The Villages is #6 by this measure

[Toymeister]

The measurement for the 55+ crowd is rather odd, food. Restaurants, quality of chefs, food clubs and all things food related.

Link to realtor.com, below, works.

Pardon Our Interruption (https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/boomers-senior-communities-the-villages/#:~:text=It's%20all%20about%20the%20food&text=%E2%80%9COur%20research%20shows%20that%2C%20a side,living%20community%2C%E2%80%9D%20says%20Cutic elli).

Although our restaurants are a factor the food clubs carried weight.

[kingofbeer]

The measurement for the 55+ crowd is rather odd, food. Restaurants, quality of chefs, food clubs and all things food related.

Link to realtor.com, below, works.

Pardon Our Interruption (https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/boomers-senior-communities-the-villages/#:~:text=It's%20all%20about%20the%20food&text=%E2%80%9COur%20research%20shows%20that%2C%20a side,living%20community%2C%E2%80%9D%20says%20Cutic elli).
IMHO, there are very few outstanding restaurants here. My favorite is The Chop House. The rest of the restaurants are poor, fair, or average. Spoke with 2 couples last night who both could not name one decent place for pizza.

[Stu from NYC]

Great place to live but IMHO restaurant quality is below average

[Normal]

There isn’t really any great cuisine inside the bubble. Most places serving in the villages serve food that tastes like reheated, reseasoned blah. Further it is a struggle to find any place that serves an aged steak, a crowned pork or even a great orange duck. I’m not asking for a good Washuko or even a Wagyu A5 in butter sauce, just some options that don’t seem like they come from Applebees Maybe the occasional something special. Trust me, you won’t find most great dishes inside the villages. If you want over seasoned, poorly prepared and rushed food though, they are here to serve you.

[tophcfa]

Spoke with 2 couples last night who both could not name one decent place for pizza.

I guess they haven’t tried Sammy Joe’s. It’s a little hole in the wall place in the Mulberry Plaza, but they make a good grease wheel.

[Topspinmo]

IMO Florida in general restaurants quality not that great. Second thing IMO it’s getting way overcrowded here. IMO what makes villages great is well planned out, amenities, and pretty safe, at least in my area.

[Topspinmo]

IMHO, there are very few outstanding restaurants here. My favorite is The Chop House. The rest of the restaurants are poor, fair, or average. Spoke with 2 couples last night who both could not name one decent place for pizza.

IMO only pizza I found worth going back for Marco’s pepperoni as long as I don’t have to too often.

[Topspinmo]

I guess they haven’t tried Sammy Joe’s. It’s a little hole in the wall place in the Mulberry Plaza, but they make a good grease wheel.

IMO Sammy joe’s pizza pretty good as long as you eat in, If takeout it get’s soggy pretty quick and I live just little over mile from Sammy Joe’s.

[Two Bills]

If ever there was a list of oxymorons, 'Restaurant and Pizza' are among the top ten.

[graciegirl]

Great place to live but IMHO restaurant quality is below average

I agree. It always has been so and now restaurant prices are astronomical and you have to wait for ages because they cannot find anyone to employ.

BUT THAT IS EVERYWHERE IN FLORIDA AND THE REST OF THE COUNTRY.

[shaw8700@outlook.com]

Piesanos is the best we’ve tried out here.

The Chop House, Bonefish, Tap House Social, Mission BBQ, IBBQ, and believe it or not, Olive Garden. All of these are really good, comparatively speaking.

[Stu from NYC]

Piesanos is the best we’ve tried out here.

The Chop House, Bonefish, Tap House Social, Mission BBQ, IBBQ, and believe it or not, Olive Garden. All of these are really good, comparatively speaking.

Olive Garden? Soup and salad are good but the rest of the dishes here are mediocre at best. Many better Italian restaurants in and out of the bubble.

[Nana2Teddy]

IMO only pizza I found worth going back for Marco’s pepperoni as long as I don’t have to too often.
Agree 100%! And currently in 2024 the large pepperoni is only $10, and gives us two meals when we bring it home and add a salad.

[Nana2Teddy]

Piesanos is the best we’ve tried out here.

The Chop House, Bonefish, Tap House Social, Mission BBQ, IBBQ, and believe it or not, Olive Garden. All of these are really good, comparatively speaking.

