Hemingways Sold
 

Hemingways will close this Saturday evening and reopen 9/8. The family that owns Red Sauce/Johnny Rockets/ Amerikanos purchased the restaurant.

If true, this is disappointing to hear.
The other family owned restaurants, in my opinion, have poor service, poor quality food, and have less than comfortable ambiance while dining.

Glad to see new owners. Haven't been to Hemingways in a long time.

I think that family has done a great job turning the other restaurants around and look forward to their imrpoving Hemingway's as well.

We were there last night. I'm excited.
I think Hemingways just never quite got it together.
They do have a great staff and most all will be staying. :)

Been going there since moving here. Hope most if not all the current staff gets to stay. Hope things work out for the new owners. It's a good location for us.

Yes, most are staying.

Aw Gee...more mediocre food in The Villages.

LCD food, no more real specialties--and cheap cocktails--we enjoyed the few good years Hemmingways had--its a shame, people will not support above average dining in TV

Honest Johns failed for the same reasons--high hopes-but reality kicks in. Every entree should be under $17.50, lots of wraps & sandwiches

George Stella Curse?
 

The last thing we need is another "happy hour watering hole" with sandwiches as the main menu. Quality food prepared and served well will attract. Economy dining has more outlets than needed, and they're all struggling. Pray the new owners learned from their experience with Red Sauce. Give us what Hemingway's management initially delivered, then killed through their unfortunate misreading of the tea leaves.

Here's hoping the Sulieman family restores Hemmingways as a SEAFOOD restaurant and doesn't try to turn it into another same old, same old TV venue. Make it unique and watch the $$ come in.

Guess Ive been sleeping. We're not talking Hemmingway's as at Havana CC , are we?

Haven't been to Hemmingway's in a few months but had noticed a falloff since Legacy first came in.

Yes, that's what is being talked about.

When Hemingway's was new to the community, the food was outstanding in my opinion. Over time, there were changes. Now with a new owner/management team in place, I'll reserve any judgment till I can actually experience dining there. Change isn't always a bad thing.

Good post, Chatbrat. Totally agree. I've sampled too many meals served @ country clubs whereby they used lesser quality ingredients.

It would seem to me that if they had a formula that was working they wouldn't have changed it.

Restaurants that are making money and are profitable don't usually change what they are doing until they become less profitable or start losing money.

I hear very few people say that they want a high-end restaurant in The Villages. While there are some, I wonder if there are enough to support one. I wonder how The Rose Plantation is doing?

I've been to The Rose Plantation three times since June...i.e.: lunch & dinners. Each time it was quite full & the food & service was excellent! And this is summer!

We went to Rose Plantation a week ago and though the ambiance was lovely I thought the food was quite ordinary for the price, 45.00 for a steak a baked potato and some green beans.

We have not been here long, since 2007, but back in the day the resturants had good food, and service. You had a hard time staying in to cook. Now if I am going out to eat, it needs to be good food and service. We now find that few and far between. It's a shame how things have changed in quality,. Looking forward to the two new resturants opening down the road, in the mean time if we go out, it's usually outside the bubble. We are not food or wine snobs, but if I'm spending my money mediocre is not what I'm looking for, it needs to be good otherwise I can make it better at home

Again most of the CC restaurants here are using mass produced institutional food--look up Gordon Food--they have several levels of food and most of it is boil in the bag or micro waveable--but its better than Chef Boyardee

What's wrong with Chef Boyardee? Loved it as a kid. :laugh:

Hope you've matured since then,used to love Devil Dogs and nickel pickles-but would not go out to eat them

That is one hardworking family business. Their success is earned.

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I'm late to join this conversation. Didn't the people who run Nancy Lopez take over Hemmingway.'s a few years back. If so why hasn't it enjoyed the same success as Nancy Lopez? Prices were similar.

Lack of quality control, their best chef left to work @ Turners, IMHO people who like seafood,usually know when entrees are fresh & prepared properly

Too many entrees which tasted off and had to be returned

I'm told the definition of a gourmet is one who can take ordinary ingredients and make a tasty meal. Tasty works well for me.

In my opinion there are two basic reasons there is as much turnover in The Villages. the first and obvious is poor management.

Secondly, a restaurant makes most of its money over the bar. I speculate that perhaps for a number of reasons people are not purchasing alcohol or limiting their consumption thereof.

Are you talking about Havana? I can't find a Hemingway.

I'm not picky, but when fish is served uncooked and with the wrong seasonings its going back and when soggy fries are served they're going back

That's right!

I've been in the food service business for 31 years and the hallmark of Chef who knows his/her business has always been how he/she cooks fish. A minute too little and the center is raw. A minute too much and the fish is overcooked. When the Lopez group first took over Hemmingways, the fish was cooked to perfection. When that slipped, so did their rep and their business. Attention to detail can NEVER be allowed to slip. It's the number one reason why restaurants fail.

Mediocre means inexpensive, which is what the largest % of Villagers wants. High end restaurants will not make it here because the bulk of Villagers will not support expensive menus.

So disappointed! Have not been back to Red Sauce since my husband got food poisoning and management did not handle the situation well. They were totally untrained. Thus we will no longer enjoy the beautiful setting at Hemmingways, we did love the staff.

Chatbrat... "I'm not picky..." That's funny! :1rotfl:

The restaurant at Havana Country Club used to be called Havana. It was a disaster for many years. A couple of years ago, Nancy Lopez group took over and renamed it Hemingway's at Havana with a new menu. It was great for awhile but for the past year or so it also fallen flat. Hopefully, the new Havana or Hemingway will do well because it is a nice facility in a great location.

:agree: And do you know what will make fries soggy? Spit! :evil6:

Siting in oil too long-people stop praising junk food and you might get some good places to eat at--I'm not picky --means we're out of there before we eat garbage entrees--its not rocket science to present good food--the Rose Plantation and Arnold Palmer do it on a consistent basis

Cane Garden's does the same, their food is good--if you're happy eating boil in the bag or microwave -slop--enjoy

So far, we like the food quality at Lopez country club and Codie's at lake Sumter.

Don't assume I disagree with you. I also would like to see "better"/higher quality/more innovative restaurants in and around The Villages. I just don't believe posting disparaging remarks about local restaurants, thereby insulting people who enjoy and frequent those restaurants, is the way to go about it. I just don't go to the restaurants that I think are of inferior quality. But... to each his own.

Hemingway's was great with the previous chef.
My hubby and I are Florida natives. We grew up on the west coast with plenty of great seafood restaurants.
We just don't understand why the fish in the restaurants in the Villages is all frozen and flown in from the north east or Great Lakes.
We have wonderful FRESH seafood and fish just 90 miles away, both east and west. It just seems crazy to us to go out to dinner and get frozen fish from the north.
Hemingway's had great shrimp, grouper and snapper. The Cuban/Old Florida menu was wonderful. I hope these new owners can figure out how to make this a cut above the "chain Country Club" menus.

The Rose Plantation is ok.....the entree's are very good but the sides, including the fries are nothing special, mediocre at best...but the entree's are worth the visit. Palmer has gotten mixed reviews although I agree with Chat on this one.