For a quick lunch, Darrell's is good, but don't forget Perkins in Spanish Springs ... and on if you have the Perkins app, you can get a BOGO on Wednesdays.

For lunch Billy's is a good choice

It really is a shame. We were never regulars, but I enjoyed trying their different craft beers and imports every once in a while. Another genuine shame is that WoB management notified their employees on Saturday that they were out of work as of Sunday.

Burger FI closed 14 locations in 2023 and 8 more in the first 3 months of 2024. They fired their CEO and the new one is from a private equity firm. They are considering Chap 11 bankruptcy. The stock was delisted earlier this year.

I'm not expecting it to open a new location in Wildwood.

Providing poor service and sub par food is a disaster for any restaurant. Good riddance.

And the best tater tots!!!!

Spoke with a server who said Outback closing on 441 in Feb2025 when staff move over to new location on Trailwinds 466A

Blues Jam
 

We used to go quite frequently when they had the Ssnakeyez Blues Jams on Thursday nights. Those were fun and they had a cheap Taco Thursday special so it was an enjoyable reasonable evening. Haven't been there since they ended that because of Covid. If they restarted the Jams we would have gone back.

Wouldn't they need a full kitchen for that?

They just built the place. What do you suggest they do with it if they move? Another bar hut?

Landlords taking a percentage of the gross is an industry standard. It is not specific to TV...

Have you seen their leases? How do you know it any higher than the surrounding areas?

Hooters
 

I have heard hooters is going to replace WoB.

Of course I will only going there for the wings..

It is legally accessible by golf cart. We always take our cart there.

How do you get into the Sunny Pint parking lot, pull in off 44, drive down the sidewalk, or cut through the landscaping? I'd like to do it, I just don't see how it can be done.

Drive behind the Brownwood Hotel and Health Care Center, and through the West parking lot towards 44 (Leland Ln on Google Maps), drive on sidewalk area for about 15 seconds and follow the golf cart tracks to get into the plaza.

The Sunny Pint staff that I've talked to have said that the Wildwood Police are aware that many people do this and don't have an issue with it. I don't believe there's any laws being broken if you're following the route that I describe above.

I have talked to an operator that specifically stated that TV square merchant space had restrictions which normal merchant space does not. One was required operating hours.

So given the various control mechanisms such as deed compliances, I would not be surprised if the rent/sales percentage was higher. And its especially hard on alcohol sales with square beer not having high overhead and a minimum profit margin to stay in business.

The villages' fixed income retirement mentality of many as they age does take a toll on upscale merchants.

😲😩😩😩
Oh no!! Love Friday night karaoke! Now what?!

You'll just have to listen to Roy-bob Dingus and his pre-recorded karaoke machine doing God Bless The USA for the 200th time, outside Amerikano's.

Bankrupted them in 5 days. 🙄

Than the one they just built?

How is it you are privy to the conversations between them?

We stopped missing WOB several years ago. It opened right about when we closed on our villages home in 2015 and we very much enjoyed it the first three or so years. They used to have excellent service, decent food, and an exceptional inventory of beer. The first couple of years, they would bring you a tablet that easily allowed you to search through their extensive beer selection using multiple filters to help focus in on specific beers based on specified criteria. Over time, the place went on a slippery downhill slope until it wasn’t even on our list of places to consider going to. I can’t say I’m surprised at all to learn of the closing. Spanish Springs is definitely in a transition, the two new FMK restaurants and Blondies are definitely positive, while the vacated Margarita Republic and WOB establishments are both large empty prime location buildings. It will be interesting to see what eventually fills these empty locations?

The two FMK restaurants are definitely great additions, but they're also both very expensive. Remember this is the OLDER part of The Villages, and the entire other side of the road there is still primarily manufactured homes. That means more people on a budget. Coastal del Mar and the new Italian place are treats for us, but not anything we could do even once a month.

Margaritaville's property is being worked on inside, so I'm guessing something is already planned to go in there and in progress.

Blondies is just one of the Developers tiki huts with an actual bar and tables outside, it's not a restaurant at all, of any kind. If anything, you could consider it additional seating for the FMK restaurants since you can pay Ubereats a fee to bring the food from those two places across the street to your table (which seems really silly, why not save the delivery fee and just order your meal "to go," have one member of your party leave the table, walk across the street, and pick up the bag themselves).

Sumter has Panera, Starbucks, and Johnny Rockets for "inexpensive meal" options. Now, Spanish Springs has Panera. Amerikano's interior is like dining in a tomb, and outside is only good if you enjoy incredibly loud karaoke-style music. Gator's Dockside has some of the absolute worst service I've experienced in any restaurant, though their steak and cheese subs are pretty good - when you can get someone to take your order, someone else to make one for you, and someone else to bring it to you from their kitchen.

