Stirrups - Marion County

Incredible experience. The hotel is beautiful. Everything is very grand and lush while retaining the strong, rough and masculine feeling of a horse baron 's property. It 's truly amazing to see...make sure to take a drive around the property in the daylight. The food was really good. I dine regularly at high-end restaurants and I know that price does NOT mean quality. Stirrups is the definition of the phrase-you get what you pay for. This was a special treat for my daughter and me to share a meal here for my birthday. I eat steak regularly and I wanted something different so I had the venison. It was cooked perfectly and pictured in my review. Delicious! The service was impeccable. Thank you so much Sarah! Our service team of two made sure our glasses were always full...even the water. Sarah was highly knowledgable about the menu and my gluten allergy, even down to the possibilities of cross-contamination and house sauce ingredients. She truly enhanced our dining experience while keeping us safe. The prices aren 't terrible. The a la carte menu can get pricey if you 're on a budget. The entree 's are very reasonably priced. Alcohol adds and you can easily spend double the money on appetizers. Forget the budget and enjoy tho..this place is worth it! Do not visit Ocala, FL and miss this experience. Make reservations well in advance.

Michelle and Alexis were so wonderful and gave us the greatest recommendations for food/drinks! The experience was unique, and the sesame bread was next level!

Love this restaurant. It has everything perfect. Food, drinks, atmosphere and service. Recommended.

Update 5/22/24: Much better this time. They got a new chef a month ago who revamped the menu. The crab cake appetizer was delicious, so was the blue crab ravioli, and the market fish dish. Bread pudding and the peach dessert were lovely! Fantastic service. Great options for vegetarian/pescatarians! Original The service was great! Staff was friendly and very knowledgeable. The food itself was not great. Way overpriced for how it tastes. The salmon had no flavor (Probably like a 3.5/10) and the grouper was just average. The pimento cheese appetizer was also bland. The drinks were OK. Only giving 3 stars because the service really was great, but the food totally lacked. Overpriced

EDIT Not sure why you encourage emailing the manager. I’ve emailed twice, and zero follow up EDIT Disappointing Anniversary Dinner at Stirrups: Far from Elegant. Our 30th anniversary dinner at Stirrups in Ocala, Florida, left much to be desired. Despite the restaurant's claim to be Ocala's premier, elegant southern steakhouse, our experience fell short of expectations. From the moment we entered, the ambiance was lacking in refinement. The dining room lacked the elegance promised, with scratched glass tables and clunky, unbalanced silverware that seemed to plague both guests and servers alike. My wife and I actually amused ourselves by creating a game with a points system for the number of dropped silverware. It was easy to keep score because of the CLANG from the heavy silverware dropping on the glass top tables. While the menu boasted prime steaks, sustainable seafood, and seasonal specialties, the prices seemed unjustifiably inflated. The pricing strategy felt like a series of opportunistic upcharges, from the bourbon pours to the additional fees for cocktail enhancements. Furthermore, the dress code, supposedly business casual, was not enforced. We arrived dressed for a special evening, only to find ourselves surrounded by college students in riding gear straight from the paddock, leggings, shorts, college T-shirts. The lack of consistency in attire among diners detracted from the supposed upscale atmosphere. Other diners were in tattered jeans, T-shirts and flip flops. Though the meal itself was satisfactory, it was far from exceptional. The filet my wife ordered was well-prepared, but the overall experience did not justify the steep price tag. In comparison to other renowned steakhouses across the country, Stirrups failed to measure up. In conclusion, dining at Stirrups felt more like a status symbol than a culinary experience worth savoring. While the food may satisfy a craving for steak, the lack of elegance, inconsistent dress code enforcement, and inflated prices left us feeling underwhelmed. Save your money and seek out a dining experience that truly lives up to its promises.