Gator Bay Bar and Grill

We really enjoyed our lunch here. Small out of the way restaurant/bar. Inside seating was limited to about 20, it does have a bar to sit at also. It does have plenty of out side seating both covered and out in the sun. It is on the river, you can bring your boat into the marina if you are in the area. We did get to see 2 small alligators swimming in the water by the dock. For appetizers we had the chicken wings, gator pretzel and cheese curds. The wings were the mango habanero, big wings, I would not want to fight one of their chickens. Great flavor, cooked perfectly, sweet flavor for about the first 2 seconds before the habanero kicks in but it was not over powering. The cheese curds were hot and squeaky, and if you have never heard your cheese curds squeak then you have never had good cheese curds. The pretzel was as big as the plate, hot crispy on the out side put soft in the middle. Plenty to share with your friends. For lunch we order the slaw dog and philly steak and cheese. Sorry did not get pictures of these. Started eating as soon as it hit the table. The hot dog was an all beef cooked in the deep fryer. Great flavor, the frying did not dry it out. All I can say about the Philly is that my wife said it was good. She would not share with me so I will have to take her word. The one thing for me was the live music, to me it was just a little to loud, it was hard to hear the people talking at the table at times but besides that definitely a must try place. Almost forgot, we had the fried pickles also, they are the spears not slices, really good came out so hot we had to wait a little before eating.

Food came out fast and tasted good, will have to try more food down the road. My server/bartender Christine was awesome! They got really busy during lunch rush and she was basically doing everything aside from the kitchen herself. Great place to eat during a hot day. Next to the water nice cold beer and great bartenders

Headed over to Gator Bay with realistic expectations. I'd read here that wait times on food were high - so we went to enjoy some drinks, food, listen to the amazing band and enjoy the afternoon, leaving any stopwatches at home. Our server was at our table right away - taking and getting our drinks quickly. We ordered an appetizer which came out in about 20 minutes - which every table outdoors was filled and most people had just put in an order. Not bad!! The Old Florida Sampler platter was great for 4 people. LOVED the frog legs!! We ordered our food, which came out when our appetizer was done - reviews were: blackened fish was awesome, bacon cheeseburger was AMAZING and sauerkraut hot dog w/ potato salad was the best ever had. The band, Voodoo Gypsies, was great and the music wasn't so loud that we couldn't talk. I also got to pop my drone in the air to take an overhead photo - the only thing missing from the Google photos on here. :) The only thing missing were baby alligators in the water - but since you can't control the wildlife - I'm counting this as a perfect way to spend a Sunday. We will DEFINITELY be back...again...and again.

Great food, atmosphere and people! Luckily we came on karaoke night and there happens to be some of Lake County’s finest singing talent in attendance. Had a fun time.

As a native floridian this place reminds me of home..from baby alligators in water, to delicious waterfront food drinks and live entertainment..frog legs, gator tail, and smoked fish dip all excellent.
Highly reccomend

The food was delicious. The service was friendly. The atmosphere was inviting. I didn't eat there but while waiting for my food I had an interesting conversation with another patron at the bar. The experience was delightful.

Gator Bay was a riot. Free boat docking and we did see a gator! We took our tritoon from Freedom Boat Club Dead River and went through the locks and ended up at Gator. Great people and prices!

We went and saw a really great band called REL. This is a little hole in the wall Marina and bar with limited parking space. It's called Gator Bay where you literally are just feet from the water! The food was delicious but getting it took an extremely long time. 84 degrees in February? Yes please!!!

Food was absolutely awesome. Service was great. Poor little gal was running the place by herself. She still did an awesome job taking care of all of her customers.

Beautiful day, Florida “laid back enjoy life” atmosphere! These type of places are plentiful and for most part good people. Have a couple blood Marys (ain’t noon yet LOL) and SUNDAY MORNING COMING DOWN onsite.

The Old Florida Sampler is a must try. It is tasty, crispy and included fried frog legs, cat fish and alligator bites that can be shared for two people. The frog legs will be memorable since they were my favorite thing on the plate. Not only were the frog legs perfectly cooked and succulent, it also had the best breading I have ever had. The gator bites were tender and had some mild spice to them so if you don't like spice then I do not recommend ordering this. The catfish was flaky. The home made tartar sauce wasn't your typical tartar but was an even better version of it. The swamp sauce is a horseradish based sauce. None of the seating has air conditioning, this is an open air restaurant with a bar, an outdoor seating area under a carport type structure and an enclosed screened seating area. This place also has boat parking areas.

We came to listen to The Lucky Dogg Band and they did not disappoint! The food was great and it was a beautiful day!

The burgers are huge, the gator bites are delicious the staff was wonderful and the band was excellent. As you can tell we enjoyed our lunch

Overall a decent little bar, nice place to sit by the water and have a beer. By boat, bike, or car, it's never that far, to the gator bay bar.

the gator pretzel & garlic parm wings were outstanding!

This place is right on the water. It is amazing, beautiful, quiet, peaceful and the staff is so friendly

They had an awesome band. The food was great. There was slot of people making service slow.

You can feed the gators. Food is good. Sometimes there is a live band.

We had one of the best servers we've ever had down there cuz we going for a while because the service was so bad, but this little gal was great. The only thing that we see as a drawback for us old folk, I know you seem to think we're all hard of hearing, but the volume level of the karaoke is absolutely ridiculous.! You can't even talk to the person right in front of you!

The food and service were good!!!
We had WI cheese curds and fish dip for appetizers.