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Oops. So Much For Our Favorite Florida Restaurants
RCI Member Since 24-Aug-1989/150-plus Exchanges***THE TIMESHARE GRIM REAPER~~~Exchanging/Searching/SW Florida/MO/AR/IA/Consumer Advocacy/Estate Planning/Sports/Boating/Fishing/Golf/Lake-living/Retirement****Sometimes ya just gotta be a dick
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JLB
Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick
RCI Member Since 24-Aug-1989/150-plus Exchanges***THE TIMESHARE GRIM REAPER~~~Exchanging/Searching/SW Florida/MO/AR/IA/Consumer Advocacy/Estate Planning/Sports/Boating/Fishing/Golf/Lake-living/Retirement****Sometimes ya just gotta be a dick
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JLB
Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick
As for the crack that the Kissimmee Shells is/was a dump, we have eaten there many times and it is just fine . . . plain but clean. The service was always great and the food consistent with the other Shells. All of my family, including extended family, enjoyed that Shells and it became the one place in Orlando that all of them/us made sure we got to a couple or three times.
That being said, Shells is/was as I described, a casual Florida beach seafood shack without the beach. So, if a person had an affinity for the finer things, superior things, they may consider Shells a dump and a trip there to be slumming.
Realistically, there are a lot of areas in Orlando/Kissimmee that are range from dumpy to blighted to downright dangerous. The area of 192 that Shells was in, quite a ways east of I-4, has gone downhill considerably in the last 10 years. It has become more ethnic and the hurricanes of 2005 did a lot of damage, some of it yet to be repaired.
Shells actually was one of the better properties in that area. Except for going to Shells or driving through that area to get to Remington Golf Club, I/we did not venture there. It is out of the way for the typical Orlando tourist crowd.
Not related to this, Shells had a history of curious decisions as to where they located restaurants. Few were new-built as a Shells and most were previously something else. They are/were in somewhat strange locations, typically away from the normal cluster of dining places. But once people found them they became extremely popular.
Shells failed in an expansion to the Midwest, Ohio and Indiana, and soon after that they started closing Florida locations. That was many years ago.
As recently as last year, those that we visited appeared to be busy. They were our first stop after getting off the plane and our last stop before getting back on, if we could.
RCI Member Since 24-Aug-1989/150-plus Exchanges***THE TIMESHARE GRIM REAPER~~~Exchanging/Searching/SW Florida/MO/AR/IA/Consumer Advocacy/Estate Planning/Sports/Boating/Fishing/Golf/Lake-living/Retirement****Sometimes ya just gotta be a dick
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JLB
Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick
We had a great dinner at Shells and a nice talk with the GM. He's been with Shells about as long as us.
The one at 202 S. Dale Maby, Tampa, is the original and all the others have been paying royalties to them. Of the independents that did not get closed, the others did not want to pay royalties and closed also. Melbourne was allowed to stay open as a Shells.
RCI Member Since 24-Aug-1989/150-plus Exchanges***THE TIMESHARE GRIM REAPER~~~Exchanging/Searching/SW Florida/MO/AR/IA/Consumer Advocacy/Estate Planning/Sports/Boating/Fishing/Golf/Lake-living/Retirement****Sometimes ya just gotta be a dick
Sure, now the Shells lovers come out of the woodwork.
RCI Member Since 24-Aug-1989/150-plus Exchanges***THE TIMESHARE GRIM REAPER~~~Exchanging/Searching/SW Florida/MO/AR/IA/Consumer Advocacy/Estate Planning/Sports/Boating/Fishing/Golf/Lake-living/Retirement****Sometimes ya just gotta be a dick
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JLB
Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick
We just went by the Sarasota Shells and it is closed.
I sure would like some of their signs for the Margaritavilla Dock.
RCI Member Since 24-Aug-1989/150-plus Exchanges***THE TIMESHARE GRIM REAPER~~~Exchanging/Searching/SW Florida/MO/AR/IA/Consumer Advocacy/Estate Planning/Sports/Boating/Fishing/Golf/Lake-living/Retirement****Sometimes ya just gotta be a dick
I was the OP for that thread and included your initials in the title. I never dreamed that it would be taken as a disaster related to you. I just remembered how you loved the chain, as did I.
I've visited the Dale Mabry location many times through the years. My most recent visit was last Fall and it was the first time I was ever disappointed. I didn't think the food was that great and it was more expensive than I recalled. As you suggest here, not all changes are for the better.
Hope we can find a new favorite.
Sheila
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JLB
Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick
Sharing this with DW as we sit here at Lighthouse on Sanibel.
I have enjoyed our two meals at the original Shells this visit, by DW agrees that it seems to have lost the touch of fun and frivolity it usetahave. As we were eating last Friday a lady at a nearby table was talking to the waiter about the peanuts and throwing the shells on the wooden floor.
We'll go there one more time, on our day heading home.
I still like it over the other places we have eaten this week. including Barnacle Bills at Englewood, which came highly recommended.
Ruby Tuesday has been good, with the Garden Bar coming with the lunch menu. We did RT again today and the waiter from the other day remembered our orders exactly.
RCI Member Since 24-Aug-1989/150-plus Exchanges***THE TIMESHARE GRIM REAPER~~~Exchanging/Searching/SW Florida/MO/AR/IA/Consumer Advocacy/Estate Planning/Sports/Boating/Fishing/Golf/Lake-living/Retirement****Sometimes ya just gotta be a dick
Maybe, just maybe, the OFs will have a cookout in your honor when yopu return to the frozen north (with Kestone Light of course).
Someone say Frozen North? We will have -14 for an overnight low, and then 3 days later have a high of 32. And we don't even have a good seafood restaurant in town. Go figure, midwest and no seafood.
Mas, you are taking away all my fun. And I have so little fun at 16 degrees below zero.
Actually, I think it is Coastal Seafood that has some nice dinners that have been advertised on one of the TV stations. Have thought about going to their wine dinner.
Someone say Frozen North? We will have -14 for an overnight low, and then 3 days later have a high of 32. And we don't even have a good seafood restaurant in town. Go figure, midwest and no seafood.
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