lettuce
 

Olive garden lettuce "good?" it's just iceberg!🫤

Posters are stating that there are no good restaurants in TV, and that post is promoting warmed up left over mediocre pizza as a meal. Anyone sense a slight disconnect???:1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

The restaurants within TV with a few exceptions are dismal.

We like Sammy Joe's for pizza.

Tastebuds
 

Some have tastebuds, some don’t.

Piesano’s Lake Deaton is the best you’re going to do…though I’ve heard NYPD on 466 is okay too. If you want NY pizza, go back to NY. We’re originally from SF and there is no good sourdough bread or Chinese food here either. Oh, well. What we have done is learned to love local faire, like shrimp and grits and fried green tomatoes. You’ll never get either of those in NY or SF.

Just returned from a week in Banff, Alberta, Canada where we enjoyed eating at several good restaurants. A very nice break from the restaurants we have inside the bubble. Of course, we paid more than the average tab here. If you want better food, you have to support a restaurant that charges more.

I agree with you, We live about a mile away and tried SammyJoes last night. The place was jampacked. Ordered a Well Done pizza to go and picked it up as soon as it came out of the oven. The top of the pizza was well done but the crust was soft and floppy however the flavor was very good. I have had breakfast here which was delicious. We will try the pizza while dining in next time.

I would not judge a good restaurant by pizza but I agree there are very few good restaurants in The Villages. My faves are Harvest and Lopez.

I agree with the poster, I am back north and the food here is exceptional in high line restaurants. In mid line restaurants the food is tasty and plentiful. TV overall skimpy and overpriced

The problem here is that many of the restaurants are chain restaurants and are more interested in quantity than quality. Then there is the lack of competition, I'm from N.Y.C. and there are restaurants on top of restaurants, if you're not halfway decent you're not going to survive. Finally, restaurants make a bigger return on their investment from alcohol if it be at the bar or the table and Villagers do like to drink so food is almost a secondary to operating their business.
Unfortunately, if you want to have a great meal you're going to have to look outside of The Villages.

Harvest and Lopez are solid, I agree. In my two years here, I believe I have hit up every non-chain restaurant within the bubble, since I eat out dinner probably 5 out of 7 nights each week. My favorites are outside the bubble. But for solid meals within the bubble, in addition to Lopez and Harvest, I’d add Blue Fin, and Coastal Del Mar. OK, but not remarkable, would be Kumo, Prima, Chop House, Thai Lily, Amerikanos, Havana CC, Piesano’s and Booster’s.

Has anyone ever heard of a home-cooked meal? I don't know anyone who eats out for every meal.

Although food is the main attraction for senior citizens, the locations for the top ten appear to be mostly apartments. Only a few were homes/villas like The Villages is made up of. Forget pizza ...... that's only a quick chow down that's IMHO not a meal. Good food, whether it's Chinese, Italian, German, Thai etc., is found outside of The Villages in smaller mom and pop restaurants. There are great places to eat from Ocala, Leesburg, and Orlando. And don't forget those Brazilian steakhouses in Orlando and Ocala. Most of the restaurants in TV are average to mediocre at best.

Restaurants in the bubble
 

Couldn't agree .ore about the poor quality of restaurants I the bubble.

We have a couple of favorites if we're not in a picky mood like Chop House, Toojays, Havana.

Prefer ones outside the Villages such as Prime 3 in Leesburg, one of the few restaurants that serve Prime beef, the Irish Pub across the street from Prime 3, Gio's in Oxford w/authentic Italian fare & fabulous pizza, veal dishes. Several good places in Ocala & some newer Asian places in the area. Variety is the true spice of eating life but have to search a bit more in our area for better restaurants.




QUOTE=Toymeister;2384971]The measurement for the 55+ crowd is rather odd, food. Restaurants, quality of chefs, food clubs and all things food related.

Link to realtor.com, below, works.

Pardon Our Interruption.

Although our restaurants are a factor the food clubs carried weight.[/QUOTE]