The Yearling Restaurant

Outstanding food and service. Jamie handled 25 people professionally and most efficiently. Orders were taken promptly and food delivered the same. Jamie is one of the best servers we have ever had.

We stayed at the yearling for the weekend of Christmas the food was amazing and the wait staff was just as amazing but the beds, pillows, smell and television was absolutely horrific… I would never stay there again..

The restaurant was perfect, down to the ambiance, Wille who plays live music and the Best local southern cuisine ever. Must go!

We had drinks and appetizer (sampler) and the sour orange pie. The fried portobellos and pie were excellent. The place moves at its own pace and i can see where some complaints may come from for slow or rude service, dont be in a hurry and be nice and i think it will all work out. Its good to see a part of old florida still surviving, thanks Serge for the tip.

Restaurant hasn’t changed much, décor wise, but food seems to have improved and of course the music is great. Willie Green playing the blues, I just love it.
Food is good, frog legs and gator tail were well fried and had good flavor, both very tender. Best hushpuppies I have had in a while, the collard greens and zipper peas were outstanding. Wife had the fried cod, unfortunately the fish had very little flavor even though it was well cooked. Not sure why the breading wasn’t the same as that on the gator, which was very good. The fried green tomatoes were great. Will be back for more of this old Florida «Cracker» cuisine.

I’ve had wonderful meals there, and meals like last night’s– cold, hard, less-​than-​mediocre. It is that inconsistency that causes me to give one star. It took over two hours for service, and the restaurant was not at all busy. The chicken was so tough that the even the children wouldn’t eat it. The quail was hard. The seafood must have been frozen, not fresh. I had taken foreign guests to treat them to local flavor– I SO REGRET this– and now I think it has left a very bad taste in their mouths!

Just ate at the yearling my first and last time. Food average, prices out of sight, service one of worst I’ve had in years. Server said she had been there for years, if that’s the case I’m surprised the restaurant is still open. The highlight of the meal was that it finally got over. Typical example of living on a reputation from the past.

Great atmosphere, great live Blues, and great food!

We took a scenic tour of «old Florida» and found this little gem! Everything was yummy from our ice cold sweet tea to the sour orange pie! Wendi was our server and she is awesome! We will definitely make a point to go back!

Far off the path but well worth it. From the country location to the friendly staff and the perfectly prepared food — the Yearling didn’t miss a thing. The best fried green tomatoes I’ve ever had. All of our food was served quickly and hot! The entertainment is not to be missed! Do yourself a favor if you are ever in central Florida — stop by the Yearling — you won’t be mad. Warning — eat healthy for the day prior — lots of fried dishes that you have to try once in your life. My 11 year old daughter had the venison sandwich which was so tender you could cut it with a fork alone. My husband had the blackened catfish — I wanted to swap after trying a bite of his — so incredible. I ordered the roasted duck with a berry sauce — this was the most delicious duck and sauce. My plate also came with quail which I was excited to try. I was a little overwhelmed because the quail was fried and I had already had fried tomatoes, fried alligator, fried frog legs and fried hush puppies. Needless to say I was a tad fried food out. I still gave it the college try and ate half of the quail. It was pretty good, very juicy because it’s a dark meat. We finished by sharing a slice of the orange cream pie — DO NOT SKIP THIS. Take a piece home if you must. The crust is perfection! From one cracker to another, I tip my hat to you Yearling! Job well done!

The Yearling is a north-​central Florida institution, for sure. Based on Marjorie K Rawlings’ seminal novel, The Yearling and situated just down the road from her homestead (which now is a state park and open for tours), this restaurant takes us back to fish camp days of a largely bygone Florida, of the «Cracker» traditions we hear of but seldom see. The building is rambling, old as the hills, and cluttered with all manner of mid-​century antiques, Coca-​Cola signs, maps of the region, and a vast array of old books, many of which are for sale. There is a full bar, several dining rooms, and often live music on weekend nights. They also have cabins you can rent to stay for a while – not sure what provisions for boats or fishing they have, but probably some as that would be the main attraction in tiny Cross Creek beyond the Rawlings’ homestead.
Now, for the food and service. Sadly, they do not match up to the enchanting restaurant itself or its grand history. Service at least in my experience was slow and the food frankly of meager portions and overpriced. I had fried shrimp, which came with two sides and one hush-​puppy. One. This was for about $ 17. The shrimp, supposedly from the Gulf, were of decent size but not that many of them and the batter tasted overcooked. They really weren’t that good. The cocktail sauce which came with them however was very good and tasted home-​made. The greens and cheese grits, the two sides I picked, were ok: the cheese grits pretty good actually but the greens undercooked and flavorless. I have had much better, and larger portions, for much less money, at places like Pearl Country Store, Bett’s Big T in Chiefland, the Bronson Restaurant in Bronson, and elsewhere. Indeed, most regional country cookin’ restaurants can produce better dishes of this nature at two-​thirds the cost and are more generous with their servings. I posted a photo of my dinner, so you can see I’m not just whistlin’ Dixie here – this was before I ate anything off my plate and it was just a small portion.
The sour orange pie, a signature favorite of the restaurant and one of Rawlings’ own treasured recipes (which is in her cookbook) was very good, but covered in whipped cream and artificial-​tasting orange sauce. The actual pie filling tasted totally authentic and was fine, great even, but it didn’t need to be dressed up as it was. It was $ 6.50 I believe, which may have been why they felt obligated to gussy it up.
The Yearling is worth seeing, but my advice would be this: get a drink there at the bar, marvel at the old books and general history of the whole thing. Maybe get some sour orange, pecan, or buttermilk pie – the latter is a rare but very traditional Southern favorite. But get dinner at Pearl Country Store in Micanopy or elsewhere. This doesn’t have to be a tourist trap, but that’s about what it is right now.

