[Dotneko]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

I think you should mention that the Seafood Shack in Leesburg is a dump where you can't even get a drink. And, they have no place to sit until your name is called, and then you need to pay when you order. No thank you.

Huh. We have always sat at a table inside waiting for our food that is delivered to our table. I dont drink liquor, so I never judge an eatery by that. Now, you want to talk dumps, ever been to O'shucks? That place is disgusting.
Many New England seafood shacks dont have liquor licenses. Or interior tables for that matter.

[ThirdOfFive]

Originally Posted by jrogers4649

Figure this is a good place to find all sorts of info. Be moving there soo
Anyhow, as anyone from Boston/North Shore can attest, we are snobs on pizza, roast beef sandwiches and even Chinese food. Heck when I moved closer to Worcester I couldn't even find good Chinese nor roast beef.

So what I'm looking for is roast beef like Kelly's. Warm beef slices on a sesame or onion roll, American cheese, and bbq sauce.

Pizza, needs to be Italian style, not Greek. God I'd kill for a Santarpios pizza. But heck even Papa Ginos is acceptable.

Chinese, well if you are from the North Shore, you know Kowloon style. That's what I'd be looking for.

Please no haters. If you want to tell me to stay in Massachusetts, just move along. This is for fun and to hear what there is for fast casual stuff around the Villages.

The Villages has just about everything one could want, with two glaring exceptions: 1) medical care, and 2) dining options. That isn't to say that we don't have excellent representation for both, because we do. You just have to seek them out.

We have pizza places; however not being a connoisueur of pizza (some folks around here are) nor ever having been to Boston or the "North Shore", I couldn't tell you if anything around here serves up competent pizzas such as you are referring to. There are a lot of of pizza restaurants in or near TV though so you might find something to your liking.

Chinese? Sort of a black hole around here. There are a few (takeout, mainly, in my experience) but recent health-department issues with at least one Chinese joint leads me to shy away from all of them. Some people have had good experiences with Chinese food in nearby towns: I'd listen to them. We do have other Asian offerings (Thai Ruby at Lake Sumter Landing, for example, which on a scale of 1 to 10 is about a 6 in my opinion).

Roast beef sandwiches like the ones you describe? Some restaurants have something similar on their menu: Lopez Legacy restaurant for example has the following on their menu:

French Dip
Shaved Beef, Topped with Swiss Cheese on a Freshly Baked Hoagie Roll, Paired with Au Jus
$14.99

...which sounds similar. I don't know if they use American cheese or not, but if they have it I'm sure they'll substitute it for the Swiss. Don't know if this is what you have in mind or not, but I've had it, and it is very good.

Food in TV, in my opinion. is best when one goes to restaurants who serve food that is in large part locally sourced. Lots of seafood places around here (Bonefish Grill, Bluefin) as well as a new one, Coastal Del Mar at Spanish Springs, that is very good though with a rather limited menu. However you're never farther away from the ocean than about an hour drive and there are many seafood joints in those areas. One in particular, Seafood Sellers in Homosassa, straight west from TV about five minutes from the Gulf of Mexico, is excellent, serving seafood that is locally sourced and very fresh, as in "just caught" in many cases.

TV also has some excellent Mexican restaurants if that is your thing: A new one opened not long ago in Spanish Springs, Ay Jalisco, which after talking to friends sounds pretty good. Another one I'd recommend (Cuban, not Mexican) is Villa Pinar Cuban Cafeteria, a little mom-and-pop place on the northern end of TV. I haven't eaten there in some time but I doubt it is any different today than it was (say) six months ago. It is family-run and is open some odd hours but it is inexpensive, large servings of authentic Cuban cuisine, and friendly. It is a cafeteria; small with several tables that accommodate large(r) numbers of people. Lots of locals eat there. Though for some reason it isn't on their menu, a popular item is a small buffet, served by their workers, that includes for want of a better word braised pork shoulder as well as other meats, black beans and rice, and fried plantains. It is a lot of food for not much money and is very good. Incidentally they also have a large pizza menu that you might want to check out.

