comprised of mostly inedible crayfish, we knew we should have just stuck with either crab or shrimp. The crayfish tasted like straight mud. Now I know they are nicknamed mud-bugs, but these were not fresh or clean. What made it even worse the butter that was on the side wasn't seasoned at all! No Cajun seasoning was on anything, it was the most lackluster seafood boil I had ever had. The shrimp was also pale and anemic, not seasoned at all and overcooked and rubbery. The crab legs were scrawny and barely had any meat in them. We promptly asked to talk to the owner whom, in his defense, did rectify the situation (to the best of his ability) he brought us extra crab legs as well as a whole bunch of Cajun seasoning to add to the butter and another order of shrimp, that were seasoned! So, my question is, how did the first boil even make it out of the kitchen? The potatoes were still rock hard, the corn on the cob was mushy and had no salt, the sausage was just okay bit wasn't andouille and didn't have much flavor. From an expo standpoint, it shouldn't have left the kitchen with all those glaring mistakes as well as the whole seasoning (or lack thereof). I appreciate the steps and customer service that was applied to a very lackluster meal but, I'll stick with sipping by the pool during the day and skip the food, or coming past dark!

    Miami Vice
    Michelle L.

    Busy bar and resort on the lake with a fun beach theme and a full bar serving tasty drinks and restaurant has plenty of food options to satisfy your hunger.Seafood Nachos were ok but not what I expected, chips were soggy and the bits of seafood were overcook and not to tasty. Burger was great, full of flavor and seasoning.Fries were crispy and the drinks were great.

    Legendary Sweet & Crunchy Fingers
    Annie D.

    We went on a Monday evening, so it definitely wasn't busy but was still nice to sit by the water and had great views. I think this is a place you go for the vibes and atmosphere over the actual food but we still thought our food was good. Shady Gators is more of the restaurant part and has two floors and live music. Lazy Gators is where you go for the pool. You can order from Lazy Gators at Shady Gators but not sure if you can do it the other way around. I got the Legendary Sweet & Crunchy Fingers and thought they were really good but didn't like the tartar sauce (although I am not usually much of a tartar sauce person in general). They came on a bed of lettuce which I thought was pointless but the fish was good and the breading was almost like corn flakes and the drizzled with honey. So definitely on the sweet side. I got a side of cornbread which was a little dry and nothing special (think jiffy cornbread mix). My friend got 1/2 lb of peel and eat shrimp and thought it was good. Our drinks were also good and we got to watch the sunset! We walked over to the pool area and the pool was definitely a little small but if you go on a week night, it seems like it wouldn't be super backed and would be a nice place to relax!

    Jumbalaya, red beans and rice, and crawfish etouffé with a dry little corn muffin.
    Steve B.

    I think it was right before the tourists really hit because it seemed slow for a Friday night. The staff was very friendly and our waitress was pretty good. Prompt, friendly, and everything was right. It was a little later so we split a salad and got the Brazilian steak and shrimp app, I don't remember what it was called but it came out on a cast iron plate with sterno under it, almost raw in the middle (how I like it), with 6 large perfectly cooked shrimp. Like I said I ate the beef as is but my wife cooked it a little more. I like my beef still moving a little. Very very good beef. The shrimp were spicy but also very good. We ordered the Menage au Trois, or combo of jumbalaya, crawfish etouffé, and red beans and rice. It was pretty spicy but very flavorful. The only downside was the dry and chewy hockey puck of a cornbread muffin. Other than that the food was very good. Over all a pretty good experience and a pretty good meal. I imagine the place is off the hook during the height of the season. The ambience was kind of half restaurant, half dive bar a la Roadhouse. Despite the negative reviews, no one tried to drug us. I did have a little bit of a Cajun food coma later but that was self inflicted.

    Deck views

    See all

    Photo of Les S.
    363
    787
    1881

    9 years ago

    Helpful 3
    Thanks 0
    Love this 2
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Kim T.
    106
    8
    0

    4 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    3 years ago

    Helpful 3
    Thanks 1
    Love this 2
    Oh no 1

    7 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    9 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 1
    Oh no 0
    Photo of H W.
    234
    86
    33

    5 years ago

    GET NEW DOCKS!!!! People with nice boats would like to eat there too! Food is good but can't go because the docks damage our boats.

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Jack T.
    188
    4
    0

    4 years ago

    This place is So much fun. You have to stop by anytime you're in the area. ESPECIALLY in the summer

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    6 years ago

    Helpful 4
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Rob S.
    5
    62
    2

    5 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    7 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of A A.
    1
    125
    92

    12 years ago

    Helpful 2
    Thanks 0
    Love this 1
    Oh no 0

    6 years ago

    Helpful 4
    Thanks 0
    Love this 1
    Oh no 0

    3 years ago

    Love this place! Great food and staff. The pool is amazing....one of our favorite places to hangout.

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    8 years ago

    Helpful 2
    Thanks 0
    Love this 3
    Oh no 0

    6 years ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    4 years ago

    Helpful 2
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    6 years ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    6 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 1
    Oh no 0

    8 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    10 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    5 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    5 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    4 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 1
    Oh no 0

    8 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    5 years ago

    Helpful 2
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    5 years ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    6 years ago

    One of the best Philly steak sandwiches we have had in a long time!!! We came back for seconds the next day!! R/R

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    4 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    6 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    8 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    9 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Cory H.
    59
    68
    0

    16 years ago

    Helpful 7
    Thanks 1
    Love this 10
    Oh no 1
    Photo of Rhonda L.
    572
    20
    14

    7 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    10 years ago

    Helpful 4
    Thanks 0
    Love this 2
    Oh no 1

    7 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    11 years ago

    Helpful 3
    Thanks 0
    Love this 3
    Oh no 0

    9 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Jet K.
    69
    54
    0

    8 years ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    7 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    12 years ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    Page 2 of 4

    Ask the Community - Shady Gators

    Review Highlights - Shady Gators

    Big area with a swim up bar, ice cream truck, huge restaurant with great food!

    Mentioned in 2 reviews

    Read more highlights

    Verify this business for free

    People searched for Bars 476 times last month within 10 miles of this business.

    Verify this business

    Shady Gators - bars - Updated July 2026

    Loading...
    Loading...
    Loading...