Spanish Springs really needs a mid-range restaurant other than Gator's. Without any competition, Gator's corners the market and their service can go downhill even more, and the food can even suffer, and people will still go since it's the only place in the area in that budget option.

If they decide they want to offer food they made themselves what choice do they have but to move to larger quarters

Mostly agree. Although the Italian FMK place is no doubt good, if we’re going to drop the coin on a FMK joint it’s going to be the seafood place. Blondies does nothing for us and Costal Del Mar is a rare occasion treat. Gators dockside is lousy pub food with poor service. Americanos has decent food, but poor dinning atmosphere and way too much smoking sitting outside. Only get takeout from there. But SS also has Ay Jalisco, you can take the golf cart to the drive up at Chick-fill-A and get relatively healthy food (grilled nuggets and market salad), and Sakura has excellent takeout sushi. Lake Sumter also has RJ Gators, which isn’t anything special, but has delicious blackened fish with rice and beans and it’s nice sitting outside looking across the lake from Palmer. We wouldn’t eat at Johnny Rockets if the food was free, total garbage, and I didn’t even realize Starbucks had food (thought it was just overpriced Pacific Northwest designer coffee).

Hope you weren't tipping! 🤨😡🤧

WOB closing
 

Agree on all counts. The staff was friendly and ‘laid back’ and 1/2 hr is way tonfar to drive for taco Tuesday. Not to mention, the service is far worse at the Brownwood location.

Maybe one night at a town square they will do karaoke nite.

Might be quite entertaining.

:wave:

True about Ay Jalisco, but that's Western Mexican - not a typical burgers and beer kinda place. Amerikanos food did not impress me the two times I went. Their falafels were raw inside. Also, they have hummus, but they don't have tahini. That tells me their hummus is pre-packaged, not made on site (since you have to have tahini in order to make hummus).

As for Johnny Rockets, a few times a year I'll get a chili cheese dog from them. Hubby likes their milk-shakes.

You can drive a golf cart anywhere you desire if you are willing to break the law to do it. A great many people do not wish to break the law like you do. And yes, it is illegal to drive a golf cart on a sidewalk (edit: unless that sidewalk is officially designated as a golf cart path or multi modal path, according to section 316.212 of Florida Statutes).

Besides, parking in the Health Care Center lot is only a few dozen feet away. A short walk to not break the law is no big deal.

Just went to the WoB in Brownwood - we will be back. Good beer selection, good food, and good service. Could be a single good night but seems to be back to the experience we remember from before COVID.

The statute:

Upon its determination that golf carts may be operated on a given road, the department shall post appropriate signs on the road to indicate that such operation is allowed.


Are you serious? I've never seen a single sign in TV that said golf carts are allowed. I guess that golf carts in all of TV are illegal then but they just never told us.

No law is being broken driving to Freedom Plaza in a golf cart. I never said drive on the sidewalk. You can get there driving from one private property to another and crossing one unopened local road, which is entirely legal.

I suppose you may not have said it, but it's pretty clear you wrote it.

As for your concern about the statute, see 316.2125

Please point to what part of that statute applies here.

Couldn’t be any worse than Scotter the DJ.

Umm... this part:
316.2125 Operation of golf carts within a retirement community.—
(1) Notwithstanding the provisions of s. 316.212, the reasonable operation of a golf cart, equipped and operated as provided in s. 316.212 (5), (6), and (7), within any self-contained retirement community is permitted unless prohibited under subsection (2).

What part between the Villages Health Center and Freedom Plaza is a retirement community?

Hard to keep track of what you are arguing here. Are you arguing that golf carts in the Villages are illegal and they just didn't tell us? They are not illegal, see section 316.2125 that I posted. Or, are you arguing that there is no legal way to drive a golf cart to Freedom Plaza? If so then I agree.

None of it is in the community. It is either Rt 44, sidewalk, or private property. Driving a golf cart on the sidewalk area, what you stated that you were doing, is not legal by a different section of 316. Simply call up all of 316 and search on sidewalk - I'm done doing your research for you.

Driving beside a sidewalk from one plaza to another and crossing an unopened road in Wildwood isn't illegal no matter what you're driving, scooter, golf cart, etc. 100's of people a day travel to Freedom Plaza on their golf carts.

Call the Wildwood Police if it's a concern to you and prepare yourself for laughter. Maybe call them and complain there's golf carts in Brownwood while you're at it.