The last time I reviewed a gas station restaurant, it was the summer of 2020 and a festering pestilence the world sought to eradicate dominated the headlines. Covid-19 was a nuisance, too. In Florida, folks took to wearing face masks about as happily as politicians took to the Epstein files. So, when I paid a visit to Git-N-Messy BBQ inside a Citgo Quik Mart and saw a masked Chuck Cobb plating some mighty fine smoked brisket, sausage and ribs before erecting a towering hot chicken sandwich I couldn’t help but dub the “Colossus of Cock,” I told myself I needed to explore the city’s fueling stations more often. Nine months later, a horrible motorcycle incident took Chuck away from us.
As I write about Roma’s Bistro inside the Marathon gas station in Casselberry, it dawns on me that April 29 will mark the fifth anniversary of Chuck’s untimely passing. He may have wondered, as I did, why a place called Roma’s Bistro didn’t serve pasta, but rather plates of Honduran and Mexican eats. Not until my third visit did I come to learn that “Roma” is a portmanteau of owners Angie Rodriguez’s and Delmy Madrid’s surnames.
Fitting, then, that the tacos Hondureños ($9 for four) seemed to be a hybrid of sorts as well — of cole slaw and taquitos. Yes, Honduran tacos are of the rolled and deep-fried variety, and the four chicken-stuffed corn flutes were crowned with a heap of cabbage dressed in what tasted like a ketchup/mayo-based sauce. A dusting of white cheese, pico de gallo and a side of pickled radishes, onions and jalapeños made this a hearty, crunchy lunchtime meal. Order the enchilada Hondureño ($4) and you’ll get a crispy tostada topped with ground beef, everything the taco came with, and a sliced boiled egg. It’s another solid offering, though I’d recommend splashing on some of the house chile de arbol sauce and forgoing the hot sauce bottles placed on the five tables inside this “bistro.”
Be sure to splash some inside the baleada, arguably the most “Catracho” of dishes and a fixture on the streets from Tegucigalpa to San Pedro Sula. The popular breakfast-time handheld is made by flattening a dough ball onto a piece of shortening-slicked tin foil that’s cooked on a flat-top, exposed side down. The foil is carefully removed and the thick tortilla is flipped before being filled with refried beans, cheese, sour cream, eggs, avocado and wee bits of steak ($7).
“Really, really good,” said the wife after I shared half with her. But her near-blasphemous utterance — “This is better than Kappy’s” — after scarfing down the Philly cheesesteak ($9) was more than a mouthful. “I like that the peppers and onions were freshly cut before being griddled,” she said. “You can taste that crispy freshness.” No argument there, but I was more into the birria tacos ($13 for three), which had bits of melty fat in the broth. And fat is how I felt after sampling the dense flan ($4) and creamy tres leches ($4) that Roma’s cooks, Paolina and Helene, both make.
Straight-up street tacos are just $3 a pop and prove popular with the many blue-collar patrons that pop by on the daily. Hot bar items, too, like chicken guisado ($10) and beef and potato guisado ($10) served with rice and beans and salad. It’s all simple, home-style comfort, much of it made to order. I may have waited 10 minutes to get my desayuno catracho ($9), a breakfast platter of scrambled eggs, sweet plantains, refried beans, half an avocado and sour cream one weekday morning, but I quite enjoyed watching all the components being made in this surprisingly well-equipped kitchen.
So just be patient, and keep in mind that this is a Marathon … not a sprint.
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This article appears in April 22-28, 2026.