We have always loved Olive Garden, and were so happy there was one here when we moved from SoCal, though we also love Roberto’s for Italian food. After two years here we have actually never eaten at any of the other places you mentioned.

[ScottPull]

If ever there was a list of oxymorons, 'Restaurant and Pizza' are among the top ten.

Agreed

[spexdr]

Olive Garden? Soup and salad are good but the rest of the dishes here are mediocre at best. Many better Italian restaurants in and out of the bubble.
Olive garden lettuce "good?" it's just iceberg!🫤

[golfing eagles]

Agree 100%! And currently in 2024 the large pepperoni is only $10, and gives us two meals when we bring it home and add a salad.

Posters are stating that there are no good restaurants in TV, and that post is promoting warmed up left over mediocre pizza as a meal. Anyone sense a slight disconnect???:1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

[MikeN]

The restaurants within TV with a few exceptions are dismal.

[TheresaMackenzie]

We like Sammy Joe's for pizza.

[Normal]

Posters are stating that there are no good restaurants in TV, and that post is promoting warmed up left over mediocre pizza as a meal. Anyone sense a slight disconnect???:1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

Some have tastebuds, some don’t.

[defrey12]

IMHO, there are very few outstanding restaurants here. My favorite is The Chop House. The rest of the restaurants are poor, fair, or average. Spoke with 2 couples last night who both could not name one decent place for pizza.

Piesano’s Lake Deaton is the best you’re going to do…though I’ve heard NYPD on 466 is okay too. If you want NY pizza, go back to NY. We’re originally from SF and there is no good sourdough bread or Chinese food here either. Oh, well. What we have done is learned to love local faire, like shrimp and grits and fried green tomatoes. You’ll never get either of those in NY or SF.

[dtennent]

Just returned from a week in Banff, Alberta, Canada where we enjoyed eating at several good restaurants. A very nice break from the restaurants we have inside the bubble. Of course, we paid more than the average tab here. If you want better food, you have to support a restaurant that charges more.

[Wenham]

IMO Sammy joe’s pizza pretty good as long as you eat in, If takeout it get’s soggy pretty quick and I live just little over mile from Sammy Joe’s.I agree with you, We live about a mile away and tried SammyJoes last night. The place was jampacked. Ordered a Well Done pizza to go and picked it up as soon as it came out of the oven. The top of the pizza was well done but the crust was soft and floppy however the flavor was very good. I have had breakfast here which was delicious. We will try the pizza while dining in next time.

[mraines]

IMHO, there are very few outstanding restaurants here. My favorite is The Chop House. The rest of the restaurants are poor, fair, or average. Spoke with 2 couples last night who both could not name one decent place for pizza.

I would not judge a good restaurant by pizza but I agree there are very few good restaurants in The Villages. My faves are Harvest and Lopez.

[msilagy]

I agree with the poster, I am back north and the food here is exceptional in high line restaurants. In mid line restaurants the food is tasty and plentiful. TV overall skimpy and overpriced

[Cuervo]

The problem here is that many of the restaurants are chain restaurants and are more interested in quantity than quality. Then there is the lack of competition, I'm from N.Y.C. and there are restaurants on top of restaurants, if you're not halfway decent you're not going to survive. Finally, restaurants make a bigger return on their investment from alcohol if it be at the bar or the table and Villagers do like to drink so food is almost a secondary to operating their business.
Unfortunately, if you want to have a great meal you're going to have to look outside of The Villages.

[Michael 61]

I would not judge a good restaurant by pizza but I agree there are very few good restaurants in The Villages. My faves are Harvest and Lopez.

Harvest and Lopez are solid, I agree. In my two years here, I believe I have hit up every non-chain restaurant within the bubble, since I eat out dinner probably 5 out of 7 nights each week. My favorites are outside the bubble. But for solid meals within the bubble, in addition to Lopez and Harvest, I’d add Blue Fin, and Coastal Del Mar. OK, but not remarkable, would be Kumo, Prima, Chop House, Thai Lily, Amerikanos, Havana CC, Piesano’s and Booster’s.

[opinionist]

Has anyone ever heard of a home-cooked meal? I don't know anyone who eats out for every meal.

[Joe C.]

