A bunch of us Snowbirds landed at the Caddy Shack Bar ‘n Grill in Sebring Florida a few days ago. It was a Tuesday in 2019, we arrived at around 6:00 pm, and the place was PACKED with golfers. Conversation noise levels approaching that of a crowd at a football game.
Located adjacent to the Sebring Municipal Golf Course as it is, I expect that the Caddy Shack is the 19th hole for many, and I also suspect that liquid refreshment had contributed to the high decibel level in this fairly large bar and casual eating establishment.
All the Caddy Shack needed is a bar along one wall and sawdust on the floor and I could be forgiven for thinking I had entered a saloon from bygone days, though one without the dance hall queens or the card games, though many of the tables could be pressed into service for card games for sure.
The hall is decorated with statues and wall hangings depicting persons and celebrities from the past. It is interesting, kind of, but it all felt ad hoc, with no rhyme nor reason to what decoration went where.
While the servers, many of them and always hurrying, seemed to be run off their feet, we were seated at a long table quickly, and since draft beer was on special, the thirsts of many of us were being slaked quite quickly. Those that drank other than beer though “enjoyed” wine and liquor prices that I thought were high for this type of establishment and even for the Sebring area.
Many of us had chased a bit of a hunger that day and decided on robust meals. They were quite long in coming, and distressingly, only half the table was served their meals first, with the other half waiting some time for their meals.
It was also evident that the first round of food had been sitting sometime before getting served. I don’t know about you, but since the french fries anymore all seem to be of the frozen variety, the only thing that makes them good is if they are served piping hot! The fries were luke-warm at best, and that put me off for the whole meal.
Some of the items that we supposed to be hot were tepid, and to me, that’s the hallmark of a not-so-good restaurant.
Remember I spoke about the noise level?
Sitting at one end of the table meant that we could barely be heard by people sitting adjacent (and no, it’s not just that we may be hard of hearing) and the conversation of good friends just a bit farther down the table was indecipherable. They might as well have been sitting in a different room.
But, we went to the Caddy Shack to eat. Overall, the meals were acceptably mediocre. Nothing horrid, nothing great in my opinion.
As always for Sebring and much of the U.S., meal portions were quite large, so a couple of guests could take some of the sting out of the liquor prices by sharing a meal rather than each ordering their own meal and bringing half home. If you do that, be aware they charge $2.50 to split a plate, and that in itself is quite fair I thought.
Not bad, not great, we won’t hurry back but if friends say they want to go to the Caddy Shack we won’t fight it. It just won’t be our first choice.
Your thoughts?
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