The Peddler Steak House

Outstanding!!!
Excellent service n food
I entered pretty late n they were gonna close soon, but they were hospitable and inviting
Tha salad bar is a plus, free with any meal!
Bön appetite !!

Food review
I always have the server pick their favorite items and surprise me :-) Except my Yankee Unsweet tea. lol!
Today I had, ribeye, sweet potato, and salad. With crème brûlée for desert
Star summary…
⁵⁄₅ service very fast and friendly
⁵⁄₅ environment amazing considering the cheap Pedro atmosphere on the outside
⁵⁄₅ wait to be seated and served
⁵⁄₅ main course. Delicious ribeye cooked perfectly, although my wife’s prime rib was not nearly as good.
⁴⁄₅ desert– crème brûlée was not the typical as it had sugar on the bottom, but still very tasty.
Total price — $ 88.87 for to steak dinners, two drinks, desert, and tip.
Would have been ⁵⁄₅ jut a little too pricey.

I really liked the food here. The server was very nice but was very busy. The salad bar was absolutely delicious. The house dressing was amazing. The French onion soup was very good and my Ribeye was cooked to perfection. I am usually a Ruth’s Chris girl but this was phenomenal. I did not give 5 stars because the whole experience was not 5 stars. But, the food and bloody Mary’s were very good.

My girlfriend and I had what is honestly one of the worst meals I’ve ever been served and not gotten sick.
We came in while staying at the motel across the street to finally get the full South of the Border experience. Even though it was empty, it took a long time to be seated, and even longer to take our order and get our drinks. The drinks tasted exactly like they’d come from a mix that wasn’t put through a blender, and like everything else we got, had a price point way out of line for rural South Carolina at a restaurant shaped like a sombrero.
I had the sirloin steak and vegetables – I’ve never paid more for a sirloin steak, even in New York City, and like the vegetables too, tasted and looked like they’d been frozen. She had the tuna and asparagus. Neither seemed to have any seasoning on them, and she took a few bites before giving up on it. The service remained bad, as our drinks stayed empty, and our dirty dishes and glasses were on the table when we left.
Altogether, our awful meals and two drinks set us back over 80 bucks – not including the money we dropped at the Waffle House up the road because we were both still hungry after.

Okay, let’s talk about this place. Got there, it’s a little dark, a little 70s, I’m totally okay with that. Friendly hostess? Check. Friendly waitress? CHECK! Delicious pomegranate martini. The salad bar is amazing (their ranch dressing is great). I ordered the prime rib (so juicy and delicious, perfect seasoning, omg) my 14 year old had the lobster bisque (best I have ever tasted, of COURSE I had to taste it, moms do that to make sure they don’t die lol), 10 year old had the French onion soup (best she’s ever had, «better than Red Robin») and my husband had a sirloin that he was thrilled with. The waitress was very attentive and everything was delicious. I didn’t have anything left on my plate, which I usually do. If you are driving past South of the Border, YOU MUST EAT AT THE PEDDLER. It’s very clean and pleasant with amazing food that isn’t very expensive. Don’t worry about how to dress, either, everyone in there was wearing jeans. You won’t regret eating here. I promise.

I didn’t expect to find «fine» dining at Pedro’s, but we did and were pleasantly surprised. The exterior looks like one big sombrero, which perfectly fits the the Pedro theme. Once inside the restaurant it’s very nice with a retro feel, the food is cooked in the middle of the restaurant which allows for a nice set up.
On to the food, it was great. We ordered steaks which included the salad bar. The salad bar itself was also very good, had many choices of lettuce and various sides/​topping. The steaks were delicious and were cooked perfectly. The amount paid for the meal and the service was well worth it. If you’re on a road trip and happen to be in the area give this place a try, you will be surprised.

Pleasantly surprised!
This restaurant is located in south of the border, and it looks like generic tourist stuff. We had to go use the bathroom and on our way out we saw the restaurant sign.
The exterior looked as eclectic as the surroundings, and I was hesitant at first. However, when I open the door, you are pleasantly greeted with a nice interior restaurant. It has a warm, retro feel. The decorations, décor, bathrooms were nicely decorated and classy. The chef cooks right in the main center of the restaurant.
Enough about that, the shrimp cocktail, chicken and steak was amazing! The home made key lime pie is to die for!!! Definitely coming back here when we do road trips again thru 301/​i95.

