133597 Sat Sep 24 16:53:32 -0700 2005 7 10 Florida 0 719022 have to throw this one out to you gang, new to central fl and have heared there is a restaurant in the town of lake panasoffkee on the lake called harbor lights restaurant, was wondering is anyone has eaten there or has any info, food, price,etc, was told it's a buffet 5 days a week. thanks to all. paul Sat Sep 24 16:53:32 -0700 2005 0 paul 1 719024 I am not familiar with it, but I am familiar with the type. They have a website with some menus;(www.qsy.com/harborlights/index.html) and I've posted a link below written in a news letter for one of the many communities of "active adults," retirement communities, that is, that dominate the population in this part of the state. While its not my cup of tea, this may be just what you are lookng for . . . Bob Link: http://newsletter.pringle.com/newsletter/0903/3.asp Sat Sep 24 18:14:09 -0700 2005 719022 0 Bob Mervine 2 719041 thanks to all for the reply, i think i will stay with barnhills. later Sun Sep 25 21:46:58 -0700 2005 719024 0 paul 1 719030 I've eaten at Harbor Lights on many occasions, one of which was probably the most bizarre restaurant experience of my life. Not because of the food, which while not exciting is wholesome and blandly decent. It is a buffet usually consisting of a large roast turkey and/or baked whole ham, roast round of beef, local vegetables, real mashed potatoes, fried oysters and shrimp and sometimes steamed shrimp or crab legs. Not too bad, really. The buffet food is better than the desserts, which run mostly toward nursing home quality puddings and gummy pies. They do serve cocktails, which can provide a much-needed boost to the low expectations places like this generally deserve. The location is actually very nice, situated with a pleasant view of the lake and landscaped grounds. My folks lived less than 1/2 a mile from there, which made it the default location of Sunday dinners over the years. A few years back about ten of us went there for just such a dinner that happened to coincide with my birthday. Someone in our party (my wife, who confessed belatedly) made the colossal error of informing the management. A man appeared at our table and literally screamed three choruses of "Happy Birthday To You" into my ear from a distance of 12 about inches. His eyes bulging, his face crimson and the veins popping up in his neck and foreheard, spittle stringing from his lips; the demented rant seemed to go on forever. My horror was mirrored in the faces of my family and the other patrons, who had fallen complete silent in the presence of such an unexpectedly grotesque spectacle. For my part, I suppressed a desire to plung my steak knife deep into his chest, some how reasoning that the feeble cutlery probably wasn't up to the job. When it was finally over, the guy turned on his heal and goose-stepped triumphantly back into the kitchen. There was a full ten seconds of total silence before everyone could recover their forks. My family stared at me, stared at each other, looked back at me and began howling with laughter. Being at the center of such hideous attention, it took me somewhat longer to recover my sense of humor. Go there, enjoy the stodgy buffet, stroll the pleasant grounds. But, whatever you do; don't tell 'em it's you're birthday. Sun Sep 25 12:12:26 -0700 2005 719022 0 flavrmeistr 2 719031 Written in true Hunter S. Thompson style . . . Sun Sep 25 12:37:05 -0700 2005 719030 0 Bob Mervine 3 719034 I can only imagine how the Good Doctor T. would have reacted. It is a memory I have somehow managed to suppress for a number of years. Just seeing the words "Harbor Lights" and "Lake Panasoffkee" in the original post created a persistent involuntary twitch under my left eye. To this day, my wife cringes visibly at the memory of this incident, as if warding off a blow. Probably a symptom of her guilt for letting me believe all these years that it was my mother who unleashed that psychotic misanthrope bastard on me. The horror...the horror. Sun Sep 25 14:13:04 -0700 2005 719031 0 flavrmeistr 1 719039 Even without the birthday nonsense, this place is forgetable. Not worth stopping. Charles Sun Sep 25 21:21:19 -0700 2005 719022 0 charles 2 719040 Yeah, pretty much. The only decent place around there was Pink's Barbecue, which closed about six years ago. Might as well head an hour south to Tampa. Sun Sep 25 21:36:30 -0700 2005 719039 0 flavrmeistr