Tierra del sol very disappointing
 

My wife and I ate at Tierra Del Sol tonight. I must say it was the worst dining experience we have since we moved here in June 2010. The food was mediocre at best and expensive. The service was terrible. We had to ask for more lemon for our beverages, because what they brought was all peel - no juice. The bread was stale and when we asked the waitress to take it back and bring us another loaf, she was indignant, but complied. The turkey meat was good. The dressing was terrible. The mashed potatoes were bland. Liver and onions were so-so. My wife did not like the wine sauce on the liver. After finishing eating, we had to wait 15 minutes for our tab. We will not eat there again.

You caught it on a COLD Night, try it again in about a month and it will be your favorite place in TV - that's how things are done in TV's country club restaurants; sometimes they are great and other times they are terrible.



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Tierra is my "local" restaurant and I would love to patronise such a convenient location

However, after five meals there - four of which were awful and one just about acceptable - I have given up on them

Meals 1 and 2 were far too salty - I told the waitress that the food was basically good, but ruined by too much salt, but she just said that it was what people wanted. There is salt on the table if people want to add more, but you cannot take excess salt away. And with many people suffering from high blood pressure, too much salt is the last thing they need.

Meal 3 was the "special" fish - special in that it had obviously been stewing for at least an hour. Sure, I wasn't there at 5.30 but fish takes so little time to cook it should be prepared fresh for each diner, not batch-cooked ahead of time then kept warm.

Meal 4 - the pasta - was okay. Nothing exceptional, but certainly edible.

Meal 5 was a disaster from start to finish - the music was so loud the waitress took three attempts to hear our order; several things we wanted to order were "off' - including several "specials" and, believe it or not, baked potatoes! And the waitress was so tired that she kept forgetting what she was doing, then took ages to bring the check after we'd asked for it, twice.

Sorry Tierra, we tried but you let us down too often.

Restaurant managers
 

Are all of you reading these posts?

My favorite place to eat and the food is always good is at my house. The plates are always hot ,food is cooked to our perfection,wine is cheap,company is great, no bad waiters or other patrons,tips stay in my pocket,no waiting and we both work to prepare the grilling and cleanup,and no travel time or waiting time. Have a good day:BigApplause:

Doubt it.


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I think this is an excellent post. You have certainly been clear about what is disappointing and what the reaction was to your comments.

Thank you for guiding us.

All these posts.....we need a secret restaraunt reviewer for the Sun. Except TV owns the Sun and perhaps the restaraunts under review......

TV Gourmet Club to the rescue?

Disappointing to hear
 

This is really disappointing to hear. The extent of our dining experience at Tierra this winter is my wife and I sometimes split a Reuben after golf at the bar, no complaints to date, but hardly the same thing as dining out. We were looking forward to dining there soon after what happened last Sunday.

Something nice happened to us after golf as we were sitting at the bar for our post round ...ummmm... golf analysis:). Along comes a gentleman named Pete who introduced himself as the owner. He was very gracious, he told us many stories, some about the place since he had taken over and how bad (and dirty) it was before and how good (he felt) it is now. As we chatted he brought some Irish soda bread (warm) and later cream puff for each of us (another bad diet day in TV for Alan). Both were very good. He says his crab cakes are spectacular.... We really enjoyed his company and were looking forward to trying the place out.

We are working on finding a night when "the gang" could make it at a time when there would not be loud music (does anyone really like loud music with dinner??). This thread has cooled my enthusiasm a bit. My wife and I will still try the Tierra experience for ourselves, but maybe not invite the whole gang until we have verified it is any good.

Thanks for the insights, next time I see Pete I will make sure he knows of TOTV!

I took our visitors to the Japanese restaurant in LSL last Thursday and we had an excellent meal - at the hibachi table. I had the steak and salmon and both were delicious.

We have also eaten in the "normal" part of the restaurant a couple of times, and that has been pretty good too.

Even at this time of the year you can be seated almost immediately - probably because a lot of people think of Japanese food as just being raw fish :smiley:

TOTV isn't owned by the TV. This is a good place for the secret reviewer.

JLK

And..what is your address? I'd like to make a reservation. LOL

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...63YC9xG23G&t=1Sorry to tell have to tell you this Tweety, but I don't think I saw bird seed on the menu when we last dined at the Keithgerri Restaurant.

Not so good for us either
 

We loved going to Tierra del Sol because they had the best desserts, which were included with your meal. I didn't feel bad about paying a bit more for the basic meals because I new I would be sooo happy with the cream puff. Alas, we were dissapointed to find a small note on the wall (we were waiting for our friends to arrived or we wouldn't have noticed to note) that there is now a cover charge or minimum order required on nights when they provide entertainment (which is every night). I was ok with this because I would hardly wait for dessert. The bill came but no dessert. When I asked about this, the waiter was insulted and ranted on about the money the owner wasted giving out free desserts. If I wanted a dessert, order one. That is what he told me. Well. now this restaurant is not on my list of faves anymore. Basic food, cover charge, and no free cream puff. What where they thinking?

the same
 

we were also disappointed; were sat on the patio as we love to eat outside. then they could not figure out how to operate the fans and we were sweating....
finaly the fans were working, and then the lizards were running across the baseboards....
and the food was not good either.