Delicious prime rib, gator tail, blackened sea scallops. Ms. Welcome, our server was friendly, attentive and accommodating.
Our unsweet tea was perfect, not bitter. The delicious amaretto sour was served in an appropriate portion with a pretty garnish. The sour orange pie was an afterthought which made us glad that we decided to try something new. Don’t skip this pie, think key lime tartness/​orange dreamsicle. Yum!

The food is a bit pricey, but is good. Service is slow, even when it’s early and there are few customers. The gentleman playing the guitar and singing tries hard, but the music is loud enough to make it hard to hear your dining partner and it’s so garbled that the words, if they are English, are not understandable. Customers should be able to be placed far enough away that they can chat without having to shout over the music.
The sea scallops were excellent. I won’t do back while the music is being played though.

Some nice food you don’t see everywhere like venison, quail, alligator. But they usually run out of venison and gator on Sunday because they have new stock very Thursday.
I tried the duck breast, which is cooked to perfection. My wife had fried quail, which is also very tender and flavorful. The side dish, however, is just so so.
Call before you want to check out the legendary Willie Green. He was not there when I visited the restaurant.
Some nice decoration remind you the 60+ years history of this restaurant. They even got a whole piece of real gator skin on the wall from the local orange lake, which is really cool.
Overall, decent food, awesome dinning atmosphere. Wish they have better WIFI (no 4G signal in the restaurant).

The Yearling Restaurant has a fantastic atmosphere that encapsulates «Old Florida.» Visiting for the afternoon to explore the restaurant’s historic photos & books is well worth the 5 miles off 301. The southern-​style cuisine boasts an adventurous «game-​focused» menu but lacks attention to the classics. The cheese grits & greens were descent, maybe my hopes were too high with the live blues music & southern charm surrounding the restaurant. I definitely recommend the Snapping Gator appetizer.

Come for the atmosphere. Come for the history. Stick to burgers or fried fish. Food is mediocre.

After a nice long ride on the motorcycle — We started with a big glass of sweet tea (southern style). For apps we tried the «Cracker Sampler» which had frog legs, fried green tomatoes, mushrooms, and gator bites. The app was «ok» but I was expecting outstanding. The tomatoes seemed over ripe to me. The gator bites were a little too chewy but not bad. «For GATOR», said «The Nole». The Portabellow mushrooms were actually good.
For one main the «Combo Platter» of catfish and scallops, with veggies and a baked sweet potato. The catfish and scallops were very well prepared. Our other main was «Game Sampler» of venison and duck. The venison was perfect! The was good as well, but the venison stole the show. Advice, skip the app and go right for the main so you have room for desert as we did not. Tammy our server was very cordial and provided us good service.

I spent Christmas with family in Melrose, and they decided to take me to The Yearling for real Florida food. I tried gator, frog legs, fried green tomatoes, catfish sandwich, and the sour orange pie. Everything was delicious. Even if the appetizers and entrees had been awful, the sour orange pie would have made it worth it.
The service was also really good. Wendi was a sweetheart and took really good care of us.

This restaurant gives you an authentic Southren experience, and it’s straight out of the Pulitzer price winning book «the yearling». Make sure you visit Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings orange grove home, just down the street.
The restaurant has a nice swamp dank feel to it, and has a fantastic menu. We had the Gator for starters, which is very good.
Prime rib and seafood platter are great Cross Creek traditions.
All in all it’s an awesome experience.

Aside from the historical part of it, the Yearling is a very unique place where you can enjoy some good ‘ol «Cracker Cuisine» as they advertise on their business cards. Which I took a picture of, just to prove that!
I tried the gator bites which were my favorite! Very tasty, almost tasted like chicken but to me they were better than chicken. I also tried the frog legs which surprisingly, were very meaty! They were good but nothing so exotic about their taste, you can most certainly see the shape of the frog when you get them on your plate. I had a few bites off of my friend’s plate of Venison and duck, both very tasty! My friend Ivette had the Red Fish and she or I weren’t too impressed with it. I guess we were expecting something different.
The live band was very cool and kept inviting our kids to go sing with them and they did! The décor is filled with old artifacts like old motor boats, old registers, old coke machines, etc…
It’s a staple in the area so visit while you’re in Ocala!