We're down to two
 

We're down to two country club restaurants that we'l frequent on a regular basis: Cane Garden and Arnold Palmer will now be our go to CC restaurants

Nancy Lopez is too far out of our area to consider and until Hemingway gets their menu revised we're giving them a pass too

Fred's restaurants are all cookies cutters of each other & their "institutional" style of food and presentation is not our cup of tea,

The other restaurants we frequent are Chefs of Napoli & the Bonefish

:rolleyes: I'll put that info. to good use!

I would concur( might also agree!!)

"Nancy Lopez is too far out of our area." ??
Area being Orlando..........................

Where do you live, Village of Tampa?

Those are the restaurants we like too.

Agree with OP's choices except I'll add Lopez back in. Worth the drive and it's not like it's that far!

Being out of the area-for us is =you have a 30 minute window to leave a bar after having two martinis before you can hit the legal drunk limit- we wouldn't push the envelope-

Maybe the solution is to have only one......might work.

For us one martini with the apps. another with the entree--been doing this 40+ years zero tickets--knock wood

This forum is for the give and take of our opinions so even if one's opinions are obnoxious they are acceptable. I truly understand that. I don't drink so it's hard for me to identify with the timing thing. I would never give up a great restaurant for that reason, at least I think I wouldn't put other people's or my lovely wifes life at risk for a drink. There have been regular advertisements on television that advise to not drink and drive. I've seen on TOTV'S that many people drink and drive in The Villages. I also only drive a Regular Ford not an expensive tank. I wonder if two drinks were consumed during dinner 10 minutes from home and then there was an accident and when all was said and done it took 2 hours to be tested would the drinker be illegal. I dislike seeing anyone get hurt ever especially a homey. I have not hit a horrendous restaurant here yet. A couple bad meals but that's life. Take Care.

I have to disagree big time on Chefs of Napoli. I ate there last summer ONE time. Terrible food and terrible service.

I ordered Eggplant Parmigiana. I sort of use that as a test item at Italian restaurants. The eggplant was sliced thin and boiled. A foul tasting red sauce was poured over it. Disgusting!!

Lopez is definitely the best restaurant in The Villages.

I'm sorry, but I have to question big time a review of any restaurant based on a single visit, especially one of exaggerated like or dislike.

If you don't like driving to Nancy Lopez that is okay with us up here in the north end. We love this quiet and less hectic part of The Villages. Probably why there are less homes available in this part of The Villages too.

My opinion.
 

I would never accuse a person who I don't know of snobbery, but................ I will just take the original post as a discussion of the tastes and preferences of one poster.

Having lived in New Orleans for several years and having eaten at all of the most famous restaurants in that area, as well as traveling the world and dining with heads of state in many countries, I have learned to appreciate good food, good presentation, and good service.

Living in the northern part of the park, I tend to go most often to Nancy Lopez' and Arnold Palmer's. Perhaps the are not "world class" but they are most certainly quite good, and I enjoy dining at either place.

But, as I have recently mentioned on another thread, I like the food at TooJay's, which is great deli food. Sonny's BBQ is not fine dining, but there are times that it meets my need. I prefer a couple of BBQ places in Central Texas, but that is not an option these days.

In Tampa, my favorite, hands down, for Spanish Style food (not Tex-Mex) is the original Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City. It is presently being operated by the fourth generation of the same family, and the ambiance in this landmark restaurant is remarkable.

For steak in Tampa, Bern's Steakhouse in south Tampa has a reputation for fine food that stretches back over a half a century. They are located in a rambling old wooden structure comprised of many different rooms that are each quite different in decor. An after dinner tour of the kitchen and their extensive wine cellar can be arranged.

These are just a couple of suggestions for those who might find it interesting to venture beyond the bubble for a fine dining experience.

---------------------

On another subject, like Nucky, I don't drink. I never have. But over the course of my career I've locked up a lot of drunks. There have been others that I didn't lock up, but I waited at the scene until the coroner arrived to take them to the Morgue.

I am just grateful to God that I am still well enough and able to visit any restaurant, play on any golf course irrespective of whether the experience is good or bad. hence my priority isn't in whether the place is A+ rated, its just getting there. And when I am out and about its always water with lemon, please

My question right back to you would be, "Would YOU go back to a restaurant a second time if you found the food and service terrible on your first visit?"

Thank you.

I also do not care for Chefs of Napoli. Been there a few times and it was never very good. For off campus Italian I like Geo's deli and Big Bob's in Okalawaha for decent basic Italian. For really good Italian Little Italy Deli in Inverness is top north. But they only have dinner Friday and Saturday night, no menu and you need reservations several weeks in advance.

Gotta agree with ST on this one. Why would you go back to a restaurant if you disliked it a lot the first time?

Amen.

But Ecuadog is talking about reviewing a restaurant. I wouldn't go back a second time if I didn't like it, but I wouldn't review it either, unless I gave it a few tries. The first time could have been an off night for some reason.

Probably not, but I wouldn't vilify the restaurant based on one visit.

We will never get any good restaurants--restaurants make their "real" money on beverages--the lemon & water crowd AKA the"the villages cocktail" crowd will guarantee that

I have learned that giving a new restaurant only one chance has been a frequent error of mine. There are a couple here in TV that if I had eliminated them because of my original bad experience I would now be missing a couple of my favorite spots. I now will try a new place at least three or four times. But then, of course we each have our respective levels of tolerance. Since I eat out twice daily I need as many options as I can find. :)

I like Mallory for lunch. No food service crap from there!

