Fudpuckers Beachside Bar & Grill

20001 Emerald Coast Pkwy, Destin, FL 32541, USA

Address:	20001 Emerald Coast Pkwy, Destin, FL 32541, USA
Phone:	+1 850-654-4200
Site:	fudpucker.com
Rating:	3.5
Working:	11:30AM–9PM 11:30AM–9PM 11:30AM–9PM 11:30AM–9PM 11AM–2AM 11AM–2AM 11AM–9PM

Location

Fudpuckers Beachside Bar & Grill: A Comprehensive Analysis

Quality of Service

Inconsistency in Service: Multiple reviews mentioned that the service was not up to the mark. Issues ranged from mistakes in billing to poor handling of customer complaints.
Staff Training: There were mentions of staff needing better training, especially when dealing with customer payments and orders.
Server Attitude: Some customers found the attitude of the servers to be less than satisfactory, affecting the overall dining experience.

Accessibility

Long Wait Times: Customers often experienced long wait times, even when the restaurant was not at full capacity.
Limited Seating: There were complaints about the lack of seating areas, especially air-conditioned spaces, while waiting for a table.

Pricing

High Costs: Many reviews pointed out that the food and drinks were overpriced compared to the quality offered.
Expensive Gift Shop: The gift shop was also mentioned as being on the pricier side.

Services and Types of Entertainment

Alligator Viewing: The restaurant offers an alligator viewing area, which some found to be the only redeeming feature.
Live Entertainment: The venue does provide live entertainment and events on many nights.
Limited Alligator Interaction: The alligator "show" was described as underwhelming, consisting mainly of a man talking about alligator facts.

Location-Specific Issues

Heat and Comfort: The lack of air-conditioned waiting areas was a significant concern, especially for families with young children or pregnant women.

Additional Insights

Sanitary Concerns: There were mentions of unsanitary practices like servers putting their fingers in customer's water glasses.
Tourist Trap: Some reviews labeled the place as a typical tourist trap with more focus on atmosphere than food quality.

From Personal Knowledge

Fudpuckers Beachside Bar & Grill is known for its unique atmosphere, featuring live alligators and a variety of entertainment options. However, it seems that the establishment needs to focus more on improving service quality and addressing customer concerns to live up to its reputation.

Photos 100

Reviews 5

Stephanie Norris

HORRIBLE!! Please dont waste your time or money!! I went sat 6/2/12 with 3 of my girlfriends. The food was nasty and very greasy! It made 3 of us nauseous! The seats were uncomfortable and the service was pathetic! There were too many customers so the service was very inadeqaute! And to top of everything the staff apparently need some trianing when it comes to dealing with customers money! They screwed up 2 of our tickets that were being paid by debit card. One ticket was for $32.91and the other for $15.88(mine). Some how the waitress & manager managed to mix up our tickets not one but 7 times. She came back to our table 5x trying to fix it but still never fixed it! The finalization ticket I signed off on before leaving the resturant was for 20.00$ (after feeling bad and leaving her a 4.12$ tip) but after getting back to our hotel that night and checking my bank statement online my card had been ran 6 times(and for some reason 6 different amounts) totaling 176$!! Of course I called and spoke with the manager but she wasnt any help besides me telling her to get her boss to call me the next day! So Sunday6/3/12 the general manager called me and told me that the finalization he saw for me was for 32.91$! Not the 20$ I had actually signed my name to!!! He said he was going to refund me the 32.91$ but im still waiting to see it on my account. Of course they were very apologetic but she should have never ran my card that many times with out being sure it was correct. If I only had a certain amt in my account they would have really messed me up! Im trying to patiently wait on a resolution to their screw up which I was told may take 3-5 business days.

