I remember villagers telling me that potential buyers were picked up by limo and comped including dinner at any village owned restaurant including the Cattle Barron. They had a $40 steak. That was the most expensive meal. A show at Katie Belles is right there. I wonder how much business was from potential buyers.

My wife was there two weeks ago to buy tickets for a show. She was asked for ID. She said "I thought Katie Belles was open to the public"? His reply was "no, its just like it was before, guest must be accompanied by a resident".

With ID it's cheaper. The shows always allowed non-residents

He was referring to admittance to the restaurant.

Well Bonny has manage to cheerlead on every page of this post. Katie belle's was special and now it is just another dinner joint. Schwartz wanted it to be special, and his sons tried their best. Now, 2 billion in profits later and the grandkids want more. They make money selling you a house. They make money renting buildings to restaurants, medical offices and virtually every other property in tjhe area. Why couldn't there be one place for residents only that tried it's best to break even and not seek to squeeze more dollars out of the people that have made them wealthy? Schwartz and Gary both got it. Bonny aside, this place isn't as special as it use to be. If I want a good dinner I'll go to Harry's or the Lopez. Palmer. Bonefish ...etc. Many of my visitors will miss the old KB/CB as much as I will.

I just stepped outside to check - no full moon that I could see.

So, just a hunch? No actual financials or word from the Morses?

I am all for profit. Beats the heck out of running in the red...

I think the bottom line is that "you can't please all of the people all of the time".
-Katie Belle's needed to make a profit, it wasn't.
-It has been remastered and will not be the same old Katie Belle's.
-If you go and check it out and decide you don't like it. Don't go back.
-If you go and enjoy it's new menu and entertainment offerings, Great! You will return.
-The Villages was once a small "hometown", it isn't any longer.
-114,000 people have decided this is a great place to live.
-The old Katie Belle's most likely did not influence that decision for the majority of residents.
-If you decide this is not the place for you, there are people waiting in line to take your place.
-There is no place equal to The Villages, anywhere. That does not mean it is perfect.
-Each of us can think of something we would like to have changed, perhaps.
-We believe that The Villages offers us so much, and are thankful for every minute we have here.
-Like I said, You can't please all of the people all of the time. There will always be those who complain just to have something to complain about.

[emoji106]

Anyone can have dinner there. Menu prices are the same for residents and non-residents.

Bottom line: It's no longer residents only. (Still waiting for the Daily Sun to tell me that !)

Skip

We tried it last night, 8 of us. Made a reservation 1 week ago for 2 tables of 4 side by side, when we got there they were going to seat us across the isle from each other, this is not what we reserved, hostess said the website seating is not correct, so they they adjusted and accommodated for us. The food was below average, over cooked fish and steaks, pretty tasteless, slow service, did not care for it all, and no one else did in our party. We would go back to have an appetizer, drinks and dancing, but not for dinner. We did not have high expectations but this was kind of a disaster. The good thing is I liked the decor and much cleaner and refreshed than the old Katie Bells.

They make money because this is their business. Why do we need a place for residents only? I'm not sure what you mean by it's not as special as it was.
And yes, if you want a good dinner, you should go to places that you like.
Life is all about choices.
I like what I like, you like what you like.
I cheerlead for many things. Life is just way to short to focus on negativity.
We are never sure how much time we have so I plan on being happy and just having a good time while I still can.

Only stating what I know & saw.

I like cheerleaders.

What a missed opportunity. We went to the new Katie Belle's last night with high hopes after reading the glowing reviews on this site and we were very disappointed. The problems started as soon as we arrived when the hostess tried to seat our party of eight at tables that were not located as our reservation had displayed them. We were told that tables are not necessarily located as they are displayed on the website. Then what is the point? After some serious complaining to the manager she reluctantly arranged to table to meet our needs but we were located very near the hostess stations with at least six greeters standing around looking for things to do. Service was terribly slow with long delays between drink and food orders. Once our food was finally delivered to our table the food was overdone and cold. The food on our plates looked like it was served from a buffet line and was tasteless. Once we had finished our meal and were ready to leave it took at least 20 minutes and repeated request to get our check. We will not be returning for dinner.

I think that having one single place that only residents and their guests could go would be more profitable. It ties into that "living like a millionaire" snobbery that I couldn't afford anywhere else.

I just find it astonishing that it could be successful when the place was 5 times smaller and they still don't have any competition because there are no other dinner theaters or woopie de do review places.