Anyway, for what it is worth, that has been my experience here. But there are a lot of other options and I've sampled mainly a quarter of what is offered around here in the way of restaurants, if that.

Good luck, and (in advance) welcome!

[midiwiz]

Originally Posted by asianthree

We have been coming to TV since 2007

Pizza…..Sammy’s on 301..good but better than OK we also have chains so your pick

Beef.. nothing special

Chinese…learn to make your own…but if you can adapt we do have couple of Vietnamese restaurants

So the places you are looking for Sadly No…No..and hell No

Why is it that everyone relocating here thinks that what they currently have is offered up down here????? This is Florida, it isn't NY, Mass, NJ PA etc. DO NOT expect anything you have been living with to be here - this is NOT a replication factory. It took years to find stuff for us that would replace things we like, and now being in TV it's even worse. The middle of Florida is nothing but blah, it's cracker heaven which actually is better than beach side.

Borrom line don't expect anything and you'll be happier.

[Mrfriendly]

Originally Posted by jrogers4649

Figure this is a good place to find all sorts of info. Be moving there soon.

Anyhow, as anyone from Boston/North Shore can attest, we are snobs on pizza, roast beef sandwiches and even Chinese food. Heck when I moved closer to Worcester I couldn't even find good Chinese nor roast beef.

So what I'm looking for is roast beef like Kelly's. Warm beef slices on a sesame or onion roll, American cheese, and bbq sauce.

Pizza, needs to be Italian style, not Greek. God I'd kill for a Santarpios pizza. But heck even Papa Ginos is acceptable.

Chinese, well if you are from the North Shore, you know Kowloon style. That's what I'd be looking for.

Please no haters. If you want to tell me to stay in Massachusetts, just move along. This is for fun and to hear what there is for fast casual stuff around the Villages.

Is the No Name still up there on the warf? Great times back in the 70s

[Pamelah]

Originally Posted by LuvNH

Nothing like that here. Seafood kinda terrible. But the sun shines every day!!!!

For Floridians who ate fresh fish (cod, haddock) in Massachusetts they’d probably taste it and say,
“ What the h—-?”

[coconutmama]

Originally Posted by markusb741

Sorry, but you move here for the sun and warm winters, definitely not the food. No Bianci's for pizza, Bill&Bob's for roast beef, The New Deal for subs, or The Clam Box for fried clams. A few places we've have found that almost make the grade: The Essex House for New England style seafood, Big Bobs for Italian, Brooklyn Bagel for bagels and deli, these are all tried and true. Unfortunately, I can't recommend any Chinese yet. But fortunately, I'm a snowbird, so I think I'll go to Gourmet Garden for lunch today. Good Luck

The Clam Box! Is it still there? Wow. Brings back great memories. Place an order for me! Enjoy.

[ThirdOfFive]

Originally Posted by midiwiz

Why is it that everyone relocating here thinks that what they currently have is offered up down here????? This is Florida, it isn't NY, Mass, NJ PA etc. DO NOT expect anything you have been living with to be here - this is NOT a replication factory. It took years to find stuff for us that would replace things we like, and now being in TV it's even worse. The middle of Florida is nothing but blah, it's cracker heaven which actually is better than beach side.

Borrom line don't expect anything and you'll be happier.

EXCELLENT point. The best food is always what we grew up on, be that the type of Pizza served in Boston or the PoBoys, crawdad boils or the ubiquitous hushpuppies so common in the South. But this is a different area and in many respects a different culture than the ones we came from.

Part of the allure of TV (and Florida in general) is that it is so different in most respects from where many of us came from. Vive la difference!, as they say. If food was of paramount importance to me I would have stayed in Minnesota and eaten fried Walleye, headcheese, and Polska Kielbasa, none of which is widely available down here. But I didn't.