231MasseyFerguson

Not what its made out to be! We just got back from there and really didnt see what the big hype was all about. The alligators were nice to see but really wasnt a big deal for us since were from Louisiana anyway. It was only me, my wife, and our 2 year old son and we had a 1.5 hour wait for our table, which we were told from the moment we signed in. It was hot and NO place to sit while we waited but was told we could "just walk around the gift shop (very expensive!) or walk out to see the alligators" if we liked. The alligator "show" was nothing more than a man talking about gator facts and thats it. They didnt show the gators doing anything that makes the crowd go "WOW!" It doesnt cost anything to view the gators though. My wife is pregnant with our second child and she was so close to getting overheated. Our son started to get too hot and irritable and that caused me to get irritable and I was already pouring sweat! He loved the crab dip but the food was definitely over priced. Although our food was fresh we both agree that it wasnt worth the wait. The last thing id like to mention without going into detail is this is NOT a place for religious people. All in all we dont regret going because we wanted to check it out. Our main complaint was not having an air conditioned place to sit while we waited for our table. We dont plan on going back to this location but will try the one across from the Ramada Plaza on Okaloosa Island in Ft. Walton on our next vacation to Florida. Hopefully it will be a much better experience.

Brittany Chrisman

My husband and I went here for dinner during our honeymoon, the outside of the restaurant is awesome and the alligators were certainly cool to look at. Upon arrival we her a server complaining to a hostess about not receiving a tip on a check. Okay, I get it, I’ve been a server that sucks. Then what do you know? This is our server. Looking at the menu immediately I notice the prices are crazy high and the cost of drinks is outrageous compared to the several other places we’d tried during our visit. My husband and I both order drinks. I just recently turned 21 in the last couple of weeks and in TN they issue paper ID’s until your hard plastic arrives in the mail. Mine hadn’t arrived prior to us leaving town. The server tells me paper IDs require manager approval, okay no big deal, the manager comes back and refuses to serve me. AGAIN, no big deal. My husband gets his drink and let’s me have a SIP to try it. I then continued drinking my water. Within seconds the server comes up and SNATCHES the drink out of my husbands hand and says they have to confiscate it because I had a drink of it. Excuse me? Mind you, I have a valid ID and an expired ID to prove the numbers are the same, and clearly this is not a fake. And I had ONE SIP from MY HUSBANDS drink. It isn’t like I chugged the thing or he ordered it for me. Overall, the servers attitude was poor from the first impression and she was extremely rude in removing the drink from my husband. They lost a table and customers who will never be back.

A Private User

Some friends and I on July 12, 2010 went to Fudpuckers in Destin, FL to take the children out for a good time. My husband ordered us water and he specifically told her no lemons. Well we ended up with a lemon in both his and mine water. Before our waitress could remove the glasses from the holding tray I informed her that we didn’t want any lemons. She turns her back and takes the lemon out of our glasses. The lemons were in the water and not on the glass. So she put her fingers in our water while she was at our table and turned her back to us as if we were stupid. I told her that I didn’t want the water and I didn’t want anything from her. We had not ordered any meals at this point. We asked for the manager and it took her several minutes to come to the table. We told her what happened and she took up for the waitress. Apparently she thought we wanted something for free or wanted a discounted but we wanted her to know why we were leaving and we left. The place a lot of activity but I was very much disappointed with the service. I don’t plan on ever going back or referring anyone to the place. Yes we could have taken the lemon out of the water that is not the point. The point is that type of service is unsanitary and it makes me wonder what else they are doing. I lost my appetite.

A Private User

When I was younger, this place seemed so fun. It is your typical tourist-trap type seafood joint with fried everything and $10 fancy drinks. There are far better choices for good seafood. But the atmosphere is unique and they do have live entertainment and events many nights of the week. It often has long lines but the kids have something to do during the wait. The alligator beach feature is free (although they charge like $5 for a pole and meat treats if you want to feed them) and the line and the bar area hover over it. In the three times I have been there, the alligators only moved on the first occasion. You heard me correctly. There are 50 alligators and on my last two visits, not one moved or ate. I dont know if their care has fallen or if the tourist abuse just catches up with them but the last time was just depressing. Several of the gators had their ribs showing. They let you hold one gator, but the mouth is tightly duct taped. The photo they give you makes me sad everytime I look at it. If someone really wanted to check this place out, I would suggest just going for drinks and entertainment and then you will see the gator beach while youre there doing that. I would skip the food or just have a basket or two as appetizers.