Lifestyle preview impressions, restaurant ratings
 

My wife and I just got back from a week long "lifestyle preview" stay at the Villages. We had a wonderful time! I've been monitoring this site for the past few months collecting restaurant recommendations and other tips. I share our impressions below:

RESTAURANTS

Almost all of these we tried because of recommendations we read here. All were good - some better than others:

Oakwood BBQ - Grade A+: A few rated this as the best place for ribs in the Villages and they were right! We thought the ribs were excellent - tender, fall off the bone yummies. Service was quick and the restaurant manager stopped by our table to chat, too.

Koyame (chinese) for lunch - Grade A: Great prices at lunch and delicious food, too! Not a big place. Service was fast. I had a shrimp and chicken dish which was 95% chicken - next time I'll order a shrimp only entree (the shrimp was good - just not enough of it!)

Little Joey's Pizza & Restaurant (Ocala) - Grade A: My wife enjoyed her pizza here and I had a HUGE calzone (which I am still digesting)

Lighthouse Point Bar and Grille - Grade A: Our favorite seafood meal of the week. We both enjoyed our shrimp dinners here, and getting a table overlooking the lake was a bonus!

Toojays for lunch - Grade B+: close to our creekside villa, we ate here on two different days for lunch and enjoyed it

Sam’s St Johns Seafood - Grade B+: We had HUGE shrimp dinners here (35 shrimp special). Not quite as good as the Lighthouse but still very tasty. Lighthouse has a big edge in atmosphere - this place had a 1950's decor with tables close together. But the food was good.

Ay! Jalisco (mexican) - Grade B+: I was warned that you can't find Mexican food at the Villages as good as we have back home in Colorado. They were right but this place was pretty good. Excellent service as our waiter suggested entrees we hadn't considered and both were tasty.

Square One Burgers - Grade B: Nothing wrong with the burgers here but it was a bit of a drive and I thought my Rocket Burger at nearby Johnny Rockets was just as good if not better.

Confessore Pasta Cucina - Grade B: Very small Italian place. My main pasta dish was excellent (not as good as mama's food back home - I'm Italian - but close. Ricotta was fresh and delicious). Salad was on the small size and bread was average. The service was slow. The staff tried hard and were friendly but seemed overwhelmed with the big dinner crowd. We waited about 15 minutes for a table and this was in August - I can't imagine the waits during "snowbird season".

Those were the dining highlights - thanks to this board for all the recommendations. We ate well!

GOLF

We play 9 hole par 3's and executive courses back home so at first we hesitated when we saw we could play 2 rounds of 18 holes at championship courses (provided with the lifestyle preview). We were glad we didn't wimp out! We played Cane Garden and Mallory Hill on consecutive days (18 holes each) from the "friendly" tee boxes. Having a cart really helped and I liked how the ambassadors came around to check on you with water at different points during the round. Lifestyle previewers: go for the championship 18 hole round. You get two rounds of executive 9 or championship 18 - the championship 18 is a better value. We thought Mallory Hill was a bit tougher. Both courses were in good shape.

BEACH

We read here that Fred Howard Park in Tarpon Springs was a good beach to visit and we were glad we did. Not crowded and only a $5 charge for parking. About a 2 hour drive from the Villages.

GOLF CART

We read the golf cart you get with the Lifestyle Preview is slow. It was but it was fast enough for us! We had others zooming past us but we went at a slower pace, anyway, to figure out directions. The few times we got lost we always had a veteran Villager stop to help us out.

PICKLEBALL

We took the Pickleball 101 lesson and that was fun. A couple of Villagers even let us play a game with them as they waited for friends and they were patient with us "newbies". It took some getting used to not playing the game like it was tennis.

THE HEAT

We purposely scheduled our lifestyle preview in August to see if we could stand the heat. It really wasn't that bad. Not as hot as a summer trip we had further south at Port St Lucie a couple of years ago. We could see ourselves living here during the summer without a problem.

THE PEOPLE

Without exception everyone we met was super friendly and enjoyed sharing their experiences of living in the Villages.

WILL WE MOVE HERE?

We are at least 2 years away from even considering it, with two kids in college back home in Colorado, but the lifestyle preview was definitely worth it to give us a taste of "Villager" life. Our Villager agent, Liz Bell, was great in giving us a "no pressure" tour of different homes. Liz and her assistant JoAnn were also wonderful in setting us up for golf and other activities during the week. The place does sell itself.

Thanks again for all the tips shared on this site - it's a great resource!

Glad you enjoyed TV. We'll leave a light on for ya!

Good post. We're going to be visiting this week. Your information is helpful. Thanks!

I don't know how it has been in Florida this summer, but this is the coolest summer I remember in the 22 years I have lived in NC. A couple of summers ago was the hottest ever !

coloradotim, Glad you enjoyed your lifestyle preview visit. You were wise to visit in August to see how you could handle the heat. I have visited The Villages several times in the summer, most recently in early July, for that same reason. I have decided I prefer Florida's weather in July to Chicago's weather in January! Best of luck to you and keep reading TOTV if you are considering a move to The Villages in the future. It is an excellent source of information, especially for wannabees and gonnabees! :wave:

Here is a listing of more help.
The Villages Gourmet Club Restaurant Review Site

Thanks for that link Bogie.

Coloradotim - We have visited twice and the past time it was in the heat to see if we (mostly me) could take it. I loved it. I was up walking in the morning, swimming etc. - much more active than I am here.
One of the highlights of our visit the first time was the Donna and Dunning show at Katie Belles (fabulous)

My goal is to move there next year and I am slowly getting rid of my extra stuff.