Favorite Resturants In The Villages

[Pajazz28]

DW and I are coming for a Lifestyle Visit at the end of August can you please share your favorite resturant in and around The Villages, thank you?

[retiredguy123]

Piesanos for pizza

[scubawva]

Roberto’s for pizza, good Italian & lunch specials.
Pho Saigon for Vietnamese

[Mleeja]

You are going to get a lot of replies. Everyone has their favorite. Pick some type of food you like and go to that style of restaurant. You will do fine.

[Papa_lecki]

The first place we go when we are back is Piesano’s.



Really, many places are good. But you might run into one or two places where you will have a service hiccup - they happen everywhere.

You will also see lot’s of posts that there are NO good places to eat. There are some we don’t go back to. Or we give them a 6 month break because of a bad experience.

The county department of health is pretty good, you will hear of restaurants being closed for violations.

[Bogie Shooter]

DW and I are coming for a Lifestyle Visit at the end of August can you please share your favorite resturant in and around The Villages, thank you?

The Villages Gourmet Club Restaurant Review Site (https://thevillagesgourmetclub.com/)

[justjim]

OP, there are numerous restaurants within TV (available by golf cart) and just outside TV by car. Almost every “chain” you can think about. If you are like my wife and I, we like to go to local owned restaurants when in new places. The country clubs are owned by the Developer but leased out to locals. You can get to them by golf cart. Nancy Lopez Legacy is our favorite Country Club restaurant.

Just outside TV are some nice places. On State Route 44 and inside Continental Country club is “The Oaks” a very nice locally leased restaurant.

Our favorite BQ ribs place is Oakwood Grill (locally owned) in Lady Lake on US 441. Baby back ribs that fall off the bone.

For seafood. Blue Fin on the Square at Brownwood. Of course, available by golf cart.

Just to name a few.

[tophcfa]

Sakura for sushi

[Stu from NYC]

Sakura for Japanese

Nappolino for Italian

[Ignatz]

The Villages Gourmet Club Restaurant Review Site (https://thevillagesgourmetclub.com/)

Thanks for this link! Good stuff as to all the restaurants available to choose from.

[RichR.]

Good Luck.
Food inside the bubble is very underwhelming at best. My biggest complaint about moving here would be the quality of the food. I never knew how good I had it back north. If you travel outside of The Villages to Leesburg or Ocala, you can find some nice places but lose the ability of getting there on a cart which is half the enjoyment of going out for my wife and me.

[Mrmean58]

Ha! Good luck. Asking a community of 100k+ residents their favorite restaurant will get you 10k different responses.

[msilagy]

Depending where you are from will determine how enamored you are with the village restaurants. Me, not so much.

[dewilson58]

Almost 100 posts................same question.........

https://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/restaurant-discussions-90/resturant-suggestions-351633/?highlight=Resturants

[Heytubes]

Out of the bubble World Equestrian Center in Ocala is a nice experience with Stirrup’s as well as Mark’s Prime on the square in downtown Ocala. Buy The Villages GPS app as it has listings of most restaurants in the area. Enjoy!

[thelegges]

OP it’s too hard for any of us to give you an idea of restaurants that you will like considering we don’t really know your want and needs, or allergies.

I will tell you, however, the many restaurants that are listed in posts not a fan, so my preference to leave the bubble.Our restaurants are basically a lot of chains and very few mom and Pop restaurants.

FMK does have some decent restaurants. You will get a paper every day there will be many ads, some coupons because it’s summer read the paper, and head out.

That’s the fun of coming for the first time finding new adventures, it also will help you with the bigger question.

Do I want to live here?

[villager7591]

Mezzaluna in Colony Plaza, for Italian.

[phojo]

Many good restaurants in and near the Villages depending on your tastes. Explores and ask neighbors.

[Stu from NYC]

Oaks has very good brisket

[FredMitchell]

This type of question might be more suitable for Google / Yelp.

"Best xxx restaurant near The Villages FL." , where xxx is the type of food that you would like. Not only will you tend to see ratings based on a broader population, but you will also typically see where they are and often a link to the restaurant's web page or a menu.

[BrianL99]

This is great. We haven't had a thread of restaurants in at least 3 or 4 days.

A quick search will show there have only been +/- 210 threads on restaurants in 2024. Barely 1 a day.

[DONNIEBRONX]

Rose Plantation, Chop House

[Normal]

Rose Plantation, Chop House

Love the Rose Plantation!

