Restaurants
 

I like going to Restaurants that are not just the usual or are better than normal. Especially since they change hands here and good goes bad or mediocre. To start

- Braised Onion Ocala
- Los Magueyes Mexican Restaurant - Wildwood

Sam's St. Johns Seafood
O'Shucks
Texas Roadhouse

Katya - Ocala
Morevino's - Ocala
Mark's Prime - Ocala
La Cuisine - Ocala
Stirrup's - Ocala

McDonald's.
Burger King.
Pizza Hut.
Denny's.

The problem with O Shucks is sharing the table with tons of flies and mosquitoes, especially when sitting outside.

Prime 3 Leesburg
Rose Plantation Fruitland Park
Oaks on 4 at Continental Country Clu
Stirrups and Yellow Pony World Equestrian Center Ocala
Mesa de Notte Ocala
Villages Blue Fin, Chop House, Harvest, Lopez, Palmer and Prima
Riccardo's Belleview not fancy but excellent Italian food

I won't sit outside at any restaurant.

The restaurant scene is the one draw back for me as I soon move to TV. I’ve just become too used to non-chain mom and pop ethnic restaurants in my adulthood (Thai, Indian, Greek, Lebanese, Cuban, Filipino, Ethiopian, etc.). I’ve spent most of summer in TV, trying out almost every restaurant. So many on the square serve the same, generic, Sysco-purchased bar food (World of Beer, City Fire, Gators, TooJays, Cody’s Roadhouse) - nothing special about any of these places, though they seem extremely popular with so many. To me, all these restaurants are interchangeable, and their food is mediocre at best. Within the bubble, I have only found one restaurant that I find good (Harvest), with Blue Fin being OK. The Italian, Mexican and Chinese restaurants are not good, I can do much better cooking myself at home. McGradys, Fenney Grill and the country club restaurants are all disappointments. I liked O’Shucks, and luckily there are many good restaurants less than an hour south in the Orlando area, to get authentic and fresher sushi, and more variety than just bar-food type restaurants. Do you if just one French-type bistro opened in TV it would be successful? Check out the rating for the restaurants within TV on Yelp, almost all have average to poor ratings. Sad.

It is my experience that most Villagers mindset regarding restaurants, is quantity over quality.
Michelin Stars in TV are awarded for the cheapest bill, not the chefs expertise!

Love O'Shucks! Never had that problem there. Besides, they don't eat much.

Eating in the Villages is definitely different than the eating I have done all my life. Just the fact that no one knows what a steak tip is changes what I eat. I hate fancy and just want my food on my plate, places that smooth out the mash potatoes etc are not for me. Give me Red Sauce or The Back Porch any day.

What is a steak tip?

We each had over 25 bites and when we mentioned it to the waitress she brought over a can of bug spray.

The diversity of taste is why we have the diversity of places to eat. We all have prejudices and bias (you know, those places where we came from where the best restaurants are) so the market will always decide.

Villa Pinar Cuban Cafeteria. Family-run, very low-key, great food and reasonable prices.

Steak tips can come from two areas of the cow. One kind comes from tender, expensive cuts in the middle of the cow, such as the tenderloin. These tips are a superior cut but not what we consider to be a true steak tip, which should be a more pedestrian cut that is magically transformed into a desirable dish through marinating and cooking.

Cafe Havana in Ocala serves the best Cuban Sandwich that I have had around here. They're open for breakfast and lunch, Monday thru Friday. Very popular and reasonable.

Cafe Havana
923 N Magnolia Ave
Ocala, FL 34475

Once in awhile
 

opens at 5pm. Reservation suggested. Reviews available
am is darrell's

We’ve NEVER had those problems at O’Shucks. Great Friday fish fry, and great fresh shucked oysters!

Looks better now with a sloppy coat of paint on the outside
Too bad they don’t paint over the dirt on the inside
Stained floor
Sticky tables
Spotted utensils
Regular and documented health violations
One of my favorite restaurants

while I can agree with you on this, I also have to note part of the reason for that is the older people get the less they can tell with their tastebuds. a lot of senses go and you notice, tastebuds fade and they don't really notice it.

Bern’s Steak House, outstanding but expensive. Almost to Tampa. No one has a wine list like they do. Everything is ala cart.

Remember our community has been built in a primarily rural area of "the south". You probably won't find epicurian places to eat here....expecially if you're from a HUGE metro-area up north. I'm not a "foodie" but like good food....and I eat to live, not live to eat. I think you "might" find at the "fine-restaurants" that they too get their supplies from a Sysco type supplier. It's just the nature of most businesses these days.

