A piece of history is gone
 

The first resturant Harold Swartz opened is closing. The Orange Blossom Country club was operated by Chip Rice for the last ten years, and they decided not to renew his lease. I know its the old side, (historic side) but that is where all the down to earth people live without attitudes. We have been going there for the last 10 years and even when the Villages owned it prior to that. It was great food, with good service and very fair prices. It seems like the Villages is worried about Lake Sumter, and Brownwood. Its all about home sales, thats why you see below average acts in the square on Spanish Springs. Watch what acts you see out in Wildwood at Brownwood. It shouldnt matter if you paid 59,000.00 for a single wide at Orange Blossom Gardens (the original name), or 800,000.00 for a home in Lake Sumter. All residents, and business owners should be treated fair. Chip ran a great resturant for years and now they said (The Villages) we dont want you here anymore. Now you see these franchise resturants moving in (because demographics show how many new home owners there are), and you see poorly operated resturants, with kids as servers. I guess thats the new genaration of The Villages management team taking over.

i can't tell you how much that news hurts! where will we down-to-earth people go now? even the furniture was down-to-earth! so much so that when i sat in a padded chair i was ever so much closer to the earth! ;) sometimes change is not a good thing - and this is one of those times.

If this is true, this is just wrong for so many reasons.
We all need a little tradition and historical reference in our lives.

Not renewing a lease doesn't necessarily mean the place will be shut down and torn down. Maybe somebody new is coming in to operate it in similar fashion, but better.

That's my hope as well. I can't imagine that there won't be a restaurant there.

I live on the historic side and hope with all of my heart that someone else takes over the restaurant. If they just close it and don't allow someone else to operate, I will have to get a refund and a discount on my Priority Pool membership.

We knew something was going on, but we didn't know exactly what was happening. The place needs to be cleaned up and rehabbed. It is a real shame the shape they have let the interior of the restaurant evolve into. I won't miss Chip, but I would certainly miss the restaurant.

better? never saw anything wrong with the operation that existed - except maybe the chairs! ;) can't recall any unhappy faces on the diners and folks at the bar! we all put up with the down-to-earth furniture and decor because to redecorate meant less bang for our buck. i learned many times over that new is not always better.

Yes, "better"....as in tidier and cleaner. Good grief. The place needed a good scrubbing, and the broom, long-handle dustpan, and an overflowing wastebasket were right out front and at the feet of customers at the hostess stand when we've been there. There's no excuse for that kind of sloppiness and dirt.

my table, chair, plate, silverware and glass were always clean and i never planned to eat off the floor - so i didn't mind that martha stewart was not running the place.

Wow the ". Down to earth" people? Down to earth "side"? Down to earth club?
I am not sure what message or prejudice is being stated.

Anyway, I would question the "excuse" offered, "TV" not renewing....sounds like the place may have been "milked" and the current tenant as well as TV know it needs updating.

I suspect a valuable location like that will not sit idle long.
Worst case is the developer levels it and puts in some not so down to earth homes to be inhabited by not so down to earth residents......just making fun about it.

I would place my money on the developer........now that is an ambiguous statement is it not.

We all know it will not be a boarded up building.

btk

So it's not just the Sumter county folks who hate Villagers. The old=timey villagers who live in old-timey houses hate the newcomers too. I can just hear it - "We got roots! them upstarts ain't from here"

This morning paper states that Chip "just couldn't make it financially anymore". It will be remodeled and hopefully reopened with a new owner/manager/chef.

so sad

You hit the nail on the head saying TV cares only about the newer sections and restaurants. It's like the historical side is a "before and after" picture for them. It doesn't surprise me that they are allowing OB to close.

That's the same thing they said years ago about the Silver Lake restaurant, the Chula Vista restaurant, and the Santiago restaurants. Instead they put pool tables in these facilities and call them recreation centers.