[CybrSage]

Piesanos for pizza

They are the ones with the world famous bread/biscuits thing, right?

[pcbme]

Best pizza and Greek salad in it outside if the villages. Located in Leesburg

[Grill Meister]

Everyone has an opinion, especially re where to eat. Take this suggestion: go to this website:

The Villages Gourmet Club Restaurant Review Site (http://thevillagesgourmetclub.com)

You can selected the type of food you wish,:pepper2: near or far. The listing for a restaurant will give you their menu, prices and ratings by diners who have eaten there.

[Stu from NYC]

Best pizza and Greek salad in it outside if the villages. Located in Leesburg

If only their Greek food was good

[Topspinmo]

You’re asking an opinion? personal tastes might not match your?

IMO after you’ve been here awhile and can cook home will be your favorite restaurant.:highfive: Now if can’t Cook good luck!:ho:

[paulajr]

Prima Italian Steakhouse in Brownwood Square


QUOTE=Pajazz28;2360419]DW and I are coming for a Lifestyle Visit at the end of August can you please share your favorite resturant in and around The Villages, thank you?[/QUOTE]

[Stu from NYC]

They are the ones with the world famous bread/biscuits thing, right?

They have rolls with a garlicy dressing. Last time rolls on one plate, the garlic on another. Very good

[shaw8700@outlook.com]

Mission BBQ has the best brisket I’ve had in a long time.

[Shipping up to Boston]

Marks Prime in Ocala

[Rainger99]

You might to break down recommendations by price.

Under $50 for 2.

Under $100 for 2

Over $100 for 2.

[tophcfa]

Piesanos for pizza

Roberto’s for pizza, good Italian & lunch specials.
Pho Saigon for Vietnamese

I avoid carbs so only eat pizza a couple times a year for a cheat treat. But when I do, its Sammy Joe’s at the Mulberry Plaza.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Best pizza and Greek salad in it outside if the villages. Located in Leesburg

Their "Greek salad" is nothing even close to being good. It's shredded iceburg lettuce with domestic mild feta cheese crumbs (not crumbled, but crumbs), little strips of ham, a couple of kalamata olives with the pits still in them, a diced pepperoncini, a couple of tomatoes, and a vinaigrette dressing. You can ask for anchovies but it doesn't come with them automatically. You shred lettuce to make subs, not salads. And the feta cheese should be pungent, salty, in small diced chunks or thick crumbles, not tiny tidbits like panko bread crumbs. The dressing shouldn't have vinegar in it at all, greek dressing is olive oil and lemon juice. You don't put ham in a greek salad. That's just - not a greek salad at all. It's a bread-less hoagie.

Their red sauce is a meat sauce, and it's a good sauce, but they serve dishes with italian names and greek lasagna should be called pastitsio, not lasagna. Theirs is absolutely a greek dish, and is absolutely not an Italian lasagna. For italian lasagna, it's horrible. For greek pastitsio, it's very tasty and well-made.

They need to not try to be something else, and focus on being greek. And for god's sake don't sell meatball subs. They're bread subs with meat in them. Really bad.

[MplsPete]

I'll vote for the Coney Island Drive-In, in Wildwood. Cheap and tasty. A dog and fries was < $10.

[bioman419]

DW and I are coming for a Lifestyle Visit at the end of August can you please share your favorite resturant in and around The Villages, thank you?

Best Pizza; Napolinos on 301

[Michael 61]

Their "Greek salad" is nothing even close to being good. It's shredded iceburg lettuce with domestic mild feta cheese crumbs (not crumbled, but crumbs), little strips of ham, a couple of kalamata olives with the pits still in them, a diced pepperoncini, a couple of tomatoes, and a vinaigrette dressing. You can ask for anchovies but it doesn't come with them automatically. You shred lettuce to make subs, not salads. And the feta cheese should be pungent, salty, in small diced chunks or thick crumbles, not tiny tidbits like panko bread crumbs. The dressing shouldn't have vinegar in it at all, greek dressing is olive oil and lemon juice. You don't put ham in a greek salad. That's just - not a greek salad at all. It's a bread-less hoagie.

Their red sauce is a meat sauce, and it's a good sauce, but they serve dishes with italian names and greek lasagna should be called pastitsio, not lasagna. Theirs is absolutely a greek dish, and is absolutely not an Italian lasagna. For italian lasagna, it's horrible. For greek pastitsio, it's very tasty and well-made.