We visited in April and went to the breakfast buffet. It was great. There was one large table dedicated to baked goods...it was scrumptous. Will definately visit for breakfast again when we become full-time residents in July.

We complete a year in TV next week and do our fair share of eating out. We have had one bad experience, period. That was a breakfast buffet at Tierra, where not only was the food horrible the service was worse. We have not missed many places either, other than Ocala and Leesburg areas. Favorite? Can not single any place out.

All the meals I have had at Tierra Del Sol have been very good. The eggplant parm is one of the best in the area. I really do enjoy the Sunday brunch buffet. For $10.95, you have all the breakfast items plus carved steamship round of beef and ham. There are also all the wonderful fresh baked pastries by Peter.

Someone complained it was hot outside and lizards were on the ground? Unless they were the Nile Monitor Lizards (4 feet long), who cares about a gecko. Afraid he is going to sell you insurance?

Tiera DelSol.
 

WE will never go back again. Each meal we had was horrible. Our friends thought so too. It needs to be torn down and started over with new management. We have had better food at Johnny Rockets so that says it all.

After four winter seasons in TV, we've tried just about everywhere. Tierra Del Sol got scratched from our list a long time ago. The only restaurant I always enjoy, and which never disappoints me, is Bonefish Grill. On one occasion our dinners were delayed. Bonefish provided them at no charge and also comped us all for free appetizers for the next visit.

A Good Experience
 

We have eaten at TDS four times now and have had only positive experiences. Good food and good service. Entertainment was also very nice.

Japanese steakhouse in Sumter
 

We also went there and had a wonderful meal. Now here's a hint: go for lunch, price is almost half and the portions are only slightly less! One of our favorites here in TV!

good food in the villages
 

It's like rolling the dice if you are going to have a good meal and service any time you dine out in TV. Living in TV 10 years and we try to stay out of all restaurants.

I remembered asking for "bread" with our soup. Here the owner is a baker....NOPE...no bread. We DO NOT serve bread at lunch. Crackers! You make sandwiches don't you? Maybe we should have asked for a soup sandwich? The owner is REALLY rude but can kiss up fantastically when you've ordered lobster. Olive Garden is a better choice!!

Duke says he has been living in The Villages for 10 years and tries to stay out of restaurants? Does he do all the cooking or insist Mrs. Duke does the cooking?

Well over 100 restaurants in The Villages, Duke. Lots of good ones that sure beat cooking at home. Try Bonefish Grill, try McCalls Tavern, try Glenview CC, try Nancy Lopez CC. All are excellent.

Tweety - that story (the soup sandwich part) reminds me of a Jack Nicholson movie....

last Sat (8/20) we ate at Tierra del Sol with neighbors - none of us had a good meal (miedocore at best for some of the meals - I could not cut my husband's veal (veal parmagnia) - it was one of the specials. We arrived at 6:20 and didn't leave until 8:50 - It took over ½ hour to be seated (at a table that was empty the whole time) - drinks came after another ½ to 3/4 hour - I had to ask twice for water. My husband ordered a glass of wine when his salad came - it was delivered when we were finished eating. The waiter asked if we wanted the piece of veal wrapped & I told him that I couldn't cut it so no. One would think that the chef or manager would have been summoned after that comment - but I guess not. I asked the waiter if they were short staffed and he said no (you would think that he should know good service ='s tips - but I guess not). The music was good - but way too loud. We knew nother group that got there shortly before us (they were seated after us) - they said their met was ok but the potatoes were lousy. Not a cheap dinner & it was the worst dinner we've had in The Villages since getting here in April. I will not be in any hurry to go there again.

I think that was Five Easy Pieces...he wanted wheat toast....and the conversation ended with him ordering a chicken salad (?) sandwich (which came on wheat toast) hold the chicken salad. I believe he suggested to the waitress what she could do with the chicken salad and it was not polite...LOL

I can honestly say I have never had a good meal at Tierra del sol. We will never go back.

Pete

We went there last night with 2 other couples and the food was wonderful and we each had something different. The entertainment was great; the singer had a magnificent voice. We were also there on Sunday and had great meals then as well.

We took my wife's sister there a couple of weeks ago for lunch. It was our first time there. We all thought the food was OK. What I really found strange about all these posts is that no one mentioned a strong musty smell in the dining room, kind of the smell of a place that needs a refreshing. We all noticed it. I will go back, but won't stay next time if we still smell the mustiness. We at first thought it might have been something temporary, but it lingered for the entire time we were there. Was it just us?

No one in our party of 6 noticed any kind of smell.

We had a group of eight there for dinner last week. Everything was fine.

Note: They have a new menu and cook.

We were the only ones in the dining room.

Maybe these nice things being said would be better under a new thread rather than the "Tierra del sol very disappointing" title from last March. If there are new owners/cooks wouldn't that be better?
PS: that odor in the dining room has been there a long time.