I recently visited El Sazon de Mama for lunch. The restaurant serves a variety of Dominican and Puerto Rican foods buffet style. I ordered the Pernil & Arroz con Gandules, The pork was super tender, the rice was savory and the beans were delicious. Overall, a quality and filling lunch stop. read more

El Sazon de Mama - Pernil & Arroz con Gandules - Puerto Rican Near Me - Ocala, Florida

Looks can be deceiving. Located next to a laundromat on a strip mall, this hole on the wall was amazing. I ordered the large roasted pork and it was incredible: salty, shredded, tender goodness. Reminded me of Michoacan style carnitas but shredded. A fantastic pairing to their perfect yellow rice. What really took this over the top were the black beans. Not sure if the pork or the beans were the star of this show as both were equally mind blowing. One of the best meals I've had in a while. Pro tip: a large meal is more than enough for 2 people. It comes with 1 protein and 2 sides. read more

El Sazon de Mama - Roast pork, yellow rice and black beans - Puerto Rican Near Me - Ocala, Florida

The food here is fantastic! We ordered items to eat there and several things to go, including the oxtail, slow-cooked pork ribs in a flavorful sauce, pernil with crispy skin, and chicharrones. Everything is homemade, including the delicious desserts. The plantains were great and cooked just right, the rice was perfectly prepared, and the meats were incredibly tender. On top of that, the servings are very generous. The owner was super nice and took the time to personally walk us through all the different options on the menu. While the dining space itself isn't the most comfortable for a sit-down meal, the quality of the food and the excellent service more than make up for it. Highly recommend for a delicious meal, whether you stay or take it to go! read more

I am a regular and I must say; to have a sign that says 7 AM opening and every single day open at a different time is very unprofessional. For the 10th time in the past 30 days I've been told that they will not be opening. It is currently 34 minutes after the time they say they are open and they currently have their sign up that says the business is open. (Like CHANGE YOUR HOURS!) The coffee is delicious. Unfortunately, the atmosphere is very chaotic in the start of the day, which causes them to open late almost every single day. Lost my business today. Good luck! read more

After a full day of meeting with several vendors all morning long as we try to make our new house our home, my wife and I contemplated options for lunch. We were going to try Latin American Kitchen to use a gift card our dear friends gave us, but then Old San Juan came up as an option. So we plotted a course to Marion Oaks to check out the place. Located in a tired looking strip mall anchored by an Aldi, we were greeted warmly by the person behind the counter. Upon telling him it was our first time visiting, he proceeded to explain all the options. My wife and I both decided to order large combo plates (meat and rice), roast pork with yellow rice for her and fried pork with yellow rice for me. The combo plates came with beans, my wife opted for no beans and I tried their red beans. We also ordered fried plantains. My wife thought the roast pork had good flavors but thought the rice seemed lacking, although she conceded that the rice tasted just like any other Puerto Rican rice she's had before. I thought my fried pork could've had more flavor and the yellow rice with Vienna sausage was fine. Service was quite friendly. All in all, a good but unspectacular dining experience. They give discounts if you pay in cash. read more

El Sazon de Mama - Puerto Rican Near Me - Ocala, Florida

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This place is the most amazing and authentic place I've eaten Puerto Rican/ Dominican food at, while still in development the owner has big plans to make this place a family oriented restaurant where you can come and have a nice meal with a god community! The service is always great and the people working are sweet and respectful! This is my go to place to eat read more

El Sazon de Mama - Mofongo with Camarones salad (shrimp salad) - Puerto Rican Near Me - Ocala, Florida

Food was great and plan to return. Wasn't expecting a steam table service with my food being dished out in a styrofoam container. That being said the service was excellent and very friendly. I struggled to give 4 stars as the furniture resembles that should be on an outdoor patio Check it out for yourself and I believe you will not be disappointed read more

