This place has the best atmosphere! I love the live music, the water views and sitting outside has all the Florida vibes.I usually order the shrimp and grits but this time the shrimp tasted stale and the grits wasn’t as saucy as I’d like. By the time it came to my table it wasn’t hot anymore. I’m disappointed with their lack of consistency. I’m not sure if there’s staff issues or what, but in prior years the food was consistently good and now it’s just “ok”.The kids meals were a hit and the ice cream ? sandwich is a fan favorite. I’ll give them another try simply because of the atmosphere.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 4
Vince Smith
Jamal is the best server. Great experience and fantastic food. Great place to eat and enjoy the beautiful weather. To make your experience even better ask for Jamal.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Yucatan Shrimp Tacos
Ken Lindberg
We had been to the Doc Fords downtown St. Pete and had a great meal last year. We were excited to check out the Bay Pines location. Sanibel cheese steak was good, just didn't have much meat on it. Yucatan shrimp was spicy but good. We sat on the porch with a great view of the bay. The turn off was several dogs, I love dogs, just not at a restaurant. There was a bulldog with his head resting on the bar. Not sure the health dept. Would like this either. Would return and probably sit inside.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 5
Michael Rea
Good food
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
ED &KATHLEEN Hughes
food and service put Doc Ford's in "The Front Row" of local favorites!!!! Please keep up your excellence of quality.Parking: we found a spot to park
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Crusted Grouper
Bob Hamernick
Nice place to go to enjoy some good food and nice and relaxing scenery
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Elizabeth Milano
Thank you to the servers, management and food staff for a fun evening last night. What started as an awkward situation was handled perfectly by the manager. Our server, Kiera, was professional and gracious even when dealing with “challenging” guests!! We’ve always enjoyed coming here and will continue to do so!!Thank you!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Angel Brickey
Wheelchair accessibility: Yes
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Maine Lobster Roll, Oysters Rockefeller
Verron
They knocked it out fo the park tonight. Great job! Perfectly cooked & delicious ribeye, scrumptious Coconut crusted snapper OMG! Everything was fantastic!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
RichardN
This was the first time my wife and I had been to this location; we had previously been to the St. Petersburg facility and enjoyed the experience. As for dinner, my wife and I got a number of appetizers rather than a full entree, which is our normal routine when going out for dinner. All were good except for the Peel & Eat shrimp which were quite tough to chew and eat. I mentioned it to our waiter and he removed it from our bill. Very nice location, looking southwest over the waterfront; good service.
We really love it here! The macadamia nut encrusted grouper is delicious! The salmon cedar plank is really good as well. Thought we would try the roasted shrimp with ginger and to our surprise, we received overcooked shrimp, tough&chewy. Sad, as I absolutely love shrimp when it's cooked to perfection, tender.  My husband and I both got the same meal and he felt the same way. I did not complain to the manager since we were with special guests. We definitely will return since we love the ambience and being on the water.  And for the most part, the food is absolutely delicious! 
Mazowauk
Large drink menu but drinks lacked flavor. Bar service was extremely slow. Food just OK but nothing that was really impressive. Got overcharged for item we didn't order. No compelling reason to return again.
There were four of us. One was very disappointed in the piece of grouper that came with his $30 grouper dinner. It was very small. Another person had a larger piece of grouper on their $20 grouper sandwich. Otherwise, food and service were good.
Jannie
We have been to other Doc Ford locations, but thought we'd try this newish one. I ordered my go-to meal of macadamia crusted grouper with coconut cream sauce and rice...always delicious. Unfortunately, this time the piece of fish I received was truly inedible. It was very thick and tough and disgusting looking. I couldn't even cut it with a knife. I sent it back; they agreed it was bad; offered me a new meal, but I had lost my appetite for grouper at that point. Because of dietary restrictions due to medication, there were limited choices for me, so I opted for chicken tenders, which they were going to “rush out”. Those took quite a while because it was very busy; meanwhile, hubby had now finished eating. So he ate while I waited; then I ate while he waited. The manager and waitress couldn't have been more accommodating; they apologized profusely; they took my meal off the bill; and gave us complimentary key lime pie, but the whole experience just fell flat. We sat outside, so it was relatively quiet, but inside was really, really loud with bad acoustics, which we experienced when we went in to use the restrooms. The folks in the kitchen should never have served that particular piece of fish and if you have food texture issues like I do and are turned off by visually unappealing food like me, it was an extremely unfortunate meal for me to end up with. LOL It may be a while before I go back to Doc Ford's...
