One of many things I thought would be in The Villages -- Cafeteria Restaurant.
 

When I watched Seinfeld during its original run, his parents were always having blue plate specials at the cafeteria. I just figured this was true of real-life Boca Dell Vistas.

Back in the mid-atlantic, there was/is Picadilly, K&W, K&S, and Morrison cafeterias. When I was younger, I would snicker at all the old people at these places.

I know there are all-you-can-eat places like Golden Corral, but these cafeterias were a one-trip line. You paid according to what you asked to be plated.

The food was always decent or better -- the cooks knew how to season vegetables and meats. The bread and desserts were good.

There are Villagers that would never eat in a cafeteria, but there are Villagers that seldom can afford to eat at Blue Fin, Prima, etc.

If Seinfeld is any indication, a Picadilly or K&S within a golf cart ride, would be event parking in the Villages.

From time to time, I could do for a vegetable plate, at 4 pm, at a reasonable price.

When I was young in L. A., we had Clifton's cafeteria. Simple good food, not "cuisine", at very reasonable prices. Great idea. Steph, your a genius. I think the place would be packed. Folks don't want to cook or cleanup afterward. Lots of opportunity for seniors to get part time jobs as servers, cooks, etc.

We miss sweet tomatoes. They were always crowded. Loved the salads and soup.

That would be nice to have.

Something like this: https://youtu.be/znVW5dGMErA but I think they're overpriced.

I wish they would replace TooJays. The food looks great.

Holy cow….that looks good!! Now I’m starving.

Cafeteria Restaurant like they would make a killing if they could find away to keep prices reasonable.

When I used to work in Massachusetts there was an excellent cafeteria in the town of Hyde Park I'd go to for lunch if I was working near there. It had excellent soul food lunch like Pinto beans and Hamhocks, Cornbread, Fried Chicken, baked beans, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes and gravy, meat loaf. All kinds of good comfort food.

Reasonable is hard to target. Reasonable for me is under $25 per person for somebody else it could be under $35 and someone else under $15 per person. With the cost of food rising it would be very difficult for prices no to go up.

Sure. All you have to do is figure out a way to serve high quality food at low cost.
Easy.

We were steadfast patrons of cafeterias throughout the years in Texas. Cafeterias seem to have been mainly a southern institution, and our favorite was Luby's. The food was cooked from scratch with good ingredients and the quality never varied, whether in Houston, San Antonio, Dallas or the smaller cities. Now, they seem to be a thing of the past, unfortunately.

I missed them when we left to go cruising and I still do a couple decades later, especially the desserts. Loved the coconut meringue pie, strawberry pie, etc. A friend gave us their cookbook and we can duplicate their recipes, when and if we want to, but it was so much easier when they did the cooking. And the cost was reasonable.

In Illinois we had Thompsons cafeteria and MCL cafeteria. In Tennessee we had Morrison cafeteria and Piccadilly cafeteria. Here in TV we had Sweet Tomatoes which closed during the pandemic but never a true cafeteria type of restaurant. We are not a fan of Golden Corral a buffet type restaurant.

Seems like cafeterias are a thing of the past. In Va they were closing with no new ones opening.

Maybe you could put one in The Village of Stu?

Not enough money making in chow hall. :):duck:

Closed due to lack of interest. Had a lot of fun with it but it seemed to have run its course.

Sorry.

The yanks have no clue what a "meat & 2" is.
True southerners do, and I travel to the true south to find it.

All you can eat places-blame it on mom. Clean your plate. Sadly that has grown to all they put out. We/I eat far more than I should. I can prove that you can I CAN get fat on all you can eat salad. Yah think it is the blue cheese dressing?

Four PM? Not aware of any early bird specials around here. You need to go to south Florida. We've done that a few times but it leads to a FOURTH COMPLETE MEAL at midnight.

High quality food at low price? Inflation, a current hot topic, is not new.
I realize what it is recalling that when I was a kid for a quarter you could get a slice of pizza for fifteen cents and a small fountain coke for ten cents.
My allowance of twenty-five cents, cover that.

that's what we need.. let's keep the cardiologists busy..

OP, Seinfeld was a great show, but it wasn't real...it was all made up

“ Something like this: https://youtu.be/znVW5dGMErA but I think they're overpriced.”

What memories and and a bit of homesickness you brought back with that post. Manny’s is fantastic!

Back in Massachusetts, my mother and aunts use to go to the cafeteria at various hospitals for lunch. They said the food was good and reasonable. I’ve been to the cafeteria at Mass General in Boston and it was amazing! A section for salads, a section for deli, a section for hot meals. Very reasonably priced and the food was very good!

Even most of the Chinese buffets and the Golden corrals are going out of business. But the Japanese have something called a sushi train which is similar to your idea but of course you have to like sushi. . That's why so many of us are learning how to cook for the first time in our life

The first date with my wife in 1975 was in a Piccadilly's in Orlando

I never understood that either.

There used to be two Morrison cafeterias in Ocala 30 years ago. One In The Paddock Mall and one out on Silversprings Blvd. for some reason about 10 years ago or so they went out of business. There were always lines to eat there. I think that a cafeteria resteraunt would do well in the Villages.

We need bagels!
 

A good bagel place would be fabulous too. Can’t believe there isn’t one…

We just moved from Mississippi/ Tennessee area. We still had Piccadilly’s. Loved going to Piccadilly’s.

Moved here in 2003 and there was a Morrison Cafeteria in Ocala on east 200 which I think is called 37th Ave. They closed I believe in 2004

That was a LOT of meat piled on that sandwich. I don't think you can get half that much now. Along with all those other portions...
:ohdear::ohdear:

"High quality"? You mean " gourmet"? How about just good , like you might have at home. "Semi-homemade", mixture of fresh items, canned, packaged, like a real cafeteria. Some one earlier used the term "chow hall" or "chow line". Limited choices holds down cost. Heck, give'm the whole experience with metal trays (no breakage, dishwasher safe). Plain stainless utensils, etc. Lots of ways to keep costs down in a "no frills" type cafeteria. Could work. Golf cart close and accessible might become the daily breakfast, lunch, or dinner hang out for a lot of folks.
Remember the good old days.

🍳🇺🇸

Food always looks better in pictures. Pictures of mc burger that looked like 16 oz patty on a slider bun that when you actually order it the patty looks like a 50 cent piece. (50 cent piece? Oh, my! I'm old. Really old.)
😯

It will be a difficult adjustment. Besides Luby's, those places were good, too.

Oh great, you spoiled it for me. I thought this was for real...
:ohdear::ohdear:

Brooklyn Water Bagels is where we go for delicious bagels. Try the black russian and try the whitefish salad which is a real treat. This place is facing 441 so if you live in the southern part of TV it may be a once in a while visit.

I found in the Netflix Documentary section. I was wondering why there was so many parts to it. I'm embarrassed.


So, does that mean that Festivus isn't real, either?

How about the Duff's in Clearwater? Latest Updates – Duff’s Original Buffet

I just gained 5 lbs reading your post!