El Sazon de Mama - Menu - Puerto Rican Near Me - Ocala, Florida

We know the owners and have had great experiences in the past. Unfortunately we stopped to grab a snack tried the croquetas de pollo - typically they are delicious this time though they tasted odd almost like they were old - then we got a sorullo - instead of crispy outside it was soggy and again also had a bitter after taste. I almost feel like the oil used to fry the food needed to be replaced. Not sure if it was an off day but I was pretty disappointed with this visit. I ended up throwing 2 of the 4 croquetas away. read more

Born an raised in the Bronx sometimes have you craving some arroz con gandules y pernil hands down if you need some good Puerto Rican food this is the place in Ocala service was quick and they are more than generous with the proportions they have a seating area to the right of you wanna sit down but I wanted my food to go keep an eye on the menu because they do serve different things during the week definitely one of my eating spots for the week read more

The food and service are excellent. I go at least one a week and their food is always on point. I highly recommend them. read more

This place is very limited regarding their food choices. Buffet looking food thats been there all day. The older guy at the counter is so cranky. Why be there? They should have a real boriqua menu. Very rude & definitely not the viva PR you get in Orlando, Miami, NJ, Ny & don't even get me started in Isabel they could be making so much more money if they would add more things to the menu and do it right read more

I get their food every time I visit Florida. I love everything they have. The food is amazing!

I Gotta Tell you they make the best Puerto Rican Food around Ocala From the yellow rice to them always having fresh, fast, and delicious food; they are the best in town The only thing they can improve on has to be seating They also serve Flan and Ice-cream The 2 people that work there are multilingual (English/Spanish) And they are in the parking lot by the shut down Winn-Dixie read more

Two things you need to know about me. 1) I'm Puerto Rican 2) I love Puerto Rican food Was in Marion county for my kids graduation and the Old San Juan restaurant was the only thing open. Let me tell you this place this did disappoint! The atmosphere and ambience was fun and vibrant. Food and service was top notch. Highly recommend this to anyone and everyone in the area. read more

FREAKIN AMAZING! The people behind the counter were friendly, the food was AMAZING, the restaurant is clean and very beautiful with the Puerto Rican theme, and the FOOD IS AMAZING. Yes, I know I wrote that twice.. I am VERY picky with PuertoRican food, being of PuertoRican descent and this had to be the best PR food I've had in Florida. I ate like I haven't eaten in a year! Haha.. oh and yes, I tried the "rice water" drink which is very sweet but so delicious too! We were riding through ocala and decided to try this place out without regret! If you do, you won't regret it either! Amazing! read more

Yummy. Hidden little gem. We shared the roast pork with rice and beans. The pork was delicious, the rice was typical, but somehow our beans were forgotten. We're definitely going to try other items on the menu, and hopefully we'll get our beans read more

I can't say enough great things about this establishment. Food was amazing, the service was great, and the portion size was more than enough. A must try! read more

Good food nice employees and great atmosphere the seats could improve though Would recommend to a friend who wants Puerto Rican food read more

My mom just moved to Ocala and when I found this place on Yelp I was so excited. My husband and I drove there for lunch that day. Its in a strip mall all the way on the side so you need to look for it. You order at the counter and then you can get it to go or they have some small cafe style tables in there to sit and eat. We mainly wanted ground beef in mashed potatoes like we had when we visited Old San Juan in Puerto Rico. They had them!! I cant remember or say the name in spanish but they were huge and delicious. We shared a plate which consisted of a pulled pork (maybe Pernil?) rice and beans. They had 2 different rices and 2 different beans to choose from. I told him just give us the one he sells the most. For $13.00 we got more than enough food for me and my husband and we still could not finish it. Will definitely be back. read more

Stopped here on a road trip for a quick bite. They are located in a strip mall couple miles off the highway. We shared the Alcapurrias de Masa & Pernil with arroz gandules. Wanted to try a Pastele but they didn't have any. We loved the food and definitely recommend. Not every Puerto Rican restaurant knows how to make a great alcapurria and they definitely do! Service was pretty quick too for our to go order. read more

El Sazon de Mama - Alcapurrias de Masa - Puerto Rican Near Me - Ocala, Florida

The owners are very kind. The food is always delicious!! The portions are large enough to share. I am a repeat customer!

