🏆 The Gathering Cafe Downtown Ocala — Restaurant in Ocala

Have visited here before and never had a spectacular experience, but it was never as bad as the most recent visit. As typical coffee shops go, everything is extremely overpriced and they really try to upsell you on "whole milk alternatives" and sizing up to a large coffee. Runs you $6 + tax for a regular latte. Okay fine. But if I'm taking the time to go into a brick-and-mortar location, sitting down with a hard mug, and for 6 bucks, I expect a little latte art. Apparently, the "Euphoria" does not come with any.

Here's what really got me on my most recent visit: the menu is very lacklustre in the breakfast offerings. I mean, a BEC is not a permanent offering? Hello? Luckily, there was an Everything Bagel with bacon, egg, cheese offered on the Winter Seasonal Menu. Beware. The upcharge on this thing is astounding. Of course, no price listed anywhere whatsoever on the "seasonal menu board," but when it rings up, it's a whopping $14. At least it comes with a banana! I wasn't entirely upset about the price until I actually got the sandwich. It was a grocery store Thomas bagel (if you've ever had a real bagel, you know grocery store does NOT compare), a nice piece of egg, but sadly only ONE extremely sad piece of bacon split in 2 for the entire sandwich. At $14, I would expect at MINIMUM 3-4 slices of bacon or at LEAST thick pieces of bacon. I've attached a photo as proof. Have always been a huge fan of Bagelicious, where, by the way, you can get a BEC AND homefries for only $8.50. And it's a decent bagel and they give you more than one slice of bacon. The whole time I was at Gathering, I was wishing Bagelicious had been open and I could have been there instead! Anyways, Gathering, do better! Charging this ridiculous of a price and giving one sad piece of bacon is insulting. And then not listing the price. Feels like a bait and switched. I honestly felts scammed as a customer and thus will not be returning ever.

If you want an average, extremely overpriced breakfast and coffee spot, this is the place for you! I will not...

Let me start off this review by saying I'm not this cafe's typical clientele. I'm not from Ocala, I'm not religious (much the opposite), I'm just passing through the area with my partner. And we like to visit local coffee shops. This one isn't terrible, it's very cute and well lit inside. Would be a nice atmosphere if not for all the "praise Jesus" signs posted everywhere. But then again, it's Ocala so it's to be expected.

We ordered and the staff was nice enough, at least they had the sense to wear masks. Can't say the same for the customers. Very disappointed there was no hand sanitizer available. Literally any other business where I'm from (Orlando) has multiple bottles of hand sanitizer available.

The food is fine, the coffee is fine. Way overpriced for what you get, but ultimately: fine. Nothing groundbreaking here. I've had way better food from local places like this for similar prices or cheaper. They write preachy "inspirational" messages on the coffee cups, which I could really do without.

I won't be back. This place isn't for me. It's nice if you're religiously inclined, but for anyone else... not so much. Hence why it's called...

Quality food for quality price. Want to try their unique and much desired Egg Nest breakfast items, MUST be there before 11am at which time the griddles are changed and your opportunity is lost of trying these delicious dishes! Great location to be filled with food and leave feeling like you just traveled to another world. Dishes are packed with flavor and full of color. We arrived after 11am, (very sad face) and got their Open-faced toast specials (happy face). We got the the Avocado Bliss and the Mediterranean. Both were good, I preferred the Mediterranean since it had homemade humus. We also got some of their sweet dishes too - to take home and eat later. Everything was delicious. The owner - Sarah was very kind and took time to explain each dish I asked about. Austin did a great job helping me find the perfect selection of specials to try. The restaurant was very easy to find, had plenty of parking, clean bathrooms and the smell of the restaurant which was amazing and smelled so sweet made it hard to figure out what to eat. Thank you for a wonderful experience, it is an adventure which I look forward to trying...