JR's Old Packinghouse Cafe

"My son had the Miami Cheesesteak sandwich and it was absolutely perfect! My wife and I shared the pulled pork with beans and rice and the Tostones as an appetizer. My wife is half Cuban and she said it was the best Cuban food she had since we’ve been in Florida. This is our second visit and it hasn’t disappointed in any way."

"Great Old-Florida style restaurant that’s a cross between a bar, a cafe and an old style sit-down restaurant. Servers are a little gruff but still nice and helpful. Garlic bread is fabulous. Ranked as one of the best Cuban sandwiches in Sarasota and I can see why. The side of fries were hot and crisp. My wife had one of the Cuban plates and said it was tasty. Lots of counter and table seating inside as well as picnic tables on the front porch."

"Incredible atmosphere-great place - the burger 10/10 - Fries were amazing - the Cuban was really good but the roasted pork on it was kind of a let down - more of a slow cooker shredded pork vs a true roasted sliced pork - overall a great place"

"Good country-like restaurant. It gives you that old Florida-feel when you dine here. They also have live bands/ music on some days. The menu has a variety of dishes to choose from, but the kids menu only has 2 options. Our waitress was great and the owner was very nice too, as he took his time to come to our table to personally greet us."

"We wanted to check this place out ,as it has entertainment along with food. We stopped in, parking is hard to find. I actually had to turn around thinking the parking was behind the building. The parking entrance is on the north side of the building on a dirt road. It’s basically one way in the building itself is very old which we usually don’t mind, but it was very unclear as to where the main entrance of the building is. So we went in the front to a very small entrance where the entertainment was going on and the doors were open. I found a server ask where we checked it. She pointed us in the right direction to a man who appeared to be the manager. I told him there were three of us. He looked around and walked us back out. The front door looked at my grandson And said follow me. They were very busy this night. My grandson followed him walking back from around the building with a picnic table. They put it down on the sidewalk in front of the building and that’s where we sat. The table was very dirty, and the young man helping my grandson bring the table, went inside and grabbed some spray and paper towels and wiped it down. The server came over very nice server, took our orders, and came back in a timely manner. The Ropa nachos did not have as much flavor as I expected. The food we had was just OK. The entertainment was very good. The place was very busy with a lot of regulars that it looked like. So when the bill came, not even the appetizer was taken off. I would have thought that beings my grandson had to help carry a table for us to sit down at they would have at least done something. It’s not like we were asking for anything free, but this is very very very unusual. The staff is very friendly. I told who I thought was the manager that they needed a bigger building beings they were so extremely packed that we needed to carry a table out and set it on the sidewalk beside the road in order for us to sit down. His response was no I think people like the packed house. Well, sure, but not having to carry a table in order for you to sit down. Anyway, the service was good. The food was OK but nothing to brag about. The clams were mostly breading! The entertainment was very good. So unless we go for just the Entertainment , like it looked like most people did this would probably be the only way we would return. Again, the service was good."