Restaurant Review Petro Florida Ocala

This “Restaurant Review Petro Florida Ocala” is a review of the restaurant at the Petro Stopping Center in Ocala, FL, USA, based upon our own expectations of what a restaurant that caters to professional truck drivers of commercial motor vehicles should be like — as well as our own preferences in foodstuffs.

Restaurant Review Petro Florida Ocala

Date: 6/2/2010

Location: Petro Stopping Center, Ocala, FL, I-75, exit 368

Overall Facility: Restaurant Review Petro Florida Ocala

There is an area for diners just inside the restaurant (usually populated by professional truck drivers) and plenty of seating in the back past the buffet.
A buffet is featured daily with various items.
Diners may order from the menu.

On this evening, we ate from the buffet, which featured barbequed meats. The cost for the buffet was $10.99 each.

Pros: Restaurant Review Petro Florida Ocala

We were immediately greeted when we entered the restaurant.
We were greeted in the area beyond the buffet by a waitress, Donna, who was very glad that we came to sit in her area.
Donna was friendly, listened and laughed as we shared some humor.
We noticed that there were napkin holders on the tables. Having extra napkins was handy because diners like to wipe their hands after handling barbequed ribs.
There were three areas on the bar: a salad and fruit cold bar, a soup and dessert bar, and a hot bar with dinner foods.
Mike ate barbequed ribs, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans and black eyed peas; a salad with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, shredded cheese, diced hard boiled egg, bacon bits and Thousand Island dressing; and chocolate cake, blueberry cobbler and spiced apples.
Vicki ate fried chicken, one bite of barbequed rib, mashed potatoes, green beans, cooked carrots, corn, black eyed peas and squash; a salad with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, shredded cheese, diced hard boiled egg, and Ranch dressing; chicken and rice soup; chocolate cake and blueberry cobbler.
Rolls with butter were also offered, accepted, and eaten.
During the course of our dining experience, three different people came by to whisk away our plates and ask how we were doing.
The blueberry cobbler was excellent, not being too sweet or too tart.

Cons: Restaurant Review Petro Florida Ocala

Before we even got into the restaurant, Vicki smelled something a little strange. If it was barbeque she smelled, it smelled like it had been cooked too long.
The area near the croutons on the salad bar had plenty of crumbs in front of the food containers. This indicated that the area needed to be cleaned. Mike said that the croutons were running down.
There was no cottage cheese on the salad bar.
In order to get beverage refills, we had to set our glasses near the edge of our table to draw attention to the need to fill them.
As our dining experience went on and Vicki’s water glass was refilled, there was too much ice added to the glass and not enough water.
The piece of barbequed rib meat that Mike gave to Vicki was dry and tough.
The hot vegetables that Vicki ate — carrots, green beans, black eyed peas and squash — were overcooked.
Except for the barbequed foodstuffs, the rest of the food was pretty bland, not being well seasoned.
The grape tomatoes on the salad bar looked a little past their prime. Vicki had to be selective about the ones that she chose for her salad.
The amount of shredded cheese in the crock on the salad bar was almost non-existent.
The amount of lettuce on the salad bar was low when we came through.
Mike said the coating on the fried chicken was so thick that he had difficulty discerning which piece was which. He likes to be able to tell a breast from a thigh, etc. He also stated that the fried chicken was tough and overcooked.

Note: Restaurant Review Petro Florida Ocala

Our dining experience here on this night was in contrast to our previous dining experience here. We wonder if the restaurant has had a change in cooks, the one working tonight not being willing to season the food or cooking for those on a no- or low-salt diet. This experience was also in sharp contrast to our experiences at other Petro Iron Skillet restaurants. Although the food was edible, we were disappointed. We encourage management to eat in their own restaurant as if they were paying customers and ask if they would serve this food in their homes.