Pudgee's Eatery and Market — Restaurant in Florida

Pudgee's restaurant started out as a roadside stand and has grown into this much larger permanent location in the newly constructed Stagecoach Square on CR 41 in Floral City. It's the sort of place you could imagine a bunch of hungry cowboys fresh off the trail stopping by for lunch.

The food is not served on plates - which is really needed in order to contain all the greasy sauce and toppings falling off my veggie burger onto the thin paper wrapper that covered my sandwich. We asked for a plate but were told they don't have any. I settled for a knife and fork to cut up our sandwiches which were just to big and messy to pick up and eat.

That being said, my "smack ya mama" veggie burger came with BBQ sauce, cheese and grilled onions. It was delicious, in a greasy sort of way.

Overall, I was really impressed with the taste and texture of the veggie burger, which appeared as a very thick rare burger. I spoke to the owner's son about it and he said it is actually made from radishes, which accounts for the color. They also serve other meatless items, which I have yet to try.

We also ordered a small portion of fries and two onion rings. The fries were good but the onion rings were enormous and very greasy looking, so we didn't touch them. Instead, we gave them to an old cowboy who stopped in for a hamburger to go.

When you pull up outside you would think the ice cream place next door is separate from the restaurant, but once you go inside you can see it is all one. I asked for a taste of their soft serve ice cream, but it was kind of gritty and not to my taste. We did not get to try the shaved ice, which apparently is a very popular item here, as can be seen by the wide variety of flavors on their wall menu.

I took a picture of their foot long hot dog another customer had ordered. He said they are the best anywhere. You'll have to try this yourself because, as a vegetarian, I don't eat hot dogs.

The menus on the wall are entertaining to read and the food choices are varied enough to make every member of your posse happy. If eating off a paper wrapper is not your thing, be sure to take your own plates in with you because this chuck wagon...

This was the second and now the last time we will ever go to this place. The first time we went there it was decent and the people seemed nice but the flies were unbearable. We just went there tonight after about a year and the flies are still there, apparently they’re employed by Pudgee’s. I can’t imagine it’s healthy to have this many flies in any place, certainly not a restaurant. The temperature in the place was extremely hot so I tried not to think of the people sweating in the kitchen over my food. The food is another turn off, nothing was as I ordered. I asked for the sausage dog without onions, they put onions. My wife originally wanted a grilled cheese from the menu but the girl at the counter said they “didn’t have the stuff to make it” (didn’t have bread and cheese????), so instead, she ordered a chicken pita with no onions and no tomatoes, but they put onions and tomatoes on it anyway. The girl behind the counter was void of any personality and borderline rude but when ringing you up of course the first thing you see on the screen next to the bill is the bold option of leaving a 10%, 15%, or %20 tip. I can only blame myself for giving 20% (about $12) for a bill that was about $50 for one drink, two plain hot dogs (for our puppies), one sausage dog, a chicken pita, and a burger. The service was lame, half the order was wrong, everything was overpriced and the flies were disgusting. I am so tired of the food industry, nobody seems to care about accuracy and rarely do you see happy people behind...

Update to my previous review: We recently visited again. 2nd time since the new owners... and unfortunately everything that made me originally love Pudgees is pretty much gone. I tried the Indiana tenderloin sandwich and was quite disappointed. The meat itself lacked flavor, the breading only had the flavor of overheated oil. The fries were undercooked and dense. The coney sauce has obviously been changed and nowhere near as good as the original.... to the point of it being taken off the dogs. It's pretty disappointing. John had a really good thing going and it's sad that it's gone the way it has. The changes inside were ok I guess...I understand updating and expanding but it's lost its original character and charm. Also, the lights were flickering and nearly half the bulbs were burnt out which made it quite dim inside. The woman working the counter was great.... so there's that. John was a great FOH and BOH guy and just really wish they had been able to maintain that. I'll give it another shot next time I'm in town but not sure if things will get any better and if not, probably will just let it become a memory.

I've gone to Pudgees since it was a trailer across from Circle K... the owner is a GREAT guy as well as his staff. The menu is enormous and everything I've ever tried is absolutely delicious. Try it... you won't be...