There is no diversity of places to eat here. That's the point. Every steak house and burger joint is pretty much interchangeable. Most restaurants here are national or regional chains, there are very few independent restaurants within the perimeter of the Villages. And most that are independent, get their sauce from a bag they cut open with a scissor and heat in a steam pan. Add a little ground beef and you can call it greek-style sauce.

If you want a pita sandwich it's greek style pita only, that slightly raised stuff. Lay it out flat and dump stuff on it, then roll it up. Instead of the middle-eastern style flat bread that you cut at the edge, separate the two sides, and stuff with the ingredients.

If you want tahini on your falafel, you'll need to ask me to make it. You can't get that combo at any restaurant in the Villages.

Curry that is NOT thai? Real genuine Indian curry? Gulab jamun? Samosas? Tandoori Chicken? Properly saffroned basmati rice? Fuggedaboudit. Go to Mt. Dora or Ocala, it doesn't exist in the Villages. Or learn how to make it.

This isn't even "gourmet" food I'm talking about. It's ordinary garden variety ethnic food. The closest bodega is in Winter Park. There /is/ one actual genuine taqueria, that's wayyyy over in Oxford. It's a food truck on 301 by County Line Road. I'll have to check it out next time I'm out that way. Very much missing having carne asada with chopped onion and cilantro with a squeeze of lime and a splash of habanero sauce on top.

In my opinion the primary problem with restaurants in TV is the population. TV is a conglomeration of people from all over the U.S. - large cities, small towns and villages. If you are from New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, etc. you are accustomed to a wide variety of restaurants serving authentic cuisine and with more competition. In New York City, I once counted 28 Indian restaurants on the same block. Palates are different. People from the Midwest seem to be accustomed to eating their food lightly seasoned and spiced. I once to a friend from St. Louis to Nathan's in Coney Island and he felt that the hot dog was too spicy.

My point is that because there are so many different palates to please in TV, the restaurants have to prepare food somewhere in the middle. It's like having to choose between the Betty Crocker cook book or James Beard.

But McDonald's seems to do well all over the world.

Well if you sit inside they can use enough bug spray to kill them all including the dead ones that fall to the table.

I’m so sick of mashed potatoes.
 

Why does every restaurant offer mashed potatoes? How about redskins, augratins or sweet potato casserole? I won’t order a steak if it comes with a lump of lukewarm mashed potatoes.

Steak tips
 

Steak tips are a New England thing. They're on almost every menu. Hard to find in the rest of the country. Once in a while we've found them at BJ's. But no where at a restaurant.

I am from NJ and have never heard of steak tips.

Actually, if you use the bug spray directly on your food the insects won't come near it :1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

Coming from S. Florida have not found a good Cuban Sandwich but will check it out. Long way to drive for a sandwich.

New Jersey is not in New England. I believe they're most readily available in eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. I went to Publix two years ago and asked for steak tips at the meat counter and they had no idea what I was talking about.

This place is supposed to have some of the best, but the prices are sky high: Steak Tips | Order Online from Dom's Sausage!

You have completely made my point - there is no food diversity in TV, it’s all the same stuff from Sysco-this is not cooking, it’s merely cutting bags open and heating them up - you could train a 5 year old to do that. The so-called “ethnic” restaurants in TV are so dumbed-down to American palates, with very little seasoning or spices. This apparently is what most in TV want and tolerate. If not, then there would be a clamor and demand for better restaurants. I have lowered the bar in TV, but can only lower it so far. Luckily we are near/sorta near many good ethnic places (visited Tarpon Springs last week, and had a delicious authentic Greek meal). I’m a pretty good cook, and can usually out-do any restaurant meal. I’m making my way through Cook’s magazine recipes, as well as all the DVDs of America’s Test Kitchen - so much fun, and all recipes turn out excellent. I’ve also challenged myself to once a week cook the national dish of every country in alphabetical order, starting with Albania. Sometimes, I need to order unusual ingredients online.

I have not been able to find decent hot dogs either. In New England I would regularly get Kayem or Deutschmaker, I refuse to buy the Nathans or Ball Park in the package that seems to be available everywhere.

Obviously, I know NJ is not in New England. I googled and looked at phots of steak tips and would never buy order them. To me steak is NY strip, filet, Delmonico or Porterhouse.

I order hot dogs, corned beef, pastrami and brisket from Katz's Deli in NYC.

When can we pop over for dinner?:mmmm: Do miss the food we grew up on.

Did they teach you that in med school?:a20::a20::a20:

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