Charlie Horse — Restaurant in Ocala

Charlie Horse has good food, don't get me wrong on that part... And most of their staff, including Darlene, are extremely nice! But that's about the extent of the positive things I can say about the place.

The restaurant itself has many things that it needs to improve on. The place is filthy, and it probably hasn't been dusted in at least 20 years. The tables are gross and sticky, and they look about as old as the dust that has been collecting on the walls and shelves for the last 20 years. Looking through the windows is like looking through that foggy mirror that your great grandma has sitting down in her basement. These windows need to be cleaned, because they are so full of smudges and residue from children licking them, that it looks like it's snowing outside. The booths look like they were dragged through an industrial shredder, stuffed with feathers, and then taped together. It's just kinda (very) gross and outdated inside.

While I stated earlier that some of the staff was nice, I do have to say that a waitress named Terry has ruined the experience for me. I was fine with the filth and outdated interior, because the food made up for it. But I cannot deal with Terry. My experience with her makes me not want to come back, and has inspired me to craft this beautiful heartfelt review.

When we came into the restaurant today, it took her about 15 mins to come over and take our order. It's not like the place was busy either, there was only one other table with people in it. As she spotted us, fifteen minutes into our wait, she decided to slowly start coming over towards us, but she had the urge to stop and clean every table on the way to us. Next, she asked us if we needed menus, and I said no, because we already knew what we wanted. Then, she went to the table behind us, and cleaned it off. While she was cleaning it, she asked us (while looking the other direction), "what do you want". When we didn't answer, she turned around in the booth and said louder "what's it gonna be". I told her what I wanted, and then she got mad at my girlfriend when she didn't want anything to eat.

Blah Blah Blah, I got my food, and it was good as usual.

Then when we went to pay, I was paying with my mom's card, and she came back and started telling me how she can't charge the card because it's not my personal card. I would normally be fine with this, because she could actually get in trouble for it. But the way she said it was what made this situation worse. She comes out of the kitchen and basically scolds me for trying to pay with a card that's not mine. She talks about how everyone else is slacking because other restaurants should have been checking this as well. I then asked her if I could pay with cash, and she responded with "well you're gonna pay it with something". So I told her I was going to run out to my truck to grab some cash, and she walked away. Then when I returned, she scolded me again for trying to use a card that I was allowed to use, and she told me that she "has been working there for 20+ years, and she wasn't going to lose her job over me when my mom called to ask why I was using her card".

The way she acted was pretty rude, and I would have been fine if she was just like "hey, you unfortunately cannot pay with this card, you will have to pay this some other way". But instead of saying it politely, she acted as if she was mad that we somehow disturbed the dust that has been accumulating on the shelves above our...

I’ll start this review by quickly saying I have enjoyed my time at this establishment and I have wonderful memories here. It has great live music/karaoke and a fun atmosphere. This all changed for me last night. As I was attempting to close out my bar tab (inside bar). The two bartenders were doing their usual to attend to different people waiting at the bar. It was not swamped as it was outside. This is why I chose to start a tab at the inside bar. The bartenders filled ice on bottles of beer that sat in a tub behind the bar. Wipe the bar down and chatted with other patrons. There was a couple that was on the end of the bar that they had chatted with. They then requested a drink from one of the bartenders. I’m still waiting just to close out my bill (I had an opened tab)….still waiting. Not that I am excusing my actions, but at what point is a normal point of having to wait to close out for your bill. Finally, when one of the bartenders walked by, I raise my hand and waved to her. I was leaning against the bar and it was very obvious that I was trying to either get a drink or check out. Still no response. Then I start smacking my hand on the counter, saying hello. Obviously at this point I am paid attention to. I said quickly I want to cash out, the response that I got from one bartender that she was going to slash my tires and scratch up my vehicle and the second bartender told me that she was going to “take me outside”. At this point I left (they still had my credit card) and attempted to call the nonemergency police line but I did not get an answer. I could’ve push the issue by calling the police but I figured it was probably a better decision to deal with this the next day. As a consequence to this, I had to drive the hour and a half round trip to retrieve my credit card and make sure the bill was paid (as I was originally attempting to do) and I have to replace the card and update the other billing institutions I use. Because people who behave in this thug like manner I...

We visited Charlie Horse for lunch on a weekday in February 2025. It was our first visit to this establishment. I expected more of a restaurant that has a bar and such. In reality, it’s more of a bar that serves food. It was just not what I was expecting. Upon entering, the place was extremely dark in most areas. We were told to seat ourselves and picked the only fairly well lit area of the restaurant. Our server was friendly and we had not complaints. We ordered lunch which arrived fairly quickly. The wife thought her meal was alright, but not outstanding. I on the other hand only ordered wings. I had read in past reviews how they were good, so I tried them. They were not cheap at $15. But not overly expensive either. But here’s the problem. They sucked. They had no flavor what so ever. They were kind of dry and there was no flavor. I’m not sure if the grease they fry them in, does this. But even the sauce had no flavor. Thank god for blue cheese, to give them any flavor. I even asked for more sauce incase they forgot to apply it. I poured sauce all over the wings, but no change. I ate about half of them and had had enough. Absolutely terrible. Ironically, the guy sitting at the next table overheard me ordering more sauce and commented on how he also ordered wings and how bad his were as well. So it wasn’t just me. I didn’t even take the rest home, as they would not be eaten. I gave Charlie Horse a three star rating, because the wife had food was just okay. But I didn’t find anything about Charlie Horse appealing enough to make me want to go back. I guess if maybe I just wanted a beer, since it is a bar. But I found nothing appealing about Charlie Horse to give them...