[shut the front door]

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby

Loved the food when we ate at Lighthouse. Was not fond of the service. If the St. Augustine family is planning on improving on the Lighthouse, then I'm all for it. "We want to focus our efforts on THAT restaurant" is good enough for me, no other reason needed.

No one is a stockholder of St. Augustines, and therefore no one is entitled to their financials. It's frankly none of your business whether they were doing well or not. And even if they weren't doing well, that wouldn't be a good enough explanation for some of you. You'd want to find out WHY they weren't going well, and coming up with theories and anecdotes about your last visit where the bartender didn't give you a cherry on your fruity cocktail and therefore the service is subpar and blah blah blah.

Really. Y'all need to find a better hobby.

Meanwhile I'm looking forward to seeing what FMK plans to do with St. Augustine's. The seafood joint they opened sounds nice, will eventually give it a try. We've been happy with the Orange Blossom Country Club menu, and it's in walking distance, plus we can order from the pool menu when we're at the pool. If they had the same butterfish dish at every single one of their restaurants - that'd be okay since - I like their butterfish.

Not understanding why people can be so nasty about restaurants that aren't "bad." FMK restaurants aren't Manhattan 5-star chef reservation-only $400 per person fixed price meals served with tuxedoed waiters and whatever the current trendy champagne is this week. They're just decent dine-in restaurants with waiter service. For what they are, they're nice places.

And this sums up 90% of the posts on this site. I happen to have a life, so I rarely post. But I come to read just to get a laugh from the pearl clutching antagonists who have nothing better to do.
I will, however, step in to defend good people and business owners who have brought nothing but their heart and soul to make the villages a better place. But they will always be bashed, second guessed, and slandered by those who wish to destroy good people here.

[Ele201]

Originally Posted by BrianL99

I'm shocked to read the same family own's both. I ate at the Lighthouse Point once and it was without a doubt, one of the worst dining experience of the last 20 years. It was horrendous.

From what I saw, the Lighthouse is more geared towards "drinking", which is a way more profitable business than selling food. It makes sense to concentrate on that location, given the scarcity of restaurant/bar help these days.

Well, people don’t go to the Lighthouse for the food. It’s the view of the water!

Having said that, I can understand your experience. I’ve had pretty good experiences there regarding the food overall, but not every time. One particularly bad one. Ordered “one pound of whole belly clams” — that’s what the menu stated, for $35. When the dish arrived, I could hardly believe it: there were about a 1/4 pound of clams. Very disappointing.

But the wait staff has always been nice, and attentive. Didn’t notice it was a “drinking place” though. There are other places in TV with much more of that type of activity!

[KimmieK]

Could be a great opportunity for them to stretch their menu imagination? Something along the lines of a “Columbia” style restaurant — great venue for Spanish/Cuban cuisine, which is lacking in this area.

[krick093]

They claim to be closing Augustines to focus on the Lighthouse restaurant in Sumter. Hopefully it's addition by subtraction. The Lighthouse has good potential and a great location/view, but it's been going downhill the last couple years. Service is OK, but the quality/quantity of food has declined. Also, whose idea was it to have wine glasses that weigh half a pound each and are more suitable for a margarita than a glass of wine.

[rustyp]

How many different restaurants has this establishment been ?
I can remember the following:

Augistine's (part of which also housed The Spanish Springs Brewing Company)
Luigino's
Demshar's
Augistine 1812 House

[midiwiz]

Originally Posted by coffeebean

Spanish Springs to welcome new FMK restaurant | News | The Villages Daily Sun | thevillagesdailysun.com

Another gold mine for this company and a welcome addition to this town square.

well at least 1812 will be finally gone, ate once never again. which is why we never go to the other place. Not impressed with coastal either, reminds me of chop house which as someone said overpriced for what you get.

[Alarmed]

When is 1812 closing? Missed the article. Hoping to go for Lasagna one more time.

[Stu from NYC]

Originally Posted by shut the front door

And guess what, they don't give a flying flip what you think. You think you can do better? Jump in there, cupcake!

Last I looked I have the right to voice my opinion. I really do not care if they do not care about my opinion and than again your opinion is your own and really does not matter to me.

[charlieo1126@gmail.com]

Originally Posted by rustyp

How many different restaurants has this establishment been ?
I can remember the following:

Augistine's (part of which also housed The Spanish Springs Brewing Company)
Luigino's
Demshar's
Augistine 1812 House

before 1812 closed ,I thought the place might be haunted , now I’m sure

[Blackbird45]

Does anyone know what happened with Burger-Fi? There was a sign one was supposed to open on 466A, the sign is no longer there.

[charlieo1126@gmail.com]

Originally Posted by shut the front door

And this sums up 90% of the posts on this site. I happen to have a life, so I rarely post. But I come to read just to get a laugh from the pearl clutching antagonists who have nothing better to do.
I will, however, step in to defend good people and business owners who have brought nothing but their heart and soul to make the villages a better place. But they will always be bashed, second guessed, and slandered by those who wish to destroy good people here.

I wish you would post more because I always get a laugh from your post also , especially when you get so excited because everyone else is wrong and you let us know with big lettering

[JSR22]

Originally Posted by Alarmed

When is 1812 closing? Missed the article. Hoping to go for Lasagna one more time.

Friday the 6th

[chetotv]

Originally Posted by rustyp

How many different restaurants has this establishment been ?
I can remember the following:

Augistine's (part of which also housed The Spanish Springs Brewing Company)
Luigino's
Demshar's
Augistine 1812 House

It was also Bourbon Street for awhile

[Joe C.]

I'd love to see a simple restaurant, offering soup, sandwiches and a salad.
Nothing fancy, but good food at a good price.

Oh, and no annoyingly loud live "entertainment".

[flsteve]

Originally Posted by shut the front door

OK, let me set this straight because reading comprehension is very much lacking here. I have had conversations with the owner. She stated exactly what was in the article and since some people didn't pass reading comprehension, I'll splain it for you.
A family business decided to branch out and open a 2nd restaurant. Prior to this 2nd restaurant, the WHOLE FAMILY was putting their time and efforts into ONE restaurant. After dealing with splitting up the family to work at 2 different venues, and having to hire outside the family to fill the missing holes, they decided that they would prefer to own ONE family business where they are all involved and not having to run from place to place to keep things running smoothly.
Reading is one thing. Comprehension is very lacking here.

This is exactly what I heard as well. The emphasis on this whole thing should be that EVERYONE is happy (well, except for maybe many TOTV posters).

I have seen before that sometimes a successful restaurant opens another one only to find it hard to balance both operations. TOTV had threads about the Lighthouse not being as good as it once was. I understand that Fred made an offer to purchase 1812, and now EVERYONE IS A WINNER!

IMHO, we now will probably find:
1. A greatly improved Lighthouse restaurant at LSL.
2. A very nice addition to Spanish Springs for food AND drink.
3. The MCintyre family is at one location again and happy managing 1 place again.
4. FMK gets ANOTHER restaurant to add to their successful list of places.

While my post may not address the WHY question of 1812's closure, I guess MY answer to the WHY question would be: Who cares? EVERYONE WINS HERE!