We LOVED Old San Juan! One of the employees was so kind and talked with us for a while! We really enjoyed the food and ate every single bite! The food was really authentic, and the desserts were so good. The portion are perfect! read more

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Delicious authentic Latin food freshly made. Highly recommend stopping in for a pastry or full meal that'll be very affordable.

This was my second visit to Old San Juan Restaurant. I was there about a year ago and my wife and I were extremely pleased with the quality of the food and the excellent service. I am from Puerto Rico and live in an area where PR cooking/food is very limited. Therefore, whenever I get to FL I look for good PR cooking. Old San Juan Restaurant does not disappoint. Like I said, excellent food, excellent and friendly service, and the prices are good. I will be back whenever I am in the area. Highly recommend!!! read more

The food was delicious and the service was fast. Very friendly, the restaurant was clean. read more

Food was fantastic and the atmosphere is perfect. A little off the beaten path, but worth every mile (About 2.5 miles off 75). The empanadas and corn sticks were well prepared- served hot and fresh. The monfongo was perfect- you got bits of the pork rind and the plantains were moist and the garlic butter sauce topped it well. I had the skirt steak and my hubby had the chicken- needless to say perfect! Our son loved the Cuban sandwich- every bite was eaten. The assortment OSJ drinks were great. The cheesecake and guava breads were sweet and decadent. This was a stop on our way back from Jupiter to Atlanta- we will return. If you are there tell George hello! read more

Worst service ever, denied a veteran with a service animal to later say they can enter than. Atmosphere was horrible, hostile, and uncomfortable. Food wasn't even worth trying the guy hates his life here and is ready to jump on anyone. read more

Super friendly and clean! Good food and desserts. Ample space and seating. Location is convenient!

The service and food here are incredible! We ordered several dishes including the mofongo, ribs, arroz con gandules and flan. These dishes were prepared perfectly. We highly recommend this restaurant and look forward for our next visit m. read more

So good! Traveling and looking for someplace other than chains. I had ribs, mmmmm. So Worth it. Tip for non-Spanish speakers: a meal = pick your choice in rice, then your choice of beans, then your choice of meat. Also has a bakery attached with wonderful flan, tress leches, and more. read more

Food is salty and they take forever to serve the food overpriced small portions. They use plank stick for the beef stew. When it's not supposed to be plank, steaks. Places mostly clean owners are very friendly. read more

Excellent customer service, delicious authentic Puerto Rican food, and clean restaurant.

When you're looking for island cuisine then you have to look for Old San Juan Restaurant. During these hard times because of The pandemic. It's good to see that they are reasonably price. I travel almost 25 miles to get to them and I enjoy every meal they come from there you will too read more

The best Puerto Rican Restaurant in Ocala, Florida. Excellent customer service, good prices and the food is delicious. The owners are very friendly. The restaurant is very clean and spacious. El mejor Restaurante Puertorriqueño de todo Ocala, Florida . La comida rquisima sabor Boricua! read more

Just stopped here on my way to St. Augustine. Nice restaurant with very friendly staff. Food was good as was the coffee. If your in the area give this place a try. read more

The food needs a little bit of that criollo into it. I'm Spanish and ate there once but think the food has no flavor to it .

Delicious food and deserts everything is fresh. the best latino food in Ocala. I will strongly recommend the restaurant, nice decor and nice friendly stafff read more

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The restaurant is clean, service above and beyond (the owner is a gem) ! Food is spectacular Excellent food!

Came here with some good friends of mine. The food here is outstanding, and is coupled with amazing service. I'm not very familiar with Puerto Rican food but the folks behind the counter do an excellent job of explaining the different types of food. If your looking for great food and a great experience this restaurant gets my recommendation. read more

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Really good food great costumer service The mofongo is something else one of the best i had ever tried before read more