The food was fine and the service was nice. The hostess was friendly & great! However the muzac really dated the ambiance (felt very 90’s). I strongly recommend the management explore something more spicy & Latin like electro-​tango, or perhaps instrumental reggaeton to keep it more Mexican.

I recently stayed at South of the Border coming back from a business event in Gaffney S.C. I of course went to Pedro’s Fort Worth Fireworks store first — even before I checked into Pedro’s Motor Inn. This place just reminds me of so many great memories with the family from my youth. I decided to go to Pedro’s Peddler Steak House for dinner. This is like walking back in time. The sombrero shaped restaurant looks like something out of a John O’Brien novel. It has all the nostalgia of a restaurant from the early 1970’s With its dark lighting, dark glass windows, retro tables and chairs you really feel like youre in another time. The staff was super friendly, very helpful and very fast with service. I got there when they were getting ready to close (hours 5pm to 9:30pm) but the hostess/​server and the chef said not to worry and not to rush and to enjoy my dinner at the steak house. I ordered the chopped steak with the salad buffet. everything was great and the chopped steak was excellent and prepared perfectly. The place was super clean with a very friendly vibe and for the time of night pretty busy. The prices at the Peddler are very reasonable for the quality of food and service so be sure to tip handsomely. If i ever make it back this way ill most definitely come back. Highly recommended.

Open 5 pm to 9:30 pm, everyday. Had the Prime Rib. Came with a baked patato, bread and all you can eat salad bar. Unlimited tea and button mushrooms. The food was excellent, except the button mushrooms were burnt. Prime rib was about 12 oz. Total cost $ 34, $ 40 with tip. Service was excellent as well.

The steakhouse was lit but locked up at 6 pm on a Monday might so we never got to try it. They may be out of business.

I mean, when else can you dine in a sombrero shaped steak house? Salad bar is the best in the area (keep in mind this is a very rural area) and the tuna is pretty decent. If you made the decision to visit a place like South of the Border, then you are by nature curious and adventurous and love a good quirky tourist trap. Why not make your visit complete with a reasonably priced meal in a place sandwiched between the Reptile Lagoon and a mini amusement park?

All in all deserved a 3.5. Food is gold compared to the other places around south of the border. The place is clean and presentable. Pretty fancy. A bit dark. The waitresses were very snobby and snudy. The only reason I gave them three stars. The steak is good and comes with unlimited salad bar and bread and side. Food comes out quick and tastey. Prices for steak are good. Ranges from 14 – 30 I believe. Also have fish and shrimp. Good place. I would recommend it

We had dinner here last night after checking in at the motel across the street. The restaurant is a sombrero. It’s quite dim inside, had sort of a 70’s feel. Our meal was excellent. We had the New York Strip and the Ribeye. We got baked potatoes and a trip to the salad bar. I loved the salad bar choices and everything was fresh. The meat was cooked to perfection and tasted delicious. The service was great too. The meal cost more than the motor lodge but it was worth it.

We were very pleased at the quality of the the food and service. Very cool old building. From where we sat we could see the food being prepared as well. The steaks were cooked perfectly and everything on the salad bar was great.

This sombrero-​shaped steakhouse is located within the maze of South of the Border shops and attractions. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from a restaurant with a large neon «steakhouse» sign with a blinking sombrero on top, two bull statues welcoming visitors out front, and nestled in the midst of souvenir shops, arcade games, and a fireworks store.
The restaurant was nearly empty since it was Sunday night and off-​season. The entire South of the Border experience was definitely not what I remember from childhood. It seemed like a ghost-​town with plenty of empty parking lots and no lines for the carousel or Ferris wheel. I didn’t have high expectations for this restaurant but was pleasantly surprised.
The salad bar options included mixed greens and spinach in addition to iceberg lettuce. Other items on the bar were beets, peas, garbanzo beans, baby corn, ham, bacon bits, cottage cheese, black and green olives, cranberries, pickled okra, chow mein, and croutons to name a few. Everything looked and tasted fresh.
The grilled wild salmon entrée was perfectly cooked and tasty. It came with a trip to the salad bar and choice of starch on the side. The sweet potato was delicious. I also tried my husband’s rib eye steak which was delicious. His steak was cooked exactly as he ordered it. It was perfectly (lightly) seasoned which enhanced the already flavorful well-​chosen cut of rib-​eye steak.
The restaurant is conveniently located off the expressway but the eyeful of tall, bright, neon signs and advertisements vying for your business might overshadow this little gem. I would give it 2.5 out of 5 stars for location since it feels like it’s in the middle of a carnival.
I would rate this 5 out of 5 stars for value since the entrees all included a trip to the plentiful salad bar and a choice of starch including baked or sweet potato, rice, or honey grain bread. You are also given hot bread and creamy butter to munch on while waiting.
Overall, based on taste, value, location, and service, I would rate it a solid 4 out of 5 stars.