This place has the best atmosphere! I love the live music, the water views and sitting outside has all the Florida vibes.I usually order the shrimp and grits but this time the shrimp tasted stale and the grits wasn’t as saucy as I’d like. By the time it came to my table it wasn’t hot anymore. I’m disappointed with their lack of consistency. I’m not sure if there’s staff issues or what, but in prior years the food was consistently good and now it’s just “ok”.The kids meals were a hit and the ice cream ? sandwich is a fan favorite. I’ll give them another try simply because of the atmosphere.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 4
Jamal is the best server. Great experience and fantastic food. Great place to eat and enjoy the beautiful weather. To make your experience even better ask for Jamal.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Yucatan Shrimp Tacos
We had been to the Doc Fords downtown St. Pete and had a great meal last year. We were excited to check out the Bay Pines location. Sanibel cheese steak was good, just didn't have much meat on it. Yucatan shrimp was spicy but good. We sat on the porch with a great view of the bay. The turn off was several dogs, I love dogs, just not at a restaurant. There was a bulldog with his head resting on the bar. Not sure the health dept. Would like this either. Would return and probably sit inside.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 5
Good food
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
food and service put Doc Ford's in "The Front Row" of local favorites!!!! Please keep up your excellence of quality.Parking: we found a spot to park
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Crusted Grouper
Nice place to go to enjoy some good food and nice and relaxing scenery
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Thank you to the servers, management and food staff for a fun evening last night. What started as an awkward situation was handled perfectly by the manager. Our server, Kiera, was professional and gracious even when dealing with “challenging” guests!! We’ve always enjoyed coming here and will continue to do so!!Thank you!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Wheelchair accessibility: Yes
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Maine Lobster Roll, Oysters Rockefeller
They knocked it out fo the park tonight. Great job! Perfectly cooked & delicious ribeye, scrumptious Coconut crusted snapper OMG! Everything was fantastic!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
This was the first time my wife and I had been to this location; we had previously been to the St. Petersburg facility and enjoyed the experience. As for dinner, my wife and I got a number of appetizers rather than a full entree, which is our normal routine when going out for dinner. All were good except for the Peel & Eat shrimp which were quite tough to chew and eat. I mentioned it to our waiter and he removed it from our bill. Very nice location, looking southwest over the waterfront; good service.
Restaurantji Recommends
We really love it here! The macadamia nut encrusted grouper is delicious! The salmon cedar plank is really good as well. Thought we would try the roasted shrimp with ginger and to our surprise, we received overcooked shrimp, tough&chewy. Sad, as I absolutely love shrimp when it's cooked to perfection, tender.  My husband and I both got the same meal and he felt the same way. I did not complain to the manager since we were with special guests. We definitely will return since we love the ambience and being on the water.  And for the most part, the food is absolutely delicious! 
Large drink menu but drinks lacked flavor. Bar service was extremely slow. Food just OK but nothing that was really impressive. Got overcharged for item we didn't order. No compelling reason to return again.
There were four of us. One was very disappointed in the piece of grouper that came with his $30 grouper dinner. It was very small. Another person had a larger piece of grouper on their $20 grouper sandwich. Otherwise, food and service were good.
We have been to other Doc Ford locations, but thought we'd try this newish one. I ordered my go-to meal of macadamia crusted grouper with coconut cream sauce and rice...always delicious. Unfortunately, this time the piece of fish I received was truly inedible. It was very thick and tough and disgusting looking. I couldn't even cut it with a knife. I sent it back; they agreed it was bad; offered me a new meal, but I had lost my appetite for grouper at that point. Because of dietary restrictions due to medication, there were limited choices for me, so I opted for chicken tenders, which they were going to “rush out”. Those took quite a while because it was very busy; meanwhile, hubby had now finished eating. So he ate while I waited; then I ate while he waited. The manager and waitress couldn't have been more accommodating; they apologized profusely; they took my meal off the bill; and gave us complimentary key lime pie, but the whole experience just fell flat. We sat outside, so it was relatively quiet, but inside was really, really loud with bad acoustics, which we experienced when we went in to use the restrooms. The folks in the kitchen should never have served that particular piece of fish and if you have food texture issues like I do and are turned off by visually unappealing food like me, it was an extremely unfortunate meal for me to end up with. LOL It may be a while before I go back to Doc Ford's...
Very disappointed there was no music as scheduled