Gators

          Downtown Dallas has the vibe of an area that once was. You can imagine walking down the streets 10 or 15 years ago with the streets thriving with business and activity. Because of crime, the economy, and the success of uptown, downtown Dallas is now loosely scattered with restaurants that need to be renovated. One of these restaurants is Gators. Gators seems like it would be a good place to be late on a Friday night or maybe during a Dallas football or basketball, not such a good place to be for a Thursday lunch. The first thing that pops out about the place is their abundance of frozen drinks with random names like "Lets get Naked." These drinks would have been appealing if it was not 20 degrees outside. They were also featuring a beer special that consisted of domestic drafts for $2.75 which does not seem very special at all. The menu was your standard bar menu with the only uniqueness coming from the fried gator and crawfish on a few of their items. I ordered the Gator Po' Boy Sandwich, I figure if the place is called gators I should at least give it a try. When my meal arrived it was very clear that I would not be able to eat it as a sandwich. The fried gator that was in the sandwich was very large,  it was impossible to pick up the sandwich and take a bite out of it without all of the gator falling out. I was forced to eat it more like an appetizer by picking out the fried gator and eating it one by one. My first impression of the gator was ok, it was gamey and with the fear of sounding cliche, it tasted like chicken. While my first couple bites were decent I quickly got very sick of the meal. As it started to cool down it became very chewy and almost inedible, it was also heavily fried which was too much to handle. My wife ordered the Santa Fe Chicken Sandwich. Randomly on her plate was a piece of fried crawfish. Trying to solve the mystery of how a piece of crawfish ended up in her meal was a big distraction to the enjoyment of her lunch. Our server lacked any spark or excitement and was very straightforward about the service. I would not recommend Gators to anyone looking for a good place to eat lunch in Dallas, it might be an ok place for late night bar hopping where fried food would be much more appealing.

Rating: 3 out of 10
$: 7-15
http://www.gatorsdallas.com/
1714 N. Market Street Dallas, Texas 75202