50 minutes to get food on a lunch. Manager is running around bussing tables and prebussing while his line is crashing and burning. Come to find out he had a prep cook he could have pulled to the line and didn't. Worst of all he didn't get on the line and help. Really? Had to take my girlfriend back to work without eating lunch and I get to go home to a cold meal short on shrimp(supposed to be 10) and get charged full price and not a single manager visit to apologize for the delay in food. read more

Waited an hour and a half for food, flies everywhere, then when the cheeseburger came, I found a piece of string cooked right in it. Manager was entirely unapologetic about it - blamed the meat distributor and blamed the cook who called in sick. I'd call in sick too from ever going to this place. Go someplace else while you still can. read more

Decent food. Can get a little loud and crazy when all the beer drinkers are there. Im not crazy about the food, but its ok. Its just nothing special. read more

Ate here on Monday night and was just able to get out of bed today, Wednesday from food poisoning. One of my dining companions was sick as well. Not sure if it was the grouper or the shrimp but do know I lost a whole day of my vacation. Thanks Blue Gator clean up your act before you kill someone! read more

Yes, I am a fan. I went twice in two days! The service is a little slow... #DivaDoesReviews will now comment... The atmosphere on Sunday night was pretty busy, but not too busy that the staff could not get to us in a reasonable enough time, but it did take over 55 minutes for our foot to come out which was two Grouper Sandwiches (fried) and tater rounds. She was friendly, though. The sandwich was amazing. Very good. Fresh. The tater rounds were also fresh and very good. I went the following day for a DBA meeting and we were served buffet style. The food ran out because people took an over abundance in the first wave... and left none for the rest. LOL Anyway, they were quick on their feet and refilled the stations. Got to shake the hand of the owner as he was waiting for hubby and I at the end of our visit and wished us a good night. I happen to like those personal touches. It was a good experience overall. They get four deserving stars. Just the waitstaff needs to be a little bit quicker when there aren't that many people there. I mean, there were empty seats on the patio. A lot of them. All in all, Good experience. #PostingDiva read more

Stopped here after tubing. Great location on the river. Fish dip was seasoned well. Boys had sliders. Ok. Basic burgers. I had spicy ranch burger. Pepper jack cheese, deep fried jalapeño (with seeds). Good tasting with lots of heat. read more

The Blue Gator - Seafood Near Me - Dunnellon, Florida

What a great place to stop and eat after being out on the river! Big huge deck with a view of the Withlacoochee River.

A fun, casual place to kick back, eat, and enjoy a beautiful view of the river. After asking our waitress for suggestions regarding lunch choices that we could get quickly (as we had about an hour before our scheduled air boat tour next door), she let us know that whatever we ordered would be expedited so we wouldn't miss our tour. The food was great, local beer was refreshing and the customer service of every employee was impecable. This is definitely a diamond in the rough!! read more

Amazing atmosphere, great drinks, great service. Get the fish tacos. Hush puppies are the best I've ever had. Perfect place to unwind outside after a day on the river. read more

Really great food, great customer service, and great atmosphere. If we lived closer we'd go here all the time! Love it.

4 stars for food and 5 stars for service. Great spot to eat outside. Big fans circulate air, deter bugs, and keep street noise down. I can't get over how nice the server (Cynthia) and manager (Piper) were. Piper gave us all kinds of tips for our vacation and went above and beyond. Southern hospitality and friendliness at there finest. After tubing on Rainbow River, this is the perfect spot to end the day before heading home or to your hotel. read more

Great Food, very pleasant staff. Love the new indoor seating area. Try the Fish Tacos, very good. read more

The Blue Gator - New indoor seating!!! - Seafood Near Me - Dunnellon, Florida

Great fried fish&chips! This outdoor decked restaurant has lots of character and is situated right beside the river with lots of large overhanging shade trees. And the beer is very cold which complements the outdoor dining. Well behaved dogs are always welcome, WOOF! read more

Nice and attentive wait staff. Great food, lots of options of seafood and non seafood, along with alcohol selection. Tried gator for the first time, not bad! You won't walk away hungry, portions are mighty plenty. read more

We stopped in here after tubing at Rainbow River. Great food! $5 Bloody Mary hit the spot. We had a party of 7 and we all enjoyed our meal and no waits for anything. A waitress was on top of things and made great suggestions. Steamed shrimp were bomb and so was the cocktail sauce. Fish tacos were a little plain/ flavorless, which was what I ordered so that's the reasons for 4 stars but I tried everyone else's, all were great. Would recommend! read more

This is a cool joint. Right on the river with live music, a big crowd, and communal seating. The fish tacos were delicious. The fries were fries. The beers were cold. read more

The Blue Gator was awesome! When we arrived, we had a very short wait (less than 5 minutes) and we promptly seated. Our waitress was very friendly and even seated us near one of the outdoor heaters (it was a little chilly after dark). We chose the Angler's platter and picked scallops, calamari, and a crab cake. The seafood was delicious and I recommend the platter if you aren't quite sure what you want to try. Even as we were leaving, the waitress gave us new to go cups full of water (without us asking). Great service and great food. I would highly recommend!! read more

I went back during another visit to the area. We were able to get served this time. I had clam strips. They were okay, but did not have much flavor. The staff was very friendly. read more

Pretty good had some clams and fried calamari as an app and a gator brat as my main dish, ok beer prices, $2 for a bottle of Busch, would probably go back again read more

This is a cool local place down by the river. Decent menu for sleepy little Dunellen, and very reasonable prices. I had a $15 steak dinner and it was surprisingly good. Live music with lots and lots of outside seating on a huge deck. They trim the bushes around the deck to make it look bigger. read more