They need to not try to be something else, and focus on being greek. And for god's sake don't sell meatball subs. They're bread subs with meat in them. Really bad.

It’s because they, like most restaurants, source their food from Sysco. The food items arrive already processed, and pre-sliced or cut up. All these types of restaurants do back in their “kitchen” is open up the individual plastic bags of pre-made and cut up food items, and arrange them on a plate or heat up and add the Sysco-made sauce packet to the protein or pasta item. That is why so many restaurants taste like each other, cause they are sourcing their food items from the same place. It’s hard nowadays to find a truly mom-and-pop place that doesn’t buy their food from Sysco or a similar vendor.

[village dreamer]

I'll vote for the Coney Island Drive-In, in Wildwood. Cheap and tasty. A dog and fries was < $10. you know its chicken beaks and feathers right???

[Stu from NYC]

It’s because they, like most restaurants, source their food from Sysco. The food items arrive already processed, and pre-sliced or cut up. All these types of restaurants do back in their “kitchen” is open up the individual plastic bags of pre-made and cut up food items, and arrange them on a plate or heat up and add the Sysco-made sauce packet to the protein or pasta item. That is why so many restaurants taste like each other, cause they are sourcing their food items from the same place. It’s hard nowadays to find a truly mom-and-pop place that doesn’t buy their food from Sysco or a similar vendor.

Wonder how many of the restaurants we frequent actually do the cooking from scratch?

[Shipping up to Boston]

Wonder how many of the restaurants we frequent actually do the cooking from scratch?

In the bubble....I don’t want to ruin the surprise!

We had a lengthy thread awhile back on Mallory? ...about Sysco. There are many tiers in their offerings to clients. A schools tier, hospitals, prisons....as well as different restaurant levels of products/price points. It is what it is. The only quality you can control is in your own kitchen!

[LeRoySmith]

you know its chicken beaks and feathers right???

Pig lips and aholes, an ear tag here and there.

[LeRoySmith]

Wonder how many of the restaurants we frequent actually do the cooking from scratch?

When that deli comes to town maybe it'll be different.

[Michael 61]

Wonder how many of the restaurants we frequent actually do the cooking from scratch?

Exactly - that is why I hesitate to call most people working in the restaurant kitchen a “chef” - anyone can open up a plastic bag and dump the pre-made contents into a steam pan to heat up and then plate.

[Stu from NYC]

When that deli comes to town maybe it'll be different.

Sysco will not be supplying the food.:lipsrsealed:

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

It’s because they, like most restaurants, source their food from Sysco. The food items arrive already processed, and pre-sliced or cut up. All these types of restaurants do back in their “kitchen” is open up the individual plastic bags of pre-made and cut up food items, and arrange them on a plate or heat up and add the Sysco-made sauce packet to the protein or pasta item. That is why so many restaurants taste like each other, cause they are sourcing their food items from the same place. It’s hard nowadays to find a truly mom-and-pop place that doesn’t buy their food from Sysco or a similar vendor.

No, it isn't because they buy from Sysco. I don't know if they do or not, and it doesn't matter. These food service companies sell whole leaf lettuce, not just shredded lettuce. They sell individual ingredients, not just pre-made portion-control frozen foods. They offer a variety of options to restaurants, and the restaurant decides which items it will buy, if any, and in which form/shape.

Taki's could buy bags of greens, unshredded, washed and ready to toss. They've chosen not to. They also prepare their sauce in-house. Do they used canned tomatoes? No doubt. Do they use ground chuck instead of grinding their own chuck-roast in house? You betcha. But the preparation is done there, it's not a ready-to-nuke operation. That doesn't mean it's good. There are plenty of restaurants that make everything from scratch - and don't last long, because their food is lousy.

Takis greek salad isn't greek salad. I don't know why they call it that, and I don't know why people keep ordering it from them.

As I said - their pastitsio is very tasty. A really good greek ground beef and tomato sauce with plenty of herbs and not too much pepper, with just the right amount of cheese. But they need to stop calling it lasagna. It isn't lasagna. It's pastitsio.

[MorTech]

Boosters Bar and Grill...When it opens.

[geome48]

DW and I are coming for a Lifestyle Visit at the end of August can you please share your favorite resturant in and around The Villages, thank you?