[Marmaduke]

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby

To the OP: the real deal, the "true story" is - The Villages lacks diversity in food, because The Villages is low on diversity in residents. It's predominately white, almost all English-as-First-Language, predominately "somewhere other than the cultural and ethnic diversity of the Northeastern/New England states." This is Vanilla country. If you want diversity in food, you need to go some place where they have diverse people.

To the Original OP: You may miss Boston, but we have our Daily Dose of Cliff Claven. Bless 'er Heart!

[Causey]

So many complaints, it gets old. I lived just outside of Boston for 60 years, there are crappy restaurants everywhere, even in the North End. I rarely have found a restaurant anywhere, that consistently cooks better than I do. I am in Vermont right now, you will hear that many restaurants are "chef owned" and "farm to table". Give me a break, not a good restaurant for 50 miles, and when you do find one, they are out of business in 2 years, because they don't know how to run a "business". I would bet, 99% of the food critics here can't even make good toast.
Stop living in the past, there are good restaurants here, just venture out and find the ones you like.
Stop listening to people that complain about everything.

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by Dotneko

Huh. We have always sat at a table inside waiting for our food that is delivered to our table. I dont drink liquor, so I never judge an eatery by that. Now, you want to talk dumps, ever been to O'shucks? That place is disgusting.
Many New England seafood shacks dont have liquor licenses. Or interior tables for that matter.

The only time I was there, people had to sit in small chairs near the front door, or stand outside, until their name was called. Then, you had to go to the register, order your food, and pay for it before you were seated at a table. The place is very small, with no atmosphere, and there is no alcohol, which many people expect at a restaurant where dinner is served. I am just providing the actual facts so people can decide if they want to make the drive to Leesburg, which is a 30 minute drive from Sumter Landing. I didn't order the lobster, but I thought the fried food was mediocre, and the service was also mediocre.

[sharonl7340]

Wow! Bet you wouldn't know a good BBQ if it bit you. That was harsh!

[sharonl7340]

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby

There is no comparison, unfortunately. Most Villagers are from somewhere other than Mass/RI/NYC/NJ/CT. That means their taste buds are totally not - ours. Most of them wouldn't know a decent Lobster Cantonese if it smacked them up'side the head. And pizza? Fuggedaboudit. The nearest Indian Restaurant is over a half hour away. Roast beef - there are choices, but none as good as up north where people have experience in quality.

You can't even buy decent pastrami by the pound at a deli up here and make your own grilled pastrami and swiss on rye. It's all ultra-lean, which means mostly flavorless and chewy.

Wow! Bet you wouldn't know a good BBQ if it bit you. That was harsh!

[TVTVTV]

Originally Posted by Dotneko

Huh. We have always sat at a table inside waiting for our food that is delivered to our table. I dont drink liquor, so I never judge an eatery by that. Now, you want to talk dumps, ever been to O'shucks? That place is disgusting.
Many New England seafood shacks dont have liquor licenses. Or interior tables for that matter.

Remember to check restaurant inspections before patronizing establishments. Amazing what findings you will see - why invite sickness for some taste. O'Shucks had "only" 4 violations, Leesburg Seafood had 5. Restaurant looks and atmosphere are not everything, whether expensive or cheap. Judge by violations as well, especially if you are new to the area.

[frayedends]

Originally Posted by TVTVTV

Remember to check restaurant inspections before patronizing establishments. Amazing what findings you will see - why invite sickness for some taste. O'Shucks had "only" 4 violations, Leesburg Seafood had 5. Restaurant looks and atmosphere are not everything, whether expensive or cheap. Judge by violations as well, especially if you are new to the area.

Any link to where to find the inspections?

[frayedends]

I can appreciate all these posts. Also like that people are offering suggestions on what is good in Florida. I'm sure I'll find plenty to enjoy and save the Boston food for when I get to Boston.