While working in FLA,ate at Dennys and Wags,giant portions of food the size of a steering wheel,are Dennys still going strong,mega breakfasts with bottomless coffee,buy one,just keep ordering for free drinks.What is the favourite eatery place for Us and Canadian truckers?
Hooters man hooters, foods not bad but the scenery is great !.
Ex Haulier:
Hooters man hooters, foods not bad but the scenery is great !.
This man knows what he’s talking about, food quality is unimportant, you don’t eat much because your tongue is hanging out!
In answer to the question though it appears that the American Truck Driver has no concerns over his/her health or about eating decent food, it’s all about volume so they eat at the truckstop buffets (Big Ugly Fat F’kers Eating Together) & fill up plate after plate of cheap ■■■■■ that has sat festering under halogen lamps while people sneeze & cough all over it 
there is no need for it though as you can usually park near to a Dennys/Shoneys/Cracker Barrell/Boston Pizza/Olive Garden or the like & get something a little healthier & with less snot over it, or stop at a Walmart & get a salad even, if that’s your thing The bottomless coffee/soft drink idea is pretty universal & it’s good until you get 10 mins down the road & need to stop for a pee 
So there’s my take on it, if I had to pick a favourite I would go with Cracker Barrell myself 
Know what you mean about Hooters,orange shorts,tight tee shirts.There is Hooters now in the UK.Cant see much when the glasses get steamed up.
Hooters (although the views can be nice) is a big rip off 
Those girls smile and show as much cleavage as possible and make you feel you are special just to get a big tip, then they go home to their boyfriend or husbands who screw them better than they screwed you 
Truck drivers eatery’s at most big chain truck stops are crap, for good honest food try the small one off diners if you can find parking the food is better and a lot cheaper… an example :- Last week I was parked at the Pilot in Newburgh NY for 12 hours, as in 99% of Pilots the food is fast food only and in that one its Arby’s crap … across the road is the Stewart Airport Diner, I had a good sized steak with eggs and home fries, two slices of toast, orange juice and bottomless coffee for $8.50 and it was very good ! … in the Pilot and scabby sliced beef and cheese roll with a snotty drink was $850 also … but total garbage.
The old Mom & pop truckstops take some beating for sure, I’ve noticed while using these that there isn’t the same odour of ■■■■ in the parking lot too, so it says something about the clientele too, most of these are frequented by the older drivers who know where all the good old places are & mostly they’re on the old US highway network rather than the interstates so they can be hard to find, but they are out there.
I try to avoid Pilot & Loves as their fuel is crap too, but may pop in if there’s a Subway & I fancy something healthy, TAs, Flying Js & Petro I avoid for the most part unless I want a shower, do some laundry or fuel up, if I’m having a reset out on the road I’ll use them for wifi access, but if possible I’ll walk into town for food or if it’s to far away i’ll bobtail in, most nights I try & park in a retail park or Walmart & walk to a nearby resturaunt for dinner, this gives the added bonus of a bit of exercise with the walk & a quiet nights sleep without all the truckstop noise.
One place I can recommend is at Clearwater, MN on I-94 at mm178, it’s a Petro 2 & the food, although a little expensive, is absolutely top drawer, they also have an on site bakery making all sorts of bread & cakes, they do their own fudge, chocolates & fancy coffees, there’s a bar if you fancy a swift half too, it’s part of the resturaunt so it’s not full of mullet headed yokels, the staff are very attentive & friendly, all in all an exception to the rule
I can recomend a ‘Non truck stop’ place also…
US1 south of Philly in Lima PA, the mall behind McDonalds is great There is a large range of food stores and out front is a great pub (if you are going to stop for at least 10 hours) called ‘Ruddles ale house’
Try it if you are in the area, only 5 mins south of exit 5 on 476 and 10 mins from the intersection of 95 and 476 south of Philly airport.
Hi chaps, just a quick question…is that correct that you cant keep any alchohol in the truck AT ALL!!!
I know that for a car any booze has to locked in the boot (trunk!! …only elephants and dodgy male swimmers have (zb)ing trunks) and i can understand about not having any tins or cans around the actual cab area but surely you can keep a few cold ones in your fridge in the sleeping / dining area behind you??
Cheers, bullitt.
You are pretty much correct. I think it is ilegal but i am not totaly sure. Any law enforcment officer would take a very dim view of any alcohol that was being carried by a driver wether it was legal to do so or not.
Of course it is very unlikely that a situation would arise where a drivers fridge was raided by the DOT but i would not want to carry any beer in my truck.
DOT probably won’t, but the Customs will. One driver I know lost his job over a bottle of vodka in his truck…
From what I understand you can have alchol in your tractor provided you are botailing/using the truck for private use,say if you are on break or 34hr restart and go down the shops to stock up,that would be okay .The bottles/cans have to be un opened,same as a car,though you are allowed to drink in the cab when you get parked up.If your pulling a trailer it’s illegal to have ANY alchol in the cab.
As a rule I chuck what didn’t get drunk before heading out on the road. Criminal waste I know but a whole lot cheaper than getting nicked for having a couple of bottles of beer in the cab.
As for food I try like hell not to eat at truck stops. I would add any steakhouse to the list already mentioned.Outback,Texas Roadhouse etc.
Hello again Richard,
I’ve not been in the Texas Roadhouse yet, tried a couple of times but they’re always packed out, Outback are very good though, not only for the huge slabs of meat, but they have cricket or football (the proper version) on the TV & you can have a cold one with dinner, as it happens the last one I went in was just around the corner from you when I last went to Goshen back in March, must be due another visit now, TGI Fridays & Red Robin are pretty good too.