That's not bashing. I love the place.

Unless they were always loosing money.
What if they said were are going to make this a private club. Your dues are $20/yr just to get in and does not include the cover, menu or drinks. Would 10,000 people sign up? I think so, sort of like the Knights of Columbus. [maybe a bad example]

gesivad: We also went to Katie Belles last night to see my favorite band, Uncle Bob's Rock Shop. I LOVE the new décor (no more dusty hanging curtains) but my husband does not like. We opted to sit at the bar (beautifully designed) to eat dinner after being told it would be a 1.5 hour wait to sit in the "entertainment" area. I ordered the chicken alfredo and my husband ordered the eggplant parm. Mine was excellent; his was served without any sauce on or for the spaghetti and he had to ask to get some....the eggplant was also very bland :(. As for the claims here for $8 glasses of wine; mine was $6 (white moscato) and the house drinks are only $5.....the place is still great for dancing but 2 MAJOR issues I did not see mentioned here. (1) They missed the mark on the acoustics (band so close to a glass ceiling) AND they really need to fix the air conditioning which everybody was complaining about......I do intend to return when I have girlfriends visiting......my husband says he will not eat eat dinner there again.

Never did like Katie Belles.I some times think these places picture themselves something they are not.

Lot of that goin' on.

I'm curious. What did it picture itself?

I can see the argument how the church on the square was not really a church.
And I know that fountain in the center is not really the fountain of youth.
The whole place is sort of pretend.

I hope you are not suggesting that the cattle, horse, cowboy, and dog at the entrance to Brownwood are not real ;-)

Oh so true. Or how about a different opinion?

They tried that when they made the upstairs Cattle Baron. It was going to be for members only & you had to spend so much a month. Talk about a lot of angry people over that change !!! Needless to say, that didn't work.

Katie Belles disappointment
 

I agree with you 100%. There are many fine restaurants but there was only one Katie Bells. Not only in the Villages but the Cuntry. They could have done many things to increase the profit margin of Cattle Baron and Katie Bells. So to think that they had to put retail in the down stairs just does not make sense unless they want to make as much money as possible. We always brought our house guests there and I do believe the Old Katie Bells served as a great marketing tool for that reason alone.

Now it is just a fine place to eat like many other places. I guess I am spoiled, but I expected it to be improved not diminished. Why didn't the raise the roof and keep it with two floors. Could have added a cover charge, entertainment charge etc to make it profitable.

Certainly the construction cost was already high with what they did to create retail rent.

I'm going out on a limb here. What year was that?

Maybe '03 or '04. Not quite sure. Everyone was up in arms about that one. LOL

I believe that it was $300.00 to join the club.

What did you get for the money?
How many people lived here at that time?

I believe you to commit to spending so much money per month.
Maybe 40,000 people give or take several thousand. LOL ;)

Sounds like they tried the Country Club model. You pay for access, then pay for everything else, food, drinks entertainment. If it failed in '03 or '04 I doubt it would succeed in 16 or 17. Theory and desires are great until we actually have to open the checkbook. What we want and what we will pay for are usually miles apart.

You're way off. Cattle Baron's opened in 1997.
The "Member's Only" status lasted less than a year.

Skip

I originally said Katie Belles opened in 97.
We were living here when the members only Cattle Baron came about. We didn't move here til 2000. Cattle Baron might have been 2001 or 2002.
When we moved here, it was Katie Belles up & down. We used to go upstairs next to the bar & shoot pool.

Rosie O'Gradys closed in 2001. The hoop de do review is running. The hoop is now $72 a ticket. Over the years I took my kids there. As adults we use to to Rosie's.

Katie Belles opened just about 1997. It was Katie Belles up & down.
After a couple of years, the upstairs was called the "Key Club". It was still Katie Belles, but residents only. Same menu as downstairs.
About 2001 or 2002, they tried to transform the upstairs as more of a club. "Cattle Baron" would now be more of a private club. There was a fee to join & you had to spend so much money per month. That was short lived so they changed it to just more of a fine dining for residents.
Of course, during these times, we lost our pool table upstairs. There were various changes to the downstairs throughout the years. They took part of it for Chicos, took the railings down around the dance floor, etc.

We've seen so many changes. I remember when we would go to the seafood buffet at Hacienda Hills CC. The best ever. You had to wear a sport jacket to go there. :)