Arco Ampm

Dead cricket in the water trough of the soda dispenser, men’s restroom plugged up, women’s restroom filthy. Yikes! Continued north on 5 one mile to clean rest stop. Whew!

The Taco Truck on this lot is on FIREand the is a decent price. It’s become one our our casual stops when the family takes a trip!

Unrelated comment: Wow, almost a whole year for another review! I know many of you are looking this up to either review it or see what it’s all about, because you’re a traveler and not a local. If you are a local, then you’re just a local.
Short review: Meh.
Full review: Friend was driving me and other friends from Chico back home to Southern California (Me being in LA County, the rest San Diego County) and, throughout all of our stops and fun on the freeway, we stopped here as our third to last place for gas. MUCH cheaper than the previous one that charges $ 4 a gallon. Way to exploit travelers, so yay to this one! Didn’t buy anything else but the gas, but, what gave this review a 3-​star is because it’s standard. Nothing outstanding or horrible to give it a higher or lower score.
As always, I say whether or not I’ll be back. Possibly. Given that I’m likely to travel through the same route, I might end up back here.
With that, happy travels!

Interestingly, this place was, for the first time on my three years of SF-​LA-​SF commuting, cheaper than the Love’s Travel Stop in Lost Hills. And I was in a rental car, so whatever rumors you believe about the inferiority of Arco gas was… um… less relevant. Easy in-​and-​out, cheap, and there’s a taco truck there I’ll try next time, because the McDonalds next door gave me some seriously room temperature french fries on Sunday.

2 stars
Because of the friendly staff. The rest rooms had roaches crawling around and were filthy.

There are so many beetles or cockroaches or something that run all over the parking lot of this AM/​PM. I think it’s because it’s hot and it’s right next to a field.
We stopped here for gas and tried to let our dog out.
The entire time, there were huge bugs flying all over our car. I couldn’t even get out to use the bathroom.
Scary. I need to make a mental note not to stop here again.

We stopped her for gas and potty break.
Gas is cheaper then the rest around there.
Bathroom (Woman’s) was not the best I ever seen

Girl behind counter was drinking a rock star, and had a pissed off look on her face. She didn’t smile, say thank you or anything. If you want friendly service, don’t come here

Too much good stuff.

***The good thing about this Arco (right off the 5 way on the way to and from San Francisco) is that the gas prices seemed reasonable (like most Arco stations); unfortunately, the debit card readers at the gas station isles did not seem that well maintained (one was not working and the other did not smoothly take or dispense the card; I would worry about a debit card being damaged or getting stuck here); on the plus side, this Arco did have a pretty big convenience store with lots of snacks, sweets and drinks (including some that were reasonably priced for a gas station)***
I think this gas station has a few free parking spaces available if you just need to pick up a snack or drink at this gas station’s convenience store.

The grapevine is a beast. It’s long, empty and boring…
But at least for me, this location is the «mid-​point» of my trip and I always make my pit-​stop here.
Arco always has the most decent price on gas (with consideration of the location.) There are a good number of pumps and I almost never have to wait to fill up… even during the holidays! (I just came back from NorCal for Thanksgiving.)
Additionally, I’m a ONE STOP only type of gal… so when I must use the facilities, this place is prime. For a while there, they had a locking door problem, but they managed to fix that with a nice little deadbolt. They also updated it to have a baby changing station and toilet seat covers. (YAY!)
They have good deals on drinks and snacks if you need them, and their staff is friendly for the most part. Every time I pass through I try and joke about random stuff with the employees… (Current celeb gossip, the weather, traffic, ect.) But it almost never goes over well… ha-​ha. Oh well.
Anyhoo… If you are traveling along the demon that is the Grapevine, Make sure you stop at Arco for all your travel needs!

One of the most DISGUSTING bathrooms I’ve ever seen– trash all over the bathroom, dirty walls, nasty toilet and a busted door. Needless to say I didn’t use the toilet and didn’t bother with the gas either.
The only people I saw working were the food vendors setting up their displays.
The rest of it might be convenient, but I’m not trying to see how convenient it is to pick up a disease in the bathroom.

Need a bathroom on your trip up or down I-​5? It has one and it’s not filthy (which is a lot more than what other gas stations have to offer)!
I haven’t gotten gas here but the last time I stopped in, it seemed like people were having problems with paying for their gas through the outdoor kiosks. There was a pretty long line inside and it wasn’t to purchase stale pastries.

Always a good stop before tackling the grape vine. Somehow stretching your legs and sticking up on snacks always brings back life to the road trip

Went here on my way to Las Vegas for a fill up and a pastry and coffee not much to say, the bathroom was fair, the gas was cheap and the pastry was stale and the coffee was good.

I have enjoyed coming to this gas station from time to time, but this time I was making my way back from Las Vegas. It was good to know I could find some cheap gas, and then I also knew this we are a few hours from home too.
The gas stations has normally priced gas, the drinks are cold and the restroom are working.

+They have Squirt on tap!
–Their soda dispensers were not carbonizing the drinks.

7 random cars painted with purple and green (TEAM in Training colors) window paint, bike racks full of precious cargo we call our babies and a bunch of rowdy triathletes pumped up for the weekend festivities.
Our caravan stopped here to refuel and pick up some snacks on our way to Lake San Antonio for the Wildflower Triathlon a few weeks ago. For me, that fuel was a Giant Ice Cream sandwich and it was DELICIOUS! I’ve stopped in Buttonwillow before but I had never stopped at this gas station.
The parking lot is HUGE and was even had enough pumps to accommodate each of us getting gas without having to wait. Pretty impressive!
The convenience store is pretty large and accommodated us 30+ peeps rushing the store for junk food. Some even picked up beer for the weekend and comments were that the prices were actually decent and not as high as they would’ve expected.
I was reminded to review this place over the weekend as I rolled passed it on the boring stretch of I-5…AGAIN!

My to go spot when I am rollin’ down to LA or heading back to the Bay.
Cheapest gas out off all the places in the town, and they even have a Taco Truck serving Mexican deliciousness that won’t make you stop 5 times on your trip after you’ve ate. They have picnic benches where you could enjoy your tacos and cold beer. Plenty of snacks available and a good choice of jerky for all you meat chewers.
Don’t get pimped at the other gas spots and pay almost 50 cents more a gallon, save your money for the good times at the end of your 5 fwy adventure.

We stopped here to get gas after eating at Tita’s on our way back to the Bay Area. Gas was hella cheap here. Cash or ATM of course. There is Mobile Gas across the street & Subway & Starbucks too.
Arco Unleaded $ 3.39 –Mobil $ 3.51
Arco Unleaded Plus $ 3.49 –Mobile $ 3.61
Arco Unleaded Premium $ 3.59 –Mobile $ 3.71
Diesel #2 $ 3.89
Worth a stop if you’re heading back on I-​5 to the Bay Area.