You must not have tried the chili.

I know of one couple, born in New York, who lived a long time in Seattle who then moved here and moved back to Seattle and the reason they gave is that they could not find restaurants that they enjoyed in The Villages.

I think I know the difference between mundane and spectacular when it comes to food, but every single person has different standards on judging excellence in food.

There used to be the five star restaurants that everyone knew was the epitome of wonderful and the prices were much more than a person with average income would pay very often. And then there were the awfully good ones that people would pay to visit once a month or so and then there are the decent restaurants where alcohol is served and the decent restaurants where alcohol is not served. Whether alcohol is part of your enjoyment of your dining experience is important and will affect the price of menu items.

Then there are the people who manage all of the restaurants and the people who work in all of them. Some people can take premade entrees and serve them well and accompany them with crisp, clean salads and well seasoned interesting vegetables and get them to the table hot and cold and are able to please enough people and keep them moving through enough to be a financial success when the business is excellent for four months out of the year and they must let go of help during the other eight months. It is a tricky business and it requires a lot of skill and a lot of hard work and a lot of hours if you are the person running it and staffing it. I don't think the pay is all that great either.

The Villages has an interesting mix of inhabitants, but I would say that most eat out more, some much more than they used to. Most everyone has planned for retirement and some people ended up with more "disposable" income than others. Some want to spend it on food, some on travel, some on their homes, some on leaving a legacy to their kids and some want to see that they spend their last dollar and their last breath on the same day.

I don't know whether any of this is right or wrong, or whether we can blame anything or anybody when the restaurants here don't measure up to our expectations. Water reaches it's own level, and businesses survive or fail based on whether they can gauge the customers wants and needs accurately. If a person is not happy with something and they cannot effect change, then they may have to go where they can get what they want.

I think so many of TV restaurants are really good. So you don't like Mallory's chili - could be a beans vs. no beans or spicy, not spicy thing ~ sometimes a particular dish is a matter of YOUR taste. I believe to knock a restaurant because of a single dish is wrong. I love Mallory's pizza but I stay away from a few other dishes that I wasn't too keen on.
And Toojays ~ so many items. I love many and a few I didn't like but all in all I'd give it a more positive than negative review.

You are taking my post out of context. I was responding to a poster saying Mallory doesn't serve food service crap. Their chili is low grade canned stuff. If I am wrong, I know a Mexican that can take a donkey and an onion and do better homemade.

The food at Mallory as always been good-- what turns us off is the "brightness of the interior-we also didn't like Bonifay for the same reason and when we found out Bonifay serves "food service" food we stopped going there--we don't patronize boil in the bag restaurants, by the way the scrambled eggs @ Evans Prairie come right out of a plastic bag/ per an ex-employee

I totally agree
 

Whether you get caught is simply not the point.
I for one do not care if you get plastered and drive into a wall and kill yourself.
WHAT I DO OBJECT TO IS YOUR DRINKING, TEXTING, BSING
AND BY YOUR ACTION RISKING THE LIVES OF OTHERS.
Your life is yours. The life of others is not-TRULY IT IS SIMPLE.

Totally agree
 

I don't claim to be a cockeyed optimist but, I try to see what is right rather then what is wrong.

Far too many posters just want to find something to bitch about.

TRULY, find something to ENJOY and try to respect the RIGHTS of those around you. The lack of manners around here is truly shocking to me.

Did you read the post? He said quite clearly he doesn't drink! You owe an apology.

Far too many posters seem to take any criticism of TOTV... very personal.

Even though their are a plethora of us who like most (say 90%) of the things about The Villages and have chosen to live here (even with many other choices in this country) until we croak (call us frogs :D)....we also occasionally point out those issues that we don't like about certain things here.

It continually amazes me at the anger making any negative comments about TV...seems to engender in some folks.

It's been said before, by many others, that there seems to be a concerted effort by some to muzzle and throw personal attacks...at those who may have less than a glowing comment about anything here.

I would suggest that those who are emotionally sensitive to ANY criticism of TV, regardless of the subject or overall importance, try to remember that we all have the right (within the site rules of course)...to express our personal viewpoints regarding TV.

BOTH good...and bad. :shrug:

Has anybody been to Demshars?

We ate in Demshars at Spanish Springs Monday and it was excellent. Great Prime Rib, good wine, and excellent service, even though it was crowded. On another occasion we had their pizza, and it was also very good.

We will go there soon and try it and if we don't like it we will come to this forum and complain.

All these evaluations of food and it all turns to...well you get my drift.

I bet I'll like it. That's how I rock.

Happy to see the discussion return to local restaurants.

If you wish to discuss general internet and forum human nature and behavior, please start a new thread. Future off topic posts will be deleted.

Moderator

I just told my Bride I'm valuable.

She said, "Sure you are. Now finish vacuuming."

Got'a go.


(need to add this before it's deleted.....................i love all local eating spots. yum, yum)
((hope that works))

Nancy Lopez C.C. gets my vote for quality and service. We have not tried Demshar's but have it on our list. Before we give a restaurant a thumbs down, we feel obligated to give it a second chance. Growing up in a small town and living most of our working years in the Midwest we are perhaps more "Laid back" and easy to please when it comes to food and restaurants. Just saying.....