Although food is the main attraction for senior citizens, the locations for the top ten appear to be mostly apartments. Only a few were homes/villas like The Villages is made up of. Forget pizza ...... that's only a quick chow down that's IMHO not a meal. Good food, whether it's Chinese, Italian, German, Thai etc., is found outside of The Villages in smaller mom and pop restaurants. There are great places to eat from Ocala, Leesburg, and Orlando. And don't forget those Brazilian steakhouses in Orlando and Ocala. Most of the restaurants in TV are average to mediocre at best.

[jmpate]

Couldn't agree .ore about the poor quality of restaurants I the bubble.

We have a couple of favorites if we're not in a picky mood like Chop House, Toojays, Havana.

Prefer ones outside the Villages such as Prime 3 in Leesburg, one of the few restaurants that serve Prime beef, the Irish Pub across the street from Prime 3, Gio's in Oxford w/authentic Italian fare & fabulous pizza, veal dishes. Several good places in Ocala & some newer Asian places in the area. Variety is the true spice of eating life but have to search a bit more in our area for better restaurants.




QUOTE=Toymeister;2384971]The measurement for the 55+ crowd is rather odd, food. Restaurants, quality of chefs, food clubs and all things food related.

Link to realtor.com, below, works.

Pardon Our Interruption (https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/boomers-senior-communities-the-villages/#:~:text=It's%20all%20about%20the%20food&text=%E2%80%9COur%20research%20shows%20that%2C%20a side,living%20community%2C%E2%80%9D%20says%20Cutic elli).

Although our restaurants are a factor the food clubs carried weight.[/QUOTE]

[coleprice]

Given The Villages' exceptional Amenities, finishing #7 in the nation for Retirement Communities with good local Cuisine is outstanding! ALL of the other places that are listed don't offer Amenities that even come close to those offered by The Villages and most of these places are in areas with much higher Costs of Living.

[CoachKandSportsguy]

LOL. . . as we age, we slowly lose sensory abilities. . could be one of the reasons why normal food all tastes the same, and why what we liked when we were younger now takes more seasoning to taste the same.

Personally i do know my taste sensory ability is declining, because the amount of my favorite spices i love i need more and more of to enjoy the taste. I have a hard time tasting most spices in the very small amounts recommended in recipes. .

but we are all built differently

[Rocksnap]

Piesano’s Lake Deaton is the best you’re going to do…though I’ve heard NYPD on 466 is okay too. If you want NY pizza, go back to NY. We’re originally from SF and there is no good sourdough bread or Chinese food here either. Oh, well. What we have done is learned to love local faire, like shrimp and grits and fried green tomatoes. You’ll never get either of those in NY or SF.

CT actually has the better pizza joints. Says my taste buds and National rankings. But you can’t go wrong in NYC for the HUGE slices!

[Rocksnap]

Retirement communities and low quality food go hand in hand. As most retirees go for their bottom dollar.
It doesn’t help that our American food quality/standards basically suck. What the FDA allows in our food is criminal! Have you noticed the food coloring names have been changed? Gone are Red 40, Blue 5 - in name only. Now they are allowed to use benign names tho the dye didn’t change one bit.
Much of our food can’t be sold in Europe , due to their realistic food quality standards. Even our fast food chains there had to leave out/change the recipe to sell there. GMO is a clear example.
Don’t get me started on our restaurant suppliers. Ever notice the Sysco truck stopping at both high end and low end restaurants?

[bobmarc]

Judging by the size of stomachs I see here, I'd guess the Villages restaurants are serving decent meals.

[SHIBUMI]

The Golden Corral???????


The measurement for the 55+ crowd is rather odd, food. Restaurants, quality of chefs, food clubs and all things food related.

Link to realtor.com, below, works.

Pardon Our Interruption (https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/boomers-senior-communities-the-villages/#:~:text=It's%20all%20about%20the%20food&text=%E2%80%9COur%20research%20shows%20that%2C%20a side,living%20community%2C%E2%80%9D%20says%20Cutic elli).

Although our restaurants are a factor the food clubs carried weight.

[bilcon]

IMO only pizza I found worth going back for Marco’s pepperoni as long as I don’t have to too often.

Seriously? OMG!

[vintageogauge]

We like Blue Fin, Chop House, and Prima but after a couple cocktails most of the others are fine. I'm more into the service end of restaurants. Good service and mediocre food is not good and good food with poor service is not good therefore the pre-dinner cocktails.