I like Prima Italian Steak House in Brownwood Square. Blufin (seafood) there is good too

[Stu from NYC]

No, it isn't because they buy from Sysco. I don't know if they do or not, and it doesn't matter. These food service companies sell whole leaf lettuce, not just shredded lettuce. They sell individual ingredients, not just pre-made portion-control frozen foods. They offer a variety of options to restaurants, and the restaurant decides which items it will buy, if any, and in which form/shape.

Taki's could buy bags of greens, unshredded, washed and ready to toss. They've chosen not to. They also prepare their sauce in-house. Do they used canned tomatoes? No doubt. Do they use ground chuck instead of grinding their own chuck-roast in house? You betcha. But the preparation is done there, it's not a ready-to-nuke operation. That doesn't mean it's good. There are plenty of restaurants that make everything from scratch - and don't last long, because their food is lousy.

Takis greek salad isn't greek salad. I don't know why they call it that, and I don't know why people keep ordering it from them.

As I said - their pastitsio is very tasty. A really good greek ground beef and tomato sauce with plenty of herbs and not too much pepper, with just the right amount of cheese. But they need to stop calling it lasagna. It isn't lasagna. It's pastitsio.

Wish they offered good gyros

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Wish they offered good gyros

OMG that'd be awesome. Old fashioned Greek food truck food would be great. I went to Amerikano's when we first moved in, I was excited to have a Greco-American restaurant. Got the falafel sandwich. I told them I wanted extra tahini. They brought me the sandwich and I was SO annoyed - it wasn't tahini at all. It was tzatziki. The waiters either didn't listen to my request, or didn't know there was a difference between the two things.

I didn't eat, ended up at World of Beer and got a burger. Never went back to Amerikano's.

What I'd love: a SYRIAN joint that has very similar street food to Greek food, oddly enough. Gyros, baba ganoush (I don't like eggplant but it's very popular), falafel in syrian pita (that puffy stuff they sell here in Central Florida is Greek pita - Syrian pita is flat and 2-layered, you slit a bit off the edge and stuff the inside with whatever you want, and wrap the bottom un-slit part in foil so it doesn't drip all over your shirt), or a feta salad with crisp chunks of lettuce, diced tomatoes, diced red onion, halved pitted calamata olives, imported MOIST feta smeared all along the bottom half of the bread, topped generously with home-made tahini dressing.

I make the salad here at home often enough but there's just something magickal about getting it stuffed in a slightly-charred syrian pita from a food truck.

[chrisinva]

Marco s for thin crust pizza. 2 locations 1) Publix plaza behind 466a, next to Lowes & 2) Magnolia Plaza on Warm Springs/468.

[Jim1mack]

Where are you staying for your life time visit?

[Jim1mack]

Where are you staying for your lifetime visit?

[merrymini]

Restaurants inside are disappointing. Bela Vita for good Italian and Costa del Mar for seafood is also very good. Piesanos supreme pizza is good but their other food is not so hot. Outside, my favorite is Turners in Leesburg. They have a unique and changing menu. Skip the hit dog place, yuck.

[BRN_RI_FL]

I avoid carbs so only eat pizza a couple times a year for a cheat treat. But when I do, its Sammy Joe’s at the Mulberry Plaza.

They do a “thin to the edge” crust which has less carbs than their regular crusts.

[jbartle1]

Exactly - that is why I hesitate to call most people working in the restaurant kitchen a “chef” - anyone can open up a plastic bag and dump the pre-made contents into a steam pan to heat up and then plate.
Met a fellow, profession, chef at Fruitland cafe, hahahaha

[Dusty_Star]

Some of the restaurants I have enjoyed recently:

Bella Vita in Spanish Springs
The Flying Biscuit in Lake Sumter Landing (breakfast or lunch) -fabulous biscuits
Some of the country clubs: Bonifay, Mallory Hill, Lopez, Cane Garden

[AMB444]

I didn't eat, ended up at World of Beer and got a burger. Never went back to Amerikano's.



It is annoying when you expect a restaurant to understand their own cuisine and they disappoint. I'm sure you've tried the many places in Tarpon Springs for good Greek?

[Stu from NYC]

Kung Fu has become consistently good with large portions so now will recommend them.

[Fenster]

For such a special day, you have to travel south. Not north to Ocala. Bern or Charlie’s in Tampa are fantastic. Also consider Disney Springs. We like Jaleo for Tapas.

I don’t know what kind of food you like, but The Villages is not a culinary destination!

[Djean1981]

Good luck. There's not that many actually good restaurants. I would probably recommend Prima at Brownwood.