So not worth it...

Black Friday - no we were not out in the stores, just a fairly quick stop at the post office and dinner.  My husbands first choice was out, but that is another post, so we tried Amore Italian Restaurant.  A co-worker lives nearby and recommended it - just wait till I see her!

Unfortunatly somehow I left the house without my phone so I snagged this picture from their Facebook page which is more of a personal: Amore Rest.  They couldn't even spell out restaurant....

It is a closed gas station building, the pumps are still out there, the gas station sign is still up, but that didn't stop us - sometimes places like this are hidden gems.

Not so much the case here.  We were the ONLY ones there at almost 5pm on a Friday.  The whole time we were there only 3 others came in.  And they had rap music playing - really?

The menu was large - yet small.  As I recall it was a three-fold menu with maybe 15-20 items on it, your typical Italian fare, pizza, lasagna, marsala, etc.  I typically gage an Italian restaurant by either the lasagna or chicken marsala, tonight I got the marsala, which came with choice of salad or soup.  I'm afraid to say it was not very good, it - well just wasn't very good.  My husband got the eggplant parmesan, he said it wasn't bad but the sauce lacked flavor.

The soup, well - it was potato & cheese soup.  Just try and imagine if you took a box of scalloped potatoes from the grocers and turned it into soup that is what this soup was like.

And - well - the breadsticks....well they looked pretty good.  Kind of like an Olive Garden breadstick on steroids.  I decided to shake some cheese on it, and hm...what do I notice but a hair on the breadstick.  I waited until our food came to tell we didn't want the breadsticks, and she was apologetic enough - but I was surprised when she asked how long it was.  REALLY - that is what mattered?  Not the fact that there was a hair in the first place, just the length.  THEN, as we were leaving she stopped us and brought the hairy bread to us and asked me to show her where the hair was...I pointed to it and she said "oh, I can't see it with out my glasses, I thought you might have thought that (pointing to a crack in the bread) was a hair."  No, although you were a sweet waitress, I do know the difference between a crack in a breadstick and a hair...and I tried to pull it off to show her and it was stuck to it.

So fellow Ocalans - there are much better choices if you are craving Italian food.  The name of the restarurant may mean love in Italian, but you will not love eating at Amore Italian Restaurant.

Well....50/50 chance on this one...

We live on the NW side of Ocala, outside of town - just a little.  But just enough that a quick bite out isn't an option.  We are surrounded by horse farms, and don't get me wrong that is one thing I love about where we live, but we just wish there was a good place to go nearby, we dare to dream.  I enjoy sitting in our sun porch, AKA the "conservatory" and occasionally hearing a horse whinny in the distance - so the trade off is worth it in the end.

So, Ocala - your new place to try is...near I-75, on HWY 27, you know the place of many former names, most recently "Swampy's", one of those buildings that has a rather quick turnover in restaurants.  The newest owner to try and make ago is Murphy's Oyster Bar.  My husband love seafood, and we have been watching for the coming soon signs to be replaced with "now open".

Fried fish, fries and hush puppies

Yesterday was their grand opening, we went their today for lunch.  My husband ordered 1/2 dozen cherry stone clams, and 1/2 dozen mussels.  He liked, them, for me - it's a texture thing, but I always try one.  The fried fish, fries was my lunch - it was okay, but not something I would order again.  I love hush puppies so my husband ordered them as his side, and I swapped him my coleslaw for some - and they were okay even though they were over cooked.  It was a fried food fest on my plate and I don't know what I was thinking....especially seeing that my ketchup option was not a good one.

My husband ordered crawfish, which he seemed to enjoy - it certainly was good serving size!

Crawfish

They painted the outside, and added to the patio seating, and our hopes of the interior being redone were - well - they made a few changes, but not enough.  Hopefully some one will realize that the nasty carpet must go, I mean really if you go into a building that has as much turnover as this one has - don't you want to wipe the slate clean?  We have been in our home 8 years, we believe this is the 7th different attempt at success.  I wish them luck, because it would be nice to have someplace nearby - and they have TV's, to go watch a football game is a trek from our house, this would be convenient.  The waitress was nice and friendly, which made up for a couple things.

Do I recommend the place - well - not sure, we will go again for my husbands love of seafood and the convenience.  It's worth a try, but don't expect much of the interior...I can say that they at least cleaned the hideous carpet and there seems to be one less layer of grime on the woodwork of the sad looking booths....

Worth the drive, I would say it is...hope you think so...

The Beach of Ocala, US Hwy 27

So – this afternoon we took a drive to a place I had spied on Foursquare, it seemed to be fairly close to our house.  The Beach of Ocala, hearing those unfamiliar to Ocala might think of waves washing up on the beach and a bar along the shoreline.  Not the case here, Ocala is in central Florida right along I-75 almost half way between Daytona Beach and the Gulf of Mexico.  Anyway, this place is right on Hwy. 27 between Ocala and Williston just about where 326 meet’s up with Hwy. 27.  It is not a bad drive, especially if it is a pretty day like today, sunny and 78 with no humidity to speak of. 

Fried Mac' n' Cheese!

Their Facebook page mentioned that they have the Sunday Ticket so it leads you to believe you would catch any game you wanted, well – she did willingly put the game we wanted to see on one of the three working TV’s but I would think you might want more working ones if you are going to promote watching NFL, and they have what looked to be a great outside area but there are no TV’s outside.

Caprese Salad 

But anyway, the inside is light and airy and almost gives the impression of a house off the beach I guess you could say.  We ordered 2 appetizers, split a salad and brought home two Panini’s.  If you are looking for traditional bar fair, such as a burger you won’t find one.  They do have some nice appetizer choices choices and a good variety of Panini offerings.    

Crab Pretzle

 Will we be going again, sure we will everything we ordered was good, the service was good and I even had two specialty drinks and the price was quite reasonable and budget diet friendly!

I will update with future experiences there, let me know if you enjoy it too!

Ocala Florida - cheatworthy places...

Hello, Blog world - I decided to do a blog on places in the Ocala, FL area that are cheatworthy diet wise, and of course cheatworthy budget wise.  Like many I am currently doing Weight Watchers, a great program that lets me eat a varied diet.  And of course in this day and age who doen't have a budget that needs to be on a diet as well?

So stay tuned for adventures in places that your avearage Josephine and her husband enjoy dining...and I am open to suggestions as to where to go.  I've only been in the area for 8 years, and I'm sure there are places we have yet to discover.