[MrChip72]

If I'm not mistaken, 3 of the 7 places listed are assisted or independent living facilities where the facility prepares the food for you. I don't think you can fairly compare the food at restaurants in TV to a facility where you're paying close to $10k/month to live.

[haugstad6019@msn.com]

IMHO, there are very few outstanding restaurants here. My favorite is The Chop House. The rest of the restaurants are poor, fair, or average. Spoke with 2 couples last night who both could not name one decent place for pizza.

BRAVO PIZZA is authentic Italian Pie! Yum!

[kcrazorbackfan]

So glad I grew up in a farm where we learned to eat any kind of food put on the table by my Mom. To this day, I still don’t have to eat “fine dining food” to enjoy a good meal.

[vintageogauge]

So glad I grew up in a farm where we learned to eat any kind of food put on the table by my Mom. To this day, I still don’t have to eat “fine dining food” to enjoy a good meal.
I'm with you on that. Up north we belonged to a country club and the food was terrible. I often told the club manager to get rid of the chef and hire a cook so you can offer good old fashioned homemade meals. They didn't fire the chef but he was having homemade old fashioned meals offered once a week and it was a hit.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

The problem with restaurants in The Villages is that MOST of them get the same stuff from the same distributors, and have the same menus with minor variations. There are a few "good" restaurants, but they're also expensive and not some place the average retiree would be able to afford on their monthly dine-out rotation. I really love Coastal del Mar. I'd really love to be able to afford to eat there more often than once every 4 months.

Pizza - nope. I'm going crap, because there is nothing good on the east side of the Villages. There's Gio's on 301 but it's not a take-out option when it's cold by the time I can get it home and why would I want to drive 30 minutes to get pizza anyway? Where I come from there was one in walking distance, no matter which town or part of town I lived in. And most of them were excellent.

There's very limited diversity. Zero Indian food. Zero Syrian or Middle-eastern food. Even the middle-eastern food truck that shows up at town square events serves their falafel sandwiches on GREEK pita, which isn't anything like syrian pita. And no one serves anything with tahini. There exists no decent meatball sub in The Villages. Sure, maybe you can get them outside the bubble but there are none within it. There is no GOOD lasagna in The Villages. Carrabbas overcooks their noodles, and Takis "lasagna" is actually pastitsio, not lasagna. Thankfully my sister in law taught me her recipe so we can have GOOD lasagna when I make a pan every 6-8 weeks. But it'd be really nice to have someone else do the dishes for a change when we're in the mood for lasagna.

The Chinese take-outs are abysmal, Koyame is the only chinese restaurant I would buy from and even they're only "decent." Their egg rolls are blech and they don't add strips of pork to their wonton soup like they should.

But hey you can get a $15 cheese burger or $28 strip steak or $25 chicken alfredo at any of 4000 restaurants that get their products from Sysco. And the same undercooked broccoli with no seasoning.

[LonnyP]

Stavros has excellent pizza, it just happens to be outside the bubble but well worth getting in the car and taking the 15 min drive.

[shaw8700@outlook.com]

We have always loved Olive Garden, and were so happy there was one here when we moved from SoCal, though we also love Roberto’s for Italian food. After two years here we have actually never eaten at any of the other places you mentioned.

We’re going to give Roberto’s a try.

[JoeVentnor]

We moved to TV 3 months ago. We ate at the many restaurants in Brownwood and Sawgrass only because we had a lot of construction going on, oncluding a new kitchen so we were forced most of the time to eat out.
The commercial restaurants here are nothing to write home about as the quality of food they serve is good, but not exceptional. The Chop House was tops of all the places here for sure. Their service and ambience is fantastic, but as long as residents here in the Villages continue to patronize these below average and expensive restaurants nothing will change. There is not one Farm to Table establishment here which would serve top quality food, why is that? We are very happy living here but the restaurants leave a lot to be desired. The only good thing is that the beer is very cold and you get to meet some real nice people.

[G.R.I.T.S.]

Well then thank God we moved here for golf and active lifestyle.

[USOTR]

We are new to The Villages, but we have eaten out allot, and that is part of the reason we moved here. So far I'll state that the restaurants in TV are designed to service our retirement communities. While there are a couple restaurants, who appeal to the Wagyu A5 in butter sauce millionaires', most appeal to the average retired citizen like us, who are looking for a good meal at a fair price.