Heard great things about this place. Service was good. Food was mediocre at best. I'm not really fussy just decent food and warm. I had the crab cakes and my husband had the scallop basket. Would have been acceptable if it had been warm, it was not. Food delivery was verrrrry slow which could have had something to do with the temperature. Here visiting and checking out the area. Lots of places to choose from. Won't come back. read more

Love this place! The outside seating allows you to enjoy looking over the Withlacoochee River & watch all the activity on the water. My husband LOVES their corn fritters & we both love the shrimp - both the fried & broiled. Very busy place, so we like to get there around 2:00. Would have given 5 stars, but the parking lot is small and on a steep slant. read more

Loved the vibe here! We came here after we visited Rainbow Springs and we were so glad we stopped here. The gator bites were very good, along with our scallops, and fish and chips. The drink menu and selection had so many options. Our waitress was friendly and made our experience great! read more

Found this place quite by accident one day but have ben back there many more times. Place only has outdoor seating so very weather dependent. First time we sat a the bar over looking the boats and river. Other time table seating. One time it was fairly cold (by Florida standards) but the has some nice propane heaters around the deck. It is good "bar" food. We usually mix and match many appetizers to make our meal. Definately going back and bringing more friends with us read more

Joe as the waiter was disrespectful and also kept the change without asking two of the people at my table. Food took over an hour.

Blue Gator, you got it all over Swampies. I apologize for my being unfaithful to you, It will not happen again. Wavil read more

Went for Shrimp for my birthday today. It's been a while since we've been there. But it was a 73 degree lovely March 2nd. Disappointed again. Fried shrimp were greasy and tough. Too many fries to make it look like you're getting more. The hush puppies rocked but didn't make up for the low quality, 30 count shrimp. We would gladly pay more for a quality product. The waitress was OK but not impressed. All said the Blue Gator works because of their setting at the junction of the Rainbow river. Beautiful but average to below average food. Big shame. This was about 3:30pm. read more

The Blue Gator - Seafood Near Me - Dunnellon, Florida

Food was cold, my teenager ordered the seafood Mac and cheese and was brought a kids macaroni and cheese. They did bring her the correct order but my clam strips were cold the minute they hit the table. I ate 5 pieces and decided that was enough of cold greasy clam strips. read more

Atmosphere and service is always amazing here and right off the Rainbow River. Good Is amazing and love the view. A great place to relax with a few cold ones. read more

They've updated their menu in the last few months, and I love this place. They have pretty much everything you're going to want and it's all delicious. They also have super fun dancing on the weekends with live music. Keep up the great work! :-) read more

Food was just okay. Had the trio sampler and that was great. I ordered a Cuban and it was way too salty. I could barely even eat half of it.

After a day on the Rainbow River there's nothing better than a good meal at the Blue Gator..... Vacationing in Dunnellon a few years back and stumbled across this little gem and make a point to stop here whenever we pass through. Great local Florida food and atmosphere coupled with classic southern hospitality. Picturesque views and the staff are always welcoming. Keep up the good work guys. read more

We stopped in here last night. The weather was great (73 degrees), Joey the waiter was quick, nice and friendly and my spicy burger was cooked perfectly. The manager came by the table to ensure our food and service was acceptable plus gave us information on the boat rentals. What's not to love at this place? We'll be back! read more

Not gourmet food, but fun place and pretty good food. I had the seafood sampler and was not disappointed. Huge frog legs and very good crab cakes. Wife had fish tacos and was more than she could eat. Probably too many tater tots and we left many on plate. I can't get used to smoking in public places, especially restaurants. Also really don't like dogs/pets in food places. Waitress brought grubby dog water dish for table next to us with her finger in bowl. She then picked up dropped food on floor and then served us our meal. Ugh! But I'd return..... read more

Love the food, the drinks, the outdoor seating is great, the prices are fair would have given 5 stars but on the outdoor music the volume is way too loud, other wise I would recommend the Blue Gator read more

The seafood (including Gator) is really fresh here. We had the angeler's choice - scallops, shrimp and grouper as well as the Gator appetizer. Grouper was a little dry but the scallops and shrimp were amazing! Our server had a really good tip. Eat the Gator with lots and lots of lemon. read more

A good local place to catch a beer and enjoy the deck. The food is more quick serve but tasty. Went here twice while in the area.

Great find. We were told they have the best clam chowder around and I agree! Great food. Fantastic staff! Thanks!

Bar food but usually satisfying. Last night, however, they were using up their leftover fire works. Right from the dock behind us, close enough that ash fell on my plate and in Norma's hair. Very disturbing!! Will be awhile before I go back there. Capt Bob, the owner, felt that my comment about not enjoying their fireworks was not valid since "it was 4th of July" weekend. I love fireworks but not within 30 yds of me with several water vessels with gas tanks within feet of where they were shooting them off. Whew. Glad to get outta there. read more

Disclaimer: 4 yelp stars= "Yay! I'm a fan." Extremely casual, outdoor place with what we found to be good grub. Excellent beer prices, and the frequent soft drink refills kept us from ever asking for them. Yelped during a road trip and arrived at this busy joint at 7pm on a cool, damp, Saturday night - was busy, but not overcrowded - great rock band had a little following but the entire crowd appreciated their talents. Staff was super friendly and welcoming, and as outsiders in this small town, the locals were pretty kind to us too! Kitchen was backed up, we were told, and the fish tacos had a great flavor but were way too cold. Was too busy to bother sending back and we were having too much fun. All in all, I would definitely return if in the area again - it's a cool night out in the area :) read more