If you want to step back in time you found the right place. I’m not saying that the food is old, the food was actually quite good. The restaurant is actually a sombrero hat in shape. The interior finish is that of a circa 1970. There are other reviews that — the restaurant not providing a wonderful experience. Please remember this is actually what appears to be a gas station that has grown over the last 50 years. Upon speaking to the employees they informed me that a grandfather started it in the 1950s and it has been passed down through two generations. Please go to have a wonderful time is quite the experience.

Like I said in my other reviews it’s pure 1975 but this place is good. We both had the Ma hi Ma hi which was cooked to perfection. The salad bar is included with the meal and it was ok. The service was both friendly and fast. I was surprised by the meal. Pedro you really out did yourself. For the record, there is nothing wrong with retro 70’s in South Beach we have the art deco district. I guess I am stuck there. But in the 70’s we did have plush too.

A true day of days for me. Earlier that morning in Washington DC a moving truck had picked up my worldly possessions and now I was en route to my new life in Florida. By the time I wearily rolled up on South of the Border (SOB) both my sports car and I were hungry. My car deserved premium unleaded and I deserved a steak. To the Peddler! Go ahead Pedro, fix your slop, I’ll eat it.
I walk in and the first thing I can confirm from previous reviews is that it’s like stepping into the 1970’s and I mean that in a good way. Run down and dirty 1970’s is the bad way. Low lighting (which could hide some ugly bits), glitter in the burgundy paint on the ceiling and tables covered in brown paper. I have no problem with brown paper covering the tables. It was pretty full at 8pm on a Saturday night so I had to wait for a table but I didn’t mind because by that time anywhere other than driving on I-​95 was where I wanted to be. Did I mention that I loved the Carolina accent on the hostess?
After 10 minutes or so I’m seated and given a menu. Menu was smallish but with enough variety to please everyone except my vegan crazy ex-​girlfriend. Anyways, I wasn’t concerned with anything on the menu but dead cow meat. I ordered the Ribeye (med rare) which came with the heavily reviewed on Unilocal salad bar and a side. I was feeling ‘steak au poivre’ so I ordered the french fries as my side.
The much hyped salad bar was classic good. Iceberg lettuce, beets, sauteed mushrooms, chopped ham, chopped bacon (not bacon bits), those miniature corn things, and cauliflower just to name a few things that I noticed. I wouldn’t call it a 1970’s salad bar though since it did not have cottage cheese or green jello. The salad I created with a bit of ranch dressing was yummy. While I was eating my salad the server brought over bread and butter.
Steak came out perfectly (med rare) with a nice bit of marbling and fries were just out of the fryer hot. I eagerly tucked in and was very happy. Simple. Perfect. Delish.
What more could I want? Oh, I know… an obnoxious dessert. I asked the cute server about desserts and she rambled off the usual… cheesecake, crème burlee, fried cheesecake… wuh? Fried cheesecake? Ok, I’m in.
Obnoxious dessert is what I wanted and obnoxious dessert is what was brought to my table. It was like a deep fried cheesecake egg roll cut in half with a full scoop of vanilla ice cream on either side, some whipped cream, and drizzled with carmel. I could only eat about ¹⁄₃ of it.
I left the Peddler very satisfied. I wistfully said goodbye to the giant neon lit Pedro, jumped in my car, and headed south on I-​95 and into the dark unforgiving night.
In the end foodies may scoff because it’s not an adventurous place but screw them. All I can say is that the food was good, the service was good, and sometimes, probably most of the time, that’s enough.

South of the Border is the type of place Humbert Humbert would have taken Lolita on their fornication-​fueled romp across America.
Only at South of the Border, a frozen-​in-​time porthole to the past, could a place like Peddler eke out an existence. And thank God for that. ‘Cuz the Peddler’s prime rib is the cat’s pajamas. Some of the best I’ve ever had.
This low-​rent, pseudo-​Mexican resort embodies campy, mid-​century American cheeseballery, with a nostalgia that makes me ache for a simpler time, before the Internet and video games. A time when kids went ape over over-​sized plastic gorillas. When the cats found mile-​high giant sombrero observatories cool. When the hipsters thought space-​travel themed roadside diners were far out, man.
We stumbled on the place by mere cruel, chance. We were goosing it down I-​95 fast and furious on a Fourth of July holiday weekend. The old Jeep Wagoneer was in need of a feed, so we pulled over at South of the Border for gas. Swiped one card, it didn’t work. Swiped another, it didn’t work. And so on.
It turned out that the Fraud Division of our Bank had been notified due to an inordinate amount of online purchases in confluence with our Cannonball run down the Eastern seaboard. The heat was on. But we didn’t sweat it. It was the go-​go 2000s. Frivolity was the new black. «Suspicious transactions» my ass. Perhaps we overindulged at the online bean bag store. Then ordered 100 square feet of tempurpedic foam. So I like a little cushion under my new genuine Flokati shag carpet. Who were they to judge? «They» being the Wall Street titans of banking who were at that very time tossing around subprime mortgages like confetti, bringing on the downfall of the entire world economy. Whatever, Eat my caca Lehman Bros. I’m still here, and you’re fertilizing begonias.
Anyway…Since it was after 5 o’clock on a holiday weekend, there was nothing we could do till morning. So we decided to cool our jets and cop a squat. That’s how I ended up spending my Fourth of July in a town that sells fireworks in bulk, but is prohibited by law from detonating a solitary Roman candle.
We checked into the resort’s little no-​tell motel, which hasn’t changed since Lolita first sprouted grass on her wicket. I began scraping together whatever scratch was in our pockets. We had just under 300 clams.
So we took an aimless amble around this place, stepping over drug baggies strewn in the parking lot, and around the careening meth heads. It was Sketchsville man, total Sketchsville. We asked the shopkeep in the souvenir store where to get a good bite, and she recommended the Peddler. Said it was the bee’s knees. That the prime rib killed.
I gave her a thin-​lipped smile, hoping my eyes did not betray my extreme doubt that anything was served in this neon wasteland was not frozen and direct out of a Sysco truck.
But what option did I have? We decided to make that scene. And we did it with a quickness.
We showered and shuffled our way over to the giant Sombrero that houses the Peddler. (Seriously, the joint is actually a GIANT sombrero.)
The interior didn’t really razz my berries. It was real dark — all green and burgundy. The popcorn ceiling was a particularly dark shade of Franzia Cabernet red. Little flecks of glitter were mixed in the paint, giving the place the tinny sparkle of a million cubic zirconian stars.
There was a salad bar with diced ham, deviled eggs, pepperocini and all the usual suspects of a Pizza Hut salad bar, circa 1985. So far, not real promising.
There were no other customers at the Peddler this July 4. Just me and my main squeeze. Still not promising.
We sat and ordered a couple of gin martinis (Not that there’s any other kind). Anyway, the martinis were served old-​school in the tiny martini glasses of my grandma’s generation. Not those conical swimming pools the kids swill fruity, frothy, be-​vodka-​ed Kool Aid out of nowadays.
The gin began working down my gullet, and things started looking up. We ordered up a bottle of vino, prime rib and a baked potato. And the salad bar. Had to try that. And I enjoyed it. Immensely. Even iceberg lettuce, like a bad Brittney Spears tune, has a place and time in this world.
Everything was beyond excellent. The prime rib was some of the best I have ever had. There are 4-​star New York steakhouses that don’t hold a candle to this place. The service was great, the food was as good as it gets. And the booze flowed like Niagra Falls.
We spent nearly all of our remaining cash at this place. I think I had a 10 spot left after the tip. But I walked away happy.
And as I left the Peddler that Fourth of July, stomach full and wallet empty, I heard the chiming laughter of a nymphet. A shadow flickered across the parking lot. I chased the dancing phantom. My eyes caught her. I swear I saw the ghost of little Lolita blowing kisses in the sultry South Carolina dusk.
Oh, Peddler. Light of my life. Fire of my loins. My sin. My soul. Peddler