[Sandancer]

Piesano’s Lake Deaton is the best you’re going to do…though I’ve heard NYPD on 466 is okay too. If you want NY pizza, go back to NY. We’re originally from SF and there is no good sourdough bread or Chinese food here either. Oh, well. What we have done is learned to love local faire, like shrimp and grits and fried green tomatoes. You’ll never get either of those in NY or SF.
The farmers market on rolling acres rd {tuesdays-9-2} has a booth that bakes & sells the most delicious sour-dough bread..{all flavors}
As far as chinese food- takeout only-China Maxx-in the lady lake area{excellent/fresh food}

[airstreamingypsy]

IMHO, there are very few outstanding restaurants here. My favorite is The Chop House. The rest of the restaurants are poor, fair, or average. Spoke with 2 couples last night who both could not name one decent place for pizza.

Tell them to go to Gio's on 301 just north of 466. Best pizza around. None of the chains in TV are any good, but the Sulieman and FMK restaurants are excellent. Bluefin, Havana, Lopez, Harvest, Chop House to name a few.

[JMintzer]

I see a lot of "food snobs" in this thread...

[JRcorvette]

The measurement for the 55+ crowd is rather odd, food. Restaurants, quality of chefs, food clubs and all things food related.

Link to realtor.com, below, works.

Pardon Our Interruption (https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/boomers-senior-communities-the-villages/#:~:text=It's%20all%20about%20the%20food&text=%E2%80%9COur%20research%20shows%20that%2C%20a side,living%20community%2C%E2%80%9D%20says%20Cutic elli).

Although our restaurants are a factor the food clubs carried weight.

It’s just OPINION based on their criteria. If you want fine dining and that is your thing then move to a place like Naples or West Palm or Miami

[Pairadocs]

There isn’t really any great cuisine inside the bubble. Most places serving in the villages serve food that tastes like reheated, reseasoned blah. Further it is a struggle to find any place that serves an aged steak, a crowned pork or even a great orange duck. I’m not asking for a good Washuko or even a Wagyu A5 in butter sauce, just some options that don’t seem like they come from Applebees Maybe the occasional something special. Trust me, you won’t find most great dishes inside the villages. If you want over seasoned, poorly prepared and rushed food though, they are here to serve you.

Don't disagree, but realistically, I don't think it's much different than the typical 125k community anywhere. We lived in a small (139K) community about 30 miles from Chicago, definitely had to go to the city for the options you mentioned, great duck in China Town, Wagyu beef, etc. I do think people who live IN the city move here expecting all the options of the city, Greek town, China Town, Little Italy, etc. The Villages originally was the retirement mecca of the midwest, working class, small to medium town people. Winter park, not far, offers some decent options.

[Pairadocs]

Retirement communities and low quality food go hand in hand. As most retirees go for their bottom dollar.
It doesn’t help that our American food quality/standards basically suck. What the FDA allows in our food is criminal! Have you noticed the food coloring names have been changed? Gone are Red 40, Blue 5 - in name only. Now they are allowed to use benign names tho the dye didn’t change one bit.
Much of our food can’t be sold in Europe , due to their realistic food quality standards. Even our fast food chains there had to leave out/change the recipe to sell there. GMO is a clear example.
Don’t get me started on our restaurant suppliers. Ever notice the Sysco truck stopping at both high end and low end restaurants?

Preaching to the choir here, every word you wrote is not an exaggeration. People who travel abroad really pick up on that quickly (that we are actually being slowly fed food designed to cause chronic illness, increase diabetes and high blood pressure. Dyes in everything, to make peas green ? To color soda that needs no coloring, it's already flavored, the dye color adds nothing. Most people are not even aware that just a morning bowl of dry cereal can take up most of the day's sodium intake and who really eats 1/2 or 1/3 a cup of dry cereal. Have you ever looked up the ingredients in most prepared salad dressing ? Shocking when you look of those strange words you can't pronounce !

[Pairadocs]

Olive garden lettuce "good?" it's just iceberg!🫤

I do like their soup and salad combo, but the last TWO times the soup is even MORE salty than it's always been, I just could not eat it any more, like the soups of Panera, so many drown out the taste with salt, no balance of spices.

[tophcfa]

In my opinion, the best meal in the Villages is a turkey, cheddar, and hummus sandwich on multigrain bread along with a cold beer from the cooler on my golf cart while playing 18